SPOTLIGHT ON STUDENT AWARDS WINNER

The Invisible Battles, Marie-Christine Arpin 

Our mandate at Applied Arts is to showcase award-winning talent from the current year to winners from a long way back. We sat down with 2022 Student Awards winner and recent graduate, Marie-Christine Arpin, for an update on what’s she’s been up to since graduating from the Commercial Photography program at Dawson College. 

Marie-Christine’s photography series, The Invisible Battles has been published in our 2022 Student awards Online Winners Gallery and in the upcoming Advertising & Students Awards Annual, set to publish this December. Feed your curiosity,  find out more about Marie-Christine.

What is your biggest accomplishment since graduating from school besides awards?

Completing school and winning the Applied Arts Student Award was a big accomplishment in itself. I would say that staying creative and keeping time for personal projects is on top of my list.

What have you been up to since then?

I’ve been working on exiting my full time job, which is unrelated to photography. I’ve worked on some personal projects but mostly I have been building my knowledge of CGI, polishing my retouching skills and developing new projects ideas.

The Invisible Battles, Marie-Christine Arpin 

How has an Applied Arts Awards helped you grow your career?

Since winning my Applied Arts Award I have been approached by potential clients to discuss projects but, mostly it has given me the confidence that I am on the right path.

Who is your creative hero?

To name just a few Erik Almas, Gemmy Woudbinnendijk, Annie Leibovitz. On a more local scene definitely the team at Consulat and Shoot Studio in Montreal.

How do you stay inspired?

Pretty much everything and anything inspires me. Emotions, events, situations, music, movies/series or other artist/ photographs work. With today’s technology it’s easy to create a digital scrapbook of images that evoke something in one way or another and, it also enables me to keep notes on ideas for future concept to develop.

The Invisible Battles, Marie-Christine Arpin 

What are your interest outside of work?

Spending time with the people close to me, my dog, Art in any form and definitely learning new skills.

What is the most difficult piece you worked on? What were the challenges?

Probably the "Unsmilling Personality" project I shot for a school assignment, a project that dealt with representing emotions that are difficult to communicate with images. It also required technique that was unknown to me at the time, I had to learn it as I shot and edited. As a student there are a lot of challenges on most projects, you are playing many roles all at once: creative director, stylist, location scout, photographer, retoucher and the budget is very tight. It does push you to be creative to obtain the results you want. 

Unsmilling, Marie-Christine Arpin

What is the project you are most proud of? What was your creative process?

Probably a project I’m still working on right now, The deadly sins. It’s a creative project I started with the intention of showcasing it in my graduation portfolio. The idea behind it is a question: what is a Sin? From there, the concept built up; is it really a sin or simply a flaw? Since all beings have flaws could someone have them all at one point or another? So I photographed the same model in seven different scenes representing what is considered the deadly sins. The project was shot with the idea of creating composites on some images and CGI on others, so, while all the frames are shot, there is still editing work to be done to complete the full project. 

Deadly Sins, Marie-Christine Arpin 

What was your biggest takeaway from going to Dawson College?

Know and control your technique then, from there, the creative process is limitless.

The Invisible Battles, Marie-Christine Arpin 

What are your future goals for your photography career? Commercial versus Fine Arts?

As my interest in photography spans creating concepts, realizing and editing them, the goal is to find a sweet spot. A spot where I can stay involved in all aspects of image making, reaching a place in my process where I can easily integrate art and technology together leading to developing and evolving my style. Both commercial and fine arts are very appealing. Probably fine arts for more personal projects. 

And here is to you finding that sweet spot Marie-Christine! We look forward to catching up with you again in the future,  we see yours as being very promising!