Every day, students across the MVHS campus can be seen taking pictures with their smartphones in hand. Photography club has recognized the increased popularity of photography among students and is beginning a new tradition — a monthly photography contest.

“We know that a lot of people casually do photography, and we want to make it more accessible to the public,” officer Kavya Aswadhati said. “Everyone’s already starting to do it on their camera phones, and so why not take it to the next level?”

The theme for the January’s contest is ‘landscapes’, and all students are invited to enter their photos. The winner of the contest will receive two wide angle lens attachments for their smartphone to take higher quality photos. According to Aswadhati, photo club is using money collected through fundraisers to purchase the expensive prize equipment. Every month, photo club is planning to give away a new photography tool to the winner of the contest. Photo club will also collect the funds to pay for the equipment through sponsors and submission fees for its upcoming gallery competition.

“We are reaching out to GoPro and other sponsors like that who make the equipment to see if they’ll donate anything,” Aswadhati said.