I recently attended CICE 2025 in Ottawa, Ontario from April 25, 2025 through to April 27, 2025.
When it was announced last year that CICE would take place in Ottawa, Ontario in 2025 one of the first goals I set for myself was to attend. This was my first in person conference since I joined the Professional Photographers of Canada 6 years ago.
During Covid they were held on line and after opening back, up on the west coast.
So it only seemed fitting to seek the travel companionship of the only other PPOC member in Sault Ste. Marie – Anna Pelletier-Doble of Kevanna Fine Photography who was equally excited to attend. Together Anna and I traveled to Ottawa on April 24, 2025.
Anna and I met up to finalize our plans the week prior setting personal goals for each of us while we were there. Our class and workshop schedule was already set when we registered. We selected the options we each wanted for ourselves at the time.
The air was filled with excitement upon our arrival. After a ten hour drive we were eager to sit down to some great food as we chatted and caught up with so many colleagues we may not necessarily have met in person previously. It was representative of being old friends.
The days to follow were extremely long and busy taking us through several lectures and workshops, filling some volunteer responsibilities, lots of eating and ceremony.
Day 1 – April 25th for me was highlighted by some setup responsibilities, live Accreditation Judging, two hands on workshops, a welcome reception and keynote speaker as well as lots of delicious food.
After a hearty breakfast provided by our hotel and taking care of setting up the display table for World Photographic Cup in the Expo room that morning I was free to get on with my day.
Accreditation judging is something that generally takes place behind closed doors, however there has been a concerted effort to do a live judging from time to time at conference.
I was fortunate enough to have had the privelege of watching two of my newest accreditations go in front of the boad of examiners. Thankfully they were both successful bringing my total Accreditations to date to ten – Botanical received an overall score of Accepted and Macro & Micro received an overall score of Very Good.
The mornings workshops kicked off with Kim Evans – one half of the dynamic duo of Gary and Kim. She spoke on Marketing Practices for your Business. Kim was very insightful in her lecture, welcoming, passionate about business and very generous with her knowlege. My only regret was not having more time to pick her brain.
After a wonderful Thai lunch a natural light portrait workshop by a WPC teammate Claude Brazeau, MPA of 8 bars (8 bars to the Master of Photographic Arts) featured how to see the light with Portraits Under the Bridge.
Our group made our way downtown towards Parliament Hill and began our walk, lecture and photographing at the Sappers Bridge. Both the light and Claude were amazing.
His uncanny ability to read the light in any situation is astounding. In the short afternoon we had together he covered a lot of great material on how to recognize, read and interpret the light in addition to posing and interacting with our subjects.
After returning to the hotel we had a short time to rest up before attending the welcome reception where again copious amounts of food was served. We got to greet friends old and new many of whom were still just arriving.
This was followed a few hours later by the opening ceremonies and keynote speaker – Michelle ValBerg, CM.
In addition to her being my World Photographic Cup teammate, Michelle was the recipient of the Order of Canada for her humanitarian work “Project North” with children in the north.
To kick off the opening of the conference Michelle gave an inspiring talk on finding your passion in the business of photography and she recapped her lifes journey as a woman photographer in a male dominated profession when her journey began forty years ago.
Day 2 – April 26th consisted of a full day of lectures, the expo, official photographs and the awards gala celebating those present, honoring those who have received awards, designations or honoring those who left us way too soon. Again there was copious amounts of delicious food and drink.
Kickoff to the day was Jaime Bell of The Contracts Market who spoke on the Legal Aspects of the Business of Photography. Her insights into contracts were both enlightening and useful in so many ways and were most appreciated.
Also a WPC teammate of mine, Jacquie Matechuk, MPA soon followed with her extremely personal and vulnerable talk about her journey.
As a wildlife conservationist, the stories of her subjects resonate in every image she makes be it in the field with the bears or fast action sporting events where it all began for her.
There was a planned assembly of WPC Team Canada members in attendance of the convention for a photo op. Even though it was a small sampling of the group it was great to see so many of us together in the same room.
Our photo was taken with the 30 images from 2025. Due to a mixup all of the medal images from previous years were not accompanying the display.
I got to see my image “Late Night Snack” in print up close and personal with the WPC branding. There is something so satisfying about having a tactile piece in front of you over viewing it digitally.
We were given time to have coffee and visit the Expo room were vendors were set up displaying their offerings. I made out like a bandit with a bag full of loot.
I have recently been toying with the idea of a new camera so I checked out what Canon brought to the table while getting a feel for weight and shape.
There were so many exhibiters present all offering something different from insurance to equipment to production. There was something for everyone.
The afternoon ended with a lecture by Tara Graham on the Art & Business of Newborn Photography. It was a well rounded presentation packed with information also useful in many other photographic genres.
I received my Craftsman of Photographic Arts (CPA) in the beginning of 2024 while I was still too ill to travel. It was mailed to me with no ceremony. General practice is for it to be presented at conference so I was fortunate to be celebrated with this years recipients.
The gala celebrated this years designation recipients (CPA, MPA and bars, SPA) in addition to the National Salon Awards for which I was a finalist in the Best In Class, Experimental Unclassified Class.
My bid was unsuccessful but boy I was in some pretty amazing company!
If you were getting the vibe there was a theme to this post, yes again there was copious amounts of amazing food served.
Day 3 – April 27th featured more speakers all day, a gathering of all conference attendees for a group photo, more food as well as some business and a fun night honoring two very special retirees.
Starting the day was Kim Evans again speaking this time on the Business of Photography and making the most of it.
Kim was followed by Jim Brompton, an educator, who is a Master photographer of Fine Art and Nature. His presentation centered around the business aspect of it and how to get your work out there. Jim’s ability to capture the moment when it arrives speaks to the lengthy time spent in the wait – sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t but you pack up and do it all over again until it works.
Gary Evans, the photographer half of the dynamic duo Gary and Kim gave us a recap of his wedding and family/lifestyle shoots and how he produces his cinematic images.
What a dynamic and fun speaker he was!
Our last speaker was one of our own – Ariane Desbiens, CPA who used her background in communication and advertising to deliver a wonderful bilingual presentation on her story and how she elevated herself and her business / client base after becoming a PPOC member in 2013.
Arianne credits her positive results during image competitions for her recent successes. But she is very humble not identifying the fact that it is very hard work to be successful in image competition.
Closing of the conference was another amazing meal followed by a fun night honoring two of our office staff on their retirement.
On the occasion of my first in person PPOC conference I can attest to the fact I feel it was a resounding success.
I’d like to express my gratitude to all of the roaming photographers – Kayla Gordon, MPA, Mark Hughes, Erin Ball, CPA, Dorothy Wedel and all the other volunteersas well as all the others who shared the images they exposed over the conference for capturing the moments.
Most of these images were kindly provided to me by these thoughtful photographers and I’m indebted to them because even though I had a camera with me I was captivated by all the activites and didn’t want to miss a moment behind my camera.
Being a volunteer based organization that thrives on giving back this whole experience speaks to the value of a supportive community.
If you are a photographer I highly recomend becoming a member of the Professional Photographers of Canada (PPOC). Your support to the Canadian industry is paramount to it’s outcome.
In a time where we spend significant amounts of cash on equipment, why not invest in ourselves, our education thereby elevating our skills on an individual basis while also elevating industry standards. There is no better feeling.
