Teen earns national attention
Amy Badgley has an eye for imagery
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Thursday, June 18, 2015
INUVIK
There's something about Amy Badgley's eyes.
This atmospheric photo by Inuvik's Amy Badgley won third place in a national photo contest recently. - Amy Badgley photo
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The talented 18-year-old Inuvik photographer recently caught national attention with a third-place finish in a Canadian contest.
It's quite a coup for Badgley, but not much of a surprise to anyone who has seen her work over the last two years.
The third-place finish was conferred as part of the Imagine Culture contest sponsored by Passages
Canada through Historica Canada, a non-profit organization that seeks to promote knowledge of Canadian history.
Badgley submitted a photo of a dog-sledding trip with her grandfather at Arctic Chalet taken last February.
The shot shows the dogs at rest and a sledder behind, with the sun hovering on the horizon.
It manages to capture the essence of a winter's day in the Arctic Circle during a period when there is only
one hour or two a day of daylight.
Badgley said more than 500 photos were submitted to the contest from photographers from age five through 29.
"The sun was just starting to set, and I saw the sky and it was really pretty. Then I saw the dogs too, and I just snapped the photo along with some others because everything fit together very well," she said.
"It turned out really perfectly. It's not as good as the scene was, but my camera can't always capture everything. It was just a really, really pretty picture and I took it."
There's been no re-touching of the photo through Photoshop, she said, although that's partly what interests her in photography.
She generally shoots in a raw format, and then will often use software to manipulate the photo to her liking. Her third-place shot, though, hasn't been altered in any way.
"It didn't need to be," she said.
Badgley said she thought the photo "really spoke" to the ongoing efforts to keep aboriginal culture here very strong, with traditions such as dog sledding remaining almost an everyday occurrence.
"They just try really hard to hold on to the culture here," she said.
"People work so hard to keep their culture alive."
Badgely entered the contest at the suggestion of Deborah Reid, the principal at East Three School. Badgley said Reid, who is a talented photographer herself, insisted she submit a photo.
"It was an online contest that my principal told me I should enter," Badgley explained.
"She's a huge supporter of my photography, and she thought it was a good opportunity, which it was."
Voting was done online. The picture obviously resonated with people.
Badgley has been honing her skills for about the last eight years, having started with a disposable camera.
She has elevated her skillset since then, moving to a digital SLR camera in the last few years, and turning heads with her photos at the Arctic Image Festival over the last two years.
She also won a gold medal at the territorial skills competition in April for her photography, so she's no stranger to winning awards.
Badgley, who will graduate from high school at the end of the month, said she's not sure of her career plans yet. However, she acknowledges a career in photography will be a long haul.
"Everybody has a camera and thinks they can take pictures," she said.
"So there's not a lot of money in it."
She plans to continue dabbling in photography as a sideline while she ponders what she wants to work at.
"This is the work of a new generation of Canadian photographers defining questions of culture and identity," stated Anthony Wilson-Smith, president and CEO of Historica Canada in a news release about the contest.
"The results are impressive not only in creative terms, but also in expanding our perception of ourselves."
