(Danielle Barabé-Bussières, Stittsville Professional Photograher, wins coveted Photographic Artist of the Year award. Photo: David Anthony Williams)
Stittsville resident and professional photographer, Danielle Barabé-Bussières, has won the coveted title of ‘2019 Photographic Artist of the Year’ at an awards ceremony last week in Milton, Ontario. Danielle had four images accepted and exhibited in the Provincial Image Salon of the annual Professional Photographers of Canada – Ontario Regions (PPOC) competition. Photographic entries were received and judged from across Ontario and other regions of Canada for this prestigious competition.
Her image ‘Eyes Of The Night’ in the Animal class and ‘Rosé Pastels’ in the Fine Art class both won the prestigious Best in Class awards as well as the Judges Choice awards.
“I feel very proud that this passion for photography and my perseverance led to this great achievement”, Danielle said on receiving her recent awards.
(Eyes in the Night won Best in Class in the Animal class and the Judges Choice Award at the 2019 Professional Photographers of Canada – Ontario Regions competition.)
(Rosé Pastels won the Best in Class in the Fine Art class and the Judges Choice Award at the 2019 Professional Photographers of Canada – Ontario Regions competition.)
Danielle also received the Tibor Horvath Award Of Excellence, for the second year in a row. This award of excellence is presented to the member with the highest aggregate score attained at the annual competition. Quite an achievement for this Stittsville resident!
(Danielle’s other two entries – Anna and Dandellina – were also accepted and exhibited in the Provincial Image Salon at the competition.)
Danielle was born in a small village in the countryside of Trois-Rivières, Québec and grew up there with her parents and two siblings. She has made Stittsville her home for the past 12 years. Danielle has always had an attraction to nature and wildlife. She enjoys fishing and spending summer months with her husband cruising on the Rideau River system. While raising her two children, she had put her photography on the back shelf. Five years ago, she a needed a hobby that would help recharge her after a busy life and allow her skills to improve. “Photography does all of that and pushes me to get better at the passion and helps develop my creative side”.
In June 2014, Danielle became a member of Professional Photographers of Canada working hard to achieve the professional level, she “wanted to be part of a team of people who shared the same passion”. The Professional Photographers of Canada is a diversified group of creative artists dedicated to the highest standards in professional imaging. In October 2016, she was successful in receiving two accreditations (nature and wildlife) and has since acquired two more categories; entomology and ornithology.
“Every chance I have to go out and shoot nature, landscape, I take it … on weekends, I get up very early in the morning and patiently wait for the sun to rise for the birds to start singing and wildlife to wake up.” Danielle spends most evenings editing her photos and feeling the memories she has created with her beautiful passion.
What are your sentiments on your achievement? “I feel very proud of this achievement – there were times when I thought I would not make the big league – because nature and wildlife is not necessarily a genre that will make you popular or rich – unless you work for National Geographic, of course. I don’t make a living out of photography, but I sell products and I am always very flattered when someone brings a piece of my art into their home.”
What is next for me? “Workshops are being developed. I want to show people the potential they have in making an image appealing and I want them to be proud of the final product. A big dream of mine is to display multiple pieces of my art in a local business”.
“In about 4 years, I will be a young retiree and I intend to start a full time business in pet and products photography. That’s my plan for now!”
Danielle shared some of her other incredible photographs with Stittsville Central. You can view them below and be awed by her amazing talent.
Danielle would like to take this opportunity “to congratulate her Ottawa area fellow photographer friends who also won titles during the recent PPOC Ontario Image competition. Louise Gingras from Dimension FX Media is the Commercial photographer of the year and Claude Brazeau received the Wedding photographer of the year trophy”.