Congratulations to Julie Cork recipient of the 2025 Paul Burwell Memorial Scholarship an award of $500 sponsored by the Images Alberta Camera Club The Images Alberta Camera Club and the Burwell School of Photography are very pleased to have established a scholarship to encourage and support emerging photographic talent in Alberta. The IACC is a vibrant and active group of photographers and photo enthusiasts dedicated to creating images and sharing information. This intrepid group of photographers have generously sponsored a $500 scholarship to a deserving student of the Burwell School of Photography. There were multiple entries for the scholarship and a committee comprised of executive members of the Images Alberta Camera Club and the Burwell School of Photography was struck to review the portfolio's submitted and select a winner. It was a very difficult decision and in the end, Julie Cork's outstanding Pet Portraiture carried the day. Julie earns $500.00 to be used to further her career in photography and a free years membership to the Images Alberta Camera Club. Julie will be invited to give a presentation to the IACC on a photographic topic of her choice. BIOGRAPHY From a young age, my love for animals has shaped my life and, ultimately, my journey as a photographer. I grew up watching birds at our cabin with my grandmother, marveling at wildlife while traveling through the mountains, and gravitating toward dogs more than people at family gatherings. In 2017, my grandfather gifted me my first DSLR camera. At the time, I only knew how to use it in automatic mode, but that changed when I took my first photography class with Burwell in 2018. Learning manual opened up a new perspective on photography. Naturally, animals became the primary subjects in front of my lens. After spending several years photographing the pets of family and friends, I launched my pet photography business in 2021, primarily working with dogs, and occasional sessions featuring cats and horses. By 2022, I found myself searching for new inspiration and realized that pet photography often revolves around just a few species, despite the fact that many families cherish more unique animal companions. I expanded into exotic pets in 2023, photographing a range of species, including bearded dragons, sugar gliders, tortoises, parrots, and rabbits. While pet photography is my specialty, I have explored other genres, photographing engagements, weddings, landscapes, wildlife, the aurora borealis, events, and commercial projects for small businesses. As I continue to grow as a photographer, my goals for 2025 and beyond include photographing the Milky Way over the Rocky Mountains, documenting the bonds between more pets and their people, and embracing winter photography sessions on a regular basis. A selection of images from Julie's submission is below:

Congratulations to Cassandra Barrata recipient of and Honorable Mention in the 2025 Paul Burwell Memorial Scholarship The Images Alberta Camera Club and the Burwell School of Photography are very pleased to have established a scholarship to encourage and support emerging photographic talent in Alberta. The IACC is a vibrant and active group of photographers and photo enthusiasts dedicated to creating images and sharing information. This intrepid group of photographers have generously sponsored a $500 scholarship to a deserving student of the Burwell School of Photography. Selecting a winner was actually such a difficult choice that a precedence has been set. The selection committee has elected to award an HONORABLE MENTION to Cassandra Barrata. It was felt that Cassandra's portfolio was also excellent and deserving of recognition. Her wildlife and macro photography is most impressive. Cassandra will be awarded a free one year membership to the Images Alberta Camera Club and invited to present to the wildlife photography group. BIOGRAPHY I received my first camera on my 8 th birthday. It was bright pink (my favorite colour) and used Fujifilm 35mm film. The first picture I took on my new camera was of our dog, and then a flower in our garden. This was the beginning of my lifelong passion for photographing all things animal and nature. I have boxes full of pictures that I have taken since that time, all comprising of various subjects but always centered around the themes I enjoy most: landscapes, weather, scenery, wildlife, pets/livestock, and many other types of flora and fauna. I currently have a side business as a pet photographer, which I started as a family and wedding photography business 10 years ago. While working with people was an excellent learning experience, it wasn’t what drove me. I’ve always loved animals, and they’ve always been an important part of my life. The transition to pet photography was a natural progression, and I initially started with exotic pets (reptiles and invertebrates). I wanted to show others how amazing these oft misunderstood animals really are, and fill a niche in the industry. I also volunteer my time with Second Chance Animal Rescue Society as a photographer to take pictures of foster animals at events or for the adoption website, and also for Farm Animal Rescue and Rehoming Movement (F.A.R.R.M.) as a photographer to help them showcase their animals and create art/apparel for them to raise funds for their rescue. My primary photographic interests today are landscape, wildlife, macro, and night photography. Our world is incredibly beautiful and diverse, and some of my happiest memories are camping in the mountains as a kid because the scenery, the atmosphere, and the wildlife was absolutely breathtaking, and really made you feel that life was worth living. Photos cannot do those experiences justice, but my goal is to come as close as possible to bringing those experiences to life one more time. Good pictures can help you relive but a single moment; great pictures can help you relive an entire memory. My future goals and ambitions are to focus on landscape and wildlife photography by embarking on mini expeditions to various Alberta parks and forests. My dream would be to travel to photo-worthy destinations such as Alaska, Iceland, and Costa Rica. Nothing would make me happier than to have these experiences of a lifetime and incredible photos to show for it. A selection of images from Cassandra's submission is below:

Enjo y these videos created by Burwell School instructor Andrew Shaw 

The Winner of the "Little Things" Photography contest is Adrian Crisp  As always in our contests, it is a difficult choice to select a winner from the excellent entries our students submit. But Adrian's image of a baby vervet monkey suckling from it's mother, fit the theme in a visually striking and emotional way. Congratulations also go out to all the photographers who were finalists in the competition. Great work everyone! The winning photographer will receive a $250.00 gift certificate towards any class the Burwell School offers. Additional gift certificates of $100.00 will be awarded for Honorable Mentions. All finalists will receive a snazzy certificate and have their photos featured in our newsletter, on Facebook, Instagram and our blog. These images will also be printed, framed and displayed at the Providence Renewal Center.

The Winner of the "Happiness" Photography contest is Colleen Sayer. Congratulations Colleen, on winning the Motion photography contest with your image titled "Incoming". The photograph has incredible impact! When you first see it, you stop breathing for a microsecond. The technical quality is outstanding in terms of white balance, exposure, detail and sharpness. A great action wildlife photograph by any standard! Images are judged on their technical quality, impact or impression and on how they relate to the theme of the competition. All finalists receive a snazzy, frameable certificate and will have their photographs displayed in the Burwell Newsletter, Facebook, Instagram and Blog. A printed copy will be framed and displayed at the Providence Renewal Center. The winner also receives a $200 gift certificate to any class the Burwell School offers. Honorable mentions will receive a $50 gift certificate.

The Winner of the "Happiness" Photography contest is Clayton Reitzel  Congratulations Clayton, on winning the Interesting People photography contest with your image titled "Happy Chef". The subject of the photograph gives the entire image an unbelievable warmth and charm that simply exudes happiness. Images are judged on their technical quality, impact or impression and on how they relate to the theme of the competition. In this particular competition, we gave less emphasis on the them since it is not up to us to judge what makes someone happy. The only thing that really matters is that the amazing photographs make us happy to see them. There were plenty of excellent entries. In fact, this contest had the most ever images entered in any contest the Burwell School has ever held. It was difficult but we were able to narrow down the field to 6 finalists. After deciding that Clayton's Happy Chef was the winner, we additionally awarded Honorable Mentions to Photographers Julie Cork and Kelly Rombough. Shirley Laibida and Diane Sieswerda were our other two finalists. All finalists receive a snazzy, frameable certificate and will have their photographs displayed in the Burwell Newsletter, Facebook, Instagram and Blog. A printed copy will be framed and displayed at the Providence Renewal Center. The winner also receives a $200 gift certificate to any class the Burwell School offers. Honorable mentions will receive a $50 gift certificate.

Congratulations to Kristian Wolowidnyk recipient of the 2024 Paul Burwell Memorial Scholarship an award of $500 sponsored by the Images Alberta Camera Club The Burwell School of Photography and the Images Alberta Camera Club received some excellent submissions for this years scholarship. The selection committee consisted of; Chris Stambaugh, administrator of the Burwell School of Photography, Susanne Pawliuk and Tarra Kongsrude, directors of the Images Alberta Camera Club. Kristian earns a $500 cash prize which will be awarded at an upcoming meeting of the Images Alberta Camera Club. Kristian is also invited to make a presentation to the club where he will showcase his photographs and discuss his creative process. The Images Alberta Camera Club is a wonderful and active group of amateur photography enthusiasts. For more information on the IACC. please visit their web site https://www.imagesalberta.ca/ Along with the portfolio of images, applicants for the scholarship must also submit a written biography. Please take the time to read Kristian's touching story. Finding Purpose I Thought I’d Lost In the spring of 2003, I made my way into the recruiting center in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves. Leading up to enlisting, I barely graduated from high school, while flirting with trouble and struggling to find something I could do well. Within days of starting basic training, I knew I had found my place in the world, and I threw all the energy I had into life in uniform. Little did I know at the time how a life in uniform would alter my life’s trajectory. During the spring of 2006, I was faced with the choice of switching to a different college engineering program in Toronto, starting a photojournalist diploma, or going full time in the army. I chose to join the regular force army as a combat engineer. During the next two and a half years I was continuously given opportunities to act in positions above my rank and experience level. I was quickly promoted to the rank of Master Corporal. If someone were to tell me this would have happened when I first enlisted back in Thunder Bay, I wouldn't have believed them. I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009. Most of the deployment I spent leading soldiers on operations. When I returned from my deployment in Afghanistan, the train I had been riding on started to run off the rails. Fortunately, my wife is extremely stubborn, and she convinced me to reach out for help, and I was diagnosed with PTSD shortly after my return to Canada. When I was first diagnosed, all the momentum I had in life seemed to hit a brick wall. I spent the next 10 years in a very dark place, feeling like I was navigating perpetually stormy seas in a boat that had holes in it. In early 2015, I was medically discharged from the Canadian Armed Forces. About 2 years ago my wife started a hobby and bought a camera. After a few months of acting as a glorified sherpa by carrying her tripod from place to place, as well as keeping her company while she took pictures of sunsets/sunrises, I bought a camera of my own. Once I took my first photos, I knew that the camera was going to be a instrument to change my life’s current trajectory and get me back on track. After I was released from the Armed Forces, I did not think that I would find something that gave me a sense of purpose and a challenge. Thinking back now, I always had an interest in documentary photography. If I were to pinpoint where this interest came from, it would be growing up as a latch key kid. In my basement there was a huge bookshelf with the top shelves full of military books, and most importantly when you opened the bottom doors there were well over a hundred National Geographic magazines. In all honesty, I never read an article from the magazine until recently. But I did spend hours upon hours poring over the pictures and captions with copies spread around me. For the first year after getting my camera, I worked at developing my skill set through various subject matters but mostly wildlife. Despite this, I still felt like I was trying to navigate while not having anything solid to orient my compass to. While visiting the UK in 2023, I took my son to the Natural History Museum in London. On the way, I thought about maybe focusing more on street photography rather than nature. Unbeknownst to me in advance, there was an exhibit for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest they held. After handing over $70 Canadian for entry to the Exhibit, I experienced a transformative moment when I came face to face with the giant prints. The word that best describes the experience is awe. The quality of the work, the composition, and the story involved, had me completely blown away. The one photo that stood out was a drone shot over a fish market in India. Hundreds upon hundreds of swordfish were laid out on the beach. There was a thought that I couldn't shake from seeing the photo which was: “this is unsustainable”. It dawned on me that I could use photography to do something positive. Something I believe in is service, even though the uniform has been taken off and handed in, the service doesn’t need to stop. My photographic interests involve creating visual stories, and I am inspired by a wide range of subject matter. I apply CrossFit methodology to photography: where I develop a wide range of skills to allow me to tackle any opportunity. Since picking up a camera, I have made the effort to have a diverse experience base. I have photographed a wide range of nature photography, street photography, macro, photographed various sporting events, protests and rallies. I also recently volunteered as an event photographer at the “All is Bright Festival” in Edmonton, AB Canada. My future goals and aspirations are to continue building my photographic skill set, and to apply it to documentary photography and photojournalism. I recently joined the Images Alberta Camera Club and look forward to being involved with them going forward. Outside of photography, my interests are travel and adventure with my family, raising my son, training CrossFit, reading, and spending time with my family. I cannot be anything but thankful that I picked up a camera and had an overly supportive wife backing me up. It would be a lie to say that I don’t often think of the period I spent in uniform. Immersing myself in photography has not only filled the void I had been searching for since my release, but it has also helped me look forward to a life with my family, with new challenges and goals to tackle. When I do look back to my time in uniform, I now focus on the lessons I learned, but can close that door and move forward into a new and exciting phase of life as a documentary photographer. Connect with Kristian on instagram at veteranshot_photography A selection of images from Kristian's submission is below:

The Winner of the "Interesting People" Photography contest is Barry Alloway Congratulations Barry, on winning the Interesting People photography contest with your image titled "Pushkar Camel Herder". The subject of the photograph is certainly visually interesting and the fine detail is enhanced by the choice to present the image in Black and White. There were a large number of excellent entries but we were able to narrow down the field to 6 finalists. We additionally awarded Honorable Mentions to Photographers Alan Myles and Dennis Birkholz. All finalists receive a snazzy, frameable certificate and will have their photographs displayed in the Burwell Newsletter, Facebook, Instagram and Blog. A printed copy will be framed and displayed at the Providence Renewal Center. The winner also receives a $200 gift certificate to any class the Burwell School offers. Honorable mentions will receive a $50 gift certificate.

The Winner of the "Travel Photography" Photography contest is William Brose Congratulation to William Brose for winning the Travel Photography Contest with his image of Lora's Plantation, Louisiana. The winner was selected by special guest lecturer and renown travel photographer Yasser Alla Mobarak. William wins a $250 gift certificate from the Burwell School. How photo will be featured here in the BSOP newsletter, and on Facebook, Instagram and the BSOP blog. A printed copy of the photo will be displayed at the Providence Renewal Center. Honorable Mention was awarded to Berkley Johnson for her image titled "Jua Nzuri" of the sunset on the Massai Mara National Park in Kenya. All finalists will receive a certificate from the Burwell School.