Alex Fallenstedt doesn’t just take photos of people. He captures moments in time.
“I like to preserve memories,” the quiet senior explained outside Mount Si High School. “I’ve met a lot of interesting people in my life.”
Fallenstedt is very straightforward about life, which perhaps helped him take first place for portrait photography in the Washington State High School Photography Competition.
The winning photo is of his classmate Scott Paophavihanh wearing a suit and in mid-jump on top of a parking garage at Bellevue Square.
Fallenstedt chose the photo at the last minute, almost on a whim, from a series of photos he had taken as a mock Esquire article.
“I never thought my photography was that good,” he said.
Fallenstedt is drawn to photography because it “can tell a story with one picture,” he said.
After graduation, Fallenstedt is visiting family and traveling in southeast Hungary before starting next fall at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Eventually, he wants to get a Masters of Business Administration in finance administration.
Fallenstedt has already taken his first foray into the business world — a self-published photography magazine with contributors from around the world.
Each issue will feature the work of four photographers and have a single theme. The magazine will be published quarterly with the first issue out in September.
The publication isn’t to make a profit, but rather will be for marketing its contributors’ names, Fallenstedt said.
In the meantime, his photograph could be chosen as best in show among the first place finishers in the competition’s 13 categories. The Best in Show competition begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 4, at Museum Quality Framing at 428 Westlake Avenue North in Seattle. His photograph will also be on display around the state, including at the Seattle and Tacoma Art Museums.
Mount Si junior Lauren Burdulis received fifth place in portrait photography in the state competition. Overall, Mount Si photographers finished ninth in the state competition. The school submitted 54 photographs, 14 of which were recognized.
