Senior Taylor Nappi Wins Photography Contest Award

Taylor Nappi is one of Huntington High School’s most talented young photographers. The senior was recently one of seven award recipients across Long Island in the Fifth Annual Roberta Stent Memorial Photography Award contest.

Ms. Nappi’s photographs and application materials were submitted by Huntington art teacher Pamela Piffard, who also sent along a personal recommendation. “We believe that you have the talent, dedication and passion that this scholarship award is looking for,” wrote Craig Stent and Marc Stent in a letter to Ms. Nappi.

The Huntington Camera Club helped coordinate the contest. The Stent family established the award “in honor and memory of their beloved mother, a passionate photographer and a member of the Huntington Camera Club.”

Applicants were asked to prepare a “creative presentation that demonstrates what photography means to you; how it plays a role in your life and why you should win this award. Your presentation should include at least three examples of your work and may be in the form of an essay, video, photo montage or other creative means.”

Ms. Nappi can often be found with a camera in her hand. Her beautiful photography is both imaginative and thought provoking.

“Photography has been a crucial part of my life especially in high school where I found that I excelled in this subject,” wrote Ms. Nappi in an essay for the contest. “Throughout my participation in photography, I have found a passion in using images to depict the feelings I am unsure how to necessarily put into words, especially those that cause me to feel isolated or different from my peers. It is my strong conviction that an image allows anyone of any background to see a concept in a way that is comprehensible for them.”

The senior is currently working on her Advanced Placement Photography portfolio. “My focus has been the navigation of the gap between childhood and adulthood addressing both the good and bad things that are paired with this experience we all share,” Ms. Nappi said. “With this, I have found a new way to connect with peers and allow them to see that their experiences are not ‘weird’ and are actually quite prevalent in teenagers across the world. Photography has had such a positive effect on my life that in college I intend to pursue degrees in photography and art education so that I am able to further encourage creativity and expression through images.

Ms. Nappi submitted various images with her application, including a series of three she titled “Wear and Tear” and another she calls “Glitch in Time.” The favorite of contest officials was a photography titled “Worn Out Wishes.”

“In this self-portrait I strived to emulate a childhood birthday party using nostalgic props while having a melancholic central focus,” Ms. Nappi said. “This represents how often, individuals are longing for the past and wishing they had appreciated the present while ironically ignoring the fleeting moments they still have. This is very personal to me as I am using items all from my past birthdays to recreate such a nostalgic scene, which was a very bittersweet experience, but also helped me to grasp the fact that I am still young and so intertwined with these relics of my past.”