I just returned from a ten day trip to Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve. This is an archipelago isolated from the mainland. It has many unique plants and animals. I look forward to sharing my photos of its richness and beauty. Click on the photo to see a larger version.
It was very warm and smoky, but I enjoyed camping for a week in Banff National Park. At Lake Louise I hiked up to the Plain of Six Glaciers viewpoint, which is past the tea house and a great place to eat your lunch. In my photo below you can see Mount Lefroy on the left and Mount Victoria on the right. In the middle is Abbot Pass which was named after Philip Stanley Abbot who was an experienced climber who died in 1896 trying to be the first climber to ascend Mount Lefroy. He was the first climbing fatality in North America. It’s hard to see in the photo, but at the top of Abbot Pass is the Abbot Pass hut which was built in 1922 by Swiss guides working for the Canadian Pacific Railway as a base for mountaineers. The route up the pass is known as the Deathtrap because of its exposure to avalanches and crevasses.
Lawren S. Harris was a painter and a member of the Group of Seven. He did abstract work of Lake Superior, the Rocky Mountains, and the Arctic. One of my favourite paintings is one he did of Mount Lefroy in 1930 which is part of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.
” When I first saw the mountains, travelled through them, I was most discouraged. Nowhere did they measure up to the advertising folders, or to the conception these had formed in my mind’s eye. But, after I became better acquainted with the mountains, camped and tramped and lived among them, I found a power and majesty and a wealth of experience at nature’s summit which no travel-folder ever expressed.” Lawren S. Harris
This is one of the last free standing diners left in British Columbia. It opened in 1956 and it reminds me of the quintessential 1950’s diner. I arrived here early in the morning and was excited to see there was no vehicles parked in front. As I was setting up my camera a vehicle pulled up and initially I was a bit disappointed. However, after seeing the image, I think the vehicle, and where it’s parked, actually contributes to the photo. I was fortunate to get this interesting moody sky in the background. This was my first attempt and I think I’ll return and try to capture an image with some falling snow. That would be cool.
Approximately 45 to 60 kilometres off the west coast of British Columbia are 150 islands that form the archipelago of Haida Gwaii. The climate produces lush vegetation, abundant wildlife and the area is nicknamed Canada’s Galapagos. It’s the heart of the Haida nation and they’ve lived on the islands for 13,000 years. There is more than 500 archeological sites, a few containing totem poles and longhouse remains. Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve is located in the southern islands and is accessible only by boat or seaplane. I just returned from a 10 day trip in this area exploring the dramatic landscapes, moss-covered rainforest and ancient village sites with my camera. I’m now sorting through my images and looking forward to sharing them soon on my website.
One of my favourite hardcover photography books is Fred Herzog: Modern Color. The Canadian photographer was known primarily for his photos of working class people in Vancouver, British Columbia. For over 50 years he took images with Kodachrome colour slide film when most people were shooting black and white film. There are 230 photos in the book and some of my favourite images are Man with Bandage, Main Barber, Flaneur Granville and Curtains. I would really like to own a few of his prints.
This morning I was watching a pair of beavers eating the bark off of water soaked branches with their large orange incisors and preening their fur to remove dirt and straighten matted fur. The beaver is an emblem we’re reminded of every time we fish a nickel out of our pockets. The beaver nearly became extinct as a result of the fur trade, luckily Europeans took a liking to silk hats and the demand for beaver pelts disappeared. They are a keystone species in temperate and boreal forest aquatic ecosystems. Click on the image to see a larger version.
The Johnstone Strait area gets over 150 cm’s of annual rainfall. It creates a very lush and green environment. This photo was taken in the village of Alert Bay on Cormorant Island which is the home of the U’mista Cultural Centre and museum. It has an amazing collection of First Nations potlatch artifacts. Click on the image to see a larger version.
I was fortunate to see an exhibition of the American photographer Walker Evans at the Vancouver Art Gallery. He was a photojournalist best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans’s work from the FSA period uses the large format, 8 x 10 inch camera. Many of his works are in the permanent collections of museums. I really enjoyed looking at some of his cameras and street photography which included photos of store signs. I would recommend seeing this exhibition which ends on January 22nd.
Vancouver Island is a great place to visit and live. Island life is more laid-back when compared to the hectic pace of the Vancouver lower mainland. I was fortunate to experience some sunny weather when I was exploring with my camera. One of the things I noticed was at night when I was sleeping it was pitch dark and eerily quiet, you couldn’t hear another sound. In the lower mainland you experience noise and light pollution 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Some of the communities on Vancouver Island seem to be struggling like many small towns in Canada. Click on the image to see a larger version.
