Herald Neighbors

Stories through photography

Freeport Arts Council keeps photography alive through juried show

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Flashing a toothy smile, Cailyn Harrison, 6, posed as her grandmother, Dorothy Harrison from Freeport, took a picture of her in front of a photograph of her eye taken by Robert Harrison, her grandfather. The photograph, “Cailyn’s Eye” was just one of a number of entries submitted to the 38th annual Juried Photography Show hosted by The Arts Council at Freeport at the Freeport Memorial Library on June 7.
“I captured this photo of my granddaughter because of her beautiful eyelashes,” Robert said.
According to Robert, he felt the picture captured his granddaughter’s eye at a different angle. He says most people in a photography shoot straight on, but he wanted to think out of the box.
The library was full of photographers, families and residents of a number of communities throughout Long Island. The show was so well attended, that patrons of the library also stopped by the exhibits to get a glimpse of the photos. Each photograph told unique stories and like Robert’s photograph provided a new perspective through a photographer’s lens.
This year’s show will be re-exhibit starting on July 9 through August 16 at the Molloy College Kellenberg Art Gallery. This year also included submissions from teenage photographs that participated in the High 5 Long Island competition. One of the teen photographers, Jovanna Vicente,18, who also won first place, submitted a photograph titled, “Rizal Boulevard.”

According to Vicente, who visits the Philippines every summer since she was born, she found the inspiration for her winning photograph by walking through one of the most popular streets in the Philippines. Though photograph is more of a hobby, while there she encountered a beggar who kept asking for money. Amused, Vicente gave the beggar five pesos in return for a photograph of her.
After submitting her entry, she said she felt so proud and honored to be chosen. During the awards reception, her grandmother, Mercedes Goni marveled at the photograph.
“I am so proud and have always known she has had an eye since a small child,” Goni said.
Vicente was not the only teenager to be featured. There were also four photographers from Malverne High School.
“[Kids] don’t always think as highly of their work as they should,” said Maura Savasminor, photography teacher at Malverne High School.
While photographers and attendees chatted leisurely or walked throughout the library viewing the photographs, juror and Newsday photo editor, Dave Lyons was also seen reviewing the photographs and talking with the photographers. After an hour of socializing, he gave his remarks and explained why photography should continue to be expressed.
“The quality of the work that is produced here is absolutely stunning,” Lyons said.
The evening came to a close with Lyons announcing the winners and handing out the awards.

Maya Brown is an intern at the Freeport Herald Leader.