Tennent Senior Snaps Up Scholarship Award from Photo Exhibit

Samantha Scheer, a senior at in Warminster has been chosen as the top winner in the student portion of the 20th annual Phillips’ Mill Photographic Exhibition in New Hope.

“A lot of the art work there was very good and I thought I couldn’t compete with it,” Scheer said.

But her black-and-white photograph was selected as the best of 37 images accepted into the juried competition, chosen from a pool of 113 submitted by students from 15 area schools. Fellow William Tennent students Taylor Procter and Brooke Norton, from Warminster, were also selected for the show, as well as Jessica Waldinger and Amber Terey from the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology.

Daughter of Judy and William Scheer of Warminster, Samantha won a $1,000 college scholarship, which, she said, will help in her pursuit of a photography degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

The untitled photograph – shot on 35 mm, extended range film processed in a darkroom as opposed to digital printing – is of a woman standing in ankle-deep water during the summer, eyes cast downward. It was shot at the in Churchville.

Exhibition Juror Frank Majore, an award-winning photographer from New York City, was impressed with the subject and setting Scheer chose.

“I was drawn to the dramatic tension created between the figure and the surrounding landscape, the highlights on the left balancing the long stretch of dark landscape,” he said. “Samantha’s photograph crystallized one of those moments in time where all the elements of a successful image seem to fall in place. The result isn’t merely a matter of good luck; it requires practice and a strong photographic eye.”

Kristen King, coordinator of the high school exhibit portion of PMPE, and photography teacher at Tennent, said Scheer’s photograph is a “really sophisticated traditional photograph” processed in a darkroom.

“This 35mm image was printed well beyond the range of what a 35mm negative should go – printed on 16-by-20 inch paper, which is large for that format,” said King. “Technically, it’s a beautiful print. The light is spectacular.”

In addition to the scholarship, four students won $50 Judges Awards:

• Alaina Trentalange, Huntingdon Valley, Lower Moreland High School, Lower Moreland.
• Jessica Waldinger, Warminster, Middle Bucks Institute of Technology, Jamison.
• Joe Anthony, Yardley, The Hun School, Princeton, N.J.
• Adriana VanManen, Princeton, N.J., Princeton Day School, Princeton, N.J.

Phillips' Mill Photographic Exhibition hours are 1-5 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and 1-9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. There is no admission charge. All work on exhibit is available for purchase.

For more information, call PMPE at 215-262-6064 or visit www.phillipsmill.org.