flower image : NIC photo students show off at Muir



Starting June 2 students in the Professional Photography Program at North Island College will display personal work at The Muir Gallery .

The Images featured cover both traditional film and digital capture presented as silver based handmade or ink jet prints.

Throughout the 10-month long program, the students have met the demands of courses and instructors. They’ve produced countless images using both the chemical and digital darkroom while struggling with studio lighting and the challenge of turning concept into imagery.

Taking the opportunity to publicly show what truly interests them, these future pros have assembled a striking array of landscapes, portraits, nature, human form and metaphorical images that are refreshing and stimulating.

Getting in close succinctly describes the work of Dominique Hurley and Chris Buchholz. Hurley’s colourful macro abstracted images contrast the decadence of rusted cars with the organic forms of nature.

Chris Buchholz is intrigued with food photography and the redefinition that macro views of food can produce. Going far beyond commercial product shots, her images turn food into a realm seldom seen where texture, colour and shape create unexpected forms awaiting recognition.

Wildlife and pictorial landscapes seem to be just a natural part of Keith Wood’s life interest. A dedicated digital shooter, he also has the skill and patience to get those notable wild bird images that look stunning as large ink jet prints.

Likewise drawn to the natural environment, Sarah Mango’s forest and tree images explore the feeling of motion within nature.

Naturalness and intimacy is often associated with the human form and both Erin Haluschak and Becky Wortman explore the naked body in close up detail. For Haluschak, the message could well be that our body is what we make of it.

Wortman is more attracted to the intimate relationship between male and female bodies as presented by a series of abstracted detail. Preferring handmade fibre base black and white prints, she has uniquely adhered each print to a curved sheet of aluminum flashing to create a contrast between organic subject and inorganic setting.

Jennifer Laviolette loves junkyards especially as an endless source of unpredictable subjects. She has also chosen traditional black and white imaging to present her collection of discarded objects. To add a touch of contrast, she intends to also show a series of colourful flower shots taken recently on Hornby Island.

Debbie Ogilvie has chosen portraiture as her theme. The digital images in colour and black and white reveal her attraction to capturing the spirit of young people through not so traditional poses. On a different theme and style, Erinn Watson’s infrared metaphorical black and white images portray a narrative sequence titled In Pursuit of the Water Spirit. It is a somewhat surreal look at the pursuit of unobtainable things in life.

Six black and white handmade prints by Julie Maier present an unexpected study of chains. For Maier, their brilliant shiny appearance masks their limitless kinetic or static application. She wants viewers to look past what the subject is and identify their unlikely qualities.

Eric Baxter will also show handmade black and white prints but his subjects will be plants and flowers printed on fiber base paper and selenium toned for archival status.

Hamish Matheson, like many of the students, is new to the Comox Valley and enjoys the recreational opportunities that abound here. His colour adventure lifestyle images are pitched at marketing the valley to the tourism industry.

© Copyright 2006 Courtenay Comox Valley Record