Sheng-wen Lo, a master’s degree student at the Department of Electrical Engineering, fared exceptionally well at the prestigious Prix de le Photographie Paris 2011 Photo Competition, coming away with two gold medals, one silver and two bronzes as well as an overall third-place award in the non-professional advertising category.

Lo’s “Curiously Balanced: Gas Stations in Taiwan” earned him third place in the non-professional advertising category and a gold medal in the non-professional advertising architecture category. This series includes five photos of gas stations around Taiwan that were shot just as dusk was fading and the stations’ lights had come on. When Lo chose to photograph gas stations, he had been feeling dispirited, and he gained inspiration from the warm feeling of the stations’ lights as the darkness of night came on.

Lo’s other gold was awarded in the non-professional advertising product category for his photo “Mao De Bao N,” a warm picture of a sleeping cat curled up around a lens cap.

In the non-professional fine arts digitally enhanced category, Lo claimed a silver medal for “Mother, in USA,” a photo of his reluctant mother on her first trip to the United States, and a bronze for “Abnormally White,” a series of bleach-white photos of fruits and vegetables.

Though he majors in electrical engineering, he enjoys taking art and multimedia courses as well. Lo says he entered the competition in order to prepare to apply to photography and multimedia arts schools overseas.

Lo’s photography can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/coldcatcola/