Miranda Grigor photo Aaron Mckenzie Fraser, photographer, steps out from behind the camera.

In 2005, Aaron Mckenzie Fraser won Best Ottawa Photographer in both the XPress readers’ poll and at SAW Gallery.

“We knew instantly when we met him,” said Garry Carter, co-ordinator of Algonquin’s photography department, “. . . he would be successful in the business.”

Fraser, who grew up in Moncton, N.B. never expected to attend Algonquin College or to become a photographer.

“It’s just kind of funny, the way that it worked out,” said Fraser, 27. “I went to university at Mount Allison for a year in New Brunswick and the whole time I was sneaking into the dark room there and printing and taking pictures and stuff. But I wasn’t actually in the fine arts program. I was in the general arts program and I hated it.”

He decided to continue his education in a graphic design and multi-media program, where a professor noticed his interest in photography.

“For all of your assignments you’re shooting all the pictures, processing your own film and scanning it,” Fraser remembered his professor saying to him. “And you seem way more interested in taking the pictures than you are in designing anything. Why don’t you study photography?”

Fraser remembered thinking, “that’s not really a job, is it?”

Having been a professional photographer in Ottawa, Fraser’s professor recommended the program at Algonquin. Fraser applied and got in.

He liked that Algonquin didn’t require applicants to have a portfolio because, having just learned that photography could be a job, he didn’t have one. He did, however, have experience.

Fraser started taking pictures when he was about 16, working for the summer with Parks Canada in Jasper, Alta. He borrowed his mother’s camera and began experimenting. He ruined his first couple rolls of film while learning to load it. But it felt great, he said, when his pictures started to turn out.

“The more I was taking pictures the more I was getting better at it and the more excited I got ‘cause it was always like a mystery,” said Fraser remembering how he used to develop his own film before cameras went digital.

When Fraser started taking photography at Algonquin in 1999, there was only one digital camera available to be rented out for no more than two hours at a time. He took a Photoshop course and the rest of his training was done with film.

Fraser admits his education at Algonquin wasn’t all fun but it was beneficial to him because of the hands-on approach to teaching.

“It’s pretty fantastic,” said Fraser. “You need to do a lot of specific technical things for all of the assignments and they’re not really all that exciting. A lot of them are really actually quite boring. But it’s very useful because once you have all the technical stuff then you can pretty much learn whatever you need to do.”

In his two years at Algonquin, Fraser won Most Creative Print, Best Overall Portfolio, and the Nikon Multimedia Award, among others. He was also awarded grants which he invested into photography equipment.

Fraser loves people. Taking portrait shots allows him to meet new people all the time. And he makes friends with all of them - even if it is just for the span of the shoot.

“Often when I go to photograph a person I spend more time talking to them before I even take any pictures because I’m curious about different people’s stories,” said Fraser.

Since leaving Algonquin, Fraser’s work has been published on the covers of the Ottawa Xpress, the Globe and Mail and he’s worked for several magazines. His work with the Carleton University ad campaign is on the sides of OC Transpo busses. He has photographed bands, politicians and models.

Fraser has also displayed his personal work in galleries, but lately art shows have become less of a priority.

“I’m kind of in a flux right now where I’m not sure if I still want to keep doing a lot more shows,” said Fraser. “I still like the show ideas, I think its fun, but I really enjoy seeing my work in a magazine or I really like seeing my work up on the side of a bus.

“I love what I do and it’s hilarious that I get paid to do this.”