Annette G E Smith was our winner of the first PhotoDay of IFRP and IFRP Secretary Lára decided to have an interview with her to get to know her better. Here is what she said.

 

I am the mom of a 39-year-old son, a member and Past President of the Juneau-Gastineau Rotary club, a licensed maritime Captain, underwater photographer/videographer and retired from a 33-year career in Information Technology. I am a member of two Rotary International Fellowships, Scuba Divers and Photographers.

 

I am a lifelong Alaskan who knows these waters both above and below the surface. I have been a Captain for the past twelve years running commercial fishing, charter fishing, whale watching boats and private yachts in Southeast Alaska both the inside passage and the outer coast in the Gulf of Alaska. When not running boats, I can be found on my own boat fishing, diving, exploring, and photographing the waters around Southeast Alaska.

 

My underwater photography is used in several scientific sites, scientific writings, and printed in newspaper and magazine articles both in the US and Canada. My underwater videos have been used in programs like Deadliest Catch and I was featured in The Alaska Triangle episode that focused on the wreck of the Canadian Pacific Steamship Princess Sophia. I am the underwater expert on the Princess Sophia shipwreck and have presented that wreck in several shipwreck symposiums. My photography was featured in a Rotary WASH Rag story, was a judge in a Rotary Photography contest, and frequently do presentations that feature my photography in our underwater world!

 

I like to photograph things big and things small! I am fascinated by this remarkable world we live in! No matter where I am, no matter where I look, I find incredible beauty that our creator has made. It is even more remarkable when I go underwater in the cold seas of Alaska…. a place few go. Even there, there is no place untouched by the masterful hand of our Creator.

 

Photography is my attempt to describe something I am seeing to someone who has not or cannot see it. My words fail me so often. For example….in the photo I submitted…..my description would be…..when God is given a paint brush, He does not paint a simple landscape….he paints the seasons. He paints the greens of spring and summer, the wild colors of fall and the snows of winter. And while painting the seasons He paints the movement between them. While that may make sense to me…. someone who lives in a desert (or a tundra) and has never seen a tree or snow….it means nothing…. but the photo does. And while the photo does not really do the scene justice….it is a start!

 

Do you have good ideas on how to develop the IFRP Facebook community?

 

The key word here is good! I have no good ideas! For me…. I really enjoy the site…. I get to see the world through others eyes! And I am amazed…. even when I am seeing places I have been. Each and everyone of us has a unique perspective and while we each may look at the same thing, each of us will see something different. I have watched the site grow over time and am seeing more and more remarkable things!

 

I don't hve a lot of photos of me as I am usually behind the camera....but here are a couple...underwater, of course!! Here are a small sampling of photos. Some big....some small (so small they are shot with a +15 diopter macro lens!!