Ken Kirkpatrick hadn’t picked up a camera in 25 years, but when he did, he found out he hadn’t lost his photographer’s eye.
The recent computer graphic arts graduate earned fourth place in a Photographer’s Forum contest that garnered more than 18,000 entries. The magazine for students and emerging photographers sponsors the international contest annually.
Three other Stark State students also were named finalists in the competition: Curtis Nicholson, Rex Piatt and Lisa Rimedio.
The Marshallville resident came to the College’s new digital photography major from a work background that included cable technician andtool-and-die operator. Since 2004 he’s worked as a Stark State groundskeeper.
Before he clicked with Stark State’s photography program, his last look through a lens was as his high school’s yearbook photographer. SSC instructor Mike Barath “rekindled the passion in me for photography,” Kirkpatrick said. “Stark State has been a really positive place for me. The instructors are awesome and the (photography) program is expanding by leaps and bounds.”
His award-winning shot of a frozen lake on a cold winter day was taken in the Silver Creek Metro Park in Norton. “I loved how the clouds looked,” he said. “When I saw it, I knew. It just clicked.” Still, he said, he let the image sit in his computer for a few months, then made minimal adjustments to it before submitting it for the competition.
Kirkpatrick, whose work also has placed in the local Canton Symphony Orchestra photo contest, is continuing his education at the University of Akron, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. Stark State, he said, “was a really good place to start.”
Kirkpatrick’s website can be found at www.kenkirkpatrickphotography.com<http://www.kenkirkpatrickphotography.com>. For more about Photographer’s Forum, visitwww.pfmagazine.com<http://www.pfmagazine.com>.