My World at PrairieView

I arrived in Winnipeg on August 20^th 2012. It will always be a day that I will never forget. It was just an average rainy day but I was moving to Winnipeg so I could start going to the school of my dreams. It wasn’t all promising though, I lost my beloved pet that day as well. 

His name was Mitts and at seventeen years of age he was well past his time. I haven’t told anyone besides extremely close family because I have always found it too hard to talk about. It’s been three months since Mitts passed away and it’s only been recently that I’ve been able to mention his name. 

My favorite portrait of Mitts

You may be wondering why I’m mentioning him now, but I think he has a lot to do with my life in school up to this point because it made all of these big changes feel so much bigger to me. I had just moved to a new city for a new school with no close friends and a new job. Dealing with all that and trying to grieve never worked for me. I was always so terrified that I couldn’t keep up with the course load and that I would be crushed under the pressure. I’m thankful I didn’t give up on myself especially when faced with all the photographic talents of the other students. I wish I had the chance to use some of my new knowledge to photograph my missed pet. 

School has been wonderful though. The teachers are there if ever you have a question and are very understanding. At first I found them to be very intimidating but once I got to know them a bit more and realized they are just normal people who were students once too then you can really start taking in all the experience they have to offer. 

The first time I felt emotionally free after moving was during an assignment for Tristan Fast for the Image Capture class about Histograms. I was able to go home to Brandon for the weekend and I felt so invigorated. For once I knew exactly where I needed to go to get the shots I wanted. It was so wonderfully different from living in Winnipeg and not knowing where anything was located. I went down to the Assiniboine River and just walked, looking for shots that met the assignment requirements and also shooting whatever caught my eye.  It was the first time I was able to breathe again under the weight of all the ‘newness’ in my life. It was the first time that I was able to forget about the hurt I was always feeling.

My next "a-ha" moment was during a creative imaging class with Sarah Hodges-Kolisnyk. The lesson was about getting out of creative blocks and how to open ourselves up to seeing creatively again. Man what an eye opener! Though seemingly obvious now, she said that we all need quiet times in our lives where we could clear our minds of the drivel of the days and focus inwardly to let our creative selves be free. It was in that moment that I realized how much I avoided being alone in my own head. I had been hiding in the mountains of homework and drowning out my thoughts with music or television. Now I am better able to go back to that quiet place and see things in a new way once again. 

I have learned so much in Prairieview. I have learned tons of technical knowledge about my camera, apertures, shutter speeds and everything in between, but I also have pages and pages of advice from my teachers who learned by the mistakes that I can hopefully now avoid. Though I may sound overwhelmed with school (because I am and most likely will be until it is finished) but I have never regretted signing up for this wonderful experience. I am thankful every day that I get to be here.

Keralea Kuzmicki
PV Diploma Student
2012-13