In the Free Press

We made the paper again.
Thanks to Theresa Mallum from the Free Press who took this pic ( ok with my camera) after doing an interview with the 4 of us. Debbie Malm - sitting up as she is the same size as moi, John Westagaard
Ute Wilder and myself amoung many other photographers in BC
had our work selected for a Salon back in March. We thought we'd like to share some of the images with you in this digital day and age so we printed and framed them for the patrons of Books & Co. to enjoy for the month of September. Grab a java and take a gander as they are some beautiful images from a great group of people!

March News....Prints Selected for Digital Salon

I attended the IMAGEQUEST 09 which included several speakers,a 2 day tradeshow and Digital Salon for Members but was open to any and all people interested in photography. In the Digital Salon two of my 4 images submitted accepted and those are the two childrens images seen here.Both are from Prince George families sessions I photographed in 2008. So thank you so much to all of them!! A little girl and her 3 brothers came up with the idea of being dragged behind the car. I took it from there adding the animation For the second image a previous student of mine gave birth to twin girls and her sister-in-law boys so together "Cousins"came to be a gift for their grandmother.
These images will go onto the next level of competition in May at the National Digital Salon in Saskatewchan.
I have also learned I receive my First Masters Bar (earned by service to the Association and having Prints Chosen for Salon).Unfortunately I will not be in Saskatewchan to receive it so will have to wait till next Feb.in Vancouver instead.
With these images I am introducing a new style in finishing images for clients who want a little different look. Ask about it when booking your next session!!

KODAK EXCELLENCE IN PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD

PPABC President David Szabo

presenting me my Kodak Award.

Well, the 63rd PPABC Print Seminar and Convention was held here in Prince George May 25 - 28th

for the first time in 40 years. It was quite the accomplishment for the local photographers who worked so hard before during and after the event.Around 100 people gathered for 4 days of print competition and to listen to speakers on a variety of subjects.

The event was held

between the 4 Points Sheraton and Treasure Cove Casino.Both gave excellent service to all.

Several of my students from the Photography Class I teach at the University came out to work at the Print show.Many thanks in particular to Bobbi Carpino, Susie Crichton, Kelly Harris and Wayne Carlton. Other students came to the Tradeshow to see the vendors as well as the Print Salon Show which hung there Sunday night - Tuesday night.

There was a 50s "sockup",and a group photo with a vintage vehicle on the Monday night with one of our Northern Members playing with his life band.

During the awards night I prepared a tribute to PPABC members who have died (using ProProducer Slideshow) and not a dry eye was in the house. There were 10 finalists for the Photographer of the Year including Me !!!The winner was Tracey Harper of Victoria. 4 of us from the North did pick up trophies and awards though including myself.I got honourable mentions for both the Pictorial and Press Categories but received the Kodak Award of Excellence for the Digital/Electronic Category for "To Each His Own" an image I photographed in Beijing China in the Forbidden City of people sitting on a bench.

All the hard work paid off.Now back to real work!!

PPOC London Ontario

I've been away in Ontario for the first half of April visiting my brother and his 2 daughters in

North Bay for a few days (spent alot of time starting a cold). Took a quick break from the airport for lunch with my nieces aunt and her partner when I flew through Toronto.Thanks

Diane and Carrie.

It was spring in North Bay but the lake was

frozen solid and the streets had loads of sand on them.It is a very windy place as I found most

of Ontario to be.Pretty flat country. I so enjoyed getting to spend time with them in their

home and seeing their schools and meeting some of the people in their lives.I miss you all Chris,Ashten and Megan.

From there I flew down to London Ontario to attend the PPOC Professional Photographers of Canada Print Salon and Convention.Had a seat mate that invited me to come for dinner some time while in London.I did end up having dinner with Paul and his wife Nancy a few days later which was a welcome break from the convention centre.Great wine and homemade pizza & caesar salad! Thanks so much.Nancy is a member of the Purple Ladies and was heading out bowling with them.Now that I would of loved to watched!!! Thanks again for the warm invite.

I arrived early into London for the Convention by a day and was greeted at the airport by Nelson Simard and taken to his home in Woodstock, where he and Tanya Thompson (our PPOC Secretary) live in a beautiful home that Nelson has redone himself . Woodstock is a beautiful community that I would love to see in the summer as it was charming in the spring. Other people arrived throughout the day and at the end of the day 6 of us headed out for a great dinner at a Thai Restaurant in a small town between Woodstock and London.Fabulous food! The next day I wondered the streets of London,down Dundas and then the famous Richmond St full of shops to wonder in and out of .Tanya had told me about a little Middle Eastern restaurant that I did find for a lovely lunch and break from the walking.

I was one of the judges at the Nationals

for the Print Salon so after meeting other judges from across Canada in the evening it was up early each morning for the next 2 days for me to have breakfast and spend the days judging the portrait images that had been submitted.There were over 840 images submitted for the Print Salon either in print or digital format and albums as well.It was divided into 2 panels: Portrait and Commerical.I was on the first.That meant I could only enter images into the Commerical side NOT on the Portrait side as I was a judge on that panel. I entered 4 and had 3 accepted.

2 were actually "accepted" and one went "merit".Translated this means that a print can be judged and receive a Not accepted,accepted,merit or excellent status.I learned about my own prints 3 days later as I was very busy with what I was doing on the Panel.I was abit nervous to tell you the truth as it was my first time judging at Nationals (having done Provincials/other zones) and being on the same panel with Nelson Simard,Marc Bailey,Marlene Fast and Michael Ayers .Andrea Martin and I were the two newbies on the panel. Charles Vand Den Ouden was the Chair Person who kept us on track whether judging 16x20 prints or digitals entries on a Mac Moniter horizontal images first then the verticals.But honestly after 5 or 10 minutes I was having no problems doing what I came to do.I learned from my peers and appreciated their insights into controversial images but when I felt strongly about an image I did

try to help it by sharing my thoughts about it as well.It was exhausting but by the time we finished at 7:15 pm on the second day and choosing the winning images etc I felt that I had contributed to the panel and learned more about the talent that Canada has in her photographers.I was asked to judge the following day on the Accreditation Panel so that meant getting up early again which I love doing as I am a morning person. Nelson Simard was the Jury

Foreperson and on the panel were 4 of us: John Beesley,Chris Stambaugh (Our new PPOC President 2009) Mark Knight and myself. Accreditation is when people want to specialize in a particular category that they are able to do above average work in .They submitt 10 images digitally mostly but 8x10 prints had been entered in the past. Out of the 60 or so submissions we accepted 36.Seeing a body of work gave us a feeling of whether a photographer could do work under a variety of lighting situations or styles depending on the category.

After nearly 8 hours we finished and now the learning part began for us with the Great line up of speakers.And of course the Socializing aspect too with the parties that were organized for us.

More about that next time.