I'm Master Corporal Felicia Ogunniya from Ajax, Ontario,
an Imagery Technician posted to Canadian Special Operations Forces Command in Ottawa.
If you have a passion for video, photography and journalism
and a yearning to be the one telling the story,
then a career as an Imagery Technician in the Canadian Armed Forces
may be a perfect fit for you.
Imagery Technicians - or Image Techs for short - are part of the Public Affairs team,
working alongside Public Affairs Officers to tell the Canadian Armed Forces story.
Wherever the Canadian Armed Forces is going - on ship, on helos, in land vehicles -
we're right there alongside with them, documenting the story
and relating it right back to the Canadian public.
You're in the thick of it with everyone, you're right up in the front lines taking imagery -
right where the action is happening is right where we are.
Of growing importance these days is social media.
Shooting imagery near-real time is an exciting place to be taking photography,
because you're taking photos and a second later they're out in the universe
and everyone is sharing them and liking them.
And you're showing things that are happening in real news, real time.
So to me, that's an exciting part and an exciting world to be in.
When the military is out doing their job, it's often in remote places
that are not easily accessible to the public or the mainstream media.
There are a lot of misconceptions about what the military actually does and Image Techs
help show the rest of Canada some of the great work the Canadian Armed Forces
are doing that otherwise would go unnoticed.
It's important to me to tell these stories to the Canadian public,
because I work alongside with these men and women every day,
highly motivated, highly experienced, highly trained, and great people -
and I love being able to take photos of them doing their job and serving their country.
And having their family see those photos is a highlight for me, when they print out a photo
and they send it to their grandma and they put it on a fridge -
to me, that's the personal motivation I get out of doing this job.
The coolest part of being an Imagery Technician
is you get to go where the Canadian Armed Forces is.
So if you ever see a photo of someone on the side of a mountain,
or in the middle of the ocean, or in the middle of a trench, that's where we are.
We are right there alongside them.
So even though you may not be that trade, you get to experience almost every trade.
Creatively, it's an amazing job to be in - you can spend every day just coming up
with brand-new ideas and pitching them and seeing if they like them.
There's a lot of initiative on your own side to come up
with cool products, cool photos, cool video -
anything that could be dynamic toward the Canadian public
or show us in a good light. Usually it's very well received.
On completion of their military and occupational training,
Imagery Technicians are posted to an Army, Navy or Air Force base in Canada
where they will become part of the Public Affairs team
involved in a variety of communications activities.
This includes still imagery, video and graphic design,
and creating products that support the Forces' strategic narrative.
Your first couple of years as an Imagery Technician,
you're doing your trade qualifications, you're doing your career courses
and you're really gaining a lot of new experiences within garrison, within the base.
You're not just a one-trick pony, you have a lot of different roles that you play.
You can dabble in graphic design, in video editing, photography, special effects -
any area that you would like to experience more in, that opportunity is available for you.
There's specialized training and courses, and a multitude of opportunities to learn new things.
It's a great time to pick up a lot of new skills, and take initiative and be motivated
and make good networks, and learning as much as you can.
Image Techs will have frequent opportunities to travel
in support of operations, exercises and taskings.
I've gotten to travel to a lot of cool places and shoot a lot of amazing things.
And probably a highlight of my career: we went to Vimy Ridge, we went to Passchendaele,
and we got to see a whole lot of different areas of history,
and I was there along to document it along with everyone with fresh eyes,
so that was an amazing experience.
Every day I come to work, there's something new on the table,
something I've probably never done before.
And you kind of just pick up your camera and say "OK, this is something new,
but I'm going to go for it, I'm going to be ready to shoot whatever comes my way."
So it's a great experience, every single day.
If you love a challenge, you're creative, you want to learn more about photography,
video, graphic design, whatever it may be, and you're an artsy person -
then join the Canadian Armed Forces,
because all the resources are there for them to develop those skills for you.