Hundreds of students took part in ATPI, or Association of Texas Photography Instructors, a state-wide photography competition, and many placed and were gifted several honorable mentions. Last year, Bridgeland High School was given four awards, while this year, the program won a staggering 20 awards. Out of 7,007 entrees across the state, there were 804 winners.

19 of the 20 awards were honorable mentions, but junior Cory Peterson won second place award for the Advanced Informal-Environmental Portrait category. His piece focused around his special interests and passions.

“My photo deals with my religious background and what religion means to me,” Peterson said. “I’m pretty proud of it- second place.”

Multiple students had pieces based off their studies of focus for the year. Sophomore Sharon Gonzalez’s focus was love, however, the concept for her photograph was aimed towards hatred as a contrasting subject. 

“The subject matter of my piece was about self hatred,” Gonzalez said. “My long term for this year is about love, and as an opposite to that, I wanted to explore hate.”

Junior, Hannah Everage was one of the two people who won two different awards for her photography. One won in Advanced Black and White Darkroom Print, and another (won) in Advanced Informal-Environmental Portrait. Her subject matter focused around people and emotions.

“The Surface Level Scars was a studio portrait of my cousin and I had destroyed the negative with scratches all over it and it was supposed to portray inner struggling but shown on the outside because she was supposed to be shown as really beautiful but there were scars all over the place,” Everage said. “Two Girls was a photo of my sister and her friend- it was basically just a detailed close up photo of them.”

Victories aside, it’s always been about the art, and for Everage, capturing and sharing her work is the best reward.

“I just really love doing photography,” Everage said, “and it makes me really happy entering my photos and being able to take pictures of the people that I care about.”