About Jacqueline Friduss

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Like most high school students, Jacqueline Friduss has a lot going on.
A junior at Palo Alto High School, her busy schedule is filled with ceramics classes, tennis matches, and now, a photo shoot or two.

Friduss' love for photography began many years ago, when she got her first camera in the 5th grade. More recently, she took a week-long photo class the summer before her freshman year, which is when her interest in photography developed. However, it's when she's outside of the classroom that she really feels in her element. "The excitement when you see something that really catches your eye is what draws me to photography," she says, thinking back to one evening when she was biking home on an overpass and she paused briefly to catch a few photos of the sun setting on the horizon. "I think it's instinctual, that feeling you get, like, wow this is really cool."

"Bicycle at the Baylands" was taken on a class trip to the marsh, where she found that this landscape is to her, the essence of Palo Alto. She was able to capture an image composed of shadows and contrast that shows the depth of the natural environment in the Bay Area, which shesaid, are some of her favorite still life subjects to photograph.

Her eye for photography also expands beyond what she sees through the viewfinder. In fact, many of her favorite pieces were discovered after photo was snapped.

"A lot of the time I end up taking a picture and then cropping out a lot of it," she says. And while sitting at a computer for hours on end editing a photo may not be the most exciting part, it is just as important as the actual taking of the picture, Jacqueline says.

Looking to the upcoming years in high school and college, she is fond of the idea of a future behind the scene. Recently, she has found more time to sit down and work on her creative writing skills, which has inspired her to think of a career that blends together her passion for art and the humanities.

"My dream is to be a screenwriter. But if I ever write a book, I may include my photos in the book instead of illustrations. To me, that'd be a really fun project."

"I've never really thought of a career as a photographer. This is the first time I've ever submitted to a contest, and then I won!" she said with a laugh. "I've never really thought of my photos as ones people would want to look at."

-- Siena Witte