Image of the Day – Frank Cava, MPA
Posted on May, 4 at 6:00 am
This image was created by member and master photographer Frank Cava from Ottawa, ON. To view more of Frank’s work, please visit: Photolux Studio
Popularity: 2%
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2012 PPOC-Alberta Commercial Photographer of the Year – Kristian Bogner
Posted on May, 3 at 10:00 am
The Professional Photgrapher’s of Canada in Alberta held their 2012 print competition in conjunction with their provincial convention “Exposure”. The awards gala was held February 4, 2012 where member Kristian Bogner from Canmore, AB was awarded the 2012 PPOC-AB Commercial Photographer of the Year award.
“I started photography literally when I was three and a half years old shooting with my grandfather’s Leica. I started using a Nikkormat when I was about 6. First wedding photos at 10. My Grandfather Nikolai was a German Master Photographer and my mom and dad were both Canadian Master Photographers. So I grew up as “slave-labour” jokingly… in the darkroom and assisting on weddings. I learned my guide-numbers early and had the great fortune of coming to PPOC conventions since I was about 6 years old. I was always a keener, and had and interest in photography and I would sit though every lecture learning from the Masters.
I worked every day after school and summers for my parents and also learned a lot as yearbook editor at my high school where I was given unlimited film to shoot and they actually created a course for me to do photography and yearbook. In the end we accomplished the first digital yearbook in Canada.
I learned to build my own computers at a very young age and was a bit of a “computer geek” and still am. This helped me tremendously to enter into the realm of Digital Imaging very early on…. Photoshop 1.0 actually. These geeky skills still serve me today and I find I revert to them whenever I need a big problem to be solved.
I achieved a full academic scholarship to several universities and decided to choose the closest to home and take Marketing while I set up a professional studio
two blocks away from school which allowed me to work and slip to class when necessary.
As a commercial photographer I have never specialized. I shoot high end development projects, fashion, extreme athletes, products, landscapes, and whatever other challenges come my way. I call this photographic cross-training and it works for me! I am writing this shooting from Maui and three weeks ago I was in India on a month long photographic expedition. I have been to Victoria on a real estate shoot twice in between. Photography is my passion and I have been blessed enough to be able to flow creatively from assignment to project to extraordinary client, while maintaining a standard of excellence or at least a pursuit of that excellence… and it has got me to where I am today. I am thankful for that!
I shoot a lot of professional athletes and olympians. I have learned a lot about their mindset and it resonates with me. That is why I love to enter our PPOC print competition. It is great to practice. In fact practice is a necessary discipline. Competition puts practice to the test and I really feel this is a necessary part of growing in any industry, sport or occupation. That push of competition is an self-expansive process!
The PPOC is an incredible association. I am so thankful for all of the incredible mentors I have had within the PPOC… that have truly played a huge part in my
photographic success and they have also been what inspires me.
I am fortunate to have other wonderful mentors in my life that also inspire me. Nature inspires me, people, love and passion along with other people achieving
excellence in their discipline. I love putting myself in situation where I am challenged and allowing myself to expand to another level.
I currently have a ton of projects on the go. I have a great client portfolio right now which is allowing me to work on a book with my India Images, I am evolving my Web store which sells Bogner landscape images and I am moving full speed ahead on evolving my photographic instruction to amateurs and professionals, while continuing to push the limits of photography in any way I can.”
To view more of Kristian’s work, please visit: Kristian Bogner Photography
Popularity: 2%
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Image of the Day – Blondin Legace, HLM CPA
Posted on May, 3 at 6:00 am
This image was created by member Blondin Legace from Rimouski, QC.
Popularity: 1%
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Image of the Day – Ian Bull, MPA
Posted on May, 2 at 6:00 am
This image was created by member and master photographer Ian Bull from Vernon, BC. To view more of Ian’s work, please visit: Ian Bull Photography
Popularity: 2%
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2012 PPOC-Alberta Portrait Photographer of the Year Co-Winner – Jenny Alston
Posted on May, 1 at 10:00 am
This year the PPOC-AB was proud to select two winners for the Alberta Portrait Photographer of the Year: Jenny Alston and Kim Ruff. Today, we’d like to introduce you to Jenny Alston from Lethbridge, AB. Congratulations Jenny on a job well done!
“I am self-taught, but after a few years in my business, I looked at the industry and where I was and I instantly developed an insatiable desire to expand my knowledge. I have attended a number of training sessions with internationally recognizable names in our industry. I have been doing this professionally since 2003 (soon to be nine years!!). Weddings are my first love, but boudoir – is a close second. I specialize in seeing connection. I feel I don’t communicate effectively through my camera if my heart can’t speak in the conversation as well.
I can narrow down my progress to a few key turning points in my career. The first in being pushed and challenged to enter international print competition during a workshop a few years back. He and his team truly cared that we were growing. That was the turning point where I stopped chastising myself for being the artist, feeling like a square peg in a round hole most of my life, and truly embraced my gifts for what they were. I felt an explosion of growth from that. The second was when I moved to Lethbridge and had to dig in my heels and work hard to succeed in this tough photography market as an emerging, yet established business in this new, saturated city. I sharpened my business skills and I further relied on the well of creativity within me. I shoot for myself a lot more now and that has resulted in amazing results, as well as another explosion of learning. I’m adding new techniques and adding to my repertoire and vision all the time when I get up early to photograph a sunrise, or other genre of photography.
I keep current on what is going on, especially print competition, but I purposely don’t stalk blogs or websites. I want a unique look and I want my images to be a product of my own creativity.
I am focused on providing art. I want epic images on my client’s walls or albums. I want imagery that I would have loved to have (if I hadn’t hired a cheap photographer myself when I got married in the 1990′s). I am creating images that generations that follow will be viewing. These images will outlive the subjects in them…my name will be attached to them. They have to be timeless and interesting! I love low-light, or interestingly-lit sultry imagery.
On the business side, I love social media, blogging and my main business-side love is marketing. I absolutely love the creativity that comes with marketing. Finding ways to cut through the noise of society. LOVE it!!
I started entering WPPI print competition in 2009 and continued with WPPI and the PPOC when I joined in 2010. With the emergence and wide use of Facebook, images are up for all the world to see. I saw pictures labeled as “stunning” that weren’t so stunning. My eyes for good light and composition had been opened by that time and I thought to myself, “people tell me my images are good – I want to make sure they are!” I didn’t want to believe my fanbase as my only thermometer. I wanted print judges to also tell me I was on the right track. I have paid my dues with receiving criticism in print competition. I learned from everything they ripped apart. I wanted critique… I didn’t care how much I loved my images or how much it hurt to hear. I wanted the naked truth because I wanted to get better and progress with my vision and technique. To this day, I am on the edge of my seat listening to hours and hours of print competition. I love hearing what they say and seeing the innovative and unique imagery.
It is true that you get out of it what you put into it. In a world where there are photographers in every family, photographers on every street (at least where I live 
…the PPOC gives multiple avenues to stand out. You can get accredited. This tells the public that I didn’t get my camera five minutes ago and now I’m a photographer – I had to pass a standard. In print competition, winning awards and titles can be very useful in marketing…yet another way to stand out. It is a way to say my industry believes in me too. Showing that I care enough about my industry to be a part of it also shows longevity and validity. Being in such a saturated market, I have had clients who have been exasperated in the search to find a photographer they can trust to be good at their craft. The pendulum is swinging the other way and the public wants to know how to find good photographers and aren’t just settling with the neighborhood friend all the time anymore – being a part of our industry in some official way shows them we are serious.
I choose my mentors carefully because I want to be honest to the art my soul wants to provide. I watch our industry carefully – new techniques and new products. I want to remain an artist, rather than turning trendy – yet I want to remain relevant and I want to have my images stand out. When I photograph weddings, I want them to be timeless, I don`t want the wedding images to be out of date the following year because I’ve laid the latest action on them. I can also say branching outside of my experienced genre during my own photographing time has reaped many rewards. My assistant and I photograph about twice a month and try new things – just for our own education. Find a buddy, shoot with them…reach into your own well of creativity as well as looking to other genres, industries and other images for inspiration, as well as, study the art of the old Masters. Develop a true artistic appreciation of everything in your world. Fill your own creative well and it will benefit you. I love seeing the world through artist’s eyes.
I will NEVER say I know everything. I will forever and always be searching for that new nugget of education or inspiration. I have my sights on more titles in the print competition world, my CPA, my MPA and giving back to young people. I give free photography workshops to teenagers. They are at such an age that if I can mentor them, or make them feel good about themselves or confident in any way – I might be affecting generations behind them. I was given these gifts for a reason and I know that it wasn’t to keep them to myself.
I will always push myself. always…”
To view more of Jenny’s work, please visit: Imajen Photo
Popularity: 3%
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