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Image Credit: Okanagan College
June 08, 2013 - 5:00 AM
A major donation to Okanagan College from a photographer who rubbed elbows with the stars.
Andreas Koessler died at his home in Maui, Hawaii recently from Alzheimer's disease. He was only 37.
His mother, Ute Koessler, has donated his camera, lenses and other equipment donated to Okanagan College.
Her son started his career in the Okanagan. He made a name for himself over the last ten years shooting iconic pictures in the US and around the world. They appeared in all kinds of magazines including Architectural Digest.
Koessler said, "He did incredible work, shooting in London, Paris, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, New York, and Hawaii."
“He was a world-class photographer known for his inspired and artistic landscapes and portraiture,” she said, noting there are more than 300,000 images stored on his computers. “His portrait work with actors was established with his first client, Jon Voight, and it spiralled up from there. His ability to understand light, colour and space, allowed him to capture images through the lens in a unique way, that genuinely spoke to people.”
The significant donation includes Koessler’s professional quality Nikon D7000 Digital SLR capable of shooting six frames per second, plus various professional lenses including a Sigma DG 120-400mm telephoto lens, a high-performance wide-angle zoom Nikon Nikkor 17-55 mm f/2.8 lens, plus a Nikon Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 lens – used for extreme close-up photography, along with several new notebook computers.
It will all go into Okanagan College's Media Loan Equipment collection. Instructors and students will be able to borrow it to create instructional materials and class projects.
Education Technology coordinator Mike Minions said, “These projects often require capabilities beyond standard point and shoot cameras and the Nikon DSLR with macro and telephoto lenses will significantly extend the range of things we can do.”
Some of the equipment has already bee put to use digitizing slides for the College’s Women in Trades program and to update classroom photos.
“I can see we’ll be able to use this as well for creating time-lapsed photography of students’ presentations, such as the recently held Studio Woodworking gallery exhibition,” Minions said. “This is a tremendous asset for the College, and we are very grateful.”
This isn't the first generous donation from Ute Koessler.
In 2010, she donated an entire workshop of tools worth $87,000 that belonged to her deceased husband. Earlier this month, she also donated a 1989 Mercedes-Benz that is being raffled off to raise scholarship funds for the College.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013