Local photographer excels in contest

Teresa Bolen is an avid photographer.
She’ll tell you so in no uncertain terms, but she doesn’t need to. Her enthusiasm for her work is apparent as she dashes from one end of the studio to the other—adjusting camera angles, changing backdrops, lifting and lowering stools and tables, and setting up props.
“I love this work,” Bolen said during an interview Friday at the portrait studio in the local Wal-Mart.
Bolen works for the Portrait Corporation of America (PCA), which operates portrait studios in more than 3,000 Wal-Mart stores in Canada, the U.S., Germany, and Mexico.
The company also sponsors a photography contest among its employees every year.
Bolen submitted four photographs for the contest, and her love for the work must have shone through because she received a number of accolades for them.
The most successful was a portrait of district resident Lorne Caul, dressed in denim under a coat, wearing a cowboy hat and gloves, while leaning on a saddle with a lasso.
The portrait won three merit points for Best in Category and two for Best in Show.
“In order to get one merit point, you have to have an amazing photograph,” Bolen said.
“I wasn’t expecting it. It’s wonderful, especially at my age,” she added. “I’m doing what I love to do, but I don’t expect to win anything.”
The photograph of the smiling Caul was submitted in the full body/arm category. Other categories include head and shoulders, two or more, and EYEmagine.
Past winners can be viewed at www.goportraits.com in the Blue Ribbon Gallery. Bolen said her photo of Caul will be posted on the site in the near future.
“He’s a cowboy. He loves his horses. That’s the real McCoy,” she said of her subject.
All photos submitted for the contest are portraits, and Bolen estimated there likely were about 9,000 submissions from the four participating countries.
The contest does not allow cropping or manipulation of the photos in any way, such as using a program like Adobe Photoshop to remove imperfections.
“What you see is what you get,” Bolen said.
She has submitted photos in previous years, and has her merit point certificates for those photos framed and hung on the wall at the studio.
Bolen studied photography at Ryerson University in Toronto in the 1980s and then worked as a reporter at the Fort Frances Times for eight years. She noted there have been many changes in photography over the years—due largely to changes in technology.
“Nowadays it’s mostly digital. [But] I don’t like the quality, next to film,” she said.
When she went to school, she used an old manual Pentax. “We shot in black and white and had to develop the film ourselves,” she recalled.
The equipment she uses at the portrait studio includes both a film and digital camera. “The digital is for customers to view the photo, the film is for printing,” Bolen explained.
Digital technology allows customers to view the photo before it is processed so they can decide whether or not they like it.
“We do church groups, family groups, generation photos,” Bolen said, noting she’d like to see more graduating students come in for sittings.
“I have fun with the people that come in,” she added. “We treat our customers like royalty.”
Bolen has been working towards her Master’s of Photography through PCA, and is expecting to have it finalized later this month. That, coupled with the news of her strong performance in the photography contest, is just icing on the cake.
“It’s like everything coming together at once,” she enthused. “This whole thing for me is a joy.”