Idaho Falls photographer’s work inspires short film

Ron Howard, one of Hollywood’s most renowned directors, has selected an Idaho Falls photographer to be the inspiration of an upcoming short film.

“To be selected as a finalist was humbling, exciting, surreal,” said Steven Hatch, photographer.

Hatch isn’t a photographer by profession. It’s a hobby he said he picked up a little over a decade ago and has been in love with it ever since.

“I fell in love with photography and I started shooting different things,” said Hatch. “I love to shoot a photo that tells a story.”

Months ago, Hatch came across an advertisement for Canon’s “Project Imaginat10n.” The idea is to have celebrity directors such as Eva Longoria and Jamie Foxx direct short films based on consumer submitted photographs.

“I clicked on it, read about it and thought maybe I would submit a picture because why not,” said Hatch.

And Hatch had the perfect one. A photograph titled “Foggy Lake Take Off” that he took while on vacation in Alaska.

“You could see this mist and the bells just started going off and so did the ideas and the thoughts and I thought I just have to get a picture of a plane taking off in the fog,” said Hatch.

And what Hatch calls a product of being in the right place at the right time, was selected as one of the top 10 out of more than 30,000 submitted photographs.

“I have fallen in love with it, but it’s just my hobby,” said Hatch. “A lot of fun though.”

The short film is expected to premier sometime next year.

To look at other winning photographs, visit imagination.usa.canon.com.

For more of Hatch’s work, visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/shatch/