Second Place
Canada
Shilendra Prashad
Scarborough, Ontario
First place goes
to the dogs
During a typical workweek as a streetcar
driver for the Toronto Transit Commission,
Costco member Tin Sang Chan takes passengers to their destinations. On weekends, he
takes prize-winning pictures. Chan has won
awards from the Photographic Society of
America and the Canadian Association for
Photographic Art, among others.
Chan’s photograph of a dogsled driver and
team mid-race received first prize in this year’s
photo contest. On a visit to Haliburton,
Ontario, Chan took his trusty Canon 1D Mark
III camera to practice his favourite hobby. “It
was my regular weekend stint with friends,”
recalls Chan. He doesn’t remember exactly
when the photo was taken, but one thing
springs to mind: “It was really cold.
“These guys were racing for money, and I
just started snapping away,” he recollects. He
estimates he took about 10 shots a second. “I
didn’t know what I got until I got home and
looked at the photos on my computer. I was
lucky to get this shot.”
For his first-place photo, Chan will receive
a $1,500 Costco Cash card.—Steve Fisher
A moment to
remember
Shilendra Prashad, a collections-agency worker
who lives in Toronto. “My family was in a field
behind our house because my son, Alec, loves it was a special moment for me, but your
playing in it. I brought my camera, a digital judges have made it really special.”
“This shot was a fluke. The stars must have
been lined up just right or something,” says
SLR, to practice shooting. I am a novice pho- For his second-place photo, Prashad will
tographer and, at the time, I had only had the receive a $1,000 Costco Cash card.
camera for about four months.” —Will Fifield Prashad describes the moment of this
photo as “unplanned and not staged.” When he saw his 19-year-old daughter, Arrianne, lift The eyes have it
his 4-year-old son, Alec, from the grass, he At the urging of a friend, Diane Poitras
could see a beautiful scene unfolding. Instantly travelled to Mali—a landlocked country in
he grabbed his camera. He says the camera set- West Africa—in January 2007. While there,
tings happened to be perfect, as was the light. the two were invited to dinner with a local
Third Place
Canada
Diane Poitras
Longueuil, Quebec
“He’s kind of a romantic kid,” Prashad family, who sang and performed for them.
says of Alec. “First he handed his sister a You can hear the smile in Poitras’ voice as she
flower, which she is holding in the photo. describes the fun evening and how the blue
Then she lifted him out of grass, which was cloth was playfully wrapped around her head
taller than he was, and gave him a kiss. I knew before being placed on the boy in the photo.
