How College of DuPage freshman captured winning image
A midsummer sunset on a Michigan beach frames the grains of sand as they filter through a woman's fingers, creating an illusion of motion in the still frame.
"I really like hands, as a point-of-view. I liked the feeling with the still hand and the falling sand," said photographer Sarah Kratz, who took the shot in late July 2016. "I really liked the way it came out."
A photography student from Warrenville, Kratz is the winner of the March Daily Herald Photo Finish contest, an award that carries with it a $50 gift certificate from PJ's Camera in Glen Ellyn.
"The photo is thoughtful, interesting and well executed," said DuPage County Photo Director Bev Horne.
Kratz took her winning photo with a Nikon D3200, a DSLR camera, one of two Kratz uses.
"With DSLR, it's a lot more personal. You can make things purposely blurred or purposely sharp," she said. "It's a lot more personal because you have more control."
She learned how to use the camera through high school classes and her father's instruction, she said.
For this photo, she said, she used a manual focus. She and her family were vacationing near New Buffalo, Michigan, and she asked her mother to serve as a hand model.
"It's at sunset, so I used her hand as silhouette. I used a slow shutter speed. It's a really pretty sunset," she said.
Kratz, 18, a graduate of Wheaton Warrenville South High School, is currently a freshman majoring in photography at College of DuPage.
"I've always been interested in photography. I grew up traveling all over the United States," she said. "My Disneyland was the ocean."
She began to consider photography as a career goal while in a high school photography class.
"My teacher pulled me aside and said, 'You have a real talent for this.' So then I took it more seriously," she said.
She won several awards for her efforts at school. She currently is pursuing an associate degree in photography, with plans to seek a bachelor's degree at Columbia College in Chicago.
"My dream is to be a National Geographic photographer. I love to travel," she said. "My favorite place I had growing up was Oregon."
She said she found the Pacific Ocean in winter particularly interesting to photograph.
"I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I want to document this," she said. "I've always loved the shoreline, the rocks, the mist."
Kratz said she especially likes to focus on detail.
"I take mostly macro shots. I take a wide variety of photographs," she said. "I'm always seeing things that I want to photograph."
About our contest
If you'd like to submit a photo, email it in .jpg format with at least 300 dpi resolution to dupagecontest@dailyherald.com. Be sure to include your name, address and a phone number, plus a description of where you took the photo and why you like it. The monthly winner will receive a $50 gift certificate from PJ's Camera, Pickwick Place Plaza, 662 Roosevelt Road, Glen Ellyn.