Valley students taking hot shots Teen photographers snap up honors at state contest

Eight Mount Si High School photography students were recently awarded honors in the Washington State High School Photography Competition.

Eight Mount Si High School photography students were recently awarded honors in the Washington State High School Photography Competition.

Mount Si entered 41 photos, and 11 of them received special recognition by the judges, who viewed a total of 3,776 entries by 47 schools.

Senior Jayme Harris’ creative close-up photo of grease topped all Mount Si photos by placing fifth in state in the abstract category. The contest comprised 13 categories, with six places in each category.

Photos not placing but finishing in the top 18 of each category (about 1 to 2 percent of the total entries) earned “select-finalist” honors. Six Mount Si students were awarded as elite “select-finalists”: Senior Owen Strom (landscape), senior James Brulotte (animal), senior Brian Carpenter (still life), senior Madison Peck (still life), junior Kaitlynn Miller (people) and sophomore Madi Price (landscape).

One other category, “select,” credited students who finished in the top 10 to 15 percent of each category: junior Daisy Frearson captured two awards (still life and people-black and white), and Harris (people) and Brulotte (still life) each had one.

The annual competition was sponsored by Kenmore Camera, Museum Quality Framing, Canon and the Photographic Center Northwest.

Bainbridge High School finished first in the overall team standings, followed by Kentridge High School and Lakeside High School.