Kelly Shipp of Conway was selected by filmmaker Ron Howard and Canon as a winner in Project Imagin8ion, the first user-generated photo contest in history to inspire a Hollywood film.
Canon will screen the film, titled When You Find Me (produced by Howard and directed by Bryce Dallas Howard), at 6:30 p.m. Thursday (March 22) at Breckenridge Village 12, I-430 and Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock.
If you would like to attend the premiere, RSVP to CanonLittleRockScreening@Grey.com. Admission is free. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
With over 96,000 submissions, Kelly Shipp’s photo Where One Day Ends, One Day Begins was selected as one of the eight winning photographs that inspired When You Find Me.
We caught up with Shipp and were able to chat with him about entering the Project Imagin8ioncontest and his meeting with producer Ron Howard at the movie’s world premiere.
SOIRÉE: What motivated you to submit your photo to Project Imagin8ion?
KELLY SHIPP: I had initially heard about it through my friends on Twitter, but at that time, I was swamped with work, so I pushed it aside to do later. Luckily, my sister saw the Project Imagin8ion commercials on TV in Dallas, and called me each time to ask if I’d entered the contest yet. She was the primary motivating factor for me to enter. Secondly, I’m a big fan of Ron Howard, both in his early days of acting and as an award-winning director and producer. So having an opportunity to meet him was also a motivator.
SÉ: Can you tell us more about Project Imagin8ion and the submission process you went through?
KS: Project Imagin8ion is a collaborative project in which Canon held an online photography contest composed of eight categories (themes). Each of these themes was designed to be a story ingredient for a short film. Ron Howard was to produce the film, while his daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, was to direct the film. In the end, over 96,000 entries were submitted to the contest.
[After several rounds of judging and voting by the public] Ron Howard chose his favorite from each top 10, resulting in eight winning photographs which inspired the story line for the film.
“There are so many levels of inspiration one can gleam from this film. For me it was how a photograph (or set of photographs) can inspire a story and film.”
SÉ: Are you a professional photographer?
KS: Yes, I consider myself a professional photographer. I’m a member of the PPA (Professional Photographers of America) and the APPA (Arkansas Professional Photographers Association). I’ve been shooting seriously for almost 30 years.
I consider myself a fine art photographer, with my passion being producing fine art photographs of nature. I love to seek out beautiful locales and wildlife, photographing them to the best of my ability, and sharing them so that people can appreciate nature at its best.
Some of these locations are hard to find, off the beaten path, so it gives people the chance to appreciate the beauty they likely didn’t know we had around us.
SÉ: Where do you live and what do you do for a living?
KS: I’m a software engineer (software & web developer) for The Computer Works in Conway. My specialty is building web solutions for clients. I’ve been in the technology/development field for about 25 years.
SÉ: Where were you when you found out your photo had been selected as the one of the winners?
KS: I was working when I received a call and an e-mail asking to confirm my acceptance of being a grand prize winner. The challenge was that we had to keep it quiet until Canon announced them all at once.
SÉ: Can you tell us about the film?
KS: The film’s premise is the relationship between two sisters who experience the tragedy of losing their mother at an early age. Subsequently, they grow apart as adults and eventually reunite. This film shows each of these experiences in an evoking and emotional 25 minutes.
SÉ: You were able to attend the world premiere and meet Ron Howard; can you tell us about that experience?
KS: Yes, I was able to attend and bring one person with me: my sister, deserving since she motivated me to enter the contest. I first met Ron on the red carpet, as we were all doing press interviews, at the world premiere in New York City.
Upon entering the auditorium to watch the premiere, I was beside myself when I saw that the movie poster was a rendition of my winning photograph (the white tree)!
Following the premiere, we attended a reception, which was located in the Whale Room at the American Museum of Natural History. Upon entering this massive room where a life-sized whale was suspended from the ceiling, a white tree was lit as the center piece of the room! I was speechless.
I met with Ron and Bryce for a few moments, briefly chatting about Project Imagin8ion, the story line process and filming of the story. Both Ron and Bryce are very friendly, kind and humble. They are also extremely creative, intelligent and extremely talented.
SÉ: What does it mean to you to have the film shown in your home state?
KS: Having a film premiere here in Arkansas is a great honor and treat! It’s not often that we have an opportunity to have a short film premiere here, but to have this tied to the calibers of Ron Howard and Bryce Dallas Howard is a moment of fame that I will relish.
Additionally, having a local premiere also affords my friends and family, as well as the public, a great opportunity to experience this film, as it should be – in a theater.
“The experience has inspired me to consider creative efforts beyond the still photograph. To consider more how a photograph can tell a story, not just define a moment in time. It has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
SÉ: What do you hope people walk away with after seeing When You Find Me?
KS: I hope that they walk away with inspiration. This is the basis for the entire project: Project Imagin8ion stems from Canon’s Long Live Imagination campaign.
SÉ: How has the overall experience affected you?
KS: It’s a great honor that Ron Howard chose my photograph to help inspire his short film. It was great to experience a red carpet event in NYC and meet with such great talent – not just with Ron, Bryce, the actors/actresses, but also the Canon executives and the agencies involved. Everyone involved had such great talent.
It’s also a great honor to see how much my white tree has been used for this film – not only as the opening scene in the trailer, but also as the movie poster, the centerpiece at the reception, and throughout the movie, including in the opening and closing scenes.
If you would like to download a preview of the film go here.