Western Alumni Gazette

Alumni Association Annual General Meeting

There was an excellent turnout at the Western Alumni Association's Annual General Meeting held last night (April 26) at Windermere Manor. For more information, see the Alumni & Friends Web page on the AGM.

In fine form

2004 Arlie Laxton Photography Contest Winners

Once again, Western alumni delivered with their keen eye for the visually interesting. Approximately 80 photographers captured images through their lenses from the backyard to the other side of the world for the annual Arlie Laxton Alumni Photography Contest. (click on each photo for details, or visit the Arlie Laxton photo winners site).

1st prizes:  The Thinker (category, People) & Untitled (category, Other)

 

 

Runners up

 

This year our judges were Richard Bain (BA’77), Michael Mullan (BA’01) and Janis Wallace (BMus’75, BEd’76). Janis has coordinated past Arlie Laxton photo contests and is Media Relations Officer for the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western. Richard is a well known London photographer, who recently published Western – a photography book celebrating the University. And Michael is a London photographer (MLM Photography) whose exhibit ‘Constructs’ is on display at the Braywick Bistro in London until June.

A new category will be added to the contest next year: ‘Digitally Enhanced’ photos. That does not mean photos taken with a digital camera – but photos altered after the fact by software that is readily available to most photographers. The judges felt that would be a fairer way of judging photographs, knowing which had been touched up or intentionally altered and which had not.

Judges were impressed by the quality of the entries and judged photos based on thought that had gone into the composition; technique illustrated in the clarity, depth and lighting, and the degree of difficulty. The annual contest is named in honour of the late Arlie Laxton (BScN’37), a nursing grad who made it possible through an endowed gift to Western.

WAG-ing the Blog

Welcome to a new format! The redesign you are experiencing is part of an effort to create a more interactive dimension to our online version of the Western Alumni Gazette. The change to the look of this page, which we hope better reflects the standards being set by the Department of Communications and Public Affairs and provides you with a more eye-catching point of entry. We're also incorporating a more integrated approach to our sister site, Alumni & Friends, to put you more closely in touch with what is happening with our alumni association (see above links).

Online content is also being enhanced. From now on you will see links to ongoing new material linked from the WAG hompage to a Gazette weblog, where I will share some of our upcoming magazine articles as they are developed, exclusive online stories, and news from Alumni Relations. You can comment on each entry.

Let us know how we are doing - are there other things you would like to see? Things you would like to contribute? Send me your feedback and help make the WAG online your link to Western.