Long Snapper: Tackling Football at 300mm /  by Christina Varvis

I don't even know what a long snapper does, but my friend Richard said this would make for a great title, so thank you, Richard. 

As you can probably tell, football isn't quite my sport, unless JT (<3) is performing the halftime show at the Super Bowl. I'm a regular hockey girl, and I can appreciate a good basketball game, but football has never managed to catch my interest. However, I don't think I've given it enough of a chance either. Thankfully, back in October, that chance decided to come to me, instead.

At that time, I was shadowing a photojournalist - Greg Southam -  from the Edmonton Journal, and on his agenda was the Edmonton Eskimos practice. Before we even arrived at the stadium, I was feeling excited, despite my apathy towards the sport, because I knew experiencing it as a photographer would be an instant game changer. I like to think that photography can turn me into a fan of any sport, even for just one period, (or quarter in this case). 

When I stepped foot onto the field, I became even more eager to start shooting, especially when Greg passed me a 400mm and 300mm lens to try out. I had never handled these focal lengths before; they were definitely an adjustment from my usual 24mm-70mm range, but they were so sick to play with. What really made capturing these images challenging, though, was the distance between myself and the players. Even with my gear, it was difficult to anticipate their moves, but more importantly, observe their emotions, because those are the two factors that make a sports image powerful.

However, since this was a practice, I didn't have to worry too much about catching their moves, because they had to repeat them more than once anyway. Another aspect that helped me was my assigned player. As part of my exercise, Greg asked me to focus on Mike Reilly (13), which was so much fun for me. I didn't have the chance to meet him, but from my shots, I felt like I did...as cheesy as that might sound! I love capturing people's personalities in my photos, and I really felt like I captured a bit of his: outgoing, funny, and supportive of his teammates. What I also really enjoyed was capturing the friendship between players - that may have been my favourite part of it all.

The Nocturnal Bee /  by Christina Varvis

This short photo essay buzzes around one of the many busy bees that cares for the u of a campus, after hours.

During my years at The Gateway at the University of Alberta, I had a number of late nights, where I would be leaving the office just past 1:00 AM to catch that last train home. Looking back, although those times were tiring, I enjoyed them so much because of the company that kept me laughing and motivated, and the atmosphere that the campus charmed me with. 

Ram was somebody who I would always see as I'd be running out the door. He works as a caretaker, and his shifts usually start at about 11:00 PM and finish at about 7:00 AM. After a couple of times of seeing each other in the same building, we eventually began building a rapport. 

Fast forward a couple years, I had a project to do for my program at NAIT, where I had to put together a photo essay on a subject that held my interest, and that I wanted to learn more about. So, I went back to Ram and I decided to document him working one of his night shifts. I really wanted to learn more about what he did exactly, how he enjoyed it, what lead him to the U of A, and to basically walk in his shoes. In the end, it was a memorable experience that left me holding so much more respect for Ram, and his dedication to giving the students a space that is clean and safe to use everyday. I hope that by sharing these photos, other students will begin to express more gratitude for the caretakers at their own campus, and be more mindful of how they leave their lunch/study space, because the amount of work that caretakers undertake every night is humbling, and deserves more recognition and appreciation.