Patrick Kornak Photography: Reconnecting with the local photo community.

Social networking and looking at photographs on the internet can be very rewarding and enlightening. One can connect with photographers from around the world and be inspired by many wonderful images. However there is a disconnect as one may never meet or truly get to know those people the follow in the many different venues the web has to offer.

That is why it is so important to get out and attend local exhibits. Not only does it give you a chance to talk and meet ones peers face to face, but it gives you a chance to view photographic prints. It is through the finished, finely crafted final print that we can truly see what the photographer intended. Add to that a chance to talk to the artist themselves and you can come away from an opening of a show refreshed and inspired.

In Calgary we are fortunate to have Exposure - Calgary, Banff, Canmore Photography Festival run for the entire month of February each year. There are numerous gallery showings and presentations happening in the Bow River corridor and it allows one to truly connect to the local community (one can learn more at exposurephotofestival.com). For me it has been a re-connect as the last few years I have not been able to attend any of the events. This year though I have already managed to attend 7 openings and have met both familiar and new faces in the process.

As I find my way back in to an active roll in the community it is nice to see so much wonderful work and venues to view them in. I started a min-project yesterday that I will try to do as much as I can through to the end of Exposure. This is to take Hipstamatic Tintype photo's of photographers with one of their pieces. Here are some images from the past few days.

February 8

Ruberto Ostberg Gallery 2108 18th Street N.W. Duality & Inspiration. I spent a few minutes with Jeremy Fokkens ( www.jeremyfokkens.com ) talking about his work and then asked him to stand by one of his photo's. As the gallery was crowded I had little room to operate but I love this shot especially as the little girl's face in Jeremy's photo stares back at us.

Endeavor Arts 200, 1209 1st Street SW. Jeff Cruz ( jcruzfoto.com ) has some amazing work and has two shows running during Exposure. This show features a few of his landscape and cityscape and I managed to capture Jeff's portrait here. His other show 100 Years - 100 Faces of the Calgary Stampede is at the Resolution Art Gallery - 233 10^th Street NW.

February 7
Eighth Avenue Place - Intersection
Greg Gerla ( www.greggerla.com ) is one of the Board Directors of Exposure as well as someone I have known for about 25 years. I got to know him well when I worked as an assistant to him for one summer and I follow him both on Facebook and Instagram.

Lori Andrews ( the10centdesigner.com ) has four wonderful self-portraits in the show and I was fortunate to be able to have a few minutes of her time to chat. What a wonderfully creative lady and I look forward to following her work both on Facebook and Instagram.

February 6 Not exactly the best day for me as I spent the day with my youngest son as he was not very well. After doing my best to nurse him to health we ended up at the Alberta Children's Hospital ER where they had to put him on IV because he was severely dehydrated from a stomach flu. I can't say enough about how well the nurse's and doctor's took care of him and made sure there was nothing more serious involved. I am happy to report that he has recovered nicely and was eating normally tonight (Feb. 8).

February 5 Made a quick stop at Heritage Park to take a few photo's with the iPhone. The little slough at the entrance to the park made a wonderful winter scene that I captured using the Hipstamatic app and the tintype pak.