March 8th, 2006 
Aruba Tourism Authority, ATA, recently invited the media to meet a very special girl, who at the young age of 12, was announced as the winner of the National Geographic Traveler “In My view” photo competition. Overall among all participants, Naomi Vonk was one of the youngest. The second and third best photos were both by 17-year-olds.
During the press conference held at the ATA Public Relations Offices, Naomi was put in the spotlight. Her mother Janine, who is a professional photographer, left Naomi all to herself to decide on her subjects, composition and in general the entire process of taking the photos. She drove around with her, as did all other parents, but did not meddle.
“Photography is a lot of fun and you can do it too,” Naomi, who had also attended the workshop organized by ATA and Checkpoint Color preceding the contest on Aruba, encourages her peers.
About her picture, she says, “I just wanted a photo of my friends jumping off a pier.” And that is exactly what she named her winning picture: “Friends jumping from pier.” Her models immediately said “yes” when she asked for their help.
While her mom waited and saw her daughter go through all the emotions of a photo not looking the way she wanted it to be the first time, Naomi snapped away. Naomi explained the process. In the first photo, she got her friends too low on the jump. By the time she took the second photo the girls were already giggling in the sea. A couple of snapshots followed, then Naomi thought she saw something she liked. Mom advised that they go home and take a look at the larger view on the computer screen and… the picture was perfect!
ATA Public Relations Coordinator Sjeidy Feliciano, who was in charge of the project, commented that the photo showed the diversity of the Aruban culture. Her mom said proudly that she thought the picture was simple and uncluttered, showed good composition, even the shadow and the ocean cooperated for the perfect picture. Checkpoint representative Farita Luidens said it showed an island, because of the ocean, happiness, youth, perfect composition. ATA Public Relations Director Gina Lopez-Gnecco called Naomi’s photo an incredible moment or standstill in time of Naomi’s friends and mentioned that it was a great achievement that Naomi’s picture was chosen from about 800 entries from all over the Caribbean.
Naomi had taken over 100 photos and had this one to chose from about 36. The adults left the choice up to her. Everybody sees what they see in Naomi’s picture, National Geographic Traveler has not yet explained why her picture was chosen. Meanwhile the young photographer smiles and says she sees what she wanted to see all along: her friends jumping off a pier!
