Six EC students recently had their photography featured in the book, “Best of College & High School Photography 2012,” Darilyn Rowan, photography professor said.

The photographers featured in the book placed in the top 10 percent in a contest judged by several prestigious photography individuals from among 16,000 to entries, from countries all over the world Rowan said.

EC students featured in the publication include:

Joseph L. Clausen, Patricia L. Kim, Robert Long, Gloria Plascencia , and Jason P. Riney, Rowan said.

“Being featured in the publication is a very big deal in the photography community, since Photographer’s Forum’s contest is world renown,” Rowan said.

“As an artist, being recognized in the publication is a great honor,” Robert Long, 29, photography major said. “It’s motivation. To know that if you keep doing something that you love doing, eventually you will be one of the best and be the best that you can be.”

This is the second year that Long has entered the contest and his first time being published in the book, but he had also been featured in the Myriad this year.

Long added that he plans to make another entry in the contest next year and is confident in his repeated success and that he plans to continue improving himself and getting closer to becoming a professional photographer.

“I see myself owning my own studio and hiring other photographers to do other types of work,” Long said.

Gloria Plascencia, 52- year-old photography major said that this is her third time being featured in the book and thinks it is great to be published but still remains focused on being published as a professional photographer rather than as a student.

Placencia said that she is a fine art photographer who specializes in photographing landscapes in nature, but she is excited about a project that she is currently working on in which she portrays someone who is homeless in self-portraits.

“I like to tell a story with my images,” Placencia said. “I can find art anywhere I go.”

Placensia added that she would like to run a studio in the future, and continue to find different photography opportunities.