Canon Project Imagin8ion

 

Sometimes, amazing things happen to ordinary people.  

in 2011, my 11 year-old nephew wrote me an email commenting that I needed to enter this photography contest. He said he had seen it on TV and that he knew I would win if I entered. Never before had I entered a photography contest, but I didn't want to disappoint my nephew, so I took a few minutes and submitted some work. 

The commercial he saw is this one, which circulated every major TV network for a period of months. 

Nearly 100,000 photographs were submitted, and Ron Howard (director of A beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, as well as being widely known for his roll as Opie on the Andy Griffith Show) chose my image to win the competition in the category of 'Relationship'. 7 other photos were chosen as well, in categories like 'setting', 'mood', 'character', etc. The one I chose to submit depicts a woman in labor being supported by her husband. I decided to leave the context of the image open, titling it 'Too Much' to leave questions unanswered and the imagination brewing. 


This was no ordinary competition. Ron Howard had teamed up with Canon to create a hollywood film based around the 8 winning photographs. This was a creative experiment to challenge oneself to produce a film with the creative restraints and collaboration of photographers.  I think Ron and Bryce describe it beautifully in the video they created here: 

Soon after the selection I began doing press for the film- interviews and appearances on news stations, etc.  the work and project was featured on all major TV networks, Good Morning America, Jimmy Fallon, The Huffington Post, etc. 

but the most incredible part, by far, was the red carpet premiere. Canon and Ron Howard flew us out to NYC to attend the world premiere, and enjoy an incredible reception afterward. 

and, of course, if you'd like to watch the trailer or movie, you can do that... right here!  See if you can pick out the scenes that were inspired by the 8 photographs. I must warn you, you will need tissue. It is such an incredibly beautiful and artful film, and I don't think there was a dry eye in the entire theatre at the premiere. I am always so impressed they made a cohesive and emotionally moving film under the constraints of these 8 seemingly un-related images. Bravo, Canon, Ron Howard, Bryce Dallas Howard, and all the actors and team members. You all are the real winners of this creative project. I feel privileged to have been a part of it. 


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BIOGRAPHY

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