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Students who studied abroad during the past year had the opportunity to submit their photos to the International Education Center for the annual study abroad photo contest.

Cristina Darbut took first place in the “Sense of Place” category with her photo of a sunrise viewed from the heights of Machu Picchu. Kelly Tonnemaker won first place in the “Intercultural Experiences” category with a photo of a village chief from Samoa making dessert.

Students with first-place photos won $100 and students taking second place received $50. The IEC also handed out third, fourth and fifth place awards for photos. Photos were judged by a group of St. Thomas individuals including IEC employees and St. Thomas photographers.

Senior Marissa Ellingson won fourth place in the “Sense of Place” category for her photo, “Tied Up in Venice,” which showed gondolas tied up around St. Mark’s Square.

“I had visited Venice three years previous to my study abroad trip and took a picture of this same place,” she said. “I wanted to go back and capture a different aspect of it, focusing on only one gondola instead of five.”

She said she doesn’t have a lot of photography experience and was happy and surprised when she won the award.

“I took a couple of photography classes in high school, so I do have some experience with taking photos,” Ellingson said. “However, in my day to day life, I don’t really take many pictures.”

Junior Ali Vandercook had two winning photos in the contest. She took second place in the “Intercultural Experience” category with her photo of a night market in China and took third place in the same category with her photo “Mekong Delta” in Vietnam.

“I submitted the photo that I did for China because every time I looked at the photo of the night market, it brought back memories and experiences of my first night free and independent on the streets of Beijing,” she said.

She said she is not a professional photographer by any means, but felt compelled to take pictures while she was abroad.

“I usually don’t even have the attention span for taking pictures or feel awkward getting groups of people’s faces together every two seconds for a photo op,” Vandercook said. “But while abroad I felt like I had to take a picture of everything, almost like it was my duty or obligation since I was so privileged to have such an amazing opportunity to travel.”

“Sense of Place”

1st Place: Cristina Darbut, “La Salida del Sol”
2nd Place: David Hackworthy, “Ready for Take-Off”
3rd Place: Martha McCarthy, “Killarney National Park”
4th Place: Marissa Ellingson, “Tied Up in Venice”
5th Place: Cristina Darbut, “La Cara de Machu Picchu”

“Intercultural Experience”

1st Place: Kelly Tonnemaker, “Tui Makes Dessert”
2nd Place: Ali Vandercook, “Night Market in China”
3rd Place: Ali Vandercook, “Mekong Delta”
4th Place: Emily Pritchard, “The Performer”
5th Place: “Melissa Medearis, “Spice Bazaar”

Katie Broadwell can be reached at klbroadwell@stthomas.edu.