An eye for beauty

Natalie Stevanus has an eye for beauty. She loves to take photographs that make people happy. It is a winning combination!

Stevanus, 36, recently won the Judges’ Choice Award at the United Kingdom’s “My Perspective” photography competition that is open to people with Down Syndrome from around the world. She loves taking landscape and nature shots, and has been a finalist every year she entered.  

Her photograph entitled “Companionship” won her top honours and was described as “so apt for what we’re all going through.”

Stevanus says that winning was “a big surprise” and that she was “very excited.” 

Normally finalists go to the U.K. for an awards ceremony. She is disappointed that the event cannot happen this year, due to COVID-19, but she is excited to receive a new camera as a prize.

Stevanus got started snapping photographs more than 15 years ago, after an early-season snowstorm at a cottage with her family turned their surroundings into a winter wonderland. Her parents recognized her gift and encouraged her to take a course in photography. 

Stevanus, who is part of Bloomingdale (Ont.) Mennonite Church, just down the road from her family’s farm, likes how her photographs bring joy to people, which inspires her to take more.

Do you have a story idea about Mennonites in Eastern Canada? Send it to Janet Bauman at ec@canadianmennonite.org.