Tourism Moose Jaw Photography Contest Winners.
Contest winners posing in front of the freshly unveiled photo collaboration collage project between Tourism Moose Jaw and the Moose Jaw Camera Club.
From left to right: Chad Klyne, Jonathon Charles, Sandra Frey and Shayna Kennedy. (Not pictured - Megan Keller and Krystal Moore)
Nick Murray
In December, Tourism Moose Jaw and put out the call to local photographers that they were wanting to pay them for pictures. They were going to host a photography contest. They were looking, particularly, for images that would capture the essence of what "some time spent in Moose Jaw was like for a visitor" said Jacki L'Heureux, Executive Director at Tourism Moose Jaw, said; and they were going to hand out multiple cash prizes to the ones deemed to be the best.
Chad Klyne accepting the top prize from Jacki L'Heureux
"It is a great way for us to promote Moose Jaw to people and a really good way for us to tell our story" she said.
Well, the results are in. Tourism Moose Jaw handed out six prizes.
Here comes the buzzkill. The pictures won't be released to the public until the annual visitor's guide comes out in early May. So, you're not going to see them here quite yet. The people at Tourism Moose Jaw would rather the visitor's guide to be the official unveiling of the photos. Although they did present them to the viewing public at their press conference on March 20th.
On another note, they did, officially unveil another piece of photographic art. It's a collage photo they worked on, in collaboration with The Moose Jaw Camera Club (Scroll up for a sneak peek).
But let's get onto the photography prize winners. Of the 265 pictures submitted, the panel of judges decided on six winners. $500 for top prize and $50 each for the rest.
Chad Klyne won the top prize for his shot of 4th Avenue Bridge. He was awarded $500 and the privilege of having his art work grace the cover of Tourism Moose Jaw's annual visitor's guide.
Chad has been honing his craft as a photographer since he was 14 and he now owns a hobby business called Focused Light Images. You can find more of his work on Instagram, where, you'll see he is no stranger to snapping potentially iconic shots of Moose Jaw and assorted prairie life.
Chad took the winning photo on New Year's Day and claims that the $500 is the most money he has ever made from one of his works.
"I'm gonna make some more prints", Chad said, when asked what he would do with the winnings.
He added that winning the prize came unexpected. "It feels good," he said, "I'm very humbled."
Maybe you can see the winning photo, or at least some others like it, by checking out his Instagram page at @f.l._images.
Until then, check out one of his other pieces to get an idea of what his work is about.
River Fog by Chad Klyne
There were five prizes of $50 each, handed out to the runners up. Megan Keller won one of those. Megan Keller's work can be found all over this here little website. She submitted a picture of her daughter, Emi, holding onto flowers. You can find more of her works, on Facebook at Megan Marie Photography.
Photo: Megan Keller / Megan Marie Photography
Krystal Moore, another winner, typically focuses on weddings, maternity and family photos, was another winner. Her work can be found on Facebook and at www.krystalmoorephotography.com, as well.
Sandra Frey and Shayna Kennedy were both $50 winners as well.
Jonathon Charles, another winner, can be found at www.jonathoncharlesphotography.com, he focuses more on portraits.
Photo by Jonathon Charles/ Jonathon Charles Photography
In regards to judging the contest, L'Heureux said, "I'm really glad I wasn't in the committee, there were so many great ones.
Deciding on a winner didn't come easy, she added, "probably 215 of them were great," she said, thus admitting that some of them were also not great. "But how do you choose between a lily and a photo of the snowbirds?" she asked. "They can both represent Moose Jaw; but they are completely different."
The contest was such a success that Jacki has decided to make it an annual event, beginning in 2020. "We will probably start in June next time, so people have more time and two seasons to work with."
"We have never had a picture with snow on the front cover of the guide before," she added. "This will be the first time ever."