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The Pickens’ Technical College photography department, headed by instructor Lowell Mosher, is geared toward helping students start a successful career in photography. Mosher teaches a two-semester, comprehensive program designed to help students not only hone their photography skills (which, let’s admit, we could all use some training in, judging by my Facebook Newsfeed) but also find work and build a business by getting as many clients as possible. From the basics of Exposure Theory to black and white photography and creating a professional portfolio, Mosher teaches students at PTC how to be skilled, professional photographers when they graduate from PTC.

Every year, Mosher puts together a photography contest for PTC students. This is an opportunity for students to showcase their abilities and the skills they have been learning all year and connect with local photographers who judge the competition. Several students have found work as professional photographers on the strength of their entries to the contest and their contact with local professional photographers.

One of the professional photographers who judged last semester’s contest is Kimberly Brumfiel. Brumfiel has been a professional photographer in the Denver area since 2002 after she graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado. She has done work for many events in the Denver area in her career and she was all too happy to help budding photography talents find their own way in the industry.

Brumfiel said that judging contests based mostly on technical aspects such as composition, printing and Photoshop techniques, and color allowed her to give useful feedback for young photographers trying to break into the profession. She wanted to be a judge for PTC’s contest because she thinks PTC’s photography program is “designed well, they all have a chance to take their career to the next level for sure.” The contest is valuable for students because “students learn from their own mistakes and their peers’ mistakes in photography.”

Brumfiel has since taken a PTC photography graduate student under her wing to help her learn the ropes and master the business side of working as a professional photographer. As for Brumfiel herself, she plans to start a new photography business with a colleague to find larger accounts and clients that need fine photography done the right way. Be on the lookout for Kimberly Dawn Photography in the coming months, Denver!

Part of PTC’s mission is to expose its students to as many professional, real-world mentors as possible. Finding someone to take you under their wing is usually the best thing that can happen to a young photography student or any student of professional art. As always, PTC gears students for a professional life in the discipline that makes them happy. The photography program at PTC is no different. Lowell Mosher has connections throughout the local photography industry like Brumfiel and the other judges of last semester’s competition. Mosher works hard to ensure that all of his students have a chance to get the career of their dreams off the ground in the local Denver scene.