Focused on the Competition

Student Recipients of the Friedman Award in Photography are Announced

You only need a camera and an index finger to take a picture, but great artistic photographs rarely happen by accident. Composition, technique and quality of light have to be accounted for before the shutter even clicks. Then hours may be spent in a traditional or digital darkroom, extracting the drama or the dreaminess from a single frozen moment of everyday life.

For students, creating their photographs is only one skill set they need to master. Getting their artwork out into the world is another. Recently, the Art Department announced the recipients of the first-ever Friedman Award in photography, a campus-wide competition open to students of any year or major. For many, this was the first time they had ever entered their work into competition.

The award was sponsored by Elly Friedman, an Asheville resident who has owned art galleries in Pittsburgh and Sarasota, Fla. Friedman donated art to the Sociology Department a few years ago, and wanted to continue her support, this time aiming it at photography students. The top entries received cash awards, and Friedman also made an additional donation to the Photography program for equipment purchases.

“When I owned the gallery in Pittsburgh, we used to mount a new photography show every month,” Friedman said. “I’ve always loved supporting the arts.”

According to Eric Tomberlin, assistant professor of Art who teaches photography, the competition received entries from 41 students, approximately 70 percent of whom were art majors. “We had students from every level, from freshmen to seniors, participating in this contest.”

Students had to submit a series of four photographs, of related content, for either the color or black-and-white judging categories. Tomberlin and Friedman juried the competition.

Tomberlin used the contest as a teaching tool in his photography classes. “I always wanted to have a tool like this to get all my students working toward a single project,” he says. “They all have the same stimuli, and I wanted to see how they would respond.” As students worked on their regular assignments, Tomberlin reminded them to keep their submission in mind. He says it helps prepare them for the real world, where deadlines for galleries and competitions must be balanced with regular studio work.

Andrea Treolo, a UNC Asheville photography major, knew her friend’s loft apartment had all the right textures for a great photo: bare brick walls, tall windows and taller ceilings, and expansive wood floors.

So when Treolo heard that her friend, Sara Legatski, was planning to move, she realized time was limited to get the shots that she envisioned. Using her Olympus camera, loaded with black-and-white film, she took detailed photos of her friend’s possessions, street scenes looking out the windows, and captured every possible angle of the place. “When I was almost done, I asked Sara if I could get some shots of her,” says Treolo. “She grabbed an odd-looking hat and sat in her chair, and I snapped a few shots.” Later in the darkroom, Treolo’s first glimpse of her negatives confirmed her instincts were correct.

Her photos took second place in the black-and-white competition, with Dakota Hall, winning first. In the color category, Malia Reeder won first place with Marson Nance in second place.

Marson Nance, ‘12, is one of the non-art majors who submitted work. Nance is an Environmental Studies major and self-taught photographer. “My grandfather left me his old camera. And that got me started,” says Nance. Eventually, he bought a digital SLR camera and started learning advanced skills by watching instructional videos on YouTube.

He took his submitted shots during his internship, which was located at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. He captured “Kite Flyer, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge” at dusk, using a long exposure to create the blurred effect and the deep rich blue tones.

“I’m so excited to have my work chosen for this award,” said Nance. “This is the first photo competition I’ve ever entered, and I was surprised to see it stand alongside all these art majors.”

1st Place Black and White $1,500
2nd Place Black and White $1,000

1st Place Color $1,500
2nd Place Color $1,000