Cheryl Bramble, ACAPA

CAPA Certified Judge

Cheryl was born in Yorkshire, England and grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. Her working career was in administrative support for private companies and a not-for-profit family counselling agency. She is an avid walker, has completed 15 half marathons, is a quilter, and sings with local choirs. Cheryl’s interest in photography comes directly through her paternal family. Her father was a professional photographer in Edmonton, and her grandfather owned and operated a portrait studio in Stockton-on-Tees, England. Cheryl joined the local Kelowna camera club in 2011 and that’s when photography became a Passion. For 5 years she was the club’s CAPA Representative and also the Competition Chair, responsible for the club’s submissions to external competitions. Commitment to continually improving her skills led Cheryl to joining CAPA in 2016. She was the CAPA Central Interior District Representative for Pacific Zone for 2 years, took the judges’ courses in 2017 and 2018 and received her Judges’ Certification in January 2020. In February 2021, Sheldon Boles appointed her as the Assistant Director of Competitions, and she is also a member of CAPA’s Competitions Team. Cheryl considers her involvement with CAPA and its’ members both an honour and a privilege.

Mario Cerroni

CAPA Certified Judge

Residing in Ottawa, Ontario, Mario Cerroni is a lens-based artist who works with both digital and traditional analog/alternative photographic processes. He is interested in how natural and constructed elements inform our views and experience of the worlds we inhabit. Cerroni’s photographs are often interpretive and centre on the sensory experience of being in a particular place and time. Cerroni has exhibited internationally and sold his work through a variety of shows and exhibitions since 2013.

www.mariocerroni.com.    Instagram: @cerroniphotos

Lisa Demaline

CAPA Certified Judge

Lisa Demaline is an award winning fine art photographer and photography judge who lives on the shores of Lake Erie in beautiful Port Dover, Ontario. She took a lifelong love of travel and photography a step further and went back to school near the end of her career in Information Technology to get a diploma in Photography in 2015. She is a member and certified judge for both the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts (CAPA) and the Professional Photographers of Canada (PPOC). She is accredited in Nature, Fine Art, Botanical, Travel Illustration, Image Manipulation and Digital Illustration and has received her Master of the Photographic Arts designation. She has exhibited many images in regional and national Salons for the PPOC and is currently both the National and Eastern Canada Salon Chair. She enjoys judging everywhere from national professional photography competitions to her local county fair.

Pierre R. Gauthier

CAPA Certified Judge

I have been a member of the RA Photo Club (RAPC) since 1994 and leader of the Nature Group from 1995 to 2019. I have filled several roles in the club both as Chairman and Treasurer. I am also an assistant leader of our Fine Art Photography group.  The RAPC organized several Canadian Camera Conferences for CAPA {Canadian Association for Photographic Art } in 1998, 2003 and again in 2017. I have attended and successfully completed the CAPA Judging Course on five occasions and assisted in teaching one module of the course in 2010 when it was presented in Ottawa. In the last 23 years I have judged numerous photo competitions for many clubs in the greater Ottawa area, Ont., & Que. I have also judged CAPA national competitions and on line for many Camera Clubs across Canada. I have been a certified CAPA Judge since 1998. I conscientiously try to respect the guidelines, when evaluating images, that are contained in the CAPA Judging manual. I studiously exclude my personal taste in evaluating images when I work as a judge of competitions. 

Janet Kempster

CAPA Certified Judge

Janet was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and her passion for art became evident in high school. She went on to earn a post graduate degree in Fine Arts. She and her husband immigrated to Canada in 1974. She chose a career in teaching, and taught high school art for some thirty years. She turned from painting to photography in 1995 after acquiring her first SLR and earned an Art Photography Certificate at Mohawk College, Hamilton. Later, she taught evening classes in Nature Photography for ten years at the college. She has been judging photography since 2001 when she first became certified. She has since had the pleasure of assessing photographs in local, regional, national and international competitions. She has always remained involved in the arts in her community of Brantford, ON. Activities include a term as President of the Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant, and sitting on various arts councils - most currently, the City’s Public Art Committee. She co-authored an illustrated book ‘Brantford, Grand River Crossing’ published in 1986. She is a Masters member of Trillium Photographic Club. She maintains an ongoing education in photography through seminars, workshops, webinars and conferences. Famous painter Paul Klee stated that “Art does not reflect the visible, but makes visible.” Janet strives through her photography to ‘make visible’ aspects of the world around her, that may be overlooked or unseen by others. She also hopes that through her subjects and her lenses she can evoke an emotional response, tell a story, educate or simply create interest and enjoyment for viewers.

Robert M. Laramée

CAPA Certified Judge

Born in Montreal, Robert learned basic camera operation and darkroom technique as a high school student in 1962. Photography became his main hobby with the purchase of a used 35mm camera and the installation of a home darkroom in 1969. Two years later, he moved to the Outaouais region to work for the Geological Survey of Canada in Ottawa. He took courses with the School of Modern Photography and a few workshops at Algonquin College. After he retired from work in 2006, he started studying at the School of Photographic Arts Ottawa and completed a part time studies Certificate in analog photography in 2009. He took numerous courses and workshops at SPAO until 2018. Robert shot his last roll of colour film in 2005. For black and white, he has a preference for film, especially in medium and large format and he has his own darkroom. An active member of three photo clubs, he has been teaching photography since 2010. He is a CAPA Certified Judge since 2016 and has led three times the CAPA judge training workshop in French.

Jacques S. Mailloux, FCAPA, HonFCAPA

CAPA Certified Judge

Originally a member of the RA Photo Club, in Ottawa in the late 80’s. At the time, I regularly purchased copies of the “Camera Canada” magazine and became a NAPA member. After a few years, I was asked to be the CAPA Club Representative. From there, I progressed to become Ontario Zone Director. During that time, I was also of one the original founders of the Orleans Photo Club, where I served as Competitions Director for seven years. When Dave Haggarty became President, he asked me to be his VP. It’s also a time when digital became the topic of the day. I proposed to the Board a new Digital Photography competition, which we named the Annual Digital Competition, and which I ran for several years, with prizes first from Minolta, then Sony, Manfrotto, Photoshop, etc. This competition is now called the Annual Photo Challenge and is still very popular. At the time, I also made arrangements with several prominent national, provincial and local photo retailers, for special discounts to CAPA members. In the natural progression of things, I then became President for a first term, with Allen Bargen as my VP. During this term, I re-established CCCs on a bi-annual basis. The annual conference had previously been suspended for lack of funds and interest several years earlier. When Allen Bargen succeeded me, one of his notable accomplishments was the creation of the Judging Course, with the participation of several Board and CAPA members from across Canada. This new source of revenue helped take care of the financial situation and secured the future of CCCs and CAPA. Near the end of his term as President, an unforeseen event made it so that Allen asked me if I would consider taking the presidency again. I did and ended up President for a second term. This time and with the help of others, my efforts went toward finding new Zone Directors, especially in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. I ended my second term as Past President in 2015.

Dan Sigouin

CAPA Certified Judge

Dan Sigouin has a background in education, working as an instructor in the School of Construction at SAIT Polytechnic. While working as an instructor, he completed numerous instructor training courses based on classroom techniques, curriculum planning and course design. In private industry, he has specialized in CAD management and standards, document control and training. Dan’s photographic interests are varied and include landscape/nature, sports, waterdrop, and infrared photography. He loves to explore the provincial, national, and urban parks around Calgary. Using a full spectrum converted camera, he creates high contrast black and white infrared images to create his own story of the local surroundings.  Dan has been a member of CAPA since 2017. From 2019 to 2023, he sat as the Prairie Zone Director. During that time, he completed the certification process to become a competition judge and has helped clubs across western Canada in judging. In early 2023, Dan was appointed as the Director of Education for CAPA.

Jim Sutton

CAPA Certified Judge

Jim Sutton has been making photographs for more than 55 years. Starting with a Kodak Brownie, taking travel photographs across Canada, he has since acquired broad experience in the art of photography. In the club environment, he has won numerous awards including in Windsor the Winifred Lescombe trophy for monochrome print-making, in Yellowknife a variety of annual competition awards and, at the RA Photo club in Ottawa, he has been a perennial winner of awards for nature and general photography. At the RA Photo club Jim has achieved recognition twice as ‘Photographer of the Year’, and is the first person at that club to ever attain the coveted status of Master Photographer. He has won recognition and an award from Nikon Canada in a national competition. Jim has been published in the UWO arts magazine “Folio”, in “Canadian Geographic” and in “Camera Canada”, the national magazine of the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts. His work has been shown at the Big Sister’s Art Show in Kitchener, at the National Press Club in Ottawa and at the Balderson Gallery.

Michael Vuckovic

CAPA Certified Judge

Ottawa based nature and urban photographer Michael Vuckovic enjoys wandering trails in the woods and city streets to capture light, shadows and textures with his digital and analogue cameras. As a freelance photographer he has worked on commercial and real estate projects. For over 14 seasons he was the house photographer for the Ottawa Little Theatre, providing cast portraits and production pictures. Michael has taught photography at the School of Photographic Arts Ottawa (SPAO), Vistek, and the Learning Spot. He is a certified judge by the Canadian Association for Photographic Art since 2019. Outside of work, classrooms and his darkroom, Michael is the host and producer of Photo Kibitz, an audio podcast, which features interviews with photographers about photography and why they do what they do. Photo Kibitz has been downloaded and listened to in over 53 countries! Michael's photographic art work has been purchased for private collections and is on public display in select business in Ottawa. As a member of AOE Arts Council, Michael was one of the artists selected in the juried art shows Selections 2014, and Selections 2018.