BHS senior wins high school 'Photographer of the year'

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

There are plenty of people out there who can take a nice photo, but there are some who are something more.

And according to Bigfork High School teacher Mike Roberts, senior Brittany Hall is one of them.

"Brittany is an artist."

And a collection of her photos just won her the Montana Journalism Education Association Photographer of the Year award.

Hall, who is a member of the yearbook staff at BHS, submitted five images ranging from graduation, to last year's senior party to track and field events.

That selection elicited comments on judging sheets that praised both her technical ability and her eye for composition.

Hall said she was surprised by the honor — it's the first year for the award so she is the only recipient to date — and that she hopes to continue her passion for photography at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, Ore. this fall.

"I chose an area that is beautiful like this place but outside this area," she said of her choice.

Hall will be running track for Southwestern and pursuing an art degree while also working in an affiliated photo program.

Roberts said that he recruited Hall for her photographic ability and her composition talents, as she also designs advertisements for the yearbook.

"We have her designing most of the ads because of her visual skills," he said.

The MJEA gives awards for both high school yearbooks and newspapers and is a collaborative effort between high school journalism teachers throughout the state and the University of Montana's School of Journalism in Missoula.

Roberts said this was the first year he's ever entered the BHS yearbook or its staff in the competition, and though overall results from the yearbook category aren't in yet, he said he feels good about his staff's chances.

Yearbooks and newspapers are judged against other schools in their size division (i.e. AA, B, C etc.), but Hall's work was judged against students from all classes.

Roberts said he's seen plenty of the work Hall does on her own, and that some of her outdoor, wildlife and landscape photography could rival anyone's.

"You see tons of stuff from Glacier Park," he said. "Hers is the best stuff I've ever seen."

Hall said that wildlife and outdoor shooting is her favorite type, and that a dream job for her would be to have her photos on the pages of National Geographic magazine.

And for outdoor photography, she expects the Oregon coast to provide a substantially different set of challenges from the mountains around Bigfork.

"I'm really excited for the ocean and the different animals," she said.

Other winners in the MJEA competition from BHS were from the student newspaper, the Norse Code. Hadley Vandiver, a senior, took second place among Class A schools for opinion writing. Mason Shoultz, also a senior, placed third in the Enterprise Writing category for his piece "SAT's to ABC's," which appeared in the Norse Code and later in the Eagle in the "Decoding BHS" student-produced section.