By Ellie Smith
Features Editor

With the click of a button, the perfect moment is captured. After countless hours of planning, shooting and editing, a clear vision and premeditated idea is transformed into a pristine photograph. Senior Kate Whitney uses composition, lighting and framing to capture amazing photos.

“Kate doesn’t just take a picture, she tells a story and creates her own world, one that we can vicariously share in,” said art teacher Lisa Bolotte.

Whitney recently won a Gold Key from the Boston Globe Scholastic Art & Writing awards, the highest honor, for her portfolio consisting of black and white film stills with a constant erie, dark theme to all of the photos.

“My concentration is nightmares and all of the photos are more on the darker side. They are all meant to be frames from a movie. So, they are all very story telling,” said Whitney.

Whitney had twenty photos, all taken this year, to chose from for her portfolio. Only her favorite eight of the twenty pictures were included in the portfolio.

For each picture included in the collection, Whitney has spent about an hour deciding what she wants the photo to portray, an hour to set up the shot, a couple of hours shooting and more hours editing.

Whitney decided to enter her portfolio on a whim, without any expectation of her work winning an award, but to her surprise, her work received a Gold Key Award.

“I initially was really surprised because I wasn’t expecting to win, but then I was also very proud that my hard work had paid off,” said Whitney.

One of her favorite photographers is Cindy Sherman. Like many Whitney’s photos, Sherman focuses mainly on self portraits. A series of film stills by Sherman inspired Whitney’s portfolio that received a Gold Key Award.

Whitney has been artistic every since she was young. She recalls always asking for art supplies and constantly finger painting as a kid. However, she became interesting in film photography during the summers of middle school.

Throughout her high school career, she has enjoyed taking photography I, photography II, digital dark room and is currently taking AP photography.

Though she doesn’t plan to study art in college, Whitney feels that photography is always a passion that she will do throughout her life.

“I think [art] is something that I will always do,” said Whitney. “My best friend and I have this dream that we are going to open up an art gallery in New York City someday, so I think it is always going to be a part of my life even if it’s not going to be my primary occupation.”

Friend and fellow photographer senior Jenny Watts, who has seen Whitney’s hard work in photography, commends her dedication and focus.

“I am incredibly impressed with Kate’s determination in getting the perfect shot. If the image she is trying to get isn’t perfect, she will reshoot the entire scene until she has it, even if that includes going barefoot during a snowstorm,” said Watts.

For more on the Scholastic Globe Show awards, click here.