As honorable mention recipient of the prestigious International Photography Award Competition (IPA), 51-year-old photography major Laura Bellamy encourages others to find, what they love to do early on in life.

After submitting five of her photographs, all were made official selections and one was awarded honorable mention.

“Next time I’m going to shoot for placement, but I was really honored to be chosen,” Bellamy said.

Working in the aerospace industry for nearly 20 years, Bellamy admits her heart wasn’t in it. When the U.S. invaded Iraq, she felt it was time for her to move on and began teaching at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).

“My years in aerospace were really important. It was part of the path. I’m not putting it down,” Bellamy said.

Bellamy currently teaches human sexuality at CSULB and has been teaching there for the past six years.

She decided to pursue photography two years ago and has a semester to go before receiving her associate degree in photography.

“Teaching and photography are my passions, and I hope in some way to integrate them,” Bellamy said.

Bellamy submitted photographs to several competitions while researching photographic competitions online, but never expected to hear back from the IPA. The IPA receives more than 1,000 images globally, making it one of the most competitive photography contests in the world.

Among the judges were New York art gallery owners and a photo editor from National Geographic.

Bellamy was also a finalist and had photographs published in Photographer’s Forum Best of College Photography 2009 and had photographs on the cover of EC’s catalogs consecutively for 2008-2009 and 2009-2010.

“One of her many strengths as a photographer is her especially skillful use of lighting. In some of her beautiful photographs the light appears to be illuminated from within the subject as well as descend on the subject from without, which reflects Laura’s talent and vision,” Darilyn Rowan, photography professor, said.

Bellamy is grateful for the helpful faculty that EC provides, including Rowan.

“Professor Rowan works hard to support and promote her students’ work,” Bellamy said.

At a recent photo exhibition at the C and D Welcome Café in Redondo Beach, which Bellamy and student curator Lyn Watanabe hostsed, Bellamy credits Rowan for going above and beyond to encourage and support them to get the word out to the community.

“She is an extremely busy person, but found the time to come to our reception,” Bellamy said.

Although she isn’t interested in commercial photography like weddings, Bellamy is interested in environmental and studio portraits. Her favorite place to photograph is in her garage because it’s easiest to control the lighting. With a couple of floodlights, Bellamy said she has fun seeing what images she can come up with using controlled lighting to photograph flowers or a few of her patient friends.

“It’s really challenging and exciting to pre-visualize a scene and have that come out in the final image,” Bellamy said.

Her future plans are to photograph women-related issues such as domestic violence, poverty and human trafficking.