UD student honored for study abroad iceberg photo
This photo taken by UD's Alyssa Crawford during a study abroad trip to Antarctica has received national recognition.
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8:55 a.m., May 22, 2009----Alyssa Crawford, a senior completing her bachelor's degree in fine arts at the University of Delaware, has received a second place prize in the first-ever Society of Publications Designers' student photo competition for a photo she took of an iceberg in Antarctica while on a UD study abroad trip during Winter Session 2008.

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Crawford said the photo was taken upon her first continental landing in Antarctica.

What made the picture stand out was the light quality, she said. After days of sailing around the peninsula with clear blue skies, she and her classmates were greeted upon arrival to the continent by a darker, overcast sky.

“It created a really surreal light,” she said. “It was almost as if you were watching a movie and you were not really there. The quality of the light made the picture.”

Crawford was told about the competition by a professor and decided to submit a few photos at the last minute. The category of the competition was land, sea and air. More than 250 students from across the country entered.

“I just thought 'What the heck,'” she said. “I didn't think I'd have a shot in a nationwide competition. When I found out I won a prize, I was very, very surprised and humbled.”

The study abroad trip, organized by Jake Bowman and Jonathan Cox from the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, took students on the Antarctic ice, through the mountains of Patagonia and to the ranches of Argentina. Courses dealt with nature and wildlife photography, as well as natural resources issues and wildlife conservation.

“The trip was not something you could ever imagine,” she said. “Antarctica was so extravagant and the mountains are gorgeous.”

Crawford said she took approximately 2,500 photographs on the trip.

Crawford has been interested in photography for years, and she said always knew she wanted to be involved with art, as it has been a big part of her life. In particular, she said she has a passion for nature and wildlife photography.

“There's nothing like having an image appear in your hands in a darkroom,” she said. “It's fascinating.”

After graduation, Crawford will continue exploring her passion by going to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, to learn how to work with underwater photography through an internship with Dolphin Dreams.

Article by Jon Bleiweis

 

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