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.”