2012 Calgary Stampede Photo Gallery and Competition.

Late one night in the coldest darkest month of the year (February) I mustered up enough courage to enter the Calgary Stampede's Photo Contest and Gallery Exhibition. I`m pretty sure I entered right at the last hour of the deadline which was at midnight. The theme for the contest was Western. I found it challenging to find Western themed photos in my portfolio because I primarily shoot landscapes but not Western landscapes.

To me that means horses, barns, cowgirls, pickup trucks, big shiny belt buckles and things like that. For some reason, I think the Western theme is dominant at the Calgary Stampede so if I want to enter next year I'll have to keep an eye out for those kinds of things - especially the cowgirls.

In spite of not having Western themed art in my portfolio I did submit a set of pictures for their consideration. The winners were to be announced and contacted by May 1st. I wasn't contacted and just yesterday found a list of winners on their website. Congratulations to those who won! It doesn`t look like the photos are posted so you`ll have to go down to the grounds to see them. I created this nice collage of the photo's that I submitted.

Left to right, the photos are: Silver, Foothills, Wheat Field Sunrise, Circled and Flow.

For the Exhibition, they wanted ten photos. I submitted the five from above and these five as well.

Left to right, the photos are:  Oldman,  Millions of years ago, Low Clouds, Contrast, White on White

I'm very pleased to say that Oldman was selected to appear in the Gallery Exhibition. If you click the link you can see my picture in the list.

Because this is the Gallery and not the photo contest it means that I had to supply a framed canvas that will be up for sale. Actually, they wanted four prints - two framed and two rolled. I had my prints made by Kelly Clarkson at ChromaSurge I'm really pleased with how they turned out. I had made a few prints on paper with Kelly but have never printed anything on canvas. It looks really good. Kelly help step me through the printing process and did a great job. If you happen to be browsing my photos and would like a print made up please contact me and let me know.

Also, I was invited to host a session of the Photographers Corner at the Stampede where I get to hang out and answer any questions about my photos, my choice of clothing, the weather or anything at all really.. I'll be at the Photographers Corner on Friday July 6th from 2:00pm until 5:00pm. I'm pretty excited to have had a photo selected and to be participating in the Calgary Stampede. This year is the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede which makes it extra special.


Thanks for looking.
Brad.