Atiba Jefferson inspires kids at Rady Children’s, judging Canon photo contest

Atiba Jefferson walked into Rady Children’s Health with the kind of camera instinct that can turn a quick hospital visit into a real creative moment. Before he judged a Photos in Motion contest, young patients had already been challenged to capture the essence of action in a single frame using Canon cameras, and their entries were printed on a Canon PIXMA PRO-200S so Jefferson could review them like a working edit.

The setup mattered because it gave kids at Seacrest Studios more than entertainment. Seacrest Studios are broadcast media centers inside pediatric hospitals, created by the Ryan Seacrest Foundation to support children and families during hospital stays and help aid the healing process. The foundation says its first studio opened in Atlanta in 2010, and Canon said it had been a digital imaging equipment partner of the foundation since 2024, supplying cameras, lenses and printers to Seacrest Studios nationwide.

Jefferson, a Canon Explorer of Light best known for 25 years of skateboarding photography, brought that background straight into the room. He demonstrated his process with a Canon EOS R5 Mark II and a PowerShot G7 X Mark III, while Seacrest Studio staff member Josh Castaneda threw skateboard tricks in the studio so Jefferson could show how he freezes fast motion. The lesson was less about gear specs than timing, anticipation and confidence, the same building blocks that make action photography click.

The contest winner went home with a Canon swag bag that included a SELPHY QX20 photo printer, a small but tangible prize that ties the hospital studio back to the wider photo workflow. For kids who spend so much time inside medical routines, getting to make, print and judge images of their own gives photography a different weight: not as a hobby kept at arm’s length, but as something immediate, personal and usable.

Canon U.S.A. chief executive Sammy Kobayashi said imaging has the power to inspire and transform, and that idea fit the day at Rady Children’s. Rady Children’s Health describes itself as a premier pediatric healthcare system in Southern California, uniting Children’s Hospital of Orange County and Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego, and CHOC says its Seacrest Studios lets patients explore radio, television and new media from their hospital rooms. Jefferson’s visit showed how photography can do more than teach composition. In a hospital setting, it can give young patients a chance to look outward, make something of their own and see themselves as creators, not just recipients of care.