It is CAL's annual "Through a Lens" show of photography. This year, its theme is "Through a Lens - Life in Motion" and, explained show co-coordinator Shirley Kellicutt, that can be defined in terms of photographic studies of something living in motion, literally or figuratively.
This annual show, started in 2004, celebrates photographers as artists, rather than focusing on categories of topic or style.
 MaryAnn Heinzen sits in front of her first-place-winning photograph, 'Masai Jumping Dance,' at the Coastal Arts League Museum. |
The show drew some 500 entries, of which 50 make up the show. It will be exhibited through April 9. Entries came from five countries - Germany, Sweden, Japan, China and the United States - and were juried by Hayward resident and pre-eminent photographer Michael Collopy. An opening reception was held March 17.
Collopy is known for his portraits of world figures, from leaders including Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher, to entertainers like Ella Fitzgerald, Mick Jagger or Luciano Pavarotti. His work has been published worldwide in books, magazines and newspapers. He is self-taught but was guided by photographers including Ansel Adams and Richard Avedon.
He selected winners of one first-place prize of $1,000, three second-place awards of $250 and five third-place awards of $100. First place was captured by MaryAnn Heinzen of Half Moon Bay for her energetic "Masai Jumping Dance," with a tall Masai warrior leaping effortlessly into the air.
Reflections of Africa are quintessentially Heinzen, 66. A Half Moon Bay resident since 1966, she had taught school in Daly City since 1969 - and has taught for five years at the Green Valley English Medium School, a private school, in Arusha, Tanzania.
As part of her work, she is building a literacy library in Tanzania, and eagerly collects books to help stock it. African children learn English early, she said, and so she is out to "beg, borrow, steal books from as many people as I can."
Her photography centers on the wildlife of Africa. "Of all the things I like to do in the world, my favorite thing is to go out with animals," she said. "I'm always out on safari."
Curiosity drives her photographic work as well as her travel lust, she says. "I want to see other people and how different they are but how similar they are when you see them," she said.
The second- and third-place winners hailed from around the country, with two exceptions; Heinzen took a third-place award for her "Lion Brothers" and Jeff Klagenberg took an honorable mention with his "Flock of One," a study of a duck.
The CAL museum is located at 300 Main St. in Half Moon Bay and can be reached at 726-6335.
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