Trevor Wentt's self-portrait
King University seniors Trevor Wentt and Trung Phan are finalists in the 35th Annual College and High School Photography Contest held by Photographer's Forum, a magazine for the emerging photography professional.
Trevor and Trung's photographs will be included in a book featuring the winners and finalists of this year's contest. The contest, which was open to all high school and college students, had no subject matter restrictions. This allowed both Wentt and Phan to let their artistic creativity flow.
"We are very happy and excited that Trevor and Trung are getting some well-deserved recognition for their work," said Joe Strickland, assistant professor of photography and digital media and chair of the digital media art and design program at King University. "These young men are two of our most dedicated students. You can almost always find one, if not both, of them in the lighting studio or the computer lab at any given time. Both students not only concern themselves with accomplishing the tasks and techniques given to them in the form of assignments but also they are heavily invested in analyzing themselves conceptually and aesthetically in an effort to identify their strengths and weaknesses to improve upon them."
"Being selected as a finalist out of thousands of photos is pretty great," said Phan. Phan was chosen as a finalist for his photo of ETSU senior Ashley Miller. "Ashley was in a white dress. I shot it in the studio with a seamless background," said Phan. "She had a curtain flowing behind her which she was moving. My hope was to capture grace and precision. I needed to find a model that embodied grace and precision. Ashley has been a dancer essentially all of her life. She was the perfect model for this project."
Wentt's photo for which he was selected as a finalist was a side profile self-portrait. "I shot the photo last year during spring break for an Art D'Vine project. I added to the photo drawn out squares that interlaced my body. The idea was just to get in the studio and shoot. I hadn't spent time in the studio much that semester, and that is where I like to shoot when I am in an emotional state. I think that is a good time to pull out real reactions from myself. I titled this photo "Boxed In,' since that is how I was feeling at the moment."
Virginia Beach native Wentt is a photography major with minors in biblical studies and intercultural studies. He has been accepted to seminary at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and plans to become a pastor.
Phan has a double major in both theatre and photography. He plans to begin a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail starting the day after graduation. He hopes to have a gallery showing of his photography from the thru-hike when he returns in the fall of 2015. Possible career plans for Phan include a focus on the administrative side of the theatre, utilizing his skills in technology, imaging and design to work with theatrical photography.
