Photographer shares his skills
Niore Iqalukjuak pays forward mentoring opportunity by putting on photo class
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Monday, July 13, 2015
KANGIQTUGAAPIK/CLYDE RIVER
He has been interested in photography since the days he could buy 110 film, and now Clyde River's Niore Iqalukjuak is seeing some major progress in his photo career.
Chosen this spring to be mentored by renowned photographer Dave Brosha, Iqalukjuak decided to pay forward his opportunity by offering classes in his community.
"First, I was a bit nervous being that it was my first time," he said of the July 6 and 7 introductory photo class. "But teaching it in my language with a few English words here and there seemed to go through well with the participants that were there."
Volunteering his time for two nights, Iqalukjuak gave in-class training to 11 students July 6, then offered a field trip July 7. Students learned about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, composition, and how to properly set the camera for night and silhouette photography.
The students came with a range of interests, including portraits, landscapes, wildlife, night, and macro photography, and entered the class carrying a range of cameras of all brands.
"Some were still shooting in the auto mode, some had a little knowledge of manual settings but didn't really understand how to really set the camera yet," he said.
Student Morrey Palluq acquired a decent camera about a year-and-a-half ago.
"I wanted to take it so I can take better pictures and I'm not that skilled," Palluq said. "I wanted to learn the basic stuff so I can take better pictures of how the person is orientated and the background. I finally got to change the apertures, (shutter speeds), the ISOs and they all work together as one to improve the quality of the picture."
He praised Iqalukjuak's skills, noting he is a "good teacher" with a "positive future in photography." He hoped the teacher would continue to help the community's photo enthusiasts learn.
The mission of the class is similar to that of a class offered three years ago by Brosha in Arctic Bay, where Iqalukjuak was living at the time. It set off a chain of events that led to his application for mentoring this spring.
"I don't know even how to put it into words," what being mentored by Brosha means, he said. "It's an honour to be taught, mentored by him, knowing that he is pretty well known pretty much everywhere."
With a recent feature on Vice.com, perhaps Iqalukjuak will soon grow to have a similar reputation. In the meantime, he is content to work on building the community at home.
"I'm hoping to do it in little stages," Iqalukjuak said, noting he wants to do a more advanced class in the fall. "Right now I'm just trying to show them the basics of using a camera, and as the weather changes, I want to show them a little more, the tricks I've learned along the way."
