Cochrane photographer, Michelle Spice is thrilled to be nominated for the Visual Creative of the Year award at the 2023 Country Music Alberta Awards.  

If you check out the Country Music Alberta website, you will see Michelle’s incredible work and it is not surprising that she has been nominated. 

Spice takes pictures of the usual subjects like weddings and couples, but she happened upon her passion and niche taking photos of country music in an interesting way. Spice says it is a funny story about how she fell into the job she loves. She was working as a DJ at Ranchman’s and during the 2013 flood, she took some dynamic photos. After finding out that there would be a concert held to raise money for flood aid, Spice contacted organizers and asked to have a booth at the event so she could sell her flood photos to raise money. Spice says, “The guy who was organizing it contacted me and said I will do you one better, I want you to shoot the show.” Spice was given full access to photograph the show and says, “I shot the show, the best time of my life, absolutely fantastic, and then I realized after that event I'm already immersed in the country music industry working at Ranchman's, which it has won multiple CMA awards.” She has never looked back.  

Spice’s photography then evolved into musicians requesting headshots and photos for single covers then word spread among artists and her career flourished.  

The award that Michelle Spice is up for is specifically for the single EP and album covers that she has worked on. The list of artists that Spice has worked with is long and continues to grow. She has shot Tim McGraw, The Washboard Union, and Aaron Goodvin, just to name a few.  

The 12th Annual Country Music Alberta Awards will be held in Calgary on April 1 & 2 and you will find Michelle Spice busy working and taking pictures at the show. 

Spice says she typically packs two camera holsters to carry her equipment but says she will be mindful of dressing up this year just in case she is called to the podium if she wins an award.

The question is, will she have to take a selfie if she does win?

Fingers crossed that she will be faced with that dilemma and brings home great photos and some hardware. 

You can listen to the conversation with 91.5 CochraneNow's Lauren Meister and Michelle Spice below.