From the Blog

30 Years of Photography in Washington Schools

We’re a proud sponsor of the Washington State High School Photography Competition. This annual event accepts photo submissions from high school students all over the state. The winning entries, such as those shown above, are then exhibited at museums such as the SAM.

Every year since 2006, we’ve framed the winning entries and host the awards ceremony at one of our shops. Shown left is the 2017 event.

We talked with Kelly Atkinson, photographer and Executive Director of the competition, about how photography has changed so much, yet is more relevant than ever.

This competition has been an annual event for thirty years – what’s kept it going?
The fact that it’s a win-win for everybody involved. I try to make this as big and beautiful for the kids as possible. The instructors love it because it promotes high school photography. We get a lot of support from volunteers during judging, which can take 40-50 people.

And sponsors like Northwest Framing have been essential. You guys helped revive this thing. We only had a couple months’ notice when its main sponsor was going out of business back in 2006. If it hadn’t been for Northwest Framing, Canon and Kenmore Camera, this competition wouldn’t be going on right now.

How would you describe photography instruction in schools today?
I think there’s a very healthy high school photography presence in Washington State. I send information to about 450 high school photo instructors.

Photography has evolved from film to digital and back again – has this impacted the event?
This contest originally started as traditional film. We went through kind of an awkward period until digital finally gained traction in the high schools. Now things have reversed almost completely – we receive 95% digital and only about 5% is film.

We’re noticing a little bit of a resurgence of traditional. There was a period where many of the schools just discarded their darkrooms, and we’re starting to see that come back.

I had a problem with a lot of the digital images early on. I think there was uncertainty about how to teach digital. It turns out you don’t teach it any differently. A good image is a good image regardless of its origins. You can tell immediately, “Okay, they’re playing with Photoshop.” And now you don’t see that anymore. You see digital being used as a tool.

The competition features 11 categories, but some must be more popular than others?
Definitely. The two most popular are portraits and landscapes.

Photo by Samuel Leung

Do you have some tips for taking better portraits?
Recognizing simple, good lighting. Those are the images that rise to the top in this particular event. When the student understands that lighting doesn’t have to be complicated.

For people who are getting into photography, I’d recommend starting with what we call “available light,” or natural light. Position your subject near a big, broad, open light source, like a nice big window on an overcast day. And that will provide you with a beautiful, nice soft light.

Beginner photographers tend to look for strong sunlight and saturated colors…
I see that a lot even with professional photographers, I see them pumping up the colors a bit. I actually wrote about this recently. This is a great time of year, on an overcast day, that’s a great light source out there. Usually people think, “Nice sunny day, let’s go take some pictures.” Those are the worst conditions, because the shadows are so sharp and there’s such a difference between light and shadow.

You want nice, soft lights.

Right, photo by Leah Weld.

The 2019 winners will be unveiled the evening of June 6 at Wallingford Frame Central. Stay tuned for details!

If you know a student interested in entering, download the Rules PDF.

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