SHREVEPORT – Prize Fest, the creative competition and festival that takes place in Shreveport, is well underway.
But while competitions play out before festival goers’ eyes in categories like music, food, and film, attendees may notice plenty of people with cameras in hand meandering around downtown.
These photographers are lining up their shots for Prize Fest’s Golden Lens competition in which each person can submit three photos that were taken downtown anytime between Sept. 28 through Sunday.
Approximately 10 LSUS digital arts students are participating in the event, in which an exhibition of finalist photos will be displayed and voted on by expert judges at the 2025 Prize Fest kickoff event.
Prize Fest founder and executive director Gregory Kallenberg visited LSUS’s digital photography class in September to encourage college student participation in any of the visual competitions.
“I think I was going to do it anyways, but it was definitely cool to have him here to talk to us,” said Ben Schurman. “I’ve never been in a photography competition before, but I have a few spots downtown that I’m going to take photos of this weekend.
“I’ve done photography for a few years after getting into it through real estate photography. I enjoyed the art form a lot and found ways to express myself through photography.”
Jason Maulding is new to photography, but Kallenberg and LSUS photography instructor Mollie Corbett encouraged students to take a shot.
Maulding is planning his shot Saturday during the fireworks display.
“This class is my first time dealing with cameras, and I want to get better at it,” Maulding said. “My plan is to take some nice photos of the fireworks over Shreveport.
“The subject range is huge, and you can choose from subjects like architecture and nature to interaction between humans and humans and animals. There are no wrong answers, and I have a couple of other ideas as well.”
Kallenberg distributed Prize Fest passes to the students, and Maulding said he and his best friend checked out the Film Fest sessions.
“You can participate in entertaining, engaging and rewarding activities here in Shreveport,” Corbett said. “Part of the education experience in college is exposure to and taking part in unique opportunities that just don’t come around without looking for them outside the educational setting.
“This is a passion project of (Kallenberg’s), and he’s a passionate person. It was great to have him share that with our students.”
Maulding perhaps could have competed in Prize Fest’s culinary arts since that was his career before starting a digital arts degree at LSUS.
After finishing his bachelor’s and eventually a master’s in studio art, he hopes to return to LSUS as an instructor.
“I’ve always enjoyed the physical arts like painting and drawing, and I’d like to come back and teach,” Maulding said. “I’ve been drawing since I was four and my mother gave me a ‘How to Draw Donald Duck book.’”
