Young 'Uns Shutterbugging Laguna Beach Photography Pros

By Ellie Scharf

​Photographers displayed in the countless galleries and museums of Laguna Beach are now on notice: you've not only got stiff competition, but that competition is getting younger.

The photo above by Ellie Scharf is one of two taken by 13-year-olds from the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach that won the Image Makers 2009 National Photography competition. The shots will now tour to various venues and events, including the Boys & Girls Club of America's national conference.

The other photo singled out by the Image Makers, which was made by Savannah Coinon, follows after the jump . . .

By Savannah Coinon

​Scharf and Coinon competed against 500 other young photographers across America.

The Laguna Beach youth organization offers members ages 6-18 Image Makers as a year-round photo club through its Fine Art program. There they learn and practice black-and-white, color, digital and alternative process photography. The club then submitted participants' photography to the national competition, which also requires an essay from the shooters.

"To capture the world in the lens of a camera is not a skill, it is an art form," Scharf's essay began. "It is the art of reflecting ones self in their own image, to show that you understand your art and it understands you."