Emma Hogan, a sophomore at Verona High School, has won first place for her photo of Verona Park’s lake in the Youth Category of the annual Essex County Parks Photography Contest.
And folks, she took this photo on an iPhone 6s. “I don’t even own a camera,” Hogan says.
Hogan was walking through the park with her sister in December when she saw the sunset and the ducks on the lake. “It fit perfectly,” she recalls. Her mom, who does have a camera, later saw an announcement of the park photography contest and suggested that Hogan enter it.
The Essex County Parks Photography Contest is sponsored by the Essex County Environmental Center and judged by members of the Essex County Photo Club. Entries were judged on creativity, technical superiority, composition and the photograph’s depiction of the uniqueness of the Essex County Parks System.
The contest winners were notified in late September, and Hogan was on a bus coming home from a VHS girls soccer game (she plays varsity) when she got the call. “I told all my friends and they were so happy,” she says.
Hogan hasn’t yet taken VHS’ photography class but, after winning the photography contest, she says she “probably will” in junior year.
