Brennan Scott has been taking pictures for only a year, but his keen eye caught the fancy of judges at a national competition earlier this month in Orlando, Fla.

Photos by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Brennan Scott, a rising senior at Cave Spring High School, is an avid juggler and photographer who just won first place in a national competition for technology students in the category of Imaging Technology.

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Sure, Brennan Scott has won a national photography competition, but his real passion is juggling.

"I used PowerPoint to set it all up," Brennan said matter-of-factly about his winning entry. "It really wasn't that hard to do."

Now the rising senior at Cave Spring High School is having a ball at what he called a "strange talent competition."

He's at Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind., at the 50th Annual Convention of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians, an organization that supports Christian magicians and performers.

But not too long ago, Brennan was winning a national competition.

After placing first at the regional competition and third at the state event, the 16-year-old took first place in the Technology Students of America Imaging Technology Competition July 2 in Orlando, Fla.

Brennan's dad, Jeff Scott, a pastor at Colonial Avenue Baptist Church, was the younger Scott's inspiration.

Two years ago, Brennan's sister, Amy, was inspired, too. She won second place in the same national competition.

Photography "has just been something we've done," said Brennan, who has been taking pictures for only about one year. "There's no real reason, we just kind of do it."

Using his dad's Nikon D50, Brennan first took pictures that complied with this year's TSA theme, "Technically Speaking."

He said his thoughts immediately flew to the technologies that have become a part of everyday life, but he came up with a way to stand out.

"I figured that everybody would take pictures of computers and CDs," said Brennan. "I took pictures of pineapples because, technically, they're not pine nor apples."

Brennan submitted nine black-and-white and six color photos. The title of his size-regulated board was "Technically Speaking" and each of the photographs had a caption that completed a sentence.

"Pineapples aren't apples" read the words below a photo of a pineapple. "Not a lifetime guarantee" remarked the caption of a truck in a junk yard.

After he won the regional competition, which this year was held at Patrick Henry High School, the state and national rounds had an added element: photojournalism.

At each of those events, the top 10 displays must complete the photojournalism project. Brennan and his competitors had limited time (six hours at the state level; a whole day at the national competition) to take pictures of newsworthy things going on around them and create a presentation.

The aspiring architect started taking pictures only about a year ago, when he took a digital photography and 3-D animation class.

Technically speaking, he's got talent.