Lauren Good, Solei Prats, and Maddison Schottmuller
Yaas Nabavi and Christiana Darby
Juliana Perez, Solei Prats, Maddison Schottmuller, Ruby Amodeo, and Zoe Gort
Highlighting one of the many creative and unique programs available to Club Members to learn how to Stand Out and be themselves!
The Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach once again is participating in the annual nationwide search to identify talented young photographers. The competition is part of Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s (BGCA) ImageMakers National Photography Contest, a comprehensive initiative encouraging artistic skills, cultural enrichment and creativity in the medium of photography. The following talented photographers and club members will have artwork going on to the Pacific Regional competition; Ashley Flores, Rosemary Montoya, Alex Wick, Lauren Good, Sage Woodard, Michelle Markman, Jenna Townsend, Peyton Mollet, Gemma Diaz, Solei Prats, Savannah Coinon, Ellie Scharf, Sol Forbes, Chris Franklin, Savanna Danford, and Lesly Aguilar.
The Boys & Girls Club’s Community Room was once again transformed into a Photo Exhibit with over 700 amazing pictures on the walls, silhouettes of club members suspended from the ceiling, a slideshow of pictures displaying members participating in Photography Club, as well as giant cameras created out of recycled materials. The Photo Exhibit brought together club members, friends, family, and the community to experience the impressive display of photography created by members in four age divisions and five categories, including color process, black-and-white process, alternative process, digital and photo essay. Selected photos will compete at the regional level; regional winners will be judged nationally. Twenty national winners will be named and their photography displayed in the ImageMakers National Photography Contest traveling exhibition and at special BGCA events throughout the year. The Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach has had the wonderful recognition of winning nationally in the competition five times in the past four years!
“By introducing members to photography, we are giving them the tools and opportunity to express themselves creatively. These kids impress me every day with their ability to capture incredible photos as they learn to stand out from the crowd through their art and their ability to just be themselves,” said club Art Director Emily Murray.
Through the past year more than 150 club members have gone through Photography Club and were provided the opportunity to enter their best photos in the local exhibit at the club. This exciting event was judged by three local photographers; Ben North www.fuzegroup.com, Tom Lamb www.lambstudio.com, and Mary Church. All three photographers, along with the families and friends who stopped by to see the exhibit, expressed the amazing skill level of the youth’s photography as well as their ability to capture interesting compositions! Throughout the year, club members get to participate in exciting weekly field trips to work on their photography skills as well as a special summer photography mentorship program at the Festival of Arts. The new Photography Club session will even have an emphasis on the film process as members learn how to create unique pieces of art and develop their own film, with the collaboration of Laguna Beach High school Art Department.
Located at 1085 Laguna Canyon Road Laguna Beach CA 92651, the Boys & Girls Club has served the youth of Laguna Beach for 58 years. The Club provides programs for more than 1500 boys and girls in the areas of character and leadership development, educational enhancement, career preparation, health and life skills, the arts and sports, fitness and recreation. For a full schedule of programs and services please call the Boys & Girls Club branches or visit us at www.bgclagunabeach.org.
