It's often said that a photo speaks 1,000 words, but for one Squamish woman, there are probably thousands speaking about her photo.
Out of the 60,000 entries from 23,308 applicants from 153 countries and regions, Rebecca Bundschuh came out on top as one of the winners in the 2011 Nikon Photo Contest International.
Bundschuh's photo submission was one of the four winners chosen for the Emerging Artists award, an honour handed out to four photos by photographers under the age of 30.
Bundschuh has been a photographer for nearly three years, mostly doing wedding and portrait photography. The photo that won the contest was taken near the start of her career at a friend's wedding.
"The photo was taken two years ago in Calgary; it was the second wedding I ever photographed. It was for a friend. At that point I had just started getting into photography," Bundschuh said.
"It was one of those pictures, and it was one of those ones that just sort of came out. It really tells the story for me," she said.
According to Bundschuh, it was the birth of her daughter and trips to Europe that first prompted her to start working with photography.
"After my daughter was born I travelled to Europe a lot with her so I had two things there - a new baby and Europe - just so many things to take pictures of. I just wanted to capture every moment everywhere I was looking, so much beauty and excitement," said Bundschuh.
As Bundschuh started sharing her experiences with friends and family through her blog, people noted her skills and started asking for her services as a photographer.
"I wanted to share my experiences with all my family and friends back in Canada so I started a blog. People just kept commenting and I just kept getting comments on it, then people started asking if I could do their baby photos, weddings, or this and that and it just kind of sparked from there," Bundschuh said.
It was the first year Bundschuh entered the contest and she still can't believe she was one of the winners of the award. She said the experience gives her confidence in her work and is something she uses as inspiration and motivation as she moves forward with her photography.
"I don't even feel like it's real, but it's really inspiring. It just kind of makes me want to push forward when I get positive feedback like that. It's really motivating," said Bundschuh.
For more information on Rebecca Bundschuh and her photography, visit her website at www.rebeccaamber.com or visit her blog at www.lalaandkiki.blogspot.com.
