Sophomore's photo selected for national literary magazine

Sunset Brond's 2010 work was featured in the summer 2010 issue of a national literary magazine. Photo by Laura Brond '13

Laura Brond '13 The W&M sophomore says she hopes to further develop her photography skills. Photo courtesy of Laura Brond '13

by Isshin Teshima '11 | September 17, 2010

College of William and Mary students express their creativity in a variety of methods. For Laura Brond ’13, however, creativity comes with a well-taken photo.

Brond, an avid photographer, was recently chosen as one of 22 students around the country to be featured in the summer 2010 edition of The Collegiate Scholar, the official literary magazine of the National Society for Collegiate Scholars.

NSCS, established and run by student members with the help of a faculty advisor, is an honor organization that recognizes the top 20 percent of students at over 250 colleges in the United States. William & Mary is home to what is considered a “silver star” chapter of NSCS, meaning the university has won numerous awards over the years for their dedication to scholarship and service.

“I was so excited when I received the email telling me my photograph was selected for the magazine,” Brond said. “This is the first time any photograph of mine has been published, so I am extremely flattered that mine was among the ones chosen out of all of the submissions.”

The photograph, taken during a trip to Jamestown Beach last year, features flowers in the wake of a setting sunset.

“I was still learning then—and am continuing to learn now—how to improve my photographs, so I just took a lot of pictures at a lot of different angles,” Brond said. “For this one in particular, I was squatting underneath a fence because I wanted to get a close-up of the flowers with the sun setting behind them.”

Brond said that as she continues to explore the field of photography, she is attempting to find new ways to showcase her creativity.

“It’s only now that I am learning to take photography serious and to actually take the time to set up a nice picture and think about what it will look like and what I can do to make it better,” she said. “I think it would be fun to keep exploring other ways through which I can get my photographs seen.”