Friday, May 23, 2025
On a trip to Sarasota, Florida, last fall, Alexandria Scanlon, a sophomore at East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School, stumbled on a house that had been uprooted from its foundation by Hurricane Milton weeks earlier, and had settled into a tilted position.
“I was just taking pictures of things I saw, and I looked out my window and I saw that,” Scanlon recalled. “Wow, I have to get a picture.”
In March, her photo of the house was selected for inclusion in this year’s Noir Et Blanc Photography Juried Exhibition, hosted by The Art Guild of Port Washington. The exhibit will run until March 29 at the guild’s gallery, at the Elderfields Preserve in Manhasset.
Scanlon said she was inspired by her Intro to Photography class, in which students experimented with lighting techniques using simple objects such as eggs.
The class, taught by Kelly Cabasso and in partnership with Farmingdale University for college credit, emphasizes light composition.
“We started by using eggs as our muse,” Cabasso explained. “It sounds silly, but it’s a really effective way to learn how to manipulate light.”
Eggs’ uniform shape helps students visualize light moving across them. They also photograph silverware, another everyday item that inspires creativity, Cabasso said.
“We take those concepts, go out into the world and maybe just notice something a little bit differently than before the class,” she said. “Because there’s a lot of beauty in a lot of weird places. It’s about training your eyes and changing your perspective of things.”
Scanlon’s work stood out for its use of reflection and lighting contrasts, Cabasso said.
The art guild, a nonprofit, supports visual arts education and exhibition. It offers a range of classes and workshops for artists of all ages, and hosts regular gallery shows to showcase local talent. It also has a section dedicated to the work of high school students.
Cabasso submitted Scanlon’s photo to the exhibition, where it was selected by judges. Scanlon, she said, shows great potential and creativity, particularly with her ability to capture unique perspectives.
“For Lexi’s piece, using a surface that has a reflective quality on the bottom [of the house], where she could see that image reflected, was just a brilliant move on her part,” Cabasso said.
Scanlon started taking photos this year in the school’s courses, such as the 35 millimeter film and digital classes.
“She did very well in the 35 millimeter class, but she kept talking about how excited she was for digital,” Cabasso said. “She is super talented, very passionate and already had a ton of really amazing photos that would just take an (editing) tweak, so she’s got a natural eye.”
While Scanlon is still considering her future career path, she is contemplating pursuing photography professionally.
“I was honestly very surprised because it’s my first year doing photography, and I was just entering my photos into contests just to try it out,” she said. “And it got accepted, which opened more doors to more contests.”
