Laura Power and Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 28, 2008
NUNAVUT - There are some great photographers scattered around the North, and in the past two years, they've been given another way to be recognized.
Staff at Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) began an ongoing photo competition in 2006 for Inuit photographers.
At the end of each month, one photo would be selected from the submissions as the photo of the month. Finally, at the beginning of the new year, all the monthly winners were looked at again and a photo of the year was chosen.
The photo of the year for 2007 was taken by Niore Iqalukjuak of Arctic Bay. Though his photos - including one of polar bear tracks and one of a seal in the ice - were also monthly winners, he said the winner "was taken from over by the graveyard site, looking towards King George."
It's a photo of the Louis St. Laurent at nighttime - one of many he took throughout the year as part of his pastime.
"Well, it's something to do to pass the time, instead of sitting at home you walk around and take pictures here and there, and just hope they turn out all right," he said.
A representative from NTI said Iqalukjuak's photos are superb and are always finalists in the competitions.
But having one of his photos named photo of the year is not the only success he's had with photography. He also took a photo of a rare wasp once, which has been widely viewed on the Internet.
"If you type my name into the Internet, it even comes up in German. I had quite a few calls from all over about that picture. So taking pictures has really given me quite a lot over the years as one of my hobbies," Iqalukjuak said.
As the winner, he will receive a $1,000 prize. Asked what he plans to do with the prize money, he said he plans to get a camera for his wife.
"I already have one, and she has been saying she would like one too," he said.
The monthly photo competition will continue.
