A canadian in California

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

Worldwide | Tuesday, November 8, 2011 | 4 photos

My name is Chad William Steeves and I am from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I have had an obsession with capturing images for half of my 22-year life span. I am an avid snowboarder and enjoy skateboarding, soccer, hunting and anything else outdoors.

I have traveled to the Rocky Mountains on several occasions, as well as Cuba, Greece, and California. I feel as if I have not seen nearly enough of this world; I want nothing more than the chance to travel to destinations seldom visited.These photographs were all taken on my cold, cloudy trip to san fransisco this summer. I was using my Canon 40d with a 10-22mm wide angle lens and a 28-70mm. I have recently upgraded to using a 5d mark 2 for its full frame sensor.

Recently I have enrolled at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in the Photographic Technologies program. I love it. Being immersed in a photographic education as well as having every day to focus on my photography has boosted my creative and technical growth to a much larger degree.

Throughout my years of taking photographs I have developed a purist attitude towards the art form in the spirit of Henri Cartier-Bresson.
I have eschewed extensive use of Photoshop, avoiding simple modifications such cropping, contrast, and saturation.

A career in photojournalism has greatly influenced the way I shoot. With that in mind, I now more then ever strive to get the decisive moment, the raw emotion, and the accurate portrayal of the scenes I encounter. The reason I want to win this scholarship is I feel it would be a life changing experience to be mentored by Jason Edwards, a man who has my dream career. Africa has always been a dream destination of mine; I feel that the experience will broaden my horizons as a photographer and as a human being.