Felt photograph makes finals in Parks contest

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Local photographer Kenny Felt's work has earned him recognition by appearing in publications all across the country.

Next month, however, one of his photographs has been chosen to appear in a slightly different venue.

Felt, who currently works as the director of event photography at Captured Images, 118 S. Main St., is one of the 14 finalists in the 19th Annual Gordon Parks International Photography Competition scheduled next month as part of the 4th Annual Gordon Parks Celebration of Culture and Diversity.

This is Felt's first entry in the contest.

Felt's photo, titled "Mom and Me," was one of 138 entries that were received by event organizers during this year's contest, Gordon Parks Center for Culture and Diversity Executive Director Jill Warford said. The photo depicts a mother and daughter, both fully dressed in wedding attire, on the mother's wedding day in a bridal suite in Kansas City last summer during a wedding he was photographing, Felt said.

Felt said there was no particular inspiration for the photograph he took, which he said took awhile as he tried to get the perfect shot. Felt said he knew when he had the right moment.

"I had hoped to get a great shot of the mother and her daughter alone at some point during the wedding and this turned out to be the shot," he said. "The bride was absolutely stunning and so was the little girl. I wanted to get an image of the two together and when the mother walked to the doorway, the little girl, who was bouncing all over the place, ran over to her mom and grabbed her hand and just grinned from ear to ear. It was a pretty priceless moment and I captured it and the image turned out better than I could have imagined."

A color version of the photograph now hangs in the window at Captured Images studio, Felt said.

Felt said becoming a finalist in the Gordon Parks photo contest ranks high on his list of career achievements.

"It's pretty darn cool," he said. "I don't think it's going to catapult me into the ranks of the greatest photographers ever. I'm honored to be selected though."

Warford said Felt's photo is the first entry by a local photographer in the contest since 1989, when Tom Braker, a former reporter with The Fort Scott Tribune, received an honorable mention during the first year of the contest.

While it conveys a much different image than most of the other entries, Warford said she is still pleased to see Felt's photo in the contest.

"I think Kenny's photo is unique from most of the other entries this year and I am glad that it was chosen," she said. "It is nice to see one of our talented local photographers make the finalists. I think Gordon would really be proud."

Preliminary voting for the photo contest was conducted by members of the photography staff at Life magazine. The competition was recently narrowed down to 14 finalists, and member of Parks' family will conduct final judging of the entries during the Gordon Parks celebration, which is scheduled for Oct. 3-6 at Fort Scott Community College. Contest winners will be announced at that time.

Felt said he first heard that his photo made it to the finals of this year's competition while he was out driving one day.

"Jill Warford asked if I was sitting down," he said. "At that point, I had an idea of what she was going to tell me. I was pretty excited. This has been a goal of mine since I was a freshman at FSCC in 2001. The next goal is to place in the top three, but if that doesn't happen I'm still happy with being a finalist."

Felt said while he never expected his photograph to make it all the way to the top 14, he still felt "pretty confident that I had a good entry."

"I don't expect to win," he said. "Of course my grandma thinks it's the best photo of the group. I'm a little more realistic. I expect to be in the middle of the pack. I will enter again if I have an image worth entering."

Felt said he entered this particular photograph because of it's subject matter, and because he wanted the photo he entered to represent a pleasant and happy occasion that takes place in everyday life.

"If you see the finalists, most of them involve some sort of sadness or grief," he said. "I didn't want to enter an image like that. The media today shows very few touching moments. We are bombarded with images of terror, pain and horrendous loss every day. I wanted to enter something that would put a smile on someone's face. Thanks to my past in the world of journalism, my goal has always been to tell a story with a single photo. I think I did that with this image."

Public response to the photograph has been incredible, Felt said.

"A good friend of mine said she almost cried when she saw the image because it made her think of her daughters," he said.

Felt has both a personal and professional background with Parks, having met and photographed the Fort Scott native during Felt's time working with The Fort Scott Tribune. Felt also photographed Parks during the first Gordon Parks celebration in 2004, when Parks came back to Fort Scott for the first time in several years. Felt covered each celebration since that year, including Parks' final trip home before his death in March 2006.

"I originally wanted to be a photographer who changed the world with my photographs, much like Gordon did," Felt said.

The Gordon Parks photo contest has been conducted by FSCC since 1988. More than 3,500 people from around the world have participated in the annual program that, inspired by Parks' photography, reflects important themes in life such as social injustice, the suffering of others, and family values.

Cash prizes include $1,000 for the first prize winner, $500 for second place, and $250 for third place.

All of the finalists' photographs will be displayed at the Gordon Parks Center for Culture and Diversity at FSCC, 2108 S. Horton St., beginning Sept. 24.

The free exhibition is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The prints will also be on display during the Gordon Parks Celebration of Culture and Diversity.