Grab your camera and show us a Slice of Campus Life
Shutterbugs, take note! Concordia’s Slice of Campus Life photo contest is now seeking entries that are eye-catching, bold and creative.
The contest is open to the university’s students, faculty and staff. The photographer who best captures campus life at Concordia will receive a grand prize of $1,000. There will be two runner-up prizes of $500. Contestants are limited to one entry, and the competition ends October 1.
A panel of five judges, including two photography professors and three renowned alumni photographers, will evaluate submissions. The winners will be announced on or around October 11. The judges will assess the entries based on the photographer’s creativity, how well the photo showcases life on the Concordia campus and holds the viewer’s attention.
“Our campus life is so dynamic and unique that to really do it justice, we have to hear from the very people who study, research, work and socialize here every day,” explains Lucy Niro, Director of Web Communications. “I feel it’s also important to reward talent and creativity. That’s why judges who are well-regarded photographers themselves will review each submission with a critical eye.”
Niro added that the contest will culminate in the last phase of the redesign of Concordia.ca, which will go live on October 3, 2011. “This redesign initiative will draw more attention to the depth and breadth of services and activities found within the Campus Life section. We’d also like to display many — if not all — of the photos submitted throughout the contest in the revamped Campus Life section and across all other communications channels.”
Meet the judges
Alumnus and photographer Adad Hannah has exhibited at museums, galleries and biennials all over the world. He is also the creative force behind the public art piece entitled LEAP, a two-storey high series of humans depicted in vivid colour on the side of Concordia’s new PERFORM Centre, located on the Loyola Campus.
Hannah says he always tries to keep an open mind when looking at a photograph. “Often people have a misconceived notion of what makes a photograph interesting,” he says. “If it is interesting to you, maybe it will be to us as well.”
Hannah also insists that the quality or artistic merit of a photo does not depend on how long it takes to prepare the shot. Some of Hannah’s own shoots involve multiple cameras and take days to set up. At other times, he simply shoots from the hip. “Inspiration can come from almost anywhere and usually arrives unannounced,” he adds.
Jessica Auer is a documentary-style landscape photographer who teaches in Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts. Her love for the art form took root when she was a small child, stemming from an innate curiosity about the world around her. “I am passionate about the world, about places specifically and human experience. So I am constantly looking to the world around me and I let myself be inspired by it.”
Auer says she is naturally drawn to strong images that are simple but effective. “A good photograph should be visually striking so that it gets the viewer’s attention, but should also have interesting content so that it will be remembered,” she says.
The other judges include: Aydin Matlabi, who won the university’s Dick and Gretchen Evans Prize for photography and Linda Rutenberg, an alumna who has taught photography and worked as a freelance photographer for 30 years.
Related links:
• Slice of Campus Life Photo Contest
• Jessica Auer’s artist site
• Addad Hannah’s artist site
• Aydin Matlabi’s artist site
• Marisa Portolese’s artist site
• Linda Rutenberg’s artist site