Gallery • 5 Photos

An Tran, Cityscape/Urban Architecture

Over the winter holiday, just a few days before Christmas, five high school students received news of their recent wins in the TAAPS Fall Photo Contest. Their photos, with themes ranging from cityscape to scenic photography, won some of the highest recognition among all Texas private schools.

The winners were junior An Tran who placed first in Cityscape/Urban Architecture and won Best in Class for division 6A, junior Aryan Parikh for fourth in Scenic/Landscape, freshman Audrey Dolapo-Ajakaye who won fourth in Cityscape/Urban Architecture, freshman Abby Gunter who placed first in Scenic/Landscape, and freshman Melissa Hamada for second in the Waterscape/Seascape category.

Tran, who entered his photo into both the TAAPS and Scholastic photo competitions, was surprised to find that his photo was ranked as first in his category.

“It feels awesome winning!” Tran said. “I entered this competition not expecting much, so when Mrs. Merrifield emailed me saying that I’d won the photo contest right before Christmas, I was pleasantly surprised!”

His impressive photo, which captured a fireworks display at Walt Disney World, also received a Best in Class award, making Tran the first Village student to hold the honor.

“When traveling, I usually take hundreds of photos to capture the experience,” Tran said. “It was also then when I was inspired by the photojournalist John Kraus and his long exposure rocket launch photography.”

Tran, who was exposed to photography at a young age due to his father’s personal interest in it and has been practicing photography since he was eleven years old, believes that photography allows him to express his creativity and seize otherwise fleeting moments.

“I enjoy taking photos because it’s an awesome way to capture memories or events that occur all around us through your own perspective,” Tran said. “Also, I’ve never really considered myself as a particularly creative or artsy person, but for some reason photography usually brings out the most creative side of myself.”

All five students are in the photojournalism course at Village, which allows them to broaden their knowledge of photography, contribute their skills to the yearbook, and expand as both photographers and artists.