User talk:Maggie Habieda Nowakowski

Maggie Habieda Nowakowski
So often we hear stories of those who give up under the strain of circumstance. Birthplace, economics, politics; it can all play into the life path that we take. For Maggie Habieda Nowakowski, she faced a lot but conquered all adversity.

With her home country of Poland gripped by communism, at age 16, Maggie immigrated to Canada. Taking with her an active imagination of princesses and fairy tales, Maggie set her sights on art, which would soon lead to photography. As a matter of fact, by the time Maggie discovered photography, she had already established herself as an artist having graduated from the Toronto College of Art and Design. But it was at a Wedding Show that she presented at where she discovered the princesses from her dreams; they were brides!! From that moment, she knew what her true calling was: to “marry” her creativity of art and design with photography to create images for brides that would translate into a beauty beyond dreams. However, just as fast as weddings became a staple of notoriety for Maggie, business leaders, professionals, celebrities, models, families and people in love were fast pursuing her. Everyone wanted Maggie to make the magic they had seen in her wedding work, also work for their needs.

When photography became a digital medium, it put cameras into the hands of more people than ever, becoming more of a commodity. Maggie mastered artistic digital photography postproduction techniques that meant a massive investment in hardware, software and time. Because her formal education is as a visual artist, Maggie will never follow a trend, rather a vision that is defined project by project.

As far as accolades and accreditations, there are many. Maggie has received hundreds of honors including: WPPI “Photographer of the Month” during 2010 and 2011, The “Tibor Horvath Award of Excellence”, “Wedding Portrait Best in Class” and Judge’s Choice Award at the 2011 Professional Photographers of Canada, Ontario Competition as well as countless “Best in Show” photography artworks presented in Canada and the United States. She also has images in the prestigious Loan Collection of Canada. Never one to rest on her laurels, Maggie attends international industry seminars to continue to learn from the leaders in photography both in technique and business acumen. One event she never misses is the WPPI Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Every year, close to 16,000 professional and developing photographers attend WPPI to learn new techniques from industry leaders, build new relationships to grow their business, experience new products and solutions from major manufacturers. In 2014, Maggie will be personally liaising with all featured professionals as her star continues to rise! Also, never one to forget how she got here, Maggie is a regular speaker at seminars and symposiums on photography where she lends what she can to the education of others.

Maggie’s other passion is “love”; love for people, cultures, religions, tolerance, acceptance and peace. It was for this reason that she ignored all the nay-sayers in here way and insisted on staging the monumental “Colours of Love” concert last year at the Rose Theatre in Brampton. The initial idea was to help out a friend, Ivan Komarenko, to find a way to stage a live concert in Canada. Ivan was a very popular Soap Opera television star and touring Pop Star in Maggie’s home country of Poland. With a huge following he wanted to play in Canada but needed a connection, Maggie wanted to help. This quickly grew to include another culture and religion she has grown close to, that of India. During Maggie’s early growth as a wedding photographer she found a love for the passion and colour and excitement of Indian weddings. From there she developed a very close relationship with the Indian community in the GTA. For this reason, it was important that she have an Indian component to this concert; enter Shweta Subram, Indian bolly-pop artist. Maggie was hired in 2012 to be the official photographer for Cuban singer/songwriter Hector Hernandez. His promotional material, album covers and liner material is all Maggie’s work. Therefore Hector HAD to be a part of this concert. Lastly, when Maggie opened the doors of her Fotografia Boutique 3 years ago, the violin-rock star Grenville Pinto from Toronto provided entertainment. Naturally Grenville was signed on and we had our 4 starts for the “Colours of Love” show. The idea was to draw 4 corners of the world together for an evening of music, colour, lights and love. The concert and, its VIP Party that preceded it, were successes and all because Maggie wanted the world to get along.

Maggie owned and operated “Moments by Maggie” for 4 years before opening her lavish gallery on Cornwall Street in Oakville and re-branding herself as “Fotografia Boutique”. Maggie is now the foremost authority in studio portrait work for models, celebrities, business leaders and families. One look at the artwork adorning the walls of her beautiful Fotografia Boutique and you will see why her reputation is what it is. Now, with the recent launching of a new division dedicated once again to Wedding Photography, Fotografia Boutique and Maggie Habieda Nowakowski are poised to take a commanding position in the industry. Maggie has done this all with 3 things in her approach: Love, beauty and dreams