Bedford District Photographer Selected For Prestigious National Image Salon

The Professional Photographers of Canada announced on April 18 that photographer Sean McKinnon has had 4 images selected for its annual “National Salon” recognising and celebrating the best of Canadian professional photography.

"We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Sean for a remarkable achievement," said Jay Terry, MPA, SPA, Chair of the National Exhibition Committee. "We are immensely grateful to all participants who shared their creativity and passion with us, making this year's competition a resounding success.

The four images that McKinnon submitted for the competition were all taken within a short drive from his home off the Canoe Lake Road, near Frontenac Park. Three of the images were taken last fall. He was driving into Westport on the Westport Road, when he found the entire landscape was covered in a layer of hoarfrost, making the countryside a fitting subject for exploration with his camera.

“The frost did not go on the grass, but everything that was a few centimetres off the ground was covered in crystalline flakes. I changed my plans and spent the next couple of hours driving along back roads looking for scenes to photograph,” he said, in an interview this week.

Three of the four pictures that he submitted were taken that morning.

The fourth came about when he was turning onto Desert Lake Road from Holleford Road, and saw a Heron on the water near the road. He got into a good position, took a couple of shots of the Heron standing perfectly still, and waited. When the Heron started to make a move, he set the camera for continuous shots, and one of them is the picture that he submitted.

The Heron shot was not only accepted as one of the four to bring McKinnon's work to the salon, it was also nominated for both best in its class and best in show.

For Sean Mckinnon, having these photos recognised is part of a new phase in his photography. He started taking pictures years ago, when his daughter Caitlin was a competitive figure skater. As she improved as a skater, so did he as a sports photographer. As she worked her way through the skating world, he was asked to take pictures of other skaters and for the clubs where she was skating. It led to buying more and more equipment and setting up a side business in sports photography. But he wanted to delve deeper into the world of artistic photography.

Moving to a waterfront home in South Frontenac in the fall of 2023, helped him to move further in that direction.

He was working as a software engineer for LTN Broadcast (a division of Bosch) out of Newmarket, and was not only nearing retirement but working at home at the time. With other family members settling in to the Perth area, Sean and his wife Susan, began to look for a property on water where they could do as much kayaking as possible, a shared passion of theirs, and they ended up buying a house on Eel Lake. They haven't looked back. They take advantage of the lakes surrounding them, and those in nearby Frontenac Park, on a daily basis in kayak season.

“My goal as a photographer is to get out there, take more photos, with more intention. Figure out what I need to do to get myself in the right position, think more creatively,” he said.

All four of the images that are part of the National Salon are posted with the online version of this article, at Frontenacnews.ca.