De Anza student Phil Richardson already had a good career as an engineering technician for Intel. The only problem was that he hated it. One day, after seeing flier for a photo contest, he decided to give it a chance.
“He’s back at school for a reason,” says John Maruoka, Richardson’s photography instructor. “He has good direction.”
Taking his chances against 19,000 contestants, Richardson entered the 30th annual college photo contest presented by “Photographer’s Forum” magazine and Nikon.
“Once I started reading [the news letter] and realized what it said, I started shaking and was more excited than I had been in a long time. This meant that I was on the right path. I do have talent, and all the hard work and sacrifice is worth it,” Richardson said, after finding out he was among the remaining 100 finalists.
He is also in the running for a $2,000 grant, a Nikon D90 camera and lens system. More importantly, Richardson is guaranteed to be published in “Best of College Photography 2010” magazine and placed into Nikon’s Emerging Photographers Hall of Fame if he wins.
“That’s what I really want. I don’t really care about the money or prizes.” Rather, “I’d love the recognition as an emerging talent,” says Richardson.
