The College of Art, Architecture
and Design has much to be proud
of lately with an array of exhibitions
and visiting artists this
month alone, proving that a small
department can do big things.
One of the most recent examples
of this is the success of two photography
students in the Photo
Imaging Education Association
International Photography
Competition.
Steven Joshlin earned third
prize in the “digitally constructed
image” category for his composite
image “air.” Blake McCollum
won honorable mention in the
“single image” category for his
work, Woman’s Back. The competition
accepted work from
5,700 students and of those, 88
individuals were recognized for
excellence in photography. Joshlin
said he was happy just to get
any of his photos accepted into
the competition, much less win
third place. His image, air, is part
of a running theme explored by
Joshlin that he described as fairly
abstracted narratives that are open
to interpretation. McCollum’s
image came from his first exploration
of that particular subject
matter that evolved into a series of
eight photos.
The PIEA competition focuses
on students and educators, with
different categories applying to
each. Sponsor companies including
Adobe, Canon, Nikon, Sigma
and many others contributed
hundreds of thousands of dollars
in photography gear to be split up
amongst prize winners. In addition
to a shutterbug’s dream goodiebag
is an even bigger dream realized
for top photographers: major
exposure. Joshlin and McCollum’s
photographs will be exhibited at
the Photo Marketing Association
Imaging 2011 Convention in
Las Vegas next fall. Las Vegas is
just the beginning for the photos;
two traveling exhibitions will
tour major conventions, schools,
colleges and museums for three
years in the USA, Canada, United
Kingdom, Australia and South
Africa. As if it could not get any
better, the top prize-winning
images will also be published in
Photo Marketing magazine.
It seems that neither Joshlin
nor McCollum were expecting
much to come of entering the
contest, and the news of their
success from their photography
professor Marita Gootee came
as a pleasant surprise.
“Marita walked in and told
me and derailed my whole day…
especially when I found out about
the gift bag,” Joshlin joked.
Gootee forwarded McCollum
an e-mail which contained a message
from a contest official congratulating
the two students. “I
replied ‘SAWEEEEEEEEEEET’
— literally one word to my
professor.” McCollum said. “I
literally didn’t really remember
what the competition was or
how big it was ‘till a classmate
congratulated me about it.
Then it clicked.”
Joshlin and McCollum are
grateful for the honor and plan
to continue exploring and creating
in the realm of photography.
Joshlin hopes to graduate in
May and then continue building
a portfolio while looking into
graduate school. His main focus
is to continue working and creating
things. McCollum is working
towards graduation and plans to
continue “shooting all the time,
meeting new people and seeing
new places.”