It is with sadness that we announce that Keith Vaughan passed away on April 1,2026 at the age of 82. Keith joined the Photographic Guild of Nova Scotia (PGNS) in 1973. During his time at the Guild, he served in many capacities including Program Chair, Judging Chair, NAPA representative, CPAC representative, and President (1985-1987). He was also involved nationally and internationally with the Canadian Association of Photographic Art (CAPA), Photographic Society of America (PSA) and the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP).
Keith served as Chairman of the PSA PJ Division from 1998-2002 and for many years was CAPA’s FIAP liaison as well as Atlantic Zone Director. Keith was an accomplished photographer, well-known locally, nationally and internationally for his images. Keith was PGNS Photographer of the Year on 8 occasions and won numerous trophies including the Tim Randall trophy for Highest Cumulative Points in Pictorial (8 times), Atlantic Photo Best image in Photojournalism (11 times) and the Gordon R. Lay Trophy for the highest cumulative Points in CAPA and PSA external competitions (11 times).
Keith earned his 7th Galaxy in the PSA PID Division, was a Master-photojournalist in the PSA PJ Division and had 5 stars in both the PSA Nature and Photo Travel Divisions. PJ was always Keith’s favourite Division and in 2013 he made a big effort to enter all 106 PSA-Recognized PJ exhibitions around the world. In those exhibitions, both projected image and small print, he earned 224 acceptances, which is an overall success rate of 53%. Among those acceptances, he won 13 medals, 2 FIAP HM ribbons and 39 HM’s.
Keith received over 3000 total acceptances in all the PSA recognized International Exhibitions and has been awarded 476 international awards at the HM level and above, including 115 medal awards. Of these medal awards, 26 are for Best of Show. Always willing to share his passion and knowledge, he taught photography in the Continuation Education Program at SMU as well as photography workshops.
A celebration of life will be held on June 28th, 2026, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM in the Saraguay House at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron in Halifax.
Contributors: Joyce S.K. Chew ACAPA, Viki Gaul FPSA, PPSA, GPSA, AFIAP & Marion Sensen
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