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Image festival draws from afar
Young and old encouraged to get out and 'just shoot'

Kaila Jefferd-Moore
Northern News Services
Thursday, June 9, 2016

INUVIK
The Arctic Image Festival draws people from across the country to share the stories and the culture above the Arctic Circle.

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Yannick Gagnon's photo won first place in the people's choice competition at last week's Arctic Image Festival. - Yannick Gagnon photo

The festival brings Inuvik's photography community together annually to support both amateur and professional photographers of all ages and from all places, to help them flourish in their craft.

"Faces of the North are important," said Angela Gzowski, a photographer from Yellowknife, adding that it's important to capture the faces of the elders and community members of the North to share.

Along with different workshops that ran over the course of the weekend, the Arctic Image Festival held a photo contest dedicated to photos of the North. As well, some of the contest entries and historic Arctic photos were on display for public viewing at the community hall in the Midnight Sun Complex.

Yannick Gagnon, the winner of the People's Choice award for the this year's contest, said this was his first time entering into the contest.

"I do it just for fun," he said of his photography, and that it gives him a chance to show his family "down south" and others the interesting things he gets to do up here in the North.

Adrienne Talbot, co-ordinator of the Arctic Image Festival, said the event is a way to promote photography within the community, especially among the youth.

"Some of the students go to places out in the delta that no one else goes to," said Talbot, who hopes to get youth more involved and put more equipment into the hands of students. "It's a way for them to record their history."

Gzowski and Matt Jacques from Whitehorse were invited to the festival for the weekend to judge the photo contest and lead the workshops.

Both photographers are keen on supporting and helping budding photographers learn new tricks as well as sharing their stories and experiences of working in the North.

Gzowski encourages people who are starting out in photography to get out there and "just shoot."

Jacques said the festival "is an awesome opportunity in its own right, just to celebrate the North and celebrate the unique people, culture and landscapes."

He said he still works with publications from other provinces in Canada and countries around the world to show people the unique experiences and stories that come from living in the North.

"The point of the workshops is to have an opportunity to inspire and engage people with what they could be doing with their photography," said Jacques, who encouraged photographers in the community to just keep shooting photos regardless of whether they are just starting out, or only have a smartphone with which to capture images.

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