There must be something in Alberta waters that breeds champion photographers. Nine out of 24 photographers on Team Canada for the 2024 World Photographic Cup (WPC) are from our province. 

One photographer out of the uber-talented bunch is St. Albert’s own Kari Carter, a retired sergeant who spent 18 years in the Canadian Forces. Her Team Canada photo is titled Fabricated Beauty, a portrait of young woman in the Illustration/Digital category. The head and shoulders image criticizes how society puts pressure on the female sex to always look physically attractive. 

“Women are pressured to always look beautiful, and women try to keep life together and be perfect. We don’t need to be perfect. We’re beautiful as we are,” said Carter. 

Fabricated Beauty is a manipulated image of her daughter, Brooke, as the young woman was preparing to jump in the shower.  

“She had a towel wrapped around her and I held up a light over her head and took four images. She kept saying, ‘hurry up, mom.’ I could tell she wasn’t in the mood,” Carter said, laughing while reminiscing on the quick session. 

“A lot of the image is manipulated in Photoshop using different layers and textures. I manipulated the eye colour and the shape of her face. I added lipstick and crackling.” 

An accredited photographer with Professional Photographers of Canada, Carter’s work revolves around capturing portraits of people and animals. Experimenting through the digital world allows her to expand her creative boundaries. 

The WPC has provided an outlet for those creative juices to flow. The photographic competition has 10 categories that range from portraits, commercial and nature, to wedding, sports and photo-journalism. Team Canada is built with three top-tier images in each category. 

“When I received an email saying I was part of Team Canada, I was stunned. I was at a photographic conference in Fort McMurray when the email came in. I was on cloud nine. I couldn’t imagine I was selected,” said Carter. 

In April, these images will be showcased in Dallas, Texas at a medal presentation, with one country receiving the World Photographic Cup. 

“As far as I’m concerned, I’ve already won,” said Carter. Once the competition is finished, the team’s photos will go on display at selected regions across Canada, including the 2024 Calgary Stampede.   

For the local photographer, the process of creation is more than a form of artistic expression. It is a therapeutic outlet that fills her with a great deal of joy and healing. Much of her success stems from the discipline, dedication and adaptability she developed in the military. 

Originally from Ontario, Carter joined the Canadian Forces after her parents were in an automobile collision that killed her mother and severely injured her father. He was unable to work and Danielle, her teenage sister, needed care. 

“I was 23,” Carter said. “I took guardianship of my sister, and I needed a job quickly to support my family. I joined the military. I couldn’t go to college. There was a lack of funds. By choosing a career in the military, I could get paid while training. Times were different then. You did what you had to do.” 

She worked as a cook, mainly on the catering side. She was also posted to the Corps of Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RCEME) school for a few years working with the new troops coming into the Forces. The RCEME maintain and support all Forces land-based equipment. 

Her career came to an abrupt end after taking part in a mandatory battle fitness test. 

“You had to walk 13 kilometres with a rucksack, dig a trench and drag a weight a certain distance. There were spikes on the bottom of the weight and when I pulled, I created a herniated disc in my back. The disc actually went into the vertebrae. There was bone rubbing on bone. I had two surgeries and an implant in the spine.” 

Healing was difficult and Carter was medically released in 2016. After spending nearly two decades at a career where every day is structured and pre-planned, she was at a loss. 

“The military is family, and when you leave, you lose so much,” Carter said. “The camaraderie is genuine and there is a sense of belonging. A lot of veterans get lost when they try to live and function and be proud of something else again. Now I lose myself in photography. I have a purpose. When you are in the military, you live in a bubble. When I left, I didn’t even have a health card.” 

While pondering the future, Carter decided to take her photography hobby to the next level. She enrolled in Georgian College in Barrie, Ont., where she graduated in 2021 with a Technical Excellence Award. And in 2023, her husband who is also in the Canadian Forces, was transferred to the Edmonton region.  

“I’m blown away I made Team Canada. If this is it, I’m pretty pleased.” 

Undertaking a 30-day challenge can be a transformative experience, pushing you to explore new techniques, subjects, and perspectives. These challenges are crucial for growth, as they force you out of their comfort zones and encourage the daily practice that is essential for honing one’s craft.

Coming to you from Teo Crawford, this great video shares his journey with a 30-day film photography challenge, initially focusing on still life photography. This endeavor quickly proved to be overwhelming, leading to early burnout and the realization of its impracticality alongside a busy schedule. This experience is relatable for many of us who struggle to balance our passion for photography with other life commitments. Crawford’s decision to pivot to a simpler challenge – taking at least one photograph per day – underscores the importance of adaptability in creative pursuits. This shift from a highly specific goal to a more manageable one highlights a key lesson: sometimes, less structured objectives can be more fruitful, especially when juggling multiple responsibilities. After all, one photo a day is better than giving up out of frustration.

Crawford’s eventual success with the revised challenge illustrates the benefits of consistent practice in photography. By committing to capture at least one image daily, he re-engaged with his environment, finding photographic opportunities in everyday life. This practice not only revitalized his passion for photography but also improved his observational skills, a crucial aspect of creating successful images consistent. The journey from overwhelming ambition to a sustainable practice is a valuable lesson for creatives at any level. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Crawford.

Taking pictures of a car’s interior is more challenging than it sounds. Like exterior photos, there are a whole lot of factors that go into making a professional-level photo of a cabin. Here’s all you need to know from Kevin McCauley, a pro car shooter.

McCauley recently published a comprehensive walkthrough video on how to take interior photos to his YouTube channel, Capturing the Machine. The 15-minute clip walks through all of the things you’ll have to think about to get a high-quality picture: Your location, the car, the camera you’re using, and how to actually take the picture.

As McCauley explains, picking the best spot to take interior photos should start where there isn’t any direct sunlight, as that’ll cause unwanted contrast. You should also pick a spot where there aren’t any distractions in the background. You want viewers to be looking at the car, not whatever’s in front of it. 

How you approach your car’s interior will depend on a number of variables, like door count, body style, interior color, and material usage. If you’re shooting a convertible, for instance, you’ll have a far easier time getting the right angles since you can put the top down. But if you’re shooting a sedan, you might have trouble getting that natural-looking steering wheel shot. McCauley says shooting from the back seat will almost always yield good results. 

Interestingly, McCauley says that while it’s important to have a “hero” shot of the interior with the steering wheel as the focus, that’s not the most vital picture to worry about if you’re goal is to sell the car. Instead, the seats should be your primary focus, as they better tell the story of the car’s ownership and overall quality. 

Whether you’re trying to sell your car or just want to have a few pictures for your Instagram, we suggest taking a few minutes to watch, as there are a lot of easy tips that can make a huge difference in the final product.

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Peter Magubane, a fearless photographer who captured the violence and horror of South Africa’s apartheid era of racial oppression, and was entrusted with documenting Nelson Mandela’s first years of freedom after his release from prison, has died. He was 91.

Magubane died Monday, according to the South African National Editors’ Forum, which said it had been informed of his death by his family.

He was a “legendary photojournalist,” the editors’ forum said. The South African government said Magubane “covered the most historic moments in the liberation struggle against apartheid.”

Magubane photographed 40 years of apartheid South Africa, including the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, the trial of Mandela and others in 1964, and the Soweto uprising of 1976, when thousands of Black students protested against the apartheid government’s law making the Afrikaans language compulsory in school.

The Soweto uprising became a pivotal moment in the struggle for democracy in South Africa after police opened fire on the young protesters, killing at least 176 of them and drawing international outrage. Magubane’s award-winning photographs told the world about the killings.

Magubane became a target of the apartheid government after photographing a protest outside a jail where Mandela’s then-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was being held in 1969.

Magubane was jailed and kept in solitary confinement for more than a year-and-a-half. He was imprisoned numerous times during his career and subjected to a five-year ban that prevented him from working or even leaving his home without police permission. He said he was shot 17 times with shotgun pellets by apartheid police while on assignment and was beaten and had his nose broken by police when he refused to give up the photographs he took of the Soweto uprisings.

Faced with the option of leaving South Africa to go into exile because he was a marked man by the apartheid regime, he chose to stay and continue taking photographs.

“I said, ‘no I will remain here. I will fight apartheid with my camera,’” he said in a recent interview with national broadcaster SABC.

While Magubane photographed some of the most brutal violence, he also created searing images of everyday life under apartheid that resonated just as much.

One of his most celebrated photographs was a 1956 image of a Black maid sitting on a bench designated for whites only while seemingly caressing the neck of a white child under her care in a wealthy Johannesburg suburb. The photo spoke of the absurdity of the forced system of racial segregation given that so many white children were looked after by Black women.

Magubane began his career at the South African magazine, Drum, gained fame at the Rand Daily Mail newspaper and also worked for Time magazine and Sports Illustrated, earning international recognition.

He was appointed official photographer to Mandela after the anti-apartheid leader was released from prison in 1990 and photographed Mandela up until he was elected the first Black president of South Africa in historic all-race elections in 1994.

He said his favorite photograph of Mandela was him dancing at his 72nd birthday party months after being released after 27 years in prison.

“You can see the joy of freedom shining in his eyes,” Magubane said.

___

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

I’ve been off travelling the globe again. This time I was sailing from Lisbon to New York, visiting half a dozen or so countries en route while talking about the art and craft of photography. However, there was a creative twist: I was presented with a challenge by the folk at Sigma Imaging, who had asked me to try their new super-fast wide-angle 24mm prime. 

At first I was thrilled to have been asked, but then it dawned on me that 24mm is a lot wider than I’d normally plump for, especially on a trip like this. I’d typically reach for 35mm, which is pretty much my go-to focal length. 

I’m always up for a challenge, and decided that not only would I embrace it; I also wouldn’t use any other lens for the entire 25-day trip. I was using my Sigma fp L, and the body and lens combo proved to be an ideal travel companion. It even made me seriously reconsider my traveling kit bag. Despite the lens being wider than I’m used to, by the end of the trip, I was definitely seeing and behaving differently as a photographer. I think this can be an exciting way to invigorate your photography, stimulate creativity and shake off habits.

A 24mm lens is not generally considered good for portraits. However, I love making portraits of characters I meet on my travels. This image is of a fellow passenger, Marty, who I spent the day with in Belfast. Given that it was made with a 24mm, I had to get fairly close. This was another benefit of wide-angle shooting, as the forced closer proximity created a more intimate connection. The widest aperture of f/1.4 allowed me to blur backgrounds, too.

The Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG DN | Art is a delightfully versatile lens, allowing me to slip between urban topographies, landscapes and portraits without changing lenses. As a traveling photographer, size and weight are a significant consideration. However, I also have a desire for the best possible optical performance. These don’t always go hand in hand, but this lens offers both. 

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