UCLA student photographer optimistic about National Geographic entry

Kathleen Yap had just arrived at Katmai National Park, Alaska when a grizzly bear appeared from across the campground. It began to make its way toward Yap and her group of backpackers, causing them to backtrack.

“We were thinking of dropping our backpacks and going,” said Yap, a fourth-year environmental science student. “But (the backpack) had food in it, so we had to carry it all the way back and he got probably 10 feet away from us.”

The group was cornered by the beach, leaving the campers without a place to move further away.

The bear walked right past them.

Excited, Yap took her camera out and captured a shot of the bear by the campground sign.

Just beyond Yap’s campsite, a group of Alaskan brown bears fished for salmon along the rushing white currents of Brooks Falls. These were the photos Yap traveled to Katmai for, one of which she would submit to this year’s National Geographic annual photo competition.

The photo captures a scene of six grizzlies waiting to grab salmon. Yap said the largest of 16 bears claimed the best fishing spots, where the most salmon would leap up the falls as part of their annual migration to Brooks Lake. Yap could only fit six bears in her shot.

Three months later, in October, she submitted the photo to National Geographic’s annual photo competition, which calls for photographers around the world to submit entries into one of the three categories: people, places or nature. A panel of photographic experts evaluate each piece on creativity, photographic quality and authenticity of content in three rounds of judging.

Judges will choose first-place winners in each category to receive $2,500 and their photo published in National Geographic, and an overall winner to receive $10,000 and a paid trip to the National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. The winners will be announced on the National Geographic website Jan. 10.

Yap is optimistic after Business Insider featured her photo in its list of “The 12 most stunning entries from this year’s National Geographic photo contest” Nov. 11.

“I was in shock because I never thought I’d make it,” Yap said. “I’m really new to photography and there were so many other amazing pictures that were posted.”

Though Yap only started taking photos four years ago, her passion for nature is long-lived. Yap interned as a conservation officer for the National Parks Board in her native Singapore in 2012, where her supervisors let her use the office DSLR camera. She began taking photos of insects and birds, before her interest in photography grew into what she now considers a serious hobby.

Yap started her own website this summer to share her photos with others and a Facebook page to tell the stories behind some of them.

Pearl Liang, a fourth-year mathematics/economics student and friend of Yap, said Yap’s philosophy for her photography is to help people see the beauty of the world.

“(Yap) takes pictures to cherish the memory and help other people appreciate nature,” Liang said.

Sarah Anthony, a fourth-year chemistry student and friend of Yap, said Yap’s photos are a way for her to share her passion for nature with others. Anthony had tried to get Yap to enter the photo contest for more than a year and encouraged Yap to submit an entry for the 2014 National Geographic competition, but Yap never did.

This year, Yap said her friends helped push her into entering and selecting which photo to submit.

Yap said she judges the quality of her photos through Facebook, where others can critique her work. She said she chose the photo at Brooks Falls because it was a favorite among her friends and on her Facebook page.

Some of Yap’s friends have told her they thought the photo was fake. Yap takes it as the biggest compliment.

“The water is flowing and they cannot imagine that the bears would stay still for such a long time,” Yap said. “They don’t have to fight for space, which they usually do … even they can be at peace with each other.”

Yap’s interest in nature has taken her around the world. She has camped at Yellowstone and Sequoia, and spent time in Namibia last year. Yap said photography is her biggest hobby because she loves to use her photos to share her traveling experiences with people who aren’t out in nature as often as she is.

“(Traveling was) when I really got to know how it feels to be in nature, and how connected I feel in nature,” Yap said. “Nature was always there, and it was a big part of my life.”