Fil-Am makes it to finals of NatGeo photo contest

A Filipino-American writer-photographer is banking on the support of her fellow Fil-Am netizens, after being selected as one of six finalists in a photo contest of an international science-oriented magazine. Philippine-born Yen Baet, currently based in England, is the only Filipino to make it to the finals of the National Geographic Photo Contest. She is now vying for the grand prize: a nine-day tour for two through Peru. “I happen to be the only Filipino who made it to the finals, and it goes without saying that I am proud to represent the country," Baet said in an e-mail to GMA News Online.

Fil-Am photographer Yen Baet's "Rainy Night in Hallstatt" is one of only six finalists in the National Geographic Photo Contest. www.yenbaet.com

Baet, a native of Ozamiz City in Misamis Occidental, is a freelance photographer, who also writes and paints, according to her online profile. She earned a degree in English from Holy Angel University in Pampanga, where she lived with her family until she migrated to the US in the early 1990s. She subsequently became a legal resident in the US. Her entry, titled “Rainy Night in Hallstatt", was taken two years ago during a rainy autumn in the scenic village of Hallstatt in Austria. “Braving the pouring rain under a small umbrella… protecting my camera, I trudged up the hill to where I would take my shot… and there it was, the church sitting quietly on the still lake, grazed by wisps of low-lying clouds, and embraced in soft mystical light. It looked like a dream," Baet narrated in an interview posted on the blog site Fil-Am Ako. The winner will be selected through online voting, and Baet is calling her fellow Fil-Ams for support, as only legal US residents are eligible to vote. The deadline for voting is March 10. To vote, click here. Her other works may be found on Flicker and Wordpress. — VS, GMA News