Last fall I spent six weeks roaming around the Great Bear Rainforest while guiding on a sailboat and at a floating lodge nestled in a fjord. I took pictures just about every day, but until this week, I hadn’t even looked at any of the images yet – which seems kind of crazy.
I have a lot of work to do if I am going to organize all those images and upload a handful onto this website. In the meantime, here is a sneak peek into the realm of the Spirit Bear.
Today’s surprise is that some images and a story I submitted to Photo Life magazine have been accepted for publication. The story is based on a seven week solo canoe trip I did in Nunavut in 2008. I submitted the story and photos way back in August and had nearly forgotten about them, so this was welcome news. But don’t hold your breath, the story is not running until the February/March issue 2012.
If you haven’t heard of Photo Life, this is what they say about themselves on their website:
Established in 1976, Photo Life magazine is Canada’s leading source for photography including technical knowledge and tips, industry news and events, international travel photography editorials, as well as interviews and profiles of major Canadian and international photographers.
Our birdfeeder makes our backyard a lot more interesting. Just about anytime I look out the window there are several species of birds taking advantage of the bounty. But last week, I saw something I didn’t expect. A Cooper’s hawk had killed a pigeon and was tearing it apart, leaving blotches of blood and feathers splayed on the snow.
My roomate, Steve, and I watched through binoculars for a while, then I snapped a few photos before we and the hawk went back to our own business.
All this got me thinking about community, habitecture, biophilia and inter-species interactions. I even started writing a blog about it – which I intend to finish very soon – so standby.
In the meantime, watch out for this killer in your backyard:
My friend, and bass player extraordinaire, Toby Meis, stopped by for a coffee and a little photo session yesterday. I don’t usually take pictures of people, or gorgeous instruments for that matter, so it was a good bit of fun. As an added bonus I got to listen to Toby play his bass, Cleo. If you have an opportunity to hear this duo in action I highly recommend you take advantage of it. It is something of an aural sensation, and it looks like this:
Paul Nicklen is a hard working photographer for National Geographic. I met him last fall while he was working on a Spirit Bear photo project on the BC coast. He told me that his work keeps him away from home for about ten months of every year. That sounds tough. I imagine one of the greatest pay-offs for him are the intimate glimpses of our world he is witness to. Here’s an example:
This video has had nearly 2.5 million hits on Youtube. To put that into perspective, a study done in July 2009 showed that only 0.3% of videos had more than 10 000 views. Considering these statistics, the success of Nicklen’s video is nothing short of flabbergasting.
Then again, the life that he leads is kind of flabbergasting too. I imagine the number of people who live like Nicklen is roughly equivalent to the number of videos on Youtube that get 2.5 million views. That is, vanishingly few.
Nicklen’s photos reach millions of people and tell stories about Earth and its creatures that very few people would experience otherwise. I think that is an important contribution. And I am thrilled that his video is so popular. Hopefully, it indicates that a lot of people are more interested stories about the spectacular menagerie of life on Earth, rather than watching videos about the latest pop culture fad.
The pages of National Geographic are the closest that many people will ever get to a wild toothy predator. Yet, even these second hand experiences move people and subtly change their way of thinking about the world, which is important.
Even though it seems like a glamorous lifestyle – traveling the world taking photos – I think Nicklen’s work is demanding. Aside from being away from home and his wife most of the time, I am guessing he faces challenges and risks that most folks would not subject themselves to. Apparently, his doctor thinks he has life long medical problems from too much cold water exposure from his work at the poles.
I have worked with many film and photo crews while guiding on the west coast and have concluded that they must be some of the most patient people anywhere. They work hard in difficult conditions. Quite simply, it ain’t easy to create National Geographic caliber images.
For example, this is what Nicklen said about creating these narwhal images:
What people don’t realize is the days, weeks, sometimes months it takes to get those images. To get the narwhal pictures…took me 15 years of trying to figure it out: working with the Inuit; buying a little ultra-light airplane; flying out into the remote pack ice in the arctic and finally -in one day- getting all those images that told that narwhal story.
Paul’s recent book, Polar Obsession, is gorgeous and is also a reflection of his remarkable tenacity. But it is also a testament to his passion for the arctic, Antarctic and the creatures who live there: and a plea to ensure they have a future.
I am obsessed about getting the story out – that the polar regions are melting three times faster than anywhere else on Earth. We’re losing the ice and when we lose the ice we stand to lose an entire ecosystem. So, my journey is urgent. It is very pressing that I shoot these stories and get them out to the public now.
So here’s a shout out to Paul Nicklen who’s passion and remarkable photography is making a difference in our world.
To see another interview with Paul – and the source of the two quotes above, click here.
I have not done a great job at maintaining this blog in the past weeks. I’ve been on the road since late August, sometimes with little, or no, internet access. I am finally back at home and plan to add updates on a more regular basis.
In the meantime, here is some eye candy for you:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/11/national_geographics_photograp.html#photo10\2
If you live in British Columbia, or you are just visiting, I recommend spending some time in this place:
If you go there and you are bored, it’s your fault.
I went to the Spruce Lake Protected Area about this time last year for a hiking trip with Hugh, before I moved to Ontario. I know, I am a little slow posting this on here. But, it was a great adventure – hiking along high ridges of multi-coloured scree, gaping at the views.
Just getting there is even fun. Driving north from Whilster, things always get interesting. You don’t even have to leave the main road. Just keep driving towards Lillooet and you’re in for a treat. It gets even better if you keep heading north after that. But if you turn west to hike in the hills, you’ll get to travel winding mountain roads and get views like this:
And that is before you even get to the trailhead.
Some day I will go back in the spring to take photos and hike amongst the flourish of alpine flowers. I write this here so I don’t forget. It would be a shame to miss out on that.
Jamie is a good friend of mine. He was also my original photography mentor when we worked together at Knight Inlet Lodge. After tiring of all my questions, he lent me his digital SLR one day and I was hooked. He sold me that same camera the next year when he upgraded.
When Jamie is not guiding and taking photos in gorgeous places, he is scheming about new ways to get me to buy his old worn-out photo gear.
He has also spent the last few winters guiding natural history tours in Antarctica. I already knew Jamie is an amazing photographer, but this Youtube photo and video montage he put together is spectacular.
Antarctica…my God.
I promise I am not going to go on a kick of posting abstract photos on here.
On this night I was sitting by a river in BC while salmon splashed in the shallows and the last light of the day was fading. When this bear popped out of the woods and started combing the river for fish, I knew it was too dark to take decent photos. But I pulled out my camera and took a few shots while panning and zooming in on the bear at the same time as an experiment. The result was interesting as you’ll see below. After that I put my camera away.
All too often I have been guiding photographers who never pause long enough from snapping pictures to take in the grandeur of the entire scene around them. Photos are great. But you miss something if you only look at nature through a tiny rectangular view finder. I sat and watched that bear scavenging salmon carcasses until it was too dark to see. I only took four pictures that night. It was a fabulous evening.
Soon, I will be heading to the west coast to do some wildlife guiding work with Bluewater Adventures, on their fine sailboat the Island Roamer. To say that I am looking forward to sailing up fijords, watching grizzlies and humpback whales and walking through mossy rainforests would be, well, extravagantly understated.
If you want to see some grizzly bear photos that are not blury abstractions go to my grizzly bear photo gallery.
It was too good. The sunset was gorgeous, there was mist mingling in the trees, and for all my gawking I was going to get into an accident if I didn’t pull over. I jumped out of the car to compose a few shots with the remaining light.
As soon as I opened the car door I heard a veery singing, then a white throated sparrow, then a swamp sparrow and a common yellowthroat. The air was so fresh, so sweet, I immediately felt renewed. In the fading light it was tough to do things right without a tripod, so I decided to snap a few shots and just let the moment soak in. I didn’t even notice all the mosquito bites I had acquired until I got back to the car.
