Jenegua Benavente’s winning photo portrayed the island spirit and traditions being kept alive even in this digital age.
Another one of Benavente’s photos titled “Me Under Water” won second place in the Self category and won an award as the public’s choice during the exhibit opening on Wednesday night.
“I’m surprised and overwhelmed. I didn’t expect to win,” the 17-year-old MHS senior from As Lito told the Variety.
She said it was her first time to join a photography contest but the workshop was fun, enjoyable and challenging. Benavente used a Canon DLSR camera.
“Dr. Spennemann taught us to shoot photos with our hearts, not with our eyes, and I will carry that lesson with me,” Benavente said.
Dr. Dirk Spennemann, a professor in cultural heritage studies at Charles Sturt University in Albury, Australia has been coming to the CNMI every year. Recently, he conducted a photo workshop.
“The quality of the submitted work was impressive. The student’s interpretation of the various image categories ranged from gentle scenery to some really gut-wrenching, raw images,” Spennemann said.
The high school students have impressive talents, he added.
He said it would be great to repeat the project in five years to see what new visions the next cohort of students comes up with.
“We can’t escape images. We are living in an age that is image conscious. Visual images permeate all parts of life and shape public opinion, ranging from news coverage to advertising. Thus it is important that the current generation of high school students can express themselves in a visual language,” Spennemann said.
The exhibit concluded a three-week Community Photography Project hosted by the NMI Humanities Council through a partial funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Judging the photo entries with Spennemann were NMI Museum executive director and artist Robert Hunter and professional photographer Dr. Jack Hardy.
Hardy said it took them over two hours to pick out the winning entries from all the photos submitted by the 23 participants for the different categories.
The winning photos and the other submissions are showcased at http://myplacecnmi.org.
Spennemann was scheduled to leave Saipan yesterday but he will be back here in October. He has an upcoming photo exhibit in Alaska. His works are showcased at http://www.ausphoto.net.
Here are the winners for each category:
Art Category
1st place – Kai Staal
2nd place – Rozette Bunao
3rd place – Richard Matsuyama
CNMI Category
1st place – Naomi Nosek
2nd place – Richard Matsuyama
3rd place – Kai Staal
Family category
1st place – Jenequa Benavente
2nd place – Allison Madamba
3rd place – Wayneylynn Lizama
Future category
1st place – Richard Matsuyama
2nd place – Emma McCollough-Stearns
3rd place -Armalene Cabreros
Island category
1st place – Jenequa Benavente
2nd place -Naomi Nosek
3rd place -Kai Staal
Self category
1st place – Ray Lizama
2nd place – Jenequa Benavente
3rd place -Rozette Bunao
Self image category
1st place – Kai Staal
2nd place – Rozette Bunao
3rd place -Ray Lizama
Village category
1st place – Richard Matsuyama
2nd place – Wayneylynn Lizama
3rd place -Kai Staal
Spennemann, Hunter and NMI Council for the Humanities Charles P. Reyes Jr. distributed certificates to the winners.
