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A cattle ranch in landlocked Alberta provides little opportunity for surf and sand, so David Copinthorne created his own opportunity for adventure.
The third-year bachelor of fine arts new media major at University of Lethbridge has been using his shutterbug skills to snap up trips to Rio de Janeiro and Miami, Fla., and now he’s focused on heading to Greece and Turkey.
“The last year and a half has blown up for me,” said the 21-year-old. “I've been taking photos and filming for eight years and finally getting some recognition through online competitions and word of mouth.”
Copinthorne, who grew up outside of Calgary with a “farmer dad who doesn’t like to beach vacation,” made his first trip to a coast once he started post-secondary studies. The moment his feet touched the sun-warmed sand, Copinthrone knew he’d been bit by the travel bug.
“Then, I knew it was something I’d have to keep doing,” he said. “I’m kind of like a big hippy; I just love beaches.”
Travelling serves as a way for Copinthrone to explore another love — photography.
“I’ve been playing with cameras for a long time. I was only 10 or 11 and playing around with an old Canon camera, taking photos cruising around on the farm on garden tractors.”
Today, he focuses on landscape and nature photography.
Last February, Copinthrone decided to pit his photos against the work of other photographers and submitted a photographs in a contest for a chance to a 30-day tour of Brazil organized by Beach Travellers, a travel company that specializes in small-group adventure travel for the 18-35 age demographic. He won, and departed in June 2011 for a trip that included touring the Amazon Rainforest and Rio de Janeiro, and fishing and surfing.
“I knew this was my chance to shine,” he said.
One of the photos he captured outside of Rio was of a young boy kite flying, a popular hobby in Brazil, against the backdrop of a favela, or shantytown.
“I was just walking by and spotted this boy flying his kite.”
He submitted the photo, which he titled “The Soul Kite,” into another travel-photographer contest, this time sponsored by Get Your Guide. The contest asked photographers to post their vote-worthy photos online, and the votes collected on the website by visitors helped decide the winners of the two main categories: best photo and best photographer. The photo with the highest amount of votes won the best photo category and a trip for two to Miami, including flights, accommodation and tours.
Copinthrone said he entered the competition and then “kinda forgot about it,” so he didn’t solicit votes from friends.
“Then I got an email in November saying I won. I got votes from people I didn’t even know.”
He departs on his Florida trip on Feb. 22.
The young traveller hopes to keep his good fortune going and is one of 24 photographers presently vying for a 40-day trip to Greece and Turkey. The travel photography competition is online and organized by a company called Free & Easy Traveller. The top eight photographer who gets the most online "likes" by Feb. 12 move on to the next round of competition. A winner will be declared Feb. 21. The competition is happening at www.freeandeasytraveler.com/.
The winner’s expenses will be paid, with the exception of food and drink, in exchange for Free & Easy Traveller using the photographer’s work in future promotions, said Copinthrone.
When he isn’t taking free trips or attending to his homework, Copinthrone spends the remainder of his free time working for a camera company in Calgary. He recently helped shoot a documentary about a South Sudan rapper who now makes his home in Calgary.
It’s a hectic schedule but he isn’t complaining.
“I want to get paid and travel for the rest of my life.”
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