By Isjina Luckett

The Photography Magnet competed at the Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) and had four students qualify for the state competition. Eighteen competitors earned perfect scores, and 46 of the 55 RHS students who competed earned a medal.

This is the only scholastic competition that the Photography Magnet participated in throughout the year. All of the students who went to the competition prepared an image along with paperwork for their submission.

“The work had to be original with evidence to show the development of the photo,” Photography Magnet teacher Marcus Irvin said. “They were very particular about showing the pre-production notes and products and there were forms the artist had to fill out to explain their approach to the photo.”

All of the students went through an interview process in order for their submissions to be complete. They asked the students questions about how they came up with the images, how they related to them and If there was one thing they would fix about their image what would it be.

“As I started going into the interview, I started getting butterflies,” senior Halle Hendry said.

Hendry and freshman Sam Berry were among the students who received a perfect score and qualified for state competition.

“It felt great,” Berry said. “I put all the work in and it took me a bunch of time to edit, but it encouraged me to keep going and working.”