Kristian Bogner has been awarded the 2012 Commercial Photographer of the Year Award for Canada by the Professional Photographers of Canada Association.
This is the third time the Canmorite has won the top prize, which was awarded last Tuesday (April 24) in Halifax.
“It’s pretty unprecedented,” said Bogner, in an interview with the Outlook. “It’s usually a lifetime achievement award.
“It is the most prestigious award in Canada. I’m proud to win it a third time, because Nikon sponsored the award this year and it was special to be sitting at their table, then go up and receive the award.”
Participating photographers enter four images in four of six commercial category classes – editorial, press, architecture, illustration, industrial, experimental – and those images are then judged by master photographer peers. Judging first takes place at the provincial level, then national.
With hundreds of entrants and thousands of entries, this year the results were narrowed down to just two finalists. This was Bogner’s ninth time being a finalist.
“It was a swanky event, everyone wearing tuxes, and I’m sitting there thinking, ‘If I win, what am I going to say?’ because I hadn’t really thought about it,” he said. “Usually it’s a lot of thank yous, and I certainly did that this time, but I also went up and told everyone my purpose – to photograph the world as I see it, to photograph the beauty in the world and to share my images and inspire people. To be an ambassador for the energy that’s out there and show others how to capture that energy.
“And then I said, ‘from the perspective of a six-year-old, I just want to play, I want to go out and take pictures of the bees and the sky and cool cars – and I just want to share this and enjoy it,’ and I went on and on about the inspiration and joy, and my point was, what sounded more authentic, more real? It’s my six-year-old purpose, that’s where it resonates from. The child within you has no limitations, that’s where pure creativity and expansion comes from.”
It’s not about making money, but rather creating good work and sharing it, he said.
“For me, winning an award like that gives you more credibility with your peers and gives you a greater opportunity to inspire others and to share your work,” said Bogner, who originally was not planning on attending the event.
“In this situation they called me and said ‘hey, you’ve got to get out here,’ because I wasn’t originally going to go. They can’t really tell you, but they hinted enough that I decided to go,” he explained.
“I might have a chance to go shoot in an F-18 as a result of going, so that alone was worth going – getting to do some air-to-air photography is a childhood dream.”
Bogner heads next to the Contact Photography Festival later this month in Toronto, the largest photography festival in the world, where he’ll speak and give workshops.
He was also the first Canadian to use the new Nikon D4 and D800 cameras.
“I feel very honoured, I got the very first D4 allocation in Canada, which meant a lot to me,” he said. Working with Nikon, Bogner has an upcoming workshop tour.
“I’m going to be doing a photographic rock star tour, and Canmore will be the first location,” he said.
Later this year, he will head to the Ladakh region of northern India to lead a 10-day photography workshop, the first such tour he’s offered.
“The reason I’m offering this trip is that Ladakh is so incredible, visually, that I believe I can take anybody and get great images,” he said.
For more information on the tour and Bogner, visit his website at kristianbogner.com
