Back to Back: Representing Team Canada at the 2027 World Photographic Cup

For the second year in a row, I've been selected to represent Canada at the World Photographic Cup. I'm still letting that one sink in.

What is the World Photographic Cup?

The WPC is often called the Olympics of photography. Countries from around the world each send one national team, and every image is judged by an international panel against the best work on the planet. Team Canada is built through three rounds of curation, and only 30 images across 10 categories make the final cut.

For 2027, I'm one of three Canadian photographers in the Commercial category, alongside Alph Leydon and Louis-Philippe Provost. Sharing a category with photographers of that calibre is an honour in itself.

The view from up there

Most of my award work happens from the window of a small plane. On survey flights north of Fort McMurray, I spend my time looking down at the industrial landscapes of northern Alberta: haul roads that curve and switch back across the ground, trucks the size of houses moving in single file, and patterns you simply can't see from the ground.

By day I'm a mining engineer, and understanding how these sites work is a big part of how I see them. I know why a road bends where it does and why the trucks space themselves the way they do. Up there, all of that turns into shape, line and rhythm. Finding the art in that engineering is what keeps me pressed against the window every flight.

2026: Zig Zag

Last year's Team Canada image, Zig Zag, came from one of those flights. A line of haul trucks winds through an S-shaped road cut into the mine, and the whole scene reads almost like a drawing. It's still one of my favourite frames I've ever made.

2027: Coming in December

I can't share this year's image just yet. All 30 Team Canada images stay under wraps until international judging wraps up in December. I'll post it here the moment I'm allowed. Trust me, I'm counting down.

The world is coming to Alberta

This year the awards ceremony is in Calgary in April 2027, alongside the Professional Photographers of Canada national conference. Having the international photography community right here in Alberta makes this one feel extra special, and I can't wait to be in that room.

Thank you

None of this happens alone. To my clients who trust me with their projects, my family who put up with early flights and late editing nights, and my PPOC community who push me to be better every year: thank you.

Congratulations to all of my fellow Team Canada photographers. What a group to be part of.

Canada, let's go. 🇨🇦

Meet the full 2027 Team Canada at wpcteamcanada.com.