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15 GEORGIANVIEW 2024 PRINT EDITION ALUMNI STORIES Military veteran makes it to the World Photographic Cup Georgian alumna Kari Carter (class of 2021) was named a member of Team Canada for the prestigious 2024 World Photographic Cup and placed seventh in the Illustration/Digital category. "I feel incredibly honoured and proud," says Kari. "I am grateful to be a part of such an extraordinary team that brought home a bronze medal for Canada. Placing seventh is something I could only dream of when I first embarked on this journey. But the true joy came from witnessing my teammates' success and experiencing our group's collective spirit." It was only last year that she submitted an image titled Fabricated Beauty to the Professional Photographers of Canada (PPOC) national salon. It performed exceptionally well, earning an Excellence Award inclusion in the loan collection. It also received a Judge's Choice award. "Encouraged by this, I decided to enter Fabricated Beauty into Team Canada's competition," she explains, noting she embraced the judges' suggestions through multiple stages of curation. "Ultimately, I was thrilled to learn that my image not only progressed through all the stages but also secured a spot on Team Canada. It was a moment of immense joy and pride for me." As a graduate of the former Digital Photography program at Georgian, Kari has received many provincial and national awards. Since becoming a member of the Professional Photographers of Canada, she has achieved three accreditations in distinct areas: photo manipulation, fantasy illustration, and studio portraiture. "The journey so far has been an enriching blend of learning, growth, and sharing the passion for photography with some of the best in the field." As a veteran who left the military after 18 years due to a serious back injury, Kari yearned to do something creative and find a new sense of belonging outside of the military. Photography helped her with the challenging transition from military to civilian life. She admits she didn't even know how to fully operate a camera on her first day of class. "I couldn't shoot on manual and pretty much everybody else in the class could," she chuckles. "I was just like, what have I gotten myself into?" She credits instructor Tony Pickard for challenging her to go beyond her comfort zone with Photoshop and really delve into it. "I have to give it up for Tony for giving me the skills that it took to create that image," she says adding that instructor Terry Hyrnyk also gets props for his encouragement and suggestion she join the PPOC. | Kari Carter represented Team Canada with her Fabricated Beauty image.