Image Challenge 2020 and the New Normal

By: Kathy Schrader 

On March 17, 2020 Lambton College, in an effort to protect its student body and staff, closed its doors and ceased classroom learning. Students and faculty acted quickly to adapt to the changes dictated by the novel coronavirus, Covid-19.  The photography program saw its assignment requirements reduced to only those tasks that could be completed at a social distance. That meant no more studio time, no access to lighting equipment, no immediate contact with classmates or teachers.  It also meant reconciling diminished program highlights such as the student gallery exhibitions and the long-held competition called Image Challenge which included a really fun year-end dinner to send off the graduating class.  

Welcome to Image challenge 8.0, brought to you by Microsoft Teams and the dedication of students, faculty, and judges.  Speaking of judges here they are: 

Bisa Alawode is an award-winning photographer celebrated for his unique approach to wedding photography.  He is a graduate of the Lambton College Photography Program and a appreciated addition to this year’s judging panel.

Lisa Cattran is also a graduate of the Lambton College Photography Program with the practice in the Sarnia. Her specialties include sports, landscape/travel and portraiture photography as well as her current community-based project aimed at benefitting a non-profit social agency.

 
Sophie Sheldrick of Raw Footage Photography is a self-taught success story with an active lifestyle photography practice based in London Ontario.  

Peter Power is a veteran photographer based in Ontario and abroad.  His award-winning editorial images and corporate portraits are known for their story-telling features. Among his list of clientele you will find Canadian Geographic Magazine, The Canadian Press, the CBC, CAMH Foundation, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, AFP Services, Reuters, PostMedia, National Post, Our Kids Media, Communitech, Clothesline Media, Appleby College, and NOMA Event Design. 

This year saw another interesting cross-section of proficient images with year one students competing in the following categories: Portrait, Still Life, Nature and Unclassified.

First year winners include:

    Portrait

  Nature

Still Life

Unclassified

The first year overall winners are: 

Third Place - Britney O’Brien 

Second Place - Mike McCormack

First Place - Iris Kippert

The second-year classifications, though fewer, allowed for greater input within a given category.  They are: People, Places and Commercial.

Second year winners are:

People

Places

Commercial

The second-year overall winners are:  

Second Place - Abbey Browning 

First Place - Kathy Schrader

In 2018 it was decided that a joint category would be introduced.  The Challenge is a mandatory classification open to students in each year.  This year’s Image Challenge Challenge winner is Iris Kippert.

Congratulations to each competing student.  Winner or not you hung in there and came away with some vital real-world experience.  It has been a year of extremes with f/45 highs and t/60 lows.  Put your hands together out there in TEAMS-land and make some 3276800 ISO noise.

Many thanks to our sponsors: Nikon, Camera Canada, Think Tank and Lens On Lambton. 

Many thanks to our faculty, Richard Nikon Beland, Erica English Kelly, Geoff Darth Robins, Niki Wedding Patel and Chris Below Parr and last but not least Emily Go-To Nutson.  You have played a significant role in forming us.  We will not be the same.

Commercial Applications

By: Rahim Gilani



This image is one of the first bottle images I did in my career, and I will always remember this shoot as it took almost 5 hours to get it right, but in the end, it turned out well.


The main thing I learned from this shoot is how to get separation at the bottom of the grapes and the wine bottle, so they are not lost in the background.

To achieve this photograph, I used two strip lights parallel to the bottle and a reflector along the bottom of the image, which I then photoshopped to match the colour of the glass.





This image is one of my favourites that I have created. This photograph was for an assignment where the task is to feature glassware. This is a challenging assignment because it is hard to get the perfect lighting with anything made of glass; you really have to pay attention to reflections and specular highlights.

One of the main things my professor (Richard Beland) taught me is to “do it in-camera.” This statement stuck with me. Now 80% of my images are made in-camera with minimal photoshop afterwards.

For this image, I used two strip lights and one background light. All the lights were covered with vellum paper, and the backlight had a blue gel. It was tough to get detail in the cheese, so I had to add a small light right above the camera, pointing at the cheese to bring some detail back into the product.

When I was planning to do this shoot, I was thinking of what elements I should use, and I ended up referring back to a colour wheel where I found the opposite of blue is orange. I then went to the grocery store and picked up all the vegetables and fruits that looked orange. The idea of using cheese came from watching movies featuring people from Italy eating cheese while drinking wine, and the idea to use bread came from the movie “The Irishman.”





This photograph was a passion project and also for my portfolio. It was taken during the second year of my photography course.

The idea of doing an air freshener product photograph came from my workplace, Giant Tiger.
I was working one day, and out of nowhere, I asked my Supervisor to give me a challenging
product that she wanted me to photograph which ended up being the air freshener and the Stewarts soda bottle.

After getting the product, the main challenge for me was what props I should use. I carefully looked at the product this time and saw apples and cinnamon, it was already pictured on the product to show the fragrance. The backdrop was created by hanging blinds behind the product. My overall idea was to show the product near the window in the morning.

I took many photos with a full apple but didn’t look appealing. After a few shots, I took the knife and cut the apple, which adds more texture to the image.

To achieve the desired lighting, I used four strip box lights and two flags. All of the strip lights were covered with velum paper to get the soft edges on the product itself.





This was the other product given to me by my supervisor. To achieve this lighting, I used two strip lights and some paper that I bought at Dollarama. My goal was to make this a very colourful photograph.

I wanted to try something different with this image and knew it would be tough to execute. The original plan was to make it look artistic, so in photoshop, I selected the bottle from one image, lemon from another and glass from the third. I then drew the spikes which are visible on the bottle and added the border with more bright colours to make it pop.

This is the only image featured in my portfolio that is a product digital-manipulation. It was a fun shoot, and I'm happy with how it turned out.

THE INSPIRATION

By: Jaswinder Kaur

When I completed my high school diploma, I did not know that I would choose photography as a profession. I liked taking photographs as a hobby; my thoughts for taking photography as a profession were different at that time. I thought, “I can’t do this” or “I can’t take good pictures.”

Two years ago, when I thought of studying abroad, I applied to Hospitality Management at Lambton College, Sarnia, and accidentally I got admission to Photography Program here at Lambton College. This was a frustrating situation for me. I tried to withdraw from this program, as I said earlier, I was not in favour of photography at that time. I did not have an option to leave this program because I already had paid a chunk of money and had a study visa on behalf of this program, so I decided to continue the photography program. At this stage, my parents suggested that” you will learn something useful, which is better than doing nothing.” The day I accepted the offer to photography program was the day I changed my mind. I told myself I was ready for the challenge.

The Oculus. New York City U.S.A. October24, 2019.

After that, I came here to Canada. Then I met with digital photography co-ordinator and great concert photographer Mr. Richard Beland during orientation, which was a special moment for me. I told him about the matter and my nervousness. After listening to me, he said, “Don’t worry, you will enjoy photography.” I did not even have an idea about which camera I should buy or what kind of other equipment I needed. But he helped me with everything. He inspired me a lot for taking an interest in photography, and he was right. I started from scratch without knowing the rules of photography. Now my interest in photography is increasing with every passing day, and I am enjoying it.

In the first year of the program,  as I followed through the lessons, I learned some basic knowledge about lighting techniques, photographic techniques, editing skills, dealing with different clients, graphic design and much more. I started growing at this stage.



Once in the second- year of the program, we not only got an opportunity to know more about those things we learned in first year but also gained knowledge about printing, selling prints, galleries, portfolio development, and writing for media. All this combined gave us the big kick towards being photographers. We also went on the annual second-year New York City trip, where we captured so many good pictures. This trip helped me learn how to photograph subjects creatively and be aware of what things are essential to consider inside the photograph. I am proud of the work I did while in this wonderful program.

Central Park, New York City U.S.A. October 26^th, 2019. 

I thank Richard Beland and the Lambton College Photography program for their significant contribution to making me a good photographer and changing my thoughts about photography as a profession.

Manpreet Kaur Brar feeling pleased at Lambton College

 Photography Studio, London Road, Sarnia, Ontario, Thursday, 

February 5, 2020.

Wild Wilderness

By: Alanna Drouillard

A lot of people don’t think to look around to see what’s on the ground, in the sky, and on leaves. Some people don’t think about looking at all at the wildlife in their natural environment, from the largest whale to the smallest ant. You can always take an award-winning picture, of something you didn’t expect. If you want to be a Wildlife Photographer, you always have to be on the lookout. You can’t just look at the ground, you have to look up above you as well. I was walking through marshland, and I didn’t see a bird right beside me until it flew away. Just like driving you always have to be aware of your surroundings, or else you’ll miss out on something amazing. 

When out and taking pictures of wildlife, you have to know where to look and what to look for. Say you're looking for a certain flower you have to know when it blooms, what climate does it grow in, and if it is poisonous or not. Sometimes it’s best to ask locals to see if they know about the plants you are looking for. It’s also a good idea to have a local take you on a guided tour to places where most people don’t go. For example in this picture I was on a cruise with my family, I bought a shore excursion to tour an old fortress, a museum, and have lunch at a botanical garden which is where I took this picture. I was just wandering around the garden taking pictures of all the flowers when I saw this flower up in a tree. I asked one of the tour guides what was the flower called. At first, I thought it was a coconut but it was called a Canon Ball flower. It is always a good thing to find out what plant or animal you are taking photos of, It shows you care for what you do and knowledgeable on the subject. 

On the other hand, when you’re out taking photos of wild or domestic animals you have to be careful. When on the lookout for wild animals you have to be very quiet. When I was traveling around Florida, I was walking along a lake when I almost stepped on an alligator. I thought that It was dead for a second until It ran up to walkway out of the area. 

You have to make sure you don’t step on fallen branches, or you’ll scare the animals away. Just like with flowers it’s best to ask locals, hunters, or trappers. Hunters and trappers know the lay of the land, and where to look for certain animals. They know to look for animal's dens, tracks, and hunting grounds, while locals know what type of animals that live around the area. It is best to have a camera that has a silent mode, so as not to scare them away. It’s also good to have a telephoto lens to take pictures of them from far away. While taking photos of animals, you should always look for the most distinct feature they have. 

While being a wildlife photographer can be hard, it can be very fun and rewarding. You get to see all kinds of amazing animals. 

Fake it till you Make It: A Passion Project

Fake it till you Make It: A Passion Project

Last Term, for an assignment my teacher Richard Beland gave us a new assignment called the Photography Passion Project, and it was definitely my favourite assignment of the year. He wanted us to create our own photography project and, in his words, “with Passion and Purpose shoot from the heart.”

At first, I didn’t really like the idea of this assignment because we were supposed to present this in front of the class, and well speaking from the heart in front of people was never really my thing. As I began thinking about what to do the assignment on I realized that my dilemma of not wanting to share from the heart was my answer. That’s when I came up with the idea for my passion project called Fake it ‘till you make it.

 I have always been used to not sharing how I felt and locking feelings away because that’s what I thought I was supposed to do. This image is the first photograph of the series. My idea behind this photograph was about how I keep feelings locked inside, and just put on a lie on the outside. I have now realized that the more you lock away the more you fill up and get closer to popping. Just like a balloon.

While working on this assignment I realized how much photography really means to me. For me, it’s not just a way to make money, something that’s fun, or even not just what I’m passionate about. To me, it’s a way to let some air out of my balloon. It’s a way for me to express how I’m feeling since I never know how to or it doesn’t feel right to put it into words.

Through this assignment, I learned how to put my heart and emotions into my photography, and how it can be an outlet for me. Below is the rest of the photographs in my series. You can go check out more of my photography at www.abrowningphotography.com and on my Instagram @abrowning_photography.