Award-winning photographer Courtney Milne has published 12 photography books, including The Sacred Earth, with a foreword by the Dalai Lama. His latest project is called the Pool of Possibilities
Based in Saskatchewan, Milne and his assistant Dominique Hurley joined writer Candace Savage on a canoeing adventure down the South Saskatchewan River.
Read more about the Weekend Voyageurs in the March 2008 Canadian Geographic Travel issue.
Visit Courtney Milne's website for more.
Q What were some of the challenges of this assignment?
A I had already done a 22-day canoe trip on the Bonnet Plume River with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society in 2003, so it's not like I'm new to a canoeing adventure, by any means. But whether there are 22 days or two days, the same challenges are there. In fact, with a two-day trip, you've probably got more challenges because the time is going to go just like that! You're going to say: "Oh, that was a grand experience. I forgot to take pictures!"
Having that presence of mind all the time, that's the challenge. If you don't have to be thinking f-stops and shutter speeds when you're out there, it's going to pay off in dividends with the outcome of the shoot. Put your mind aside and let your body react much like a boxer would. If a boxer starts thinking about what he's doing with his next punch, he's going to miss the opportunity. And I think that's true of a photographer on a shoot like a canoe trip. It's almost like you need to react instinctively.
Q What tools would you consider essential on a shoot like this?
A One of the most important tools in the photographer's arsenal is a sense of humour. For instance, the cows on the side of the river were about the biggest opportunity for wildlife on the whole trip. We were even yelling across the canoes to each other: "Wild cows over to the left, up the port bow!"
You have to take it with a bit of a sense of humour and make the most of what you've got. Don't don't beat yourself up because you didn't have deer, or elk, or moose, or a grizzly or something that rears up on the edge of the water for you. It just didn't happen. It was a short trip and you take what you get. Besides, that wasn't really what it was about, it was about really getting into the history of the place.
Q What equipment did you bring along and why?
AI had two cameras, both digital. The day I started shooting digital was the day I stopped shooting film. The transition was abrupt.
One camera was a Nikon D70 and the other was a Nikon D200. It's wise to have a backup. If, for instance, I was in a situation where I was shooting like crazy and my battery was getting low and I wasn't getting the shots fast enough or if it died completely, I've got the second camera ready to go. If something happened with one of my cameras and I had any technical problems, I would have a backup. I also had two zoom lenses. I find that a fixed focal length lens for that kind of trip just doesn't do it, because you always have to make adjustments in zooming.
Dominique Hurley, my assistant, had a Nikon D70S and three different zoom lenses. She also brought a mounted flash for fill-in lighting, which is great for portrait work.
Q How do you compare shooting for yourself versus shooting for a magazine?
AMy history of photography is probably quite different from most other photographers in that the majority of images I've shot over the past eight years have been right on my own property, right in front of my house. I've photographed in 55 countries around the world, and I've come home to discover the most joyous photography for me is right in front of me. I've done 40,000 pictures of my swimming pool for a project I call the Pool of Possibilities. I even changed the pool's liner to black so that I could get better pictures and not have the original blue liner influencing the colour of my images.
I love doing assignments, but the bulk of my work is shooting for my own books and projects. When I do an assignment trip, I keep in mind that I'm not going to be doing the editing, someone else is, and so I really attempt to look at the trip with the mind of the editor.
If I was shooting for myself and I was on the water, it might become a portfolio about light on water and what I experienced going down the river. And I might take hours just concentrating on the water the same way I would concentrate on the water in my swimming pool, where it becomes an artistic study in and of itself. But I know perfectly well that's not going to fit the bill for a magazine assignment. So, for example, I arrange with the group to give me a half-hour head start to go down the river. I paddle like crazy, climb up a huge cliff and wave half a mile away to them and say "Okay!" Then they leave their lunch break and come down the river. That's how I got the opening shot for your article, by planning ahead and making sure I was on that cliff so I could shoot the rest of the canoes in the context of the story, whereas if I were shooting for myself, I would just be part of that flotilla. And there's a real danger in a documentary-type story that all you end up with is the backside of the next canoeist, because you're just one in a train of canoes going down the river.
Dominique, my assistant, shot as much as I did. We planned it out so that she'd be in one place and I'd be in another to be able to cover more of the story. She wasn't an assistant in the sense of her changing lenses for me, holding an umbrella to shield my lens from the sun or anything like that. She was a second photographer. For instance, when we were breaking camp, there was a lot of activity going on at once: people packing up tents; others doing dishes and others moving the gear down to the water and packing the canoes. And this was all happening simultaneously, so I said to Dominique: "I'll cover the camp; you get down there and cover the water."
Q Tell us about what you've learned through years of shooting for magazines.
A I looked at your layout and said, "Oh, yeah, they have a nice variety of close-ups and little human-interest things." So my sense was, "Hey, very nice job." Dominique, on the other hand, is much newer to the game. She came out of photography school within the past two years, and so her perception was: "Oh, they missed putting in the best pictures!" And I just laughed because it was exactly the way I felt when I was a young photographer. I could see it at a glance that she was married to her ideas of what the best pictures were. But you're not picking the best pictures; you're picking the best pictures for the purpose. If you don't remember what the purpose is, of course you're going to be at odds with what an editor picks.
What experience has shown me too is that we're all such unique human beings there's absolutely no way on the planet that the best editor in the world is still going to pick what the photographer would pick, because they are two different people with a different eye. And that doesn't mean one is right and the other is wrong, it's just the unique perception of each individual. When I learned that, through years of doing assignments and shooting for editors, I realized that in order to enjoy doing the work, you have to be willing to put aside your personal preferences. And if you're not willing to do that, you're in the wrong game.
Q Tell us about an unforgettable moment during this canoeing adventure.
A One of the most memorable things for me was one that Candace Savage, the writer, didn't cover. She opened the article talking about this amazing storm in Saskatoon on the night before the trip and how she wasn't prepared for that kind of weather. But as a matter of fact, we got equally torrential rain and lightning and thunder during the trip.
The weather actually held off for us on the first day, and we were all relieved that we weren't out there getting soaked in the canoes going down the river. But it was definitely starting to threaten when we had our beautiful buffalo-stew dinner that night. And just after we got into the tents, the rain started. By the middle of the night, it was a full fledged lightning storm. The thunder was crashing right overhead, and the wind picked up and we even wondered if our tents would last. It was that violent.
Q Did you take photographs during the storm?
A You really have to make a judgment call as a photographer. Do I go out there and attempt to get pictures of the lightning? It would've been virtually impossible, because it_s not just taking the risk of being out in the lightning storm that's right overhead; it's also the risk to the equipment. So I did not venture out into the night to shoot, but I did take some shots from inside my tent in the morning with water on the tent.
Playing on the edge of what we consider comfortable is always a judgment call for a photographer. I think that's the distinction between a photographer and say, someone like Candace, a writer. She can sit in the comfort of her tent and write about the experience, or she can sit in the comfort of her home later and reminisce about the experience, whereas the photographer is married to the here and now. You can't get those pictures by reminiscing; you need to make the decision whether to be out in it. Sometimes as photographers maybe we do need to take risks a little bit beyond other art forms.
Q A final word of wisdom for our readers?
A I've seen a lot of photographers stop shooting because somewhere along the line, the fun is gone from it. You can't take this work too seriously. You need to look at it as something that really satisfies the craving of your soul, and if that component leaves, it's time to move on. The work will reflect it ultimately. You can't be a professional photographer and do it day in and day out for years and years, unless it's coming from a spark, a place of the heart that makes you love getting up in the morning and doing this. That's the most inspiring message I can think of: make sure you're shooting from the heart.
I have no trouble at all being out there and having a joyous experience. The others will probably tell you, I stood right up in the canoe and yelled at the top of my lungs, "I LOVE THIS RIVER, I LOVE MY LIFE!" And then that spirit catches on and other people start laughing and yelling back from another canoe: "I love my life, too! Hi cows, I love you cows!" It gets to be really fun.
That's my message to photographers: keep it light and at the same time look through the lens with the eyes of an editor. There's a lovely balance there that can happen. I'm there for you, but I'm doing it in a way that is deeply satisfying to my soul.
Self-taught photographer Gary McGuffin and his wife Joanie have been working as an adventurer photographer team for more than 25 years. Winning the 1996 Great Lakes Book Award, for Superior: Journeys On An Inland Sea, ignited attention to their advocacy of Lake Superior conservation.
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PHOTOGRAPHERGary McGuffin Based in the Algoma Highlands, Gary and his wife Joanie have published seven books, documenting their adventures along some of Canada's most interesting waterways. Read more about their hand in creating the Lake Superior Northern Marine Conservation Area in the June 2008 Canadian Geographic issue. Visit the McGuffin's website for more. |
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Q It's clear from the books you've published and your promotion of the new National Marine Conservation Area that you're passionate about Lake Superior. How do you capture images that translate that passion through your photography?
A Having explored the area for so long, it's getting to those specific spots that really speak to our art, what our emotional package is and how we see Superior. We get to places that not many people ever see or can envision because they've never been there themselves. We not only get there and record that scene, but also be there in the type of extreme weather that really evokes the power and the whole spiritual aspect of the lake.
Q You've been travelling these waters for more than 25 years; are you always exploring new locations or do you find yourself revisiting specific areas where you know you'll get a great shot?
A The priority is going to new places. This winter we spent 10 days on St. Ignace Island. It was 30 to 35 below. We were out there for two weeks snowshoeing, pulling toboggans across Nipigon Bay, which was frozen. It was a long effort to explore the routes. We couldn't get to those particular places as easily in the summer as we could in the winter. The whole land becomes one medium of travel. You can explore so much by snowshoe. You're not restricted to the waterways and short portages. You can cross lakes, rivers and get into other watersheds.
Q Do the majority of places you photograph come from exploration, or do you plot destinations?
A We like to plan three weeks to a month of travel, as opposed to showing up at a destination for a couple days. It's really difficult to get to particular spots. We like to ease into a journey and let everything settle away from the travel. It's the acclimatization of getting back into the natural world. We like to give ourselves some time to get absorbed into that natural realm. It's like sloughing off everything else that it took to get there. Now that you're in the canoe, your balance comes back. You have to get that balance back for your creativity to flourish.
Q When you're paddling or walking the shoreline, what catches your eye and inspires you?
A The idea is to look at the unusual and then blend that unusualness into people's perception of what Superior is, as the largest freshwater lake in the world. That could be something as small as a fragile, arctic plant and showing it in perspective of a big headland of rock. Where most people would see this big headland of rock, they would probably pass by the tiny flower which is the size of a pencil eraser. I try to notice that it's there and spending some time showing its relationship with the huge world in which it exists even though it's such a tiny plant.
Q So people can view your work and allow your experience to help them translate their own perspective of what Superior should be?
A I think that's what art is about, offering new perspectives. In Superior Journeys On An Inland Sea, we showed an inland sea that is usually perceived as a place of sunken ships, as a place where there are placid days, beautiful sunsets, interaction with wildlife and travel in all forms of weather and seasonal conditions. Instead of this dreaded inland sea that sunk ships, pictures of people experiencing those conditions and being happy brought a whole new persona to Superior. I think that was a big influence on people who picked the book up they had no idea that Superior could be this inviting.
QTravelling this same stretch of water, how do you avoid repetition?
A I don't, it's just the weather that does it. You can never go by the same place twice and see it in exactly the same light, the same weather. There's a place on Superior where we've gone by in summer and seen rock paintings. We thought it would be nice to come back in winter, where we can actually snowshoe or ski to them and not bob around in big swells trying photograph them. We go there in winter and because of the wave action, there's a foot of ice against these rock paintings. We'll have to wait a couple of months for the ice to melt and by that time we won't be able to get out there by snowshoe or ski. But then we turn around from where those pictographs were and we see huge ice falls that we never would've imagined would be there in the summertime. Nature just reveals itself in very powerful ways.
Q Your landscape photos sometimes include people or bright kayaks and tents. Is this a technique to add more colour? Scale? Bring further life into the scene?
A Yes, that's another one of our signature handles. With the Superior book, that really broke a lot of nature and wildlife photography rules, because we started putting people in the wilderness. In our theory, why eliminate people from the wilderness when they've always been there they're part of it. And in terms of encouraging people to go to these regions, that's why we think of shooting this through the people experiencing this landscape. I try to put people there you are in the scene experiencing this and I think that's what gives it that emotional edge, putting the viewer in the scene itself. People say: "I can do that, I can get there or I'll do whatever it takes to get there."
We really try to put people at ease, seeing people enjoying themselves in the wilderness is such a huge part of getting people to experience it. Once you get people to experience it, and they understand it, they love it. And when they see there could be a threat to taking something that they love away, that's when they'll step up and help defend it.
Q Not only do you capture action shots of fellow canoers and kayakers, you also capture the same action shots with you and your family. How do you set up these shots with a tripod, a remote, a timer?
A To make that work you really have to envision the perspective. We go into a little nook, a rock outcropping. If I can get out safely, I take the tripod, set the infrared remote on the camera and then try to figure out the markers that are in the scene, so when I get back down there I can line the canoe or the kayak up. I set it all up, run back down and we get into position. We can either be looking up at the camera or looking away just like a raven's perspective of being up there on the edge of that crevice looking at the canoe going by. We may go back around and paddle into it so you can see the wake of the canoe. Because it is digital I can run back up again and see if that worked or not. If it didn't, it may just be the angle that the canoe or the kayak came into the picture.
Q It sounds like the key is a lot of trial-and-error and patience to set everything up and keep going back and forth to get that perfect shot.
A Yes, and if you have the time, then use it. You have to judge how much time you think it's going to take to get that image. Surviving so many wilderness adventures is based on your judgment and sense of timing. That's the challenge of adventure photography working with all the other elements happening around you and still having time to record your experience.
Q That's something you've learned to do through your experience on the water?
A Oh yes, and I think that's what adventure photography is all about you can accomplish the expedition and come back with some evocative images. As a good adventure photographer you have to be the most experienced person on the expedition as well as being an accomplished photographer. You have to exceed expectations of the actual journey and get yourself into those spots where you are capable of recording the adventure as it happens. Not only the physical adventure but you're showing the human experience and the other subtleties of nature that aren't so much based on the sometimes grueling physical effort of getting through that expedition.
Q Do you have an example of when you were tossed into an unpredictable situation and how you were able to handle the elements while simultaneously taking great photos?
A It happens all the time. This winter we skied across the breadth of Nipigon Bay. The sun is getting into that right position, but you still have to cut half a cord of wood, get the tent up, get the stove going. Your feet are numb, your toes are numb, your fingers are going numb, you're wet; the temperature is going to drop another 15 degrees. Winter really tests your mettle, because it's so extreme. The idea is while you're doing all these other things, also get your camera ready, set the tripod up, pick the right location, and quickly scamper away for a split-second without anyone knowing you've left your camp set-up chores at 40 below. Then you actually manage to get that image of the camp setup with the glowing light and the sunset in the background.
National Magazine Award winner J. Kevin Dunn followed his interest in photography from high school, to art school and into the newsroom. After working as a news journalist for 12 years, he now divides his time between freelance photography and beekeeping.
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PHOTOGRAPHERJ. Kevin Dunn Having lived in the Okanagan Valley for over 15 years, Dunn is passionate about preserving the area. Combining his artistic talent, sense of humour and love of capturing everyday life, has acquired national attention and awards. Read more on the changing face of the Okanagan in the July/Aug 2008 Canadian Geographic issue. Visit J. Kevin Dunn's website for more. View his photo gallery of Okanagan Valley life. |
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Q With the guidelines you received from Allan Casey's story, what specifically, in terms of technical shots, did you have to take for this shoot?
A Personally, I like to mix it up a bit. I like to draw on my quirky background in the arts where I don't have conventional compositions. I like to have things that are either off kilter or not by the book. For example, you'd maybe have a shot of kids jumping off the Ogopogo in the park or the golfer with the bridge in the background it doesn't give you the whole picture, but it lets your imagination fill in the gaps. You can imagine the essence of that time and space at that moment rather than giving all the answers on a platter.
Q Your portraits of the apple pickers in particular were also interesting did you happen across them juggling and playing music or did you recreate the moment with them?
A No, I'm not into staging images. I think it has to reflect some truth and some reality. So there is a guy having a break and he's chucking some apples around. "Alright, let's have some fun and work with that," I think, and it makes for a much more interesting portrait because metaphorically, the juggling of the apples is, in many ways, the juggling of things you would have to do as a grower. You juggle the weather, the timing, all these factors. You put a little bit of interest, action and humour into it and definitely humour is a more difficult thing to include or something a little bit strange. I think readers respond to that. They go "whoa, what's going on" and that's what I'm aiming for, to tweak people's interest.
Q A lot of the work you display on your website are images you've collected over 10 years. When you're on assignment, you don't have the same luxury of time ' what do you do to ensure quality photos?
AYou be prepared at all times. You sleep with the camera, you wash the dishes with the camera, you just have it there the same way you put on your underwear! It's there with you, but it's very important that it doesn't become a nemesis; that you always love what you do. You may be driving by and you see a scene you've never seen before and you have to capitalize on it, but you're on your way to an appointment. What do you do? You have to say "Well, what's of bigger intrinsic value in the whole picture?" And you phone your appointment and say "I'll be half an hour late."
Where some photographers want to have their assignments laid out for them, I'm much more an ad-libber and if I'm told what do to and how to do it, I likely won't do it. I think that's part of not compromising.
Q Not all your shoots could've turned out perfectly on the fly. So let's say on an assignment like this, you go out to shoot the landscape and the weather's really bad. How many times do you go out to capture those images?
AThis is where you go outside and you lick your finger and hold it to the wind and say "Yup, today's the day I'm going to climb a mountain and get this perspective. I've got a window of a day; it's going to have to happen." So it's partly luck and partly really understanding the weather and lighting around here, how long it's going to take me to climb up there, and how many bears am I likely to encounter on the way up.
QWhen you come home and review your shots, if you don't quite like it, do you go out and try again?
A No, I won't, because then it's a drag. You want to say "Yes, I've got it now, it's a one-off and it will never happen again in the continuum of time and space." Especially when it comes to people and portraits one chance only. I believe in that. That chance will present itself to you and you have to work with it, capitalize on it, love the moment and know "I've got it."
QDoes that come easily to you now, or was that something you really had to work on to become really great at it?
A I think it always came kind of easy to me because I cared. If you care, you're going to be good. And if you don't, don't ever give up and keep going and don't ever quit. I've made mistakes; I've done a whole shoot and then noticed "oh crap, I didn't load film in the camera." Everybody's done that. I've made every mistake in the book and I'll continue to make mistakes.
Q You mentioned earlier not compromising being a big factor in your work; are there other techniques that you use habitually?
A It used to be black-and-white work. I've always liked the vintage look or something that was a little bit surreal, a little bit overdramatic. I use red filters and overdevelop the film one technique I developed on my own because it suited my style. With the digital work, you can set the digital camera to have a red filter effect, so I do that even when I shoot weddings. That's a simple example, but most of it is based on how I feel at the time. Like the sky, "I want to make that sky look really dark and add an air of cynicism or sinister to this moment." So I can do that. Other times, you want a lighter feel and an amateuristic feel, so you want things to look screwed up on propose it's like a child's drawing. How can you dispute a beautiful scrawl that's on a refrigerator with ABC magnets? How can you say that's no good? It's honest and beautiful work. So, to make a little bit of technical mistakes is something I do.
Q Of the images you submitted for this shoot, most were colour and several were black-and-white. When do you choose to use one over the other?
A Digital is a really amazing thing because you can do both. You can switch it to monochrome if you've shot it in colour. But the purpose of shooting colour, in my brain, is very different from shooting black-and-white. I often find I have much more freedom when I shoot in black-and-white, because it's more about content and the moment than it is about the colour. They're two very different animals. But you do have to flick a switch in the back of your brain. I do see things differently when I have my camera set to black-and-white.
QA lot of your images have an artistic flair to them. Are you the photographer who's always had a natural eye for these kinds of shots, or is this something you've had to develop through experimentation?
A Through exposure to people, not just photographers and artists, but people who have good philosophies on different topics. You engage those and you tie that into your work. It might be a passage you've read in a book, a meditation you did, a piece of knowledge a wise person told you ' those are all relevant to photography. I think really soaking in some of the knowledge that you're gaining along the way and being able to activate that into the work I think that's good.
Q So is that how you taught yourself, just exploring other mediums and experimenting with different forms of photography?
A Yes, but I think in the end, if it made me laugh, it was worth photographing. Or if it made me think "Whoa that was really amazing," or "I never would've seen that if I hadn't had the camera". Those are the things that always intrigued me. Last night, we were loading a big semi truck of bees that was heading back to Alberta. I'm there with the smoker in one hand smoking bee hives and the camera in the other. You're just waiting and then things happen. The composition happens, it's so surreal and all of the sudden it comes together. I almost feel like if you really believe it will, those tiny little elements that you need to pull it all together somehow walk into the frame or somehow the light is just there for that moment. So I go on faith and chance in a big way.
Q And has that ever led you astray?
ANever. I think it takes a lot of faith in yourself, in the creative process and in the world as a whole to operate that way. I think, if you relieve some of the tensions of dealing with technical things or scheduling things or preconceiving an image if you just release that and go slow, you'll find that your work becomes true to you.
QWhat makes photography easy for you?
AI'm unwilling to compromise. If I had to shoot it another way I couldn't. Everything has a degree of art to it, therefore you have to approach it artfully. Every moment, every assignment, every situation is worthy if you can break through the barriers of what might seem to be the mundane. For example, I'm sure every newspaper photographer has to go out and do grip'n'grins you take a photo of someone receiving a trophy or some kind of presentation, things that newspaper photographers cringe at. But if you can break through that barrier, there's usually something funny or goofy that you can use, or somebody's story is there. People are strange, so you have to just push through and recognize that.
Brian Atkinson is a frequent contributor to Canadian Geographic with more than 20 years of experience photographing in the field in some 55 countries. He has published three books and is now working on a documentary book on Guatemala's recent history.
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PHOTOGRAPHERBased in New Brunswick, Atkinson has covered Canadian Geographic stories ranging from Guatemalan migrant workers in Quebec to the seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Assignments for Equinox, the Ottawa Citizen, CARE International and others have taken him to refugee camps, the jungle and conflict zones in Eritrea and Kosovo. For this assignment, he photographed some of the 1970 hippie settlers in New Brunswick's Fundy Hills. Read more about the Hippie Homesteads in the April 2008 issue of Canadian Geographic. Visit Brian Atkinson's website to view more of his work. |
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Q What did you enjoy about this assignment?
A As usual for me, what I enjoyed were the people. Two of them I had never met before, and once I got to know them and saw where they lived and what they did, that, as always, was the thrill for me. It_s always the chance to get to meet some really interesting people. I'm chatty and I'll talk all day to anybody, but if I'm doing that for work, it's like bonus!
Q Did you go out on this assignment with the writer?
A I didn't for this one. When I think about all the articles I've done for Canadian Geographic, I realize only twice I was with the writer, of about a dozen articles at least. One was the seal hunt (Jan/Feb 2000), where we met up with the writer on the ice floe and the other was the five-day hike along the Fundy coast (July/Aug 1994) to do a geographic survey of the area.
Q What are the pros and cons of going on a shoot with the writer?
A(Laughs and clears his throat) I don't always like being with the writer. Sometimes it's really good because the writers treat you with respect and give you some ideas, but because they know you're a professional, they let you go and do what you want. But other writers, because it's their story, they're always telling you maybe you should shoot this way or that way. And pretty soon you feel like you're tied in a thousand knots and can't do anything.
I prefer to talk to the writer on the phone, come up with my own ideas from the story or from the writer, and then try and shoot it. And of course, this happens whether you're shooting for Canadian Geographic or for an advertising company, the people far away in the office have an idea of what they want and you have an idea when you're sitting in your own office, but when you get to the site, it's never like you expect. Then it's just spontaneous and you do what you can do.
Q You have a strong photojournalism background. How do you balance between a documentary approach with a candid feel to it, and a portrait approach with a 'posed' feel to it?
A I do a lot of advertising work and I do a lot of tourism work, where the whole focus all the time is kind of faked portraits. You set things up, you control the light, you have all kinds of reflectors and all kinds of lighting equipment, and yet you still try and make it a natural-looking scene, so that even though everything is perfect, it looks like maybe it did happen that way. When I do a documentary or photojournalism project, like this article or other projects I've done in Africa and Latin America, which are specific to certain people like on this assignment, I don't know where these people live and I don't know what it looks like. I know a little bit about them, but when I get there all of the sudden it's like I have to race, I'm thinking in my feet, I'm making all these decisions right away but I don't want to fake anything.
I've photographed Bob Osborne (one of the characters in this story) for other magazines in the past, and he's just a laid back guy. So he'll do anything, but it's almost hard to get him to be natural. He's done a million magazine articles and been on the radio a trillion times, so for him it's like, "I just stand over here, right?"
Lee Danisch, the engineer, was just hard because there was nothing happening there to make a photo of. It was driving me nutty. Lee's work is cerebral; it's in his brain more than in the world.
In the case of Paul Cunningham, when I got to his place he was really reticent at first. He didn't look like he was real thrilled that I was there. He was kind of like, "Oh, I'm not sure I want to do this." And I'm thinking oh, God, this is a perfect start. He lives in this tiny house, so we just sat in his living room, well, kind of living room, kitchen, bedroom, all in one, and he made me coffee and then we just started to talk. One of the nice things about this assignment was I know the area really well and I know a lot of the people that these people know, so I could break the ice by saying, "Oh, you know Peter and Judith, right?" So we started talking about them and while that was happening, because he had some nice light on him, I started shooting at the table while he was making coffee and pouring it. So while he was getting used to me, I was sitting there and every once in a while I'd snap a picture. I always keep the camera out and I took a lot of those images with the camera not at my eye, but just holding it kind of at my waist. That way I could keep talking to him without breaking eye contact.
Once he got looser we did some stuff outside, and as we talked more, he finally started to say, "Come on, I'll take you down to the creek and I'll show you one of these little machines."
Q What did you do about the shutter noise while shooting at waist-level?
A That's the worse thing. Back when I used Leicas, that wasn't a problem, they're much quieter. They're kind of like "chhhh." Whereas the digital goes "pchhkk pwshhhh!" You feel like a gun just went off. It's a drag, but there's not much you can do about it. All you can do is shoot the camera and then make eye contact and smile. For sure he can hear the shutter, this camera is not quiet, but he also knows I'm a photographer.
Q Speaking of cameras that make noise, what equipment did you bring along with you?
A A couple of Nikon D200, a Nikkor 12-24mm lens, well on a digital it goes 18-35mm. But whenever I go out of the country, the only three lenses I travel with are: a 24mm, a 35mm, and a 105mm.
Q So no zoom lenses when you travel?
A Nooo, I hate zooms.
Q Really? Why?
A Because they're big, they're heavy and they're slower than fixed lenses. And if you're doing journalism or if you're in the jungle for three months, you're always trying to save weight. The other thing is, with those big cameras, those big lenses, when you stick those in people's faces, it's intimidating. I get close with the smaller lenses, because I'm not afraid. Most of the time, they know me or trust me eventually and I can come in closer.
What I hate most about watching some pros and a lot of amateurs is they're stealing pictures with these giant lenses from across the street and I find that distasteful. It looks like big game hunting in a way. I rather the person know that I'm there. I want the contact with the person, and usually you can feel that contact.
Q So how do you warm up people? What's your strategy for "breaking the ice," as you said earlier?
A Nobody believes this anymore, but when I was young, supposedly I was shy. But then I took sociology in university, and half-way through my degree I started doing theatre, and then I went to the University of Victoria to do a Master's in theatre (I didn't finish it, though.) I also hitchhiked across Canada a couple of times when I was a kid, like 19. And so I just got chatty. I also worked everything from ranches to cattle liners, as a waiter and all kinds of jobs. So it doesn't seem to matter if I meet a president of a bank, or say, a fisherman, I can relate to what they do and so I can talk about what they do. Lots of time here in the rural parts of Canada, the CBC reporter comes in and it's obvious they are from Toronto. They don't look, act, or sound like somebody from the area, say, a fisherman, and so they just stick out.
But most of the time in my case, whether I am with refugees or with the guys on this assignment, I don't walk in like I'm the most serious guy in the world and this is the most important thing in the world. I try to make it a little lighter. I don't walk in with a standard joke or anything, but I'll just start talking not too fast if I can help it (I usually talk too fast), and give them chance to answer questions and talk about themselves. And I can always tell stories because I've been to a lot of countries and I've done a lot of things, so we just kind of talk back and forth for a while, and then pretty soon I'm kind of like a friend.
Q Going back to the earlier question about how you balance between a documentary approach and a posed-portrait approach
A Ah, that was the question. I don't want to set up pictures. I don't want to say "Okay buddy, I'm going to take your picture. I'm going to put a light over here. Now you look out the window like you're in a pensive mood or something." Sometimes you got to do things like that, but I try not to do that very often. What I will do is get them in a situation. So Paul Cunningham might not have gone down to the power generator by the creek on that day, but I'm only there for that day, so I'll say "Okay, can you take me down there?" and away we go. And there he was doing things that he would do anyway: he was checking the pipes to see if they were clogged and things like that.
So at the best, I'll set up a situation and let them do it. Sometimes we will do it two or three times if we need to, but the danger is that it can become more like an advertising shoot. Now I never let anybody do anything they don't do, or dress like they wouldn't dress. I'm not going to make them wear a red scarf so the picture looks better.
The challenge in this assignment was there wasn't a lot going on. For instance, it might've been better to shoot Bob Osborne in the spring or in the summer when he's got a whole bunch more activity. Some of the things I know he does up there, including all the flowers, were just not happening that time of the year, because otherwise he could've been bouncing at a tractor and whatnot.
Q What's your advice for overcoming the challenge of having to go on a shoot when it's not the best time to do the shoot?
A The advice comes down to, if you're an amateur, pick your time, pick your light, pick the season if you can. If you're an aspiring professional, come to the realization that you're going to have to work with what's there and find ways to make whatever it is look better.
Lots of time when I was younger, I'd look at a magazine and go: "Oh, well that's shit! The photos are not very good and I don't like them. Why didn't he do this or that?" But as you do a bunch of assignments, you realize that's because you've got all sorts of constraints on you: time constraints, weather constraints; and you simply can't come back over and over. You usually get one crack at it.
If you're shooting for National Geographic, where you got a three-month budget, well, then you can go at a better time. Their articles aren't that much bigger than the ones that run in Canadian Geographic, but their time frame for the photographer and the writer can be months, so they can always get what they're looking for; whereas us, it can be two days. If it's a four-day assignment, that's really long for us at Canadian Geographic.
Q Give us some examples, then, of what you could do to improve your shoot.
A If it's a person, they might not be able to come out with you at seven o' clock when the sun is going down because they got another thing to do. So if I have time constraints, I can shoot them when it's not the best time because at least the person himself or herself and what they're doing will give you the action that will make up for the lack of nice colour.
If it's a landscape, you really are limited. You've got to get the right colour, weather and light, otherwise it dies. If the conditions are really bad, I try to focus more on some details; get closer so I don't have a bleached out sky or something.
If it is people and the light on them is lousy, then maybe I'll try to get close and focus more on their eyes or their face, or take them inside and put them in a shadow or something.
Q A final inspirational message for our readers?
A Let me get a Bible (we both laugh hard.) I want to say two things. One is not inspirational but rather a piece of advice. It's the Robert Capa line, "if your photos aren't good enough, get closer." People have a fear of getting closer of other people.
Q Well, especially in North America, mind you. I'm afraid of getting close to people here where they seem rather cold, private and defensive. I grew up and learned about photography in Venezuela. It's easy to get close to people there, unlike in Canada and the US.
A Yeah, we're the funniest group I know anywhere. We're cold, and I don't know if it's the temperature or the climate (we laugh.)
If you look at most amateur photos, they're not of people; they're of landscapes, flowers or people that are in the distance. But if you want to be a photojournalist, you have to get closer and you have to talk to people. So whether it's through theatre, or whatever it's going to be, you have to find a way that you can learn to break down the barriers and get up close and talk to people. You have to communicate, and you have to communicate from two feet away, lots of the time.
Q How does your approach for photographing people in industrial North America differ from shooting in a developing and tropical country where most people are warm?
A If people are indigenous, say Mayans, they're more like Canadians. They're much more reserved. They don't jump on you and give you big hugs right away, you have to work your way in there. Whereas with most Latinos, yahoo! There's a party fairly quickly. So it does vary a little bit in those situations. I guess in Latin America my advantage is I can speak Spanish. So I can get in and talk and everybody is thrilled that somebody with blond hair can speak Spanish.
In Canada, my English is pretty good and I'm just not afraid to talk to people. But you got to take your time. City people like to get right to the point; whereas in the country, they want to talk to you first and get to know you. And that's the right approach on assignments. You don't just say, "Oh, I'm with Canadian Geographic and I really want to do this picture." You got to chat with them first.
Yeah, Canadians take more effort to photograph, but inside every Canadian lies the heart of a Latino. If you can just warm them up, they're dying to dance Salsa (we laugh).
Q Okay, this time we're wrapping up for real. What's your final word?
A When you tell someone you're a photographer they get all excited because they think it's all glamour. Well, the photographing part is glamour and is great, but I probably spend 80 to 90 percent of my time at the computer, working on stories or looking for new places to work. Right now there are a million photographers. You're kind of doing battle with everybody who's got a camera and thinks they can do your job. So photography is a hard thing to get reasonably successful at, but if you can do it, it'd be the best. I don't think there's anything else I can do in the world than photography.
John Ulan is nationally renowned for his award-winning photography. Co-founding the photo agency Epic Photography Inc., Ulan brings 20 years of experience to the table and shoots continuously for newswire and editorial clients.
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PHOTOGRAPHERJohn Ulan Edmonton-based Ulan has freelanced across the country for publications such as Canadian Press, Globe and Mail and National Post. For this assignment, he teamed up with partner and co-founder of Epic Photography, Ian Jackson, to shoot Edmonton's biggest festival. For more on the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, read "Boogie Nights" in the May 2008 issue of Canadian Geographic Travel. Visit Epic Photography's website. |
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Q When covering a large-scale event, such as the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, what is the first thing you do to prepare?
A The most important thing is to do whatever research is available. Luckily, Ian and I had photographed the event before, maybe five or six times over the past 10 to 15 years. So we could go based on our history and our memory of how the event works. Then it was just a case of finding what acts were playing and what the individual performances were going to be, so that we knew how to incorporate them into our shooting.
Q Did you have a game plan before you went in? For example, you and Ian Jackson both shot the festival did you take a "divide and conquer" approach? Did you go to each performance or go for one day only or multiple days?
A We hung out the whole time. It was one of those opportunities where we could simultaneously go out and complete a job, but also remember why we got into it. We thought "let's do what we did in the olden days." When Ian and I first met, we were competing freelancers who wanted to beat the other one into the ground. When I showed up at an assignment for Canadian Press and he would show up at the same assignment for the Globe and Mail, we tried to outshoot each other. That was our goal, it didn't matter that we were friends; we were there to make sure that, you know, I got the better picture than he did. And it was the same sort of situation here, we wanted to go out, have fun and go head-to-head against each other and just exercise ourselves that way. So that was probably the biggest approach. I wouldn't say that we normally do that, but this was just one of those opportunities we could go out and compete against each other.
Q Would you usually split up or stay together?
AIt's almost entirely split up. We would walk through the gates and have an idea of what we need from that night. For instance, on Friday we decided we definitely needed shots of the hill some kind of ubiquitous, scene-setting context shots: the crowd on the hill and the city skyline in the background. We both agreed that at a certain time we would go to a pre-determined location and work on getting those photographs. Otherwise, it was simply a case of going out and looking for photos.
Q Do you shoot first and ask for permission after you get the candid shot, or do you ask people before you take their picture?
A I'd say nine times out of 10 is shooting first and asking questions later. Very often the moment changes if you try to ask a person if they want their photo taken. Working in the crowd, it's simply a case of going around and making friends, introducing yourself to strangers saying, "Hey I'm so-and-so from Canadian Geographic and I thought what you were doing was wonderful. Could I take your picture?"
Q How important is it, to ask questions first? What are the rules for shooting first and asking later?
A I don't know that there are any specific rules. You always want to get as much detail as possible, whether you've got a camera in front of your eye or a notepad in your hand. We're all reporters and the number one rule of reporting is to get as much accurate information as you can possibly get. The five Ws, that's equally important for a photographer. A lot of that can be encapsulated in the photograph, but you still need to know who these people are and specifically what they're doing to give context and meaning to the photograph.
Q Events like the festival offer a variety of photographic opportunities. What are the shots you aim to get and what kind of safety shots do you take for something to fall back on?
A I learned early on that you should have a body of work on any assignment. I guess there's always a formula, to some degree, that we follow when we go out on assignment: shoot tight, shoot loose, shoot horizontal, shoot vertical and make sure that you encompass all of the different angles. Once we've got that then we might progress to more artful shots, working on the context, showing the relevance of the environment in a particular assignment. Then we start looking deeper, for more graphical elements you can use to make a more interesting photograph. Once you've reached that point in an assignment, which is usually within a few minutes, you let your instinct take over. You're letting your eye just roam and try to find subjects that are interesting.
Q Do you have free rein or do you have a discussion with the editors and writers to influence what you'll be doing?
A I always like to talk to the writers or see the copy. So much of what we do is context related. Most often the editors I work with don't give you that much information. They give you a basic outline. They're relying on your eyes and ears on the ground because they can be 3,000 kilometres away, how can they give you specific instruction if they don't know the lay of the land?
Q With outdoor events, there's additional pressure: getting good photos in a limited amount of time, dealing with unpredictable weather, large crowds, etc. What do you do to stay focused?
A It depends entirely on the event. At the folk fest, I didn't have one aspect to anchor my shooting around. It was in some way even harder. I really had to choose my focus and be careful not to be overwhelmed by it. I don't have any sort of magical answer, it was really a case of just knowing from experience what kind of photographs I need and then just coming in and letting something grab my attention.
Q Do you have any other particular techniques you use to capture the magnitude of the event down to the smallest details?
A That's a tricky question. Because I've been doing this for 20 years, I've gotten to the point where everything just falls into place instinctively. I let my body and my eye lead me. Maybe it's a case of chasing activity first. I think that we photographers are like lions and gazelles. A lion for the most part will lie in the tall grass and lick his paw until he sees a flash of movement in the distance. It's that motion, that movement that catches the lion's attention. The lion will jump and run, often before he even realizes what he's chasing, and maybe to some degree that's how a news-photographer works instinctively. They're looking for that flash of something that catches their attention. Once that happens, it gets the adrenaline going. Your instincts kick in and you fill in the details. I don't think anyone at this level really thinks about composition. I don't think in my mind about the rule of thirds, leading lines or layering an image, all of those very important compositional elements. My eye now just sees it; my eye and my finger work. A lot of the time I think the brain is left out of the equation.
Q What kind of obstacles did you encounter then? Did you have a hard time getting close to the stages? Did a lot of people walk into your shots?
A The biggest problem with this kind of event is simply not allowing yourself to become overwhelmed by all the activities. You can be working on one subject and as you're photographing that subject in the back of your mind you could think: "I'm missing something. Something else is going on at another location on the site and I'm not there." I think that's your biggest fear when you're doing this kind of assignment. You have to remind yourself that even if you don't get that shot it's okay. Something better will come along, or something just as good will come along. I can give myself the luxury of relaxing, taking a breath and spending quality time with the subject I'm with right now. If I spend quality time with this particular subject, a great shot will be created and the fact that I've missed something somewhere else will become irrelevant.
Don MacKinnon is a successful freelance photojournalist based in Richmond, B.C., who has been working in the Vancouver area and on Vancouver Island since 1990. A graduate of the photographic technician course at Algonquin College in Ottawa, MacKinnon's photos have been published in numerous publications, ranging from from daily newspapers, such as The Globe and Mail, to international wire services and magazines, including TIME and Maclean's.
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Q How did you get started in the industry?
A When I was in my teens, I got a hold of a camera. I always liked looking at pictures, the idea of being able to keep a segment of time on a single frame. I always enjoyed Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's posters because they were like photojournalism in a way: a second in time captured by an artist. But since stick men are as good as I can draw, I figured a camera would do a better job.
I worked for national museums before I became a photographer. When Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was swinging the axe, I was laid off. After that, I went to Ottawa's Algonquin College for their photography course, which dealt with the more scientific aspects of photography, and graduated in 1988. I figured if I was going to be unemployed, I might as well be unemployed at something I liked. So I started trying to get jobs and sell my photos, and it's been fun ever since. It's not always easy, but always fun.
Q Did you start off as a photojournalist?
A When I first got started, I thought I'd like to get into photojournalism. But you just have to grab at anything you can. I enjoy photojournalism and documentary photography the most right now; when I'm not doing that, I like to photograph wildlife.
Q The Canadian Forces School of Search and Rescue is known for its rigorous and diverse training to prepare students to save lives. Can you tell the Photo Club a bit about your shoot?
A This was a project that I went out and shot on my own. It wasn't an assignment from Canadian Geographic. I just thought that the Canadian Forces School of Search and Rescue is something Canadians should probably know about. So I went to the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, from where I live in Richmond, once or twice a month to document what they were doing, whether it was medical or dive training, getting hoisted in helicopters or jumping out of Buffalo airplanes.
Q How long did this shoot take you to complete?
A I started it in September 2006 and finished the following September. The students graduated in June 2007, but I followed up after that because three trainees had been stationed at the Canadian Forces Base in Comox. I followed them and did some of the helicopter stuff with them at the base.
Q So you were right there with the students while they were doing some of their most extreme training, like jumping out of these aircrafts?
A Oh yeah. Of course, for these guys, safety is their first name, so I never felt in any danger whatsoever. They put me on something called a "monkey tail," which is a harness with a long strap attached to it that's hooked onto a part of the aircraft. I was standing on a bench off to the side so I could sort of look down over the instructor's shoulder as the students were getting hoisted up into a Cormorant helicopter or jumping out the back of a Buffalo aircraft.
Q That sounds like it would be a difficult situation to get a good photograph. What were the challenges to get that shot?
A You just need to steady yourself wherever you are and stay out of the way. Research is the key to take any photograph. You just talk to the instructor and the student and ask them what they're going to do. Then I place myself in the right position to document whatever they're about to do.
Physical preparation is also good to do for this kind of shoot. This shoot has inspired me to be more physically aware and stronger. It inspired me to take a CPR course.
QIt seems like you had it all figured out. Have you photographed anything like that before?
A Yeah, I've done some similar stuff before. When I heard that the Labrador helicopters were going to be replaced by the Cormorant helicopters, I wanted to document a flight in a Labrador helicopter before they were retired. I managed to go up and take pictures of the students doing their thing in Labrador helicopters instead of Cormorant helicopters. After that, I heard about the Canadian Forces School of Search and Rescue school and thought it would make for an interesting story.
Q Students must go through vigorous training in order to prepare for the physical stresses of the job. Since you were there to document their training, was the shoot physically demanding for you?
A At first when I saw what these guys were doing, like eight chin-ups before they went into or came out of the building, it made me a little bit more aware of what's happening. That's what they have to do any time they come into or out of the building: Eight chin-ups. Everything is in preparation. Now I wasn't doing eight chin-ups, but I was thinking, "I'm going to have to be able to run ahead of these guys sometimes or keep up to them at least." So I sort of upped my physical endurance and got a little more physically fit because of the shoot. So it had a positive outcome.
Q What equipment did you use?
AFor the most part I used a D200. I also used a Nikon D2H.
For times when I would be closer to the subject, like the shot where the fellow is jumping out of the aircraft, I used a Tamron 14 mm lens and a Nikkor 17 to 35mm F2.8 zoom lens. The other lens that I use a lot is the Nikkor 80 to 200mm F 2.8.
QYou mentioned research as being an important part of preparing for a shoot. Did you plan to capture any specific shots or did you snap them on the fly?
A A lot of times, I find it useful to ask people what steps they're going to go through to do what they're doing. Since I'm not a skydiver, I wanted to know what physical steps they have to go through to jump out of a plane. Of course, when you've got 12 students doing the same thing, it's easier to figure out what to do. If the first student jumped off one way and the picture wasn't what I wanted, I'd get into a different position.
Maybe you go up a few different times or you spend the whole day doing this sort of stuff. Some of it is hit and miss, and other times you get it right away because somebody gave you an accurate description ahead of time.
Q Students had to do some extreme things for their training. What was the most exciting thing that you did on the shoot?
A The stuff I liked the most was being up in the Cormorant helicopter or in the Buffalo aircraft. I really enjoy doing that sort of stuff. In the Cormorant, as these guys were being hoisted up, I was in the monkey tail that I described to you earlier the harness with the strap on the back. So I was right by the door and could sort of lean out and shoot down as these guys were coming out.
Q If you weren't a photographer, what would you be?
A Well, as I said before, I probably wouldn't be an artist (laughs). Lately, I've been getting interested in video. It's a different form of photography, just a different box. Also, video guys get to have sound.
Q What drives you to get up and take pictures everyday?
A I enjoy documenting. I just love doing it all the time and I almost always have a camera with me. It doesn't matter whether I'm photographing news or birds or kids playing I just enjoy capturing those little segments of time.
While studying science and marketing through a Bachelor of Applied Sciences at the University of Guelph and business during the summer at Brock University, Dawn Goss knew she had to pursue a career that would allow self expression. Now the winner of two National Magazine Awards and co-author of three books, Goss is a successful writer and photojournalist living in a rural setting near Erickson, M.B.
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Q What sparked your interest in photography?
A Like many people, I was given a camera as a gift when I was 12 or 13. I was very devoted to documenting so I wouldn't forget them. I wanted to hold on to moments. You could call me a little sentimental. Through your life, you catch special moments and want that image to stay engraved in your mind forever.
Q How did you go from trying to save those special moments to having a successful photojournalism career?
A There were many twists and bends and I ran into a lot of brick walls. When you're born with this affliction (laughs), no matter what the distractions are, you have to express yourself in one way, shape or form. It always came back to what would allow me to express myself as much as possible.
I had been an avid canoer and had been invited to Fort William Historical Park in Thunder Bay, Ont. to celebrate the bicentennial of Upper Canada in 1984. My friends and I dressed up as voyageurs and lived at the fort. While I was there, I was photographing and really getting into the cultural experience. I met this photographer, Brian Milne, who somehow ended up in my canoe. Milne proposed we work on a book about the Trans Canada Highway. I started out writing because I knew the country fairly well and eventually, for the first time, had my photography published in this book.
QYou mentioned that you needed to express yourself. Why did you choose photojournalism as a means of expressing yourself?
AAs a photographer in this world, in this day and age, it's good to have many different ways to use your photography. So, I do a number of different styles of photography like portraiture, wildlife and landscape. But, I keep coming back to photojournalism because I love it. I find the subjects fascinating. I have a real interest in new places and I love people. I genuinely care about the people that I photograph. I've been very lucky to meet some absolutely extraordinary people and whether it's around the kitchen table, in the Arctic or on the front of a lake freighter.
QThis isn't the first time you've been on an assignment in Churchill, M.B. for Canadian Geographic. How did you approach this shoot differently?
AWell the previous assignment, about the Hudson Bay rail line to the Port of Churchill, was shot the fall. So, it was a little cool, but quite pleasant. On this assignment, shot in February, it went to between -52C and -57C below. So, you're in the -40s and then you add the wind chill on top of it. You go prepared.
Since the most recent assignment was for a Canadian Geographic Travel magazine, there was a little more attention to colour in the photography. Usually, I have ideas before I go but that doesn't always work because you're bringing in an assumption as to how you think it should look. I try to look at everything with new eyes and respond with my gut, my heart and my head.
QYou have some beautiful images of people inside a clear dome looking at the northern lights. Was this a shot you wanted to get from the beginning?
AI sort of knew about the dome but when I saw it this way, I thought everyone comes here and sees it from the inside. But, it's more interesting than that. The dome is really great and provides you access to see the sky and the northern lights. People crowd in there. I like to step away from what's going on and take a look at it from an outside perspective. Since I spent half my childhood in the top of a tree, my first instinct was to get on the roof and see what's going on from outside.
QTechnically, what did you have to do to make that shot work?
AMy challenge was lighting the inside of this dome while standing outside with my parka, hat, scarf and gloves on. The problem was that you can't run in and out. You're dealing with massive changes in temperature. That alone will do your camera in, if you don't prepare for it. So I talked Alison Gillmor, the writer, into popping off the flash when I signaled.
QYou seem to be very considerate of the people you're photographing. How do you get people to become comfortable with you?
AGenerally, I just try to get to know them as if I'm jut there trying to experience what they're experiencing. I try to get myself heavily involved in what they're doing and we'll just spend time together. It helps that I have an insatiable curiosity about people's lives and what it's like to be in their shoes. So, I have a real interest in who I'm photographing. It's easy if you're interested in them.
QDo you prefer going on assignment with the writer or without?
AIt depends on the assignment. You just don't show up and stick this camera in their face, because it's incredibly rude. I really like to spend a lot of time with the people. I like to watch their gestures, the way they move their head, the way walk and the way they look you in the eye. I like to know what's important to them and that takes time, an awful lot of time. The writer has a particular purpose and you try not to get in each others way. Generally, it's a little easier when they're not there but I do work with writers. Sometimes it can lead into other things and can be quite interesting to bounce ideas off each other. I've had the odd writer that comes in to tell you what's important and what you should do. I just slightly nod and say, "Thank you very much," and kind of chuckle and think, "Well, I'll probably just do what I need to do." Everyone has an opinion and everyone is moved by different things and that's perfectly valid.
QIn the story, the writer compares the Churchill Northern Studies Centre to a summer camp for grown ups. What was your impression of it?
AActually, it was pretty campy. At times I found myself scooting from room to room. It was sort of like a college dormitory and we would get into a little bit of mischief. Our lecturer would come around in the middle of the night and kick our doors with his boots, "Get up! Get out! Go outside!" he'd say. Out we would go at one in the morning.
There were people there from a lot of different places and different lifestyles and different experiences. You bond with people. It is a lot like camp. You bond with people and you don't want to break those connections. You want to keep getting to know them.
Although it was very campy, I felt like I was in the middle of some kind of bizarre science fiction movie. We were in this rocket launching area, the buildings were interesting and we were so isolated in that climate.
QDid you try to portray a science fiction feel in your photos?
ASure. I was very moved by the repetition of the dome. There were these domes that kept appearing everywhere in the corner of my eye, from the dome on the building to the curvature of the Earth when you're looking out over the horizon to the eggs that were frying on the grill in our kitchen. Also, one of the guests had this wonderfully round bald head. So I kept seeing this repetition of the dome everywhere. It was very planetary.
QWhat equipment did you bring?
AI have a Sony Alpha. I had a Nikon F-4. Gone are the days of film (laughs). I like them both for different reasons. And of course you take up backup equipment because something inevitably might go. I my case, the shutter just seized in my Nikon F-4 film camera and that was it.
But, I'm much more interested in the final product. My equipment changes all the time. Some people spend so much of their time dwelling on the type of equipment they have. That's all handy, but they're just tools. I'm concerned with how I can get my final product in the easiest way.
QBecause of the plummeting temperatures, what special equipment did you bring along?
AI wouldn't call it out of the ordinary equipment. The main thing is when its that cold, it's just like the vehicles in this province, everything breaks so much easier. If you're dealing with film, your film can break. Everything is stressed with that kind of cold. So, you have to be prepared to be quite easy on your equipment. Going from warm to cold, everything expands and contracts which builds up condensation, if you're not careful, on the inside of the camera. Therefore, you have to bag your camera so you have as little air in there as possible. The real challenge was nighttime, trying to bag a camera. At those coldest moments, it was hard getting, in those couple of seconds the over gloves out of the parka pocket in the wind and back onto my hands before they froze. Because, once your hands start to freeze, you can't move them like you need. The most challenging part was just moving your hands to bag and operate the equipment. So, the challenge is going in and out and that change in temperature.
QIf you had to shoot the assignment over again, would you do anything differently?
AI take it as a good sign when you come out of there wanting to do more. Where you just think it would be great to have another day because you would really like to explore this and explore that. You've been teased by the situation and you know it could take you even further if you had the time. I think the hardest part is to let it go and just say it's OK to go now. I'm kind of compulsive and when I get involved in the topic I like to see how far I can expand my skills and the hard thing is to walk away.
QIs there a final message?
AWhen I first arrived and met with the executive director of the place, you could tell he just thought "Oh no, not another photographer." I guess they just had some sort of publicity event with photographers were all over the place. I think that's why I like magazine work, it provides you a little bit more time to be considerate, although you're still basically invading their space. I don't think he was excited about another photographer and I tried to be considerate of that.
People were going there to understand and have this experience about the north, the northern lights and the important science that was taking place. An important message to me was that we appreciate the environment that's behind it all. I don't want to sound preachy, but there were an awful lot of jet miles that took everyone there. We're going there to learn about the shrinking polar ice cap and everyone is flying. We need to realize that the environment and the people there are special.
When Stephen Krasemann became a photographer in 1973, he gave himself only a few years to establish a career or move on. After landing his first job making short films for Sesame Street, Krasemann has gone on to become one of Canada's top photographers, winning the Missouri School of Journalism's Picture of the Year award four times in the Natural History category and category awards in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition as well as being published around the world in magazines ranging from Vogue to National Wildlife.
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Q How did you get into this industry?
A I just went hog wild into it. I went to a camera store and told them to sell me a professional camera, a Pentax Spotmatic, and a lens.
Very early in my career, I started making movies for a television show called Sesame Street. I did 16 mm nature short films for them. I also started photographing rock 'n' roll acts in bars, people like Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs. I went on to be the publicity photographer for the 1976 Rolling Stones tour that came to North America. After that, I went into fashion, working for publications like Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Time Life Magazine, and became the publicity photographer for the movie Never Cry Wolf. Then I started to think that I would like to get into nature a little more. So I started doing assignments for Audubon and National Wildlife Magazine.
Q Working as the publicity photographer for the '76 Rolling Stones tour must have been exciting. Do you have any anecdotes from your time with the band?
A I do. The whole band and I went to a restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, one night. At that time, Mick Jagger was just starting to get interested in art and the finer things in life, like wine. We asked the maitre d' what they had and he came over and said they had a bottle (three of them actually) that cost US $1,500. The maitre d' didn't think anything would come of it since we were just a bunch of scruffy rock-'n'-roller-types. Well, he came back to the table and Mick Jagger ordered all three bottles. The wine bill was US $4,500.
QI hope it was good wine!
AI couldn't tell the difference at that time in my life. I don't think very many people at the table could either (laughs).
QAfter your extensive work in the entertainment and fashion industries, what drew you to wildlife photography?
AMy grandfather was an avid fly fisherman and, when I was young, he would take me along with him. While he fished, I would roam around the woods. I spent my summers with him and he fostered in me a real love for the outdoors. Ultimately, I just wanted to find a way where I could make a living while spending a lot of time outdoors.
QWhy did you choose to go on a bear viewing expedition?
AI've always had to wrestle with working for publications that get people interested in going to these places. Sometimes they go and sort of overwhelm and ruin the area. It's something I've had to deal with my whole career. The Fishing Branch is a place I found out about ten to 12 years ago from a friend who found this small area in the Yukon where many bears congregate in the early part of winter to feed on salmon. These bears then go up into the mountains near the stream to hibernate. I was reluctant to publish these pictures anywhere until this area received some sort of protection. Now, it has received both government and First Nations interim protection and no one can go hunting. So, I thought the time was right to do an article on it.
QThere are many opinions concurring what's ethical in wildlife photography. What are your views?
AIn this situation, some of the bears are going to be bothered by you and not come around that particular area. Mind you, the area to view the bears is only about 182 meters long, out of about a 25 km stretch of river, and there are really only two places people can go to photograph. So, the bears are able to go around us.
With photography, at least you can photograph the animal again. When somebody's just looking for a rug, that bear is gone and will never be back at the river.
With photography, at least you can photograph the animal again. When somebody's just looking for a rug, that bear is gone and will never be back at the river.
QWhat makes you feel so strongly?
AWell, we're losing it all piece by piece. I've seen areas, over my time, that have lost wildlife, whether it's from people moving into the area or pressure from tourism. We don't seem to give animals very much status. I hope that changes some day.
QWhat equipment did you use on this expedition in the Yukon?
AThis is my first assignment using only digital cameras. I used Nikon digital cameras and a variety of lenses. I started this assignment with D200 cameras and I finished it this year with D300 cameras. My favourite lens, the one I've sort of made a whole career on and was wonderful for that assignment, is a Nikkor 200 mm to 400 mm. It's a zoom lens and probably the best all around for photographing wildlife. I certainly had shorter lenses to photograph the hibernation caves and used a Nikkor 18mm to 200mm.
There are over 20 den sites on the mountain across from Fishing Branch River that are all off limits to the general public. The First Nations owns the land on the other side of the river and prohibit anyone from going in those caves. I was granted permission to take the first professional photographs up there and it looks like maybe the last one for a while.
QSince you used telephoto lenses for this assignment, you must have been photographing the grizzlies from quite a distance. Did you ever get close to the bears?
AThat whole situation, there was not one whole step taken toward a bear. We were pretty much in one or two viewing places and we just let the bears come to us. We just kind of hunkered down on our knees up against the trees and in the bushes and the bear certainly knew we were there. They have better senses than we do. They just chose whether or not they were going to walk by us at that time.
QHow long did this assignment take you to complete?
AThe first year I started out on this assignment was in 2006. On the third day I was in, it started to rain and rain and rain. The river rose over 40 cm in a couple of days and the bears couldn't catch the salmon because the waters got too deep. So, I had to abort that year. I came back and the bulk of this assignment, the stuff that you're publishing, was taken from two trips in 2007.
QCan you describe a typical day during the expedition?
AYou get up in a very cold cabin because the fire has gone out in the night and put on your long underwear and all your clothes as quick as you can. Then, you hop outside and light a fire in the cookhouse and sit down and have a cup of coffee It's dark at that point. Often there will be a bear walking around outside or you can see it in the dim down by the river. As the daylight approaches we get our photo gear ready and head down to the river. And then we wait and wait and wait and sometimes a bear comes (laughs). We're all bundled up and our camera batteries and stuff like that are inside of our shirt to keep them warm. We usually have enough notice to photograph a bear since it's usually a good 90 to 180 meters away coming down the river.
QWhat makes you go to such extents, like venturing into the Arctic Circle for weeks at a time to photograph wildlife?
AI love it! When I'm out there in the bush, things are happening all around me. It's something we're losing and I may becoming the last generation able to make a living photographing wildlife. There's not much of that type of photography being published anymore. Canadian Geographic is one of the last publications that really gives good coverage of wildlife. It's become a very urbanized world. When I was born, there were only a billion and a half people in the whole world and now we're up over six billion.
There's a lot of misperceptions about bears, both with their temper and their behaviour. Many people wouldn't venture into a place like this and there are only four people allowed in the area at one time. The guide was very savvy and there was never a time when I felt a bear was being aggressive toward me.
QWas there a particularly special moment?
AWell, there was something that happened on my last visit to the Fishing Branch. There was a female with three cubs, which were little things, less than one metre tall with tiny legs. She had crossed the river and left her cubs on the other side. The female got about 90 metres away and, all of a sudden, just whirled around, huffed and puffed and ran back down to the river roaring as she went. As the guide and I turned to look down the river, we noticed that two wolves had come out of the bush and another three were trying to close in on those three cubs sitting on the riverbank. At the last moment, before these two wolves were able to get to them, the cubs dove into the river. The wolves, there were five of them at that point, luckily stopped on the shore, while the cubs were swimming across the river to mom. It was particularly poignant that the lead cub, with its little head sticking out of the water, turned to look back at the wolves to see if they were following. The cub led its two siblings across the river to mom, and the wolves just lay down on the riverbank and watched.
After studying commercial photography in Paris, Patrice Halley marched into a local newsroom not knowing much about the industry and landed the guidance of an established photographer. Twenty-seven years later, Halley is an award winning photographer, living in Cranbrook, B.C., and one of the top photojournalists in Canada.
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Q
You're known for doing some pretty exciting things on assignments, for example dangling out of an airplane to shoot British Columbia's Flathead Valley in the June 2008 Canadian Geographic issue. When on an assignment, do you prefer getting out of the immediate area to experience more?
A
Oh yeah, I always try to get out. Grise Fiord was bad timing because when I showed up, everyone was gone hunting. I walked through the village and recorded some street scenes on the video camera and it was just like a ghost town. Dogs barking and snowmobile wrecks and that was it. Of course, when the hunters came back they were not too eager to leave right away again to take me out.
Q
You have to adapt to whatever situation you're thrown into. Is that the
nature of assignment work?
A
Yeah, you have to remain extremely flexible and always try to make things work. It's basically you against everybody else and you have to be diplomatic enough to say to people, "Can you take me out?" You have to try to convince them and do whatever it takes. But sometimes it doesn't work and you just have to accept the situation.
Q In the summer months in Grise Fiord, there is 24 hour daylight. Is that a photographer's dream?
A
It's a photographer's dream in the sense that, yes, you can work 24 hours a day until you crash. Photographers don't work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Some days I was going to bed at midnight and some days I was going to bed at 3 o'clock in the morning. I knew I would miss some stuff but at the same time most of the people in Grise Fiord would stay up all night and then crash.
Q The landscape was pretty grey, how did you make sure your images were still impactful and interesting?
A
In the village, all the snow was gone and all the ice was gone too, except on the bay. So, one of my problems was the huge contrast between the village, the land, the houses and the ice. I couldn't photograph it at the same time. The only way I could shoot both was at certain moments of the day when the sun was lighting the village from behind and I could see the bay in front. It was at 2 a.m. So, the good photos of the village were probably taken between midnight and 2 a.m.
Q It sounds like it was a difficult shoot. What aspect did you find the most challenging?
A
Well, I wanted to arrive in the village and find a way to go out to Devon Island with the hunters. In the village, there was nothing to shoot. It was a challenge because everyone was gone. There were a few teenagers left behind and I ended up shooting them. I spent days, entire days, with them doing the same thing over and over because they were bored, with nothing to do besides walking in and out of the village. Take a walk to dump. Take a walk to cemetery. Take a walk to the dump. Take a walk to the cemetery. It sounds like a bad rap song. After nine days of taking walks to the dump and to the cemetery I was like, "OK, it's time to get out of here." My major frustration was coming from the fact that the pressure was on my shoulders to bring back the pictures and yet there was nothing happening.
Q Despite the challenges, I noticed you had a variety of shots. What types of images,
in terms of subject matter, do you like to shoot first?
A
I follow whatever unveils in front of me. It really varies from one story to another. Basically, the story assigned to me was to document how people in Canada's northernmost community cope with global warming. I didn't get to document that. I always compare a story to a river. Sometimes you're on the river and you're in control of your craft. And sometimes the river is too strong for you and you have to paddle to stay alive. This was one of the assignments where I really had to paddle very strong to stay alive.
Q You mentioned that the youth in Grise Fiord seemed bored, is that what you wanted your photos of them to portray?
A
Yeah, that's what I wanted to do really. What's left to do if you don't go out on the land to hunt? Nothing, especially when you are a teenager. I decided this could be a good way to voice and to show that maybe we should consider giving these people more opportunities, especially the youth. We went out, for example, to the dump and I shot the best photo of the whole assignment. One of the kids started to kick a washing machine drum. I pushed it in front of them and said, "Instead of kicking it, why don't you try to ride it?" I didn't try to create an opportunity for a great photo. I was not being a photographer at that moment. I was just being a pal with them. They started to play with that and eventually brought it to the road to try to ride. The shot totally shows the boredom so I was happy with that photo.
Q Do you prefer your photos to have a message?
A
Well you want to have one for sure. You don't want your photography to be just pleasing
to the eye with a very naãve vision. You hope to be able to create some imagery that's
going to trigger people's interest and make them think a little bit. Make them go beyond
just the satisfaction of looking at the photo.
Q What type of equipment did you bring to Grise Fiord?
A
I brought the usual photo equipment that I always carry when I go on a larger photo assignment. I brought two bodies, Nikon D200 and D300 which is what I'm shooting with at the moment. I brought lenses ranging from 16 mm to 500 mm. I brought a couple of long lenses because I thought I would be shooting wildlife and I shot none. I also brought a GPS because sometimes you wander. I carry one at all times nowadays. I also have a Suunto watch that allows me to check if the weather is changing.
Q I know you had sponsors. How did they help you with this shoot?
A
I had Mountain Equipment Co-op providing me with some Gore-Tex and down jackets. Gitzo loaned me an amazing carbon fibre tripod. I'm considering buying it now. I got the Epson P-3000 Multimedia Storage Viewer. I got a couple of bags from Lowepro. They loaned me a big pouch that you can put in front of you and carry all of your essentials. I love that bag.
The Epson P-3000 helped me a lot. After the shoot, I stayed longer and did a personal assignment trekking to Auyuittuq National Park in Pangnirtung, Nunavut and I took only the Epson P-3000 with me. I couldn't have trekked with the laptop. I had 90 pounds of backpack already. It was really great because every day I was able to download my images and have a quick look and make sure everything was all right.
Q Along with your photos, you've also included some video footage of your lodging
and experience in Grise Fiord. Have you shot video for an assignment before?
A
Yeah. I have shot film before, like 16 mm documentary. I'm getting more and more interested in the video medium. I think a lot of photographers are doing that nowadays. One of the reasons is that more people are attracted to the moving, talking possibilities of video and less interested in the still images in the multimedia world of the internet. I'm considering eventually that is something we should be prepared to switch to.
Q Do you believe this is the future of photojournalism, and photography as a whole?
A
Probably. I'm trying to see if there is a way to capture a strong still image that would show on the screen and then, from there, show a video that streams out from that image. So, you have a little bit of action, a little bit of sound and a little bit of deeper public involvement. When you shoot video, very often you are able to be subjective. I would like to blend still images with video. You can come to a very interesting combination that is more alive and trendier than the current medium.
Q What advice would you give to photographers just starting out?
A
I would say everybody's a photographer today. Everybody wants to be one. So if you're not extremely committed, I mean committed to the core, forget it and just shoot for yourself. But if you feel that you are really ready to throw yourself into the game at a level that only a few people can, then do it.
Meet up-and-comer Dan Doucette. Since graduating from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design three years ago, Doucette has been working as a full-time freelancer photographer. The majority of his work reflects a documentary style yet he still finds time for weddings, nature and commercial photography.
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PHOTOGRAPHERDan Doucette Even when he's not looking through the viewfinder, Doucette is always looking for interesting compositions. With a camera in hand, he's willing to take thousands of photos of any subject to get the perfect shot, try new things and continuously learn. Read more on the Nova Scotia bike tour, photographed by Doucette in the Canadian Geographic Fall Travel issue. Visit Dan Doucette's website for more. View his photo gallery of the bike tour. Photo: Sherisse Doucette |
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Q Did you follow the family for all five days that they were on this bike tour?
A There were three families on the trip. The writer for the story, Christy Ann Conlin, and her family plus two families from the New York City area. In order to preserve the quality their vacation and not have it turn into a full-time photo shoot, I focused 60 percent of my efforts on Christy Ann and her family and 40 percent on the guides and the two other families.
Q Describe what a typical day on this trip would be like for you.
A My alarm went off about half an hour to an hour before sunrise and I headed out, sometimes with my driver and sometimes not. We looked for good spots that we could shoot later in the day when the cyclists would be coming through. At the same time, I would take some scenic landscapes to add context and fill in all the layout requirements while the light was nice in the morning.
On other days, I would go in a car and jump ahead to get to the locations we planned during the morning drive, set up and wait for the cyclists to come along. I would often shoot the cyclists as we slowly passed them I the car; sometimes I would be on bike with them. The group would always arrive at their final stop somewhere around four or five in the afternoon.
In the evening, I would photograph the locations where they were staying overnight. I took the towns, the beaches and the scenery all into context mostly landscape shooting. Then once it got dark, I'd go back to my hotel room, start downloading photos from the memory cards and copy them onto my external hard drive. I'd be in bed by about midnight or one, sleep for a few hours and do the same thing the next day.
QWhen following this family, were they always aware of your presence or were they able to relax and carry on normally?
AI eventually got to know them really well when I was biking with them. I'd have the camera attached to the bike frame so it wouldn't be in front of my eye all the time. I guess at those times I'd be just like anybody else biking alongside them. At other times, when I would jump ahead in the vehicle and set up and wait for them to come through, they often didn't even notice me until they were right on top of me.
Q Did you find it makes for better pictures and a more natural setting when they forgot you were there?
AWell, they were definitely much more natural in their setting, but I don't mind having people recognize my presence. Actually, when they make eye contact with the camera, it makes for a whole different context of picture where the subject is making contact with the viewer. So it can work well either way.
QHow did you attach the camera to the bike? Was it something you've done before?
A I played around with it before. I've done some mounted remote work where you take your super clamp and you attach it to almost anything. You then put a tripod head attached to the clamp and mount your camera. I tested it before I went on the trip just to see what it could handle. I tested the different angles to see what would work and what wouldn't in terms of giving a nice blur of pavement going past the cyclists that was my goal. I figured out which shutter speed would be good to work best to freeze the bike but still get the pavement in the background blurred, it took a few hours testing that setup.
QIn this case, you had to use a fast shutter speed because people were moving so quickly on the bikes?
AYes, if I wanted to freeze everything then I would use a pretty fast shutter speed. It would depend on how close the cyclist was to the camera because they'd be moving different, relative to the camera's sensor. If a cyclist is moving past you 30 metres away, it's not going to take as fast a shutter speed to freeze it compared with when the cyclist is moving past you five metres away. Obviously the lens you use has a lot to do with it too. For a longer telephoto lens, you're going to need a faster shutter speed (a) to hand-hold it without getting a blurry shot and (b) because you're magnifying something quite a bit with a telephoto lens, so it's therefore moving more relative to the camera's sensor.
Q How much direction were you given by the magazine's creative director and photo editor before starting the shoot?
A First of all, they gave me a huge amount of freedom they didn't really give me too many requirements. They did specifically say try to get shots of cyclists where you can see their faces because so often on something like this, because the cyclists are moving forward, you tend to always fall behind them when you're shooting. It seems obvious, but it was actually good advice and something I thought about and tucked into the back of my mind the whole time.
Q You've taken some beautiful night photography shots ' can you share some details on how they turned out so clear and well lit?
A We ended up in Lunenburg, N. S. I wanted to get some shots of the town and there was a beautiful full moon. I shot with the light of the moon and whatever ambient light I could get from street lights and car headlights. You need a tripod to do that properly. The image with the Bluenose II was challenging because you need a long exposure to gather enough light when it's so dark. The ship was bobbing during the exposure which made the image blurry. I made my exposures as short as possible and shot many different frames in an effort to get a sharp image. I also set the camera up on a floating dock, I was hoping the dock was moving at the same speed as the ship. I took about 30 exposures and I got maybe three that were smooth, at the perfect same speed. The night shots on land were easier because most things are stationary.
QDo you take many risks on your photo shoots?
A Sometimes. It's funny; the two little girls on the trip were calling me "Dangerous Dan" at one point because I was hanging out the car photographing them as they biked along. That's a pretty low-risk activity. There were times, such as at the beach, where I could've photographed the body surfing from the beach, on land with a long telephoto lens. Instead, I chose to put on a wide to moderate telephoto zoom lens and actually wade out into the waves with everyone to get better close-ups. I ended up completely soaked. The gear got a little wet, but I wiped it down and it was fine. But anytime the waves hit, I had to take the camera and hold it up over my head to make sure I didn't get it swamped.
Q You say much of your work can be labeled as 'documentary.' Was this shoot reflective of your documentary style or was it reflective of your inner perfectionist?
A It's a mix. As much as I can, I try to photograph things from a fairly unposed point of view. Sometimes, it was frustrating because the cyclists that were doing the tour would only bike through the hours of nine or 10:30 until about four. That's really not the best time of day for photography. It's harsh contrast, bright highlights. I didn't want to ask people to bike through the route earlier in the day just so the pictures would be better. So I just left it as it was, worked with the light that we had.
Q With the harsh light, was there anything, technically, that you had to do to ensure you got a great image?
AWhen it's really bright you just watch that the highlights aren't overexposed. Once the highlights are blown there's not much you can do. You can't save them like back in the film days. So I would watch the camera's histogram (a graph on your display screen that shows the tonal range of your image) and make sure the highlights weren't clipping. If they were, I would lower my exposure a little bit and then compensate later when processing the image.
QWhat is it like being involved in documenting people's memories?
AIt was pretty exciting actually. I really enjoy working on a project where you have a goal you're looking for a body of images that say something. It's interesting because it seems the value of many photographs go up as time passes. So, when you look back at them after, say 40 years, you'll see something unique, special, like a snapshot of what some people did on vacation at this point in time. You can compare that to what people 40 or 100 years ago did for a vacation. It'll be interesting all the kids will be grown up and be completely different by then.
Fresh out of art school in the late 1980s, Ned Pratt honed his skills as a photojournalist working for The Express in St. John's, Newfoundland. His portfolio has since grown to include a range of subjects from industrial to architecture, food, fashion, landscapes and portraiture. Yet his passion for fine-art photography endures. Pratt's photographs of austere Newfoundland landscapes have been exhibited throughout Canada, the United States and Japan. And both public and private institutions, including the Ford Motor Company of Canada, The Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Canadian Art Bank have his work in their collections.
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Q You shot a lot of portraits of this Viking during your time in the Northern Peninsula. Who is he? What's the story behind him?
A I don't know Mike Sexton at all apart from the role he plays as Bjorn the Beautiful at L 'Anse aux Meadows. I photographed him once a long time ago for Chatelaine as part of a fashion shoot for sweaters.
There was this bucket of water beside him by the entrance to a sod hut and I said "would you mind wetting your face, because that would give your skin a bit more sheen?" And he said "that's a great idea!" So he splashed a bunch up over his face, and this was early in the spring, so everything was cold, and as he did this his face sort of grimaced and he stopped for a minute and growled "Jesus Christ!"
That's when we found out the water was rancid. The bucket had been soaking a seal pelt the day before, but Mike didn't run to wash it off. It helped to make him look utterly pissed off and Viking-like in the portrait.
So when I met him on this shoot in the Northern Peninsula for Canadian Geographic he sort of looked at me and said "you!" And I sheepishly said, "ya, its me."
Q Did you meet any other interesting characters during the shoot?
A There's a photograph of a guy with potatoes in his hands, and that was a really nice encounter. He was just a very nice, gentle man farming potatoes by the side of the road. I pulled the car over and got out and awkwardly asked him if I could photograph him, explaining the situation.
He was just very giving. These quick encounters that you have can be very satisfying. It means something to the people you're photographing. It's not like photographing a lawyer who might see being photographed as a necessary evil. With this it's almost an honour, and so you get this totally different kind of photograph filled with the pride the subject contributes to it.
Q Have you lived in Newfoundland most of your life?
A Most of my adult life. I came back here after finishing university. I got married here and it's where I started out as a photographer.
Q What do you find interesting about the landscape?
A I think many Canadians don't realize the landscape in Newfoundland varies a great deal. On the east coast the land is essentially flat then cuts down into the water at a severe 90-degree angle. On the west coast the meeting of water and land is more gradual.
My work is mostly here on the east coast. I like the simplicity of the landscape. I like the way simple human structures jut up out of it. You can see how fragile they are, and you have a sense of the fact that the land doesn't care that we're here.
Q Who are some of your favourite photographers?
A You know, it's funny, sometimes you like a photographer because you don't like them. Like, I really like Diane Arbus's photography but I've always struggled with the way she manipulated her subjects and their environment and the viciousness of it. So I really like her work an awful lot, but not in the way that I want to emulate it. It tells me about the power you hold as a photographer to manipulate a situation and sometimes make an inaccurate comment on something.
Q Do you have any favourite Canadian photographers?
A I like a lot of John Reeves's portraiture. In the studio portraiture I do I try to emulate his lighting and the simplicity of his portraits. Gary Wilkes at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) taught me my first intro to photography class. He would ask really interesting questions that made me think about the responsibilities you have when photographing a person.
Q How did you get started as a professional?
A I studied fine art photography in Halifax at NSCAD. When I got out I kind of fell into being a freelance photographer to make ends meet. It wasn't my intention starting out. I thought I was going to go straight into the art world, but like everyone else you find out that it's not all that easy.
Q Did you find that your photojournalism influences your work as a fine art photographer?
A Oh, definitely. All the fine art work has a background in my experiences in commercial photography, both the editorial and the more commercial side of things.
The first job I ever had, which I very luckily got right out of school, was for a newspaper called The Express here in St. John's. So I went right in to editorial work after school and that was quite an education. You learn about deadlines and see how your work gets manipulated for other people's purposes. And you learn about composition and what editors select.
Celebrated photojournalist Paul Nicklen has travelled deep below Arctic and Antarctic sea ice to take pictures of sea lions, narwhals and polar bears. Nicklen, who grew up in Kimmirut,on Nunavut's Baffin Island, shares his passion and unique understanding of polar wildlife through stunning,award-winning photos which are published in magazines such as Canadian Geographic and National Geographic. His images depict the impact of melting ice caps on both polar region's ecosystems, including how some of the oldest species of animals on the planet, such as the bowhead whale, are affected
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Q Can you explain how your upbringing in Kimmirut, Nunavut, shaped your love of wildlife and your passion for photographing it?
A I think that when you grow up without television, telephone or radio in a small northern community of 140 Inuit people, your entertainment involves being connected to the natural world. As a child, I really learned how to watch and appreciate all the conditions of snow and ice because those were my toys. The biggest thing I learned, living in that environment, was patience. I think for many children today, if they have a down moment they're on their cellphone or playing video games. There are so many different distractions at people's fingertips. But by sitting there in a meditative state for four hours a day just watching, I learned a lot about patience and how to be at peace with nature. It's amazing how much your eyes open up to when you sit there quietly.
Q Your usual working conditions are underwater in freezing temperatures below metres of sea ice some of the most dangerous conditions in the industry. What makes you so comfortable photographing wildlife in the Arctic and Antarctic?
A Besides patience, growing up I learned safety. I learned how to read the weather and the ice. If you take someone out of New York City, for example, and send them up to the Arctic for a photo shoot, they're probably going to spend 80 percent of their time trying to survive and 20 percent of the time shooting. It's amazing how much time people can waste just trying to stay warm. If you send me to the Arctic to do a shoot, I'll spend 95 percent of my time shooting and five percent surviving. However, if you send me to the jungles of Borneo to do a shoot, I'll probably be dead in two days! I'm so at peace with the polar environment and I know the ice. The best way to work in the Arctic is not to fight, but instead to go with the Inuit and follow their daily rhythm.
Q You photograph some amazing animals that may not be familiar to many people. What do you hope to achieve with your photography?
A I'm trying to get people to care about the polar regions and, most of all, the melting poles. The Arctic and Antarctic are melting faster than anywhere else on the planet and the consequences are greater there than anywhere else. If we lose ice, we stand to lose an entire ecosystem, and that's what people don't understand. I think most people aren't going to care about climate change until their streets are being flooded. But by then, it will be too late. Who cares if we lose ice in a place that most people never visit? But because we're losing this ice, we stand to lose polar bears, ringed seals, walruses and whales since they are so connected to their ecosystem. I'm trying to use photography to show people how connected these animals are to the ice.
Q You hold a degree in marine biology. How has this knowledge helped you in your photography?
AI think it really helps me understand ecosystems. I'm not just out there shooting pretty things. I really understand. I studied a lot of invertebrate biology, which is a key to understanding all species of life, from the tiniest creatures to the phytoplankton that grows on the side of the ice to the zooplankton that feeds on that to bigger animals feeding on that. It also helps me with animal behaviour, but that's more from the experience of being with these animals all the time.
QYou shot some stunning images of Arctic and Antarctic wildlife for a pictorial called "Polar Vision" in the January/February 2008 issue of Canadian Geographic. In the story, you were quoted as saying that you were frightened by the leopard seal due to its aggressive reputation. How do you overcome these fears?
A You work slowly. You don't just run up to a leopard seal and jump on its back. I worked with a friend who has been in the water with leopard seals and I followed his guidance. I'm around wildlife all the time and am gone nine months of the year travelling and photographing, so I really have grown to learn the meaning behind various animal behaviours. I was nervous with the leopard seal. It's a 1,000-pound animal. But I spent enough time working slowly and got within six inches of it. It requires patience and understanding of the animal's body language. Leopard seals are full of threat displays and are a playfully aggressive animal. But if you look at a leopard seal you can see they usually have no scars on their bodies and they really don't want to fight, they don't want to be bitten and they don't want to bite you.
QBecoming a wildlife photographer was something you decided to do before finishing your degree at the University of Victoria? Why did you decide to go this route after working as a marine biologist for four years?
AI felt helpless in marine biology. I worked extremely hard and would be out in the field for three months working with polar bears. We would be working 18-hour days and at the end of it, I would have two sheets of paper with data on it. I would show it to about 30 people in the government system, do one scientific talk and that was the end of it. I found that decisions, especially when you work for the government, are motivated by politics rather than what's right and wrong. As a photojournalist, I can remove myself from that. I can be unbiased and tell unbiased stories. By shooting for National Geographic magazine, for example, I have the opportunity to reach 40 million people with one story versus ten peers within the government system.
QWhat has been your favourite assignment for Canadian Geographic and why?
A My favourite assignment for Canadian Geographic was definitely photographing stellar sea lions off the coast of British Columbia to illustrate their declining population in "Lions of the deep," published in the September/October 1999. That was the cover story. After doing a mentorship with Flip Nicklen, no relation, he recommended I shoot a story for Canadian Geographic. That story for was my first stepping stone and my first attempt at actually shooting a story instead of just a bunch of pretty pictures. It was one of the crucial moments in my career in terms of making a transition from a pretty-picture stock photographer trying to make money to someone who really believed in the story.
After photographing theatre and contemporary dance in Montreal for three years, Martin Beaulieu chose to focus on personal photography assignments, documenting cultural and social issues in Asia. Now a successful freelance documentary photographer, Beaulieu always portrays his subjects with dignity and compassion as people, not victims. The Montreal-based photographer has had his work published in numerous magazines including Canadian Geographic and Photolife, as well as various humanitarian associations such as Amnesty International and Doctors without Borders.
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Q How did you get started as a professional photographer?
A I began as a theatre and contemporary dance photographer in Montreal from 1995 to 1998. In 1998, I travelled to China for three months on a personal photography assignment looking at society the same way I looked at dance or a show. Just like in a performance, you have to understand and anticipate the situation, placing yourself at the right place at the right time in order to snap the best shot.
During that same trip, I ended up in Tibet. I was very close to my subject and the situation. I barely knew about the political situation at that time, so it was more an observation of the Tibetan culture and society. When I returned to Canada, I met some people with Amnesty International and together, organized an exhibition of my photos from that trip.
I have returned to Asia twice since, once in the fall of 1999 and the second in 2001.
Q Where do you draw your inspiration?
A When I first started, Sebasti∆o Salgado, a Brazilian photojournalist, inspired me very much. His photos depict the person before the drama. In the images from his 1980 project in Ethiopia for Doctors without Borders, you could see hope in the person's eyes before the fact that they were starving. Showing the person before the situation is why I decided to get into reportage.
Q How did you approach the St. Lawrence Seaway assignment compared to your previous Canadian Geographic assignments?
A I usually take photos of people, social issues and things like that. This time I had to photograph the first ship to sail the seaway on this 50th anniversary season, the Spruceglen, and the seaway. Of course, the assignment included the people on the ship, but my main subject was the Spruceglen itself. This was a challenge for me. With my previous assignment photographing the Carnaval de QuÇbec, I took more of a straightforward approach following the journalist's family. I really enjoyed spending time observing and understanding people without provoking anything, just going with the flow.
For this assignment, I spent about two weeks over the course of two months photographing the ship from Verchäres, QuÇbec up to Valleyfield, QuÇbec. Everything was a matter of timing and logistics. I boarded the Spruceglen for this assignment, my first time on a vessel like that, for one day from noon on March 31st until 6 a.m. the following morning. I think I slept two or three hours that night, since there's always someone working and something to document. I couldn't imagine life on a ship like that.
Q What was your biggest challenge on the St. Lawrence Seaway assignment?
AMy biggest challenge was dealing with my impatience. The Spruceglen sailed the seaway at the end of March. It's possible to take some pretty good shots at this time of year, but I had to consider that these photos would be published in the July/August issue. The ship could be at the perfect location and everything else but it was too grey outside for an appropriate photo. Because of this, I had to continue on this assignment further into the season, until the grass was green and there were leaves on the trees.
Also, there were three aspects to consider on this assignment: being at the right location, having a person at that location and having the ship arrive at the right time. So, I had to manage those three at the same time. I'm a spontaneous type of photographer who waits for the perfect shot instead of creating it. Everything was a matter of timing and patience. I developed a very close relationship with the seaway employees to coordinate all these things.
QYour night photos are spectacular and a creative approach to this assignment. Why did you choose to photograph from the ship that night?
A Doing night photography is very interesting. But, the result is not something we can always predict. Those photos were long exposures, 15 seconds up to 16 seconds each. It captures lots of light and creates an effect similar to a day shot.
There's one shot where I'm in the cabin with the captain and everyone navigating the ship. That cabin has to be dark since it's surrounded by windows and having a light on would create too many reflections, impairing their vision. When you know that you're on a ship with no lights, it gives you a different perspective.
Another reason for taking these night shots is that on a ship like this, people are always working. So, there's always something to document.
I always try to get a different point of view and cover as many topics as possible.
QYes, I noticed you have great variety in your images.
A With this assignment, while the writer and I were together, we didn't really see each other on the ship besides when we'd get together to recount what we'd done that day. My responsibility was to get as many angles of the subject as possible, so that the editorial department at Canadian Geographic could find something to go with the text.
My goal for any assignment is to live the experience and be able to illustrate that through my photographs or a multi-media presentation.
Q And do you create multi-media projects and videos?
A I'm starting to. I would approach it the same way as I approach photography, trying to be as invisible as possible and capturing the spontaneity of the situation. Also, I always keep in mind the goal of educating.
QWhat is the best piece of advice you've been given about photography?
A I have a few. Be persistent and determined. In this industry, especially in Canada, you also have to be creative and patient. You need to photograph for yourself first, because if you're waiting for assignments to be handed to you, you'll be waiting forever. Also, you need to develop your own style or approach to photography: your signature.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, a photographer's signature was really important. However since digital photography exploded, the signature seems less important to people. It seems to be more about who can deliver photos the quickest.
However, I still think it's important to develop a signature and your own personal approach. Even if it means you work less in the beginning, it doesn't mean you're not doing good work.
QDo you have any other tips for photographers new to the industry?
A Besides those I mentioned previously, I would say capture spontaneity. You can get very unique photos from this, especially in photojournalism. The more you are in contact with your subject, the more freedom you will have to capture the moment.
An established photojournalist, David Trattles travels the globe spreading his enthusiasm and passion for photographing ordinary people with extraordinary connections to their community. Whether travelling across India on a bicycle, photographing cowboys in Germany or capturing the spirit of rural Newfoundlanders here in Canada, Trattles has a unique understanding and compassion for the people he meets.
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Q What got you into photography?
A When I was in my 20s, I went on a cycling trip across Asia, from Turkey to Hong Kong. I realized that while the camera was a pretty interesting way of meeting people, the bicycle provided better access to unusual situations. The bicycle always has a certain kind of dignity to it, and so together with a camera I was perfectly set up to tell stories about people.
The first time I got published, I walked into Canadian Geographic and I showed some pictures of fisherman in Eastern Canada. I remember placing six portraits on the table and I recounted the subjects' stories. Rick Boychuk, editor-in-chief at the time, said, "Print it," and that was that. It started from that point.
Q What is your approach to documentary-style photography?
A My stories are about people who look into themselves, their friends and their families to rise above the mess of life. Often the stories that attract me are those about community because I think it's something that is often missing in people's lives. I should make it clear that my stories aren't about news, but can be thought of as a narrative about a group of people in a particular time.
Q Crossing Asia on a bicycle is something not many people get to experience. When did your interest in travel start?
A Who doesn't want to see the world? That's all I ever wanted to do. In university, I was lucky to have a friend who wanted to do the same thing. We just grabbed our bikes and I bought a camera not too long before we started and two rolls of film to last the year. The deal was I would take a photo and 10 days later he would take one, that way our film would last. But we weren't interested in the photos. We just wanted to start a huge adventure. Just as well because the photos were rubbish, almost as bad as our attempts at growing beards.
That trip changed our values completely, and as a result I turned away from pursuing engineering, which is what I took at the University of Guelph. The world is safer as a result!
Q So is photography now a way for you to keep travelling and seeing the world?
A I don't really have a message that I'm screaming out at the world but I hope that with projects like the female boxers, I can make it easier for people to understand one another. When people look at my pictures, I want them to be able to say that I'm honest when I look through the camera.
Q What inspires you?
A The first time I went to Germany, I had heard about this 'western' village right on the Czech Republic border. When I arrived at the village, I noticed their saloon, complete with swinging doors. I went in and people were playing poker, smoking Marlboro cigarettes and drinking American beer.
I got invited to their rodeo on the weekend and decided to stick around. Sixty people showed up, riding their horses in from their homes, camping along the way. During the rodeo, they put the American flag up twice a day and played Garth Brooks. At night, they sang songs like, "Thank God, I'm a Country Boy." I spent the whole weekend with them and found out that no one in that village has left Germany for a real rodeo in North America.
Their imagination is reality! They're doing this because they want to live that way. They've made a community of like-minded people and when they come together it all works.
This is what inspires me. Ordinary people trying to achieve a dream by forming community and aspiring to live that dream together. Whether it's these cowboys in Germany or female boxers in Kolkata, India I think that's the toughest, noblest thing you can do.
Q So, what was it that drew you to India?
A I decided to do a bike trip across the country, from New Delhi to Kolkata. I felt that would get me excited about life and it worked! India has this great way of rejuvenating you and making you feel like your eyes are too small. In Kolkata, about halfway through my trip, I ran into the boxer women and things developed from there.
QDuring this bicycle trip across India, how did you come across these female boxers in Kolkata?
A I heard about these women who were boxing and cycled around for a few days and found the park where they train. I met the coach there. He was sitting at a school desk drinking tea alone with mosquitoes everywhere and street kids all around. I came back every day for a few weeks to photography the boxer women. After I spent more time with them, I started to understand more about their situation. I initially thought they wanted to be boxers. They do, but they really seek the "champion" title. Then they can win a job and complete what they set out to do, which is to help their families.
Often what makes a good story is time. You can get lucky with one or two good shots in a short amount of time. But you won't really have a good understanding of what you're photographing. It's interesting after all the time I've spent there, I can't even begin to understand all the historical, social, religious, street and cultural aspects of life in India. But I can get a little deeper into India with each visit and I think the more time I spent with the boxers, the more I understood the bigger picture.
Q Do you try to spend as much time as possible at a shoot?
A The longer I have, the better I'll feel about it. Even if I don't get paid, part of my reward is the truth of what I'm doing. The Russian filmmaker Tarkovsky said, "Truth doesn't exist in itself. It lies in the method. It is the way." I really enjoy the process as best I can in the time that I have.
The best learning experience I've ever had came from showing the photos of the female boxers in their community. This was the first time these people had a chance to re-visit themselves in a new space, the gallery. So it becomes not about the photographs but about the response of the community. Yes, people knew that they were female boxers but, with a collection of 100 photographs, it became more about how they were doing this rather than what they were doing. At the same time, it also became about the people that showed up to see those photos.
Presenting the photographs here in Canada would have a completely different result.
Q You continue to share your travel experiences by leading photography tours to places in Northern Africa and the Mediterranean. Of all the places you've been to, why Tunisia, Sicily, Spain and Malta?
AIn summer, the Mediterranean is alive with celebrations of life, making it perfect for photography, fun and awareness-building adventures. Riding camels in the Sahara, cheese rolling in Sicily, cycling in Malta and throwing tomatoes in Spain are all excellent opportunities for adventure and photography. I have always wanted to share one of the most culturally interesting, friendly and safe regions in the world.
QIn 2007, you returned to India again, bringing some inner city youth from Toronto to Kolkata. Why was it important for you to do that?
There's so much joy and humanity in Kolkata. In terms of experience, it must be the richest city I know. That alone motivates you to turn things around in a positive way. The value system that the Kolkatans so freely share can often make you end up questioning your own system of values.
For example, shortly after the youth arrived, they met these Indian children whose parents were sex trade workers. One of the Indian children climbed a fence, returned with a flower and placed it behind one Canadian youth's ear. That welcoming gesture changed his life. Two days later, he is asking questions like, "Where is my community? Where is my sense of family? Why are these children so able to give me gifts like a broken marble or a marigold each day that I am here, yet expect nothing in return?"
Q You seem to be more interested in the stories behind the photos, rather than the photos themselves. Does equipment matter to you?
A Websites go on about technical stuff and, while those considerations are important, the one thing that matters above all else is the way you look at the world. It's the people you meet that really matter. I hope that people actually look past the surface of the photograph. It's not the end thing.
Q It sounds like you keep relationships with the people you photograph. Why is this something that's important to you?
A That's my biggest reward of all, getting to know the people I photograph. In some sense, I get to be part of their lives. It balances the solitary aspect of working as a photographer. What do you have at the end of your life? You have a bunch of relationships, people around that you care about and hopefully they care about you!
After working as a biologist in the Yukon for 16 years, Fritz Mueller gave it up for adventure as a professional photographer. Yet, he's still pursuing many of the stories that interested him as a scientist "I've just changed the tools I use to explore them," he says. Now an expert in aerial photography, Mueller has flown over Dubai, L.A. and Alberta's tar sands to document the ravages of oil consumption. His dogged effort to shoot from a fresh angle has landed his work in The Globe and Mail, Up Here and various books.
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Q You have an unusual connection to the Kluane Lake Research Station in the Yukon. Did the shoot have special meaning for you?
A Some of my best friendships started there. I first went in 1987 as an undergraduate biology student and was only there an hour before I realized I'd fallen in love with the place. So this assignment was very personal.
I could see myself in the students working there today and their enthusiasm for science, for adventure, for Kluane and the North. My wife Teresa wrote the story, so we took the whole family along.
Q Does your background in biology influence your photography?
A I've always dreamed of living the National Geographic explorer life, and for about five years I worked at being both a photographer and a biologist.
I agonized over the decision to give up biology. But many of the stories I was interested in as a biologist still interest me as a photographer. I've just changed the tools I use to explore them.
Q Does that apply to your photographs of Dubai and L.A.?
A Exactly! My Dubai and L.A. shots are both part of a story that I'm working on about oil consumption and its impact on the landscape. If you want to describe oil consumption, it's writ large in both of those places.
L.A. is built on oil. It's got all this traffic and there are massive abandoned oilfields just outside the city in Bakersfield. In parts of Dubai the landscape looks like a set from Mad Max built with money from oil. It's a bizarre place, like Las Vegas on steroids, but it makes for great shots. Often the visual impact of a photograph has to be extreme so that it registers with viewers, because they've seen so much.
Q Were you surprised by recent news of Dubai's $100-billion debt?
A When you're on the ground there you can't help but wonder if it's just a house of cards. Although it's not only a story about these crazy buildings built on huge debt. A lot of the migrant workers there are slaves.
It's just excessive. When I was there someone paid $15-million for the license plate #1, since the lower the number on your license plate, the more important you are.
Q Is there a reason you shot the Dubai and L.A stories from the air?
A Some stories can only be told by getting into the air. A good example is the Alberta tar sands. If you only work with what you see from the ground, you'd guess there's not much going on. It's only when you get up high that you realize the vast scale and impact of all of the open pit mining.
As a photographer you're also always looking for a fresh angle on the story. So getting into the air helps you capture an uncommon perspective.
Q Have you ever taken any risks to get a good aerial shot?
A When I read about National Geographic photographer George Steinmetz, who was one of the first to use a powered paraglider (a gasoline motor on a backpack attached to a fabric wing) for aerial photography, I decided I could do the same. So I bought one and took some flying lessons.
I had high hopes, some near misses and eventually I realized it was just too much for me to fly this thing and take good photographs. Carrying 27 to 31 kilograms of motor and camera equipment on my back was killing my knees during landings too. Eventually I admitted flying this way scared the crap out of me. Now I prefer to let the pros take care of it.
Exciting new technologies and techniques are allowing photojournalists to mix audio, stills and video quickly and seamlessly to tell stories online. Photographer Brent Foster's work is at the forefront of this movement. Although he's mastered the technology, however, he remembers what lies at the heart of the best photojournalism: people. His stories of communities on the fringes of society have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Globe and Mail, New York Times and Time.com.
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Q Why did you return to Wallaceburg to take these photos?
AThe original pitch to Canadian Geographic was about taking a look at small-town Ontario during the recession, and since I grew up there, it seemed like a natural place to return to. I'm still strongly tied to the community. As a journalist I'm usually working with people who I don't know, but this was a chance to visit my father, cousins and old friends. However, it turned out to be one of the most challenging projects I've worked on.
Going back I felt intimidated. The people there know that I work on stories about social issues, so they felt shy and it was hard to access them. If I feel uncomfortable somewhere I can't make the kind of pictures I want to make. So I spent the summer last year there working on the shoot.
Q What was it like growing up there?
A I was born and lived in Wallaceburg until I was 18 and left for college. From the time I was very young I regretted growing up in a small-town. Every small town kid does. I wanted to experience things that I wasn't able to experience, and I spent most of my youth trying to run away.
We had a small weekly newspaper that had really bad photos and my parents would set it on the kitchen table every morning. One day I looked on the front page and there was this unique looking black-and-white shot. It just hit me. I said, "I don't know what this is, but that's what I want to do!"
I read the name under the photo, and it turned out the paper had hired a new photographer. So I called him up and became a high school co-op student apprenticing as a photojournalist in grade nine.
Q How is photojournalism changing right now?
A The internet is offering up all kinds of new ways to tell a story with still images. It's how people are getting their news now and programs like Flash are allowing us to create strong visual pieces.
On the other hand, photojournalism is a much harder field to break into now, no question about it. There are more photographers today than ever before and fewer organizations to work for. Newspapers and magazines are cutting back or folding left and right. Even compared to what it was like five years ago, editorial photography is very tough since there are more photographers working for cheap or for free.
Q How is technology playing a role in photojournalism?
A The new generation of photographers needs to know how to work with multiple technologies to sustain themselves. You've got to be able to go out and shoot stills and video and know how to edit it all together. But many photographers are exploring the medium and creating innovative new ways to tell a story.
Read tips about mixing stills and video.
Q Why are you in Rwanda right now?
A I'm working here in Kigali for two months at the National University of Rwanda, teaching online journalism to third-year students.
Next week I'll be done here and I'm travelling to Nairobi to cover a story for Human Rights Watch about access to pain relief and palliative care for sick children.
Q Is it hard to cover these types of stories?
A Without a question it's emotionally and physically draining. But what keeps me going and doing it without becoming desensitized is the fact that the images are used to advocate for better lives for these people.
Q What are some of the first things you teach your students?
A So far most of my students have only worked in radio. They've had limited experience with visual journalism. We've been working with the camera and tackling how to craft a photo essay by building sequences and narrative. It's preparing them to collect different types of media out in the field. Journalists now are "multimedia journalists" and need to be versed in telling stories using a number of media.
Q On your blog you write about a grenade attack that recently happened near the school. As a photojournalist have you had to acclimatize yourself to conflict?
A The attack was a little bit unsettling. I really didn't expect that to happen here in Kigali. It's generally a safe place to be and I think of it as the Ottawa of Rawanda. It's a very clean, quiet place.
War isn't something I'm interested in covering directly as a journalist. I'm more interested in longer feature pieces. My goal is to spend time with the subjects, develop an intimacy with them and get at the heart of how they're affected by the world around them.
Q What attracted you to the story of the Jharia coal fields in Jharkhand, India?
A The community of Jharia basically sits on top of an open coal mine. Its residents survive by picking up scraps of coal and selling them. It's a tough place for kids to grow up. After being there for only an hour I had this massive headache. There's so much gas coming out of the ground, you almost can't stand it.
I'm attracted to communities on the fringes, meeting the people who are part of them and telling stories about how they live. They're not stories that many people have told.
Q Who has influenced you?
A Magnum photographer Larry Towel has been a big influence. My father actually bought the house that Larry's grandmother lived in, before she passed away. It's the house I grew up in. Years apart, Larry and I attended the same high school in Wallaceburg.
Recently, we both returned there to speak about photojournalism and where it's going. He shoots film and I'm the complete opposite. My career has taken off because of new equipment and technology and how it can be used in photojournalism.
One of my college professors always used to say "be of your time." So most of the work I do is multimedia, mixing stills, audio and video. These tools allow the characters, the people in these stories to have their own voice. It isn't about someone trying to project or construct their story as much anymore.
Driven by a sense of urgency and purpose, since1998 Jo-Anne McArthur's investigative photojournalism has captured the often difficult lives of animals living in the human environment. Dubbed the "We Animals" project, this massive photo essay has taken her to almost 40 countries, including Spain, parts of Africa and right here at home to cover bullfighting, poaching and human-animal companionship. All the while, her work has appeared in publications like Elle, The New York Times and Canadian Living.
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Q Since black-footed ferrets have been extinct in the wilds of Canada for more than 70 years, how did you react to them as you photographed the breeding program at the Toronto Zoo?
A One of the good things about zoos is their conservation programs. Luckily, I wasn't being asked to photograph a sad, solitary lion pacing back and forth in a cage.
At first, my reaction to the ferrets was, "How cute!" But right away their keepers warn not to get your fingers too close because they're quite savage. The ferrets aren't given any human interaction to keep them as feral and wild as possible.
Photographing them was difficult because I was shooting through their cages and they hide down in dark plastic tubes that they like to sleep in.
Q What is "We Animals"?
A _We Animals is a large-scale photo essay chronicling animals as they live in the human environment. I titled the project before I even started shooting about 10 years ago. At the time, I had started looking at animals in a different way and realized it's not our right to use them as we want.
So far, the project has taken me to almost 40 countries; the subject matter is, unfortunately, endless. Every time I think I'm finished there's something new to shoot like whaling, shark finning or the dolphin slaughter in Japan. I'm publishing in bits and pieces. Right now it's everything I do when I'm not doing commercial work.
Q How do you find out about these abuses and prepare for a shoot?
A One of the key things is hooking up with NGOs. They help me find my subjects and suggest what to check out. Through research I discover where things like bear bile farming are happening. Although in a case like that, you can't find much information about it online. You need to get on the ground and start sniffing around.
In the past I travelled to Vietnam with the intent of finding out how food there was produced and prepared compared to the west. I hired someone to drive me around on a motorcycle and to take me to family farming operations. Doing things like that almost always pays off, even if it doesn't result in any shots. You talk with people and get new information. Eventually it led me to find dogs being sold for food in a live market.
Q Is it hard to get access as an investigative photojournalist?
A Sometimes you just have to play dumb. In Laos, I snuck into a bear bile farm and was snapping a bunch of photos when this guy walked up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. Surprised, I just acted ignorant and exclaimed; "I love bears! Where did you get them? They're so sweet!" That bought me some time, and I was able to get in another 30 shots.
When bears stop producing "high quality" bile they cut off their paws for bear paw soup. It's a delicacy in Vietnam. So when I saw a bear without paws, I got in close and said, "Awww, what happened to its paws!?" Sometimes I just push my luck. After a few more photos I was pointed to the door.
When I shot bullfighting in Spain I had to be very friendly and even a little flirty when I was approaching people to let me see behind the scenes or to photograph them. The culture around the fight is very macho, so my efforts paid off.
Q You've spent the past decade photographing animals. How would you compare it to photographing people?
A Photographing people involves more dialogue and work. I'm using the camera and words to work the situation. Unfortunately, a lot of animals in captivity have nowhere to go, so you photograph them as they are. It can be a very unsettling experience. At the same time, it makes you feel like you get right into them in a true way. There's no social gloss to it, and I don't have to ask them to turn a particular way. There is subtle manipulation to shooting people.
In Dubai, I photographed migrant workers from India. By coincidence, a lot of them were from a small town I had recently visited. They were happily surprised to hear of it, and we struck up a conversation. That friendly interaction comes across in those shots.
Q Do you photograph animals in a particular way to allow the viewer to identify with them?
A What I would like people to see in "We Animals" are things that go unnoticed, things we can walk by that don't even register. There's a photo of a girl with a deer head on a street in New York City. To me, she was in a city carrying the head of a sentient being. I doubt it would have chosen to have its head mounted on a wall. So I tried to capture the strangeness of the scene.
I'm not aiming to photograph animal portraits, rather to photograph animals in the human environment. It's very important for the viewer to see where we've put the animal and how we're treating it.
Q Are there particular photographers you identify with whose work is in the same vein?
AFrank Noelker made an incredible book of animals in zoos, entitled Captive Beauty. Ben Davies is another photographer who has shot the black market animal trade in Asia. His book Black Market has been a guide for my work.
Q Is it hard to get this kind of work published?
A Canada is quite conservative when it comes to publishing photo essays. Europe definitely publishes more edgy stuff, and you just see more photo essays in magazines there. Yes, I think we're afraid of publishing photos like these. Here people's attitude tends toward focusing on the fact that everything's fine; they don't really want to know that things like this are going on, even when it's in their own backyard. We're too afraid of offending anyone.
Setting out to pursue a career in sports photography, Nancie Battaglia landed her dream job: she was asked to be chief still photographer for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid. Since then she's gone on to shoot for some of the biggest players in the biz, namely, Sports Illustrated. And her freelance work has appeared everywhere from The New York Times and Wall Street Journal to SKI magazine. When Battaglia travels to Vancouver's Olympic Winter Games this February, it will mark her eighth in a 32-year career capturing the thrill of victory on slopes around the world.
PHOTOGRAPHER
At young age, Nancie Battaglia enjoyed large-format photography magazines like LIFE and LOOK. Now you can find her
work for Sports Illustrated in the
Getty Images collection.
Read more in the November 2009 issue of Canadian Geographic Travel.
Q What makes an interesting sports photograph?
A Extreme movements where athletes are extended or contorted, although many athletes would think these photos are awful because they're out of form. But I say that's what makes it interesting. There's a little more excitement if the athlete doesn't look perfect; they're exerting themselves, pushing the limits, and you get that sense of tension.
Q Are you covering Vancouver's Winter Olympics?
A I'll be there as a freelancer and will pick up assignments along the way. It will be my 10th Olympics as a sports photographer, but my eighth Winter Olympics.
My first was when I had just finished my master's in photography at Syracuse University. I was offered a job as chief still photographer for the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid. I got the job because I'd covered tonnes sports photography at school.
Q In more than 30 years photographing sports what moment or shot sticks with you?
A There was this one basketball game, a college game, where my husband, who's kind of a sports fanatic, told me to keep an eye on a player named Lionel Simmons. So I'm keeping my eye on him and shooting him, and then it gets to be near the end of the game and I look over and I see him sitting on the bench crying. I had to ask myself: 'Why is he crying?' His team was winning, so I didn't understand.
What had happened was that one of Simmons best friends, Hank Gathers, who was another well-known college player, had just died unexpectedly, and he caught wind of it during the game. Those pictures turned out to be pretty valuable. Sports Illustrated called me up to get the shots. Evidently no one else in the world had these pictures.
Q When you were on the slopes watching Canadian Geographic writer Lisa Gregoire try luge and skeleton, was there a concern that she'd never tried these sports before?
A Well, she did something that I thought might happen. When you're going down on a luge sled or skeleton run there's a tendency to bounce off the walls. It can happen just because you twitch at the wrong moment. You make one little motion and suddenly you're going in the wrong direction. So Lisa ended up bouncing off the walls and doing a bit of ricocheting when she tried luge. Those sleds can be hard to control.
Q What makes your job challenging?
A Well, I've shot skiing on the side of a mountain where the wind-chill factor was -48¯ C. In that situation, you do whatever you can to stay warm. I'd run around and wiggle all over. That was back in the days of film, too. I just kept thinking, "I hope the film doesn't freeze and break." There was no throwing in the towel, either. I was with the Associated Press. There was another photographer, but he'd fallen ill. So I had to be out there.
Q What makes your job fun?
A I did a New York Times assignment where I had to meet up with a writer at something like 5 a.m. to go out to a Norwegian family's home. They were having an early breakfast and then heading out on skis to watch a 50-kilometre cross-country men's race. To much of the world this is one of the most boring races ever. But to the Norwegians it was the greatest event in the world, and it turned out to be a really fun assignment. I photographed the family and what they were doing during the day and the action from the event.
Q You've also worked for the The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated. How did you break into the industry?
A Actually, I'm fortunate those people found me. That's part of it. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I was shooting winter sports years before it became popular. Through the years more people have picked up on it, but for a while I was one of the major resources for publications to get winter sports shots.
Q Do you have a favourite winter sport?
A I enjoy speed skating, but I enjoyed it much more when it was outdoors. Unfortunately, they've moved it inside, which probably has something to do with climate change. During a couple of Olympics the quality of the ice was questionable, so it wasn't really fair to the athletes.
Q You're an ADK46er. Is that an elite crack squad?
A It is! There are 46 mountains over 4,000 feet in the Adirondacks. So once you've conquered them all you become a 46er. You can be a winter 46er too, but I doubt I'll ever go for that.
When I became a 46er I wasn't working on becoming one. At one point I just realized that I'd already climbed 28 or so of the mountains around my home in Lake Placid.I thought I might as well give the others a shot and go for the whole thing.
Q Do you feel any kinship with the athletes you photograph?
A I'm an active outdoor person and I do enjoy the sporting life. They put a lot of time and energy into their sport. For me, I put that into being a photographer.
Thomas Fricke wanted to look at the stars, but he couldn't afford a telescope. So he bought a camera. That purchase, at age 19, revealed his hidden passion for photography. But today his lens focuses on a different kind of star ' the kind with names like Patrick Swayze and Daryl Hannah. However, Ficke's work doesn't stop at celebrity portraits. He has built his career taking editorial, documentary and commercial shots for Maclean's, Forbes, Flare, and Chatelaine.
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Q You live in Winnipeg close to Hecla Island. Had you been there before?
AYes, I know it well, but it was my first time back in a while. It's a very atmospheric, moody kind of place.
Q What is it like photographing a place that you already know?
AIt's more challenging. When you see a place over and over again, your mind can become desensitized. Things that would be interesting the first time become uninteresting the second time. But you want to look at it from the perspective of the reader who has never seen it before. So I have to kind of pretend and react all over again to the cool things around there.
QI heard that you took a particular interest in a fisherman named Ivan Grimolfson there. What was so compelling about him?
A He just personified Hecla. There's a lot of Icelandic culture there and it felt like I was on the docks of Reykjavik. Grimolfson was walking around with his big beard, and he looks like a local character. I suppose I'm always trying to find people who personify the environment. It gives the reader an idea of what a place really feels like by seeing the people who live there and blend in with the environment.
QWas portraiture always your main interest?
A I enjoy working with people, as opposed to a still life or landscape. I do also enjoy shooting landscapes, but I like to incorporate people into them as well.
Read Thomas Fricke's tips on shooting portraits.
QThe Hecla Island story was about traveling from a child's perspective. How does your approach differ between photographing children and adults?
A With kids you kind of have to dance to their tune. Adults will adapt to you and respond to your direction, but with kids you have to see what frame of mind they're in and adapt to them. It's a bit of a role-reversal.
QWhat is it about photographing people that interests you?
AThere's way more emotion. And there's a relationship happening there, which makes it much more interesting and somewhat edgy. People are just so fascinating, because you're working with someone and all of their history, too. It_s amazing how different people are. Just the difference between them and me can make for a fascinating interaction. There's much to learn and there's an opportunity for personal growth.
QDo you get to know your subjects before taking their picture?
AI always make sure that I take a bit of time to talk with them and learn who they are and what their interests are. I always try to talk with them about something completely outside of their work, to get to the human side of things. And I treat them all equally, whether it's a fisherman or a celebrity. I think people appreciate that.
Q Which celebrities have you photographed?
A Daryl Hannah, Shannen Doherty, Patrick Swayze, Rhea Perlman, Donnie and Marie Osmond
Q What makes a compelling subject?
A It's when I look at someone and something about them moves me. It has to be some distinguishing characteristic, but that's a tough question to answer. Recently I was in Kenora, Ont., walking to down the street and there was this girl working at a stand and she just had this look about her. "We have to do a shot," I told her, "just stand in the middle of the road and I'm going to take a photograph of you."
I like to approach people right away. I guess it's a spontaneous reflex. Often they're a bit shocked and surprised, but I try to have fun with them and they warm up. It's fun to break up their daily routine and make them do something completely out of the ordinary.
Q You seem to focus your portraits around a subject's vocation. Why?
A It really depends on what the story is about, but 90 percent of my work is on location. I try to make the background environment telling of who the subject is. Sometimes the portrait is more of a graphic approach. But most of the time I try to incorporate some kind of element that visually tells the story as much as the words literally tell the story. That's why I love editorial so much. I love trying to tell the story without words.
Q How does your approach change between commercial portraits versus editorial ones?
A In commercial photography the client usually has an idea of what they want. I'm there for the art director's vision. With editorial it's the opposite and I can tell the story in my own way.
Departing from traditional landscape shots of sunsets over pristine lakes, rolling hills and aurora borealis, Eamon Mac Mahon uses eerie natural light to create meditative images that cast our eyes on the patterns of Canada's geography. Recently, the Toronto-based photographer (who has also lived in Alberta) went on a hunt to track down some of southern Ontario's remaining old-growth forests. He also travelled north of the tar sands to reconnect with the forests of his youth. His work has appeared in National Geographic, The New Yorker, The Walrus and New York Magazine.
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Q Ontario was heavily logged by early Canadian settlers. How did you find areas of old-growth forest to shoot for this story?
AI started researching on the internet and found something that gave the general area of a forest in southern Ontario near the Bruce Trail. Although, when I got there, nobody in the town nearby knew where it was.
So I went out on the trail looking for these patches of old-growth and while walking along, this dog ran out of nowhere and started barking at me. A man followed it out of the woods. He turned out to be a local farmer, so I asked him about the old-growth forest. He said he didn't know the one I was looking for, but he was just on his way to a local barn where all the farmers gather on Friday nights to drink beer and talk. So he offered to take me with him.
Q Did you have a drink with them?
A Yep, and they gave me some suggestions. The main chunk of old-growth forest they said was on another farmer's property.
Early the next day, I went out and tracked down the area. It had been in the farmer's family for years. Everything else around there has been cut and replanted over and over.
Q What's important about these pockets of old growth?
A When you go to these places, you get to actually see what the forest in Ontario looked like before it was completely settled. It's important to preserve.
Q You also took a shot of a planted forest in Ontario. How does it differ from the old growth?
A After people log, they sometimes create a tree plantation with the idea of harvesting the wood at some point in the future. That's why this forest looks so unhealthy. It's all one species in rows and they're all the same age. That shot and the one of old growth were taken in the same month.
With the 50 Million Trees Project in Ontario, they're replanting forests with a variety of species. Hopefully, even though they're replanted, they'll somewhat resemble the original forest and develop more naturally than this planted forest as they mature.
Read Eamon Mac Mahon's tips on photographing landscapes.
Q The forest comes up again and again in your body of work. What draws you to it?
A When I was only a few months old, my family moved from Toronto to Grande Cache, Alta. We settled on the north edge of town and literally the end of our backyard was where the woods began. I spent the first seven years of my life playing among those trees as much as I could.
I'm drawn to the feeling that you have, especially in an old-growth forest, that the world takes care of itself, that nature left alone has systems that keep each other in balance. In the city you feel that everything's falling apart all the time and that you have to keep working to fix and maintain it.
Q Since you've shot landscapes for so long, and have this connection that goes back to your youth, what was it like when you shot an assignment in the tar sands last September?
A It's a depressing place. Still, the boreal forest around it is amazing. I spent my first week there in the woods and saw things that reminded me of the landscape I grew up around in Alberta.
I was shooting in a high area in the north, so you could see the forest stretching out in all directions except south, where all you saw was this black gap. It's hard to get across how far it stretches. They say the mineable area is the size of Florida. You can fly for an hour and you're still over the tar sands.
Q Was it an emotional experience?
A That first week I was shooting in the woods I stayed in a trapper's cabin. It was right next to a radio tower, so I could pick up CBC very clearly.
One day I was eating lunch and there was an interview on with a writer named Edna O'Brian. She was talking about her writing process and said that reconnecting with her first impressions of the world allowed her to write things that moved her.
I was overwhelmed by what she said. Alberta's boreal forest is what I first remember, and what they're doing in the tar sands is very disrespectful to the forest. When they're done, the intention of the oil companies is to return the land to the way it was. But they won't be able to do that. They look at it in a very simplistic way: the trees are raw materials. When there's so much money to be made, you'd want to kid yourself in that way.
The whole forest is a bunch of little networks. They say the trees only live to be about 80 to 100 years old, but the systems there are so much older. The forest has grown there since the last ice age. The ecosystem includes all the moss, the lichen, the combination of dead trees, new trees and all the animals and insects.
Q A couple years ago you travelled to Sarah Palin's home town of Wassila, Alaska, when John McCain chose her as his running mate. What was that like?
A New York Magazine spent a lot of money to get me up there. I was nervous about walking around with a camera and how people would receive me more than anything.
There was a pro-Obama rally along the highway the day after I got there. The city is mostly Republican, but there were a lot of people who supported Obama. Wassila ended up being completely different than what I expected.
Everyone was really friendly there. It's nerve wracking doing assignments like this because you're always looking for an image and you never get enough rest.
Q What was the most interesting thing you caught on film?
AActually, I had a near-death experience there. I went to these old missile silos outside Wassila. They used to be part of a military base, but now it's abandoned and people go to dump their old cars or washing machines inside. Other people come and shoot the silos with machine guns, blow them up with grenades or test out their scopes.
Two girls brought me there and drove me around. I was photographing in one area when all of a sudden there was a gun shot from about 60 metres away. I heard the bullet whiz right over me. Then the person really started shooting. They must have had a semi-automatic. All I heard was 'bang! bang! bang!' and there were bullets just flying past me. The closest must have been two metres away. It was like Vietnam! I just stayed low and tried to get to the truck.
There were trees between us and the shooters, so they couldn't see us. I was yelling the entire time, but they couldn't hear me, and the girl's truck didn't have a horn either.
As we sped away I heard a ricochet as one of the bullets bounced off a barrel that was about a metre away. But like I said, the people were really nice.
Award-winning photographer Courtney Milne has published 12 photography books, including The Sacred Earth, with a foreword by the Dalai Lama. His latest project is called the Pool of Possibilities
Based in Saskatchewan, Milne and his assistant Dominique Hurley joined writer Candace Savage on a canoeing adventure down the South Saskatchewan River.
Read more about the Weekend Voyageurs in the March 2008 Canadian Geographic Travel issue.
Visit Courtney Milne's website for more.
Q What were some of the challenges of this assignment?
A I had already done a 22-day canoe trip on the Bonnet Plume River with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society in 2003, so it's not like I'm new to a canoeing adventure, by any means. But whether there are 22 days or two days, the same challenges are there. In fact, with a two-day trip, you've probably got more challenges because the time is going to go just like that! You're going to say: "Oh, that was a grand experience. I forgot to take pictures!"
Having that presence of mind all the time, that's the challenge. If you don't have to be thinking f-stops and shutter speeds when you're out there, it's going to pay off in dividends with the outcome of the shoot. Put your mind aside and let your body react much like a boxer would. If a boxer starts thinking about what he's doing with his next punch, he's going to miss the opportunity. And I think that's true of a photographer on a shoot like a canoe trip. It's almost like you need to react instinctively.
Q What tools would you consider essential on a shoot like this?
A One of the most important tools in the photographer's arsenal is a sense of humour. For instance, the cows on the side of the river were about the biggest opportunity for wildlife on the whole trip. We were even yelling across the canoes to each other: "Wild cows over to the left, up the port bow!"
You have to take it with a bit of a sense of humour and make the most of what you've got. Don't don't beat yourself up because you didn't have deer, or elk, or moose, or a grizzly or something that rears up on the edge of the water for you. It just didn't happen. It was a short trip and you take what you get. Besides, that wasn't really what it was about, it was about really getting into the history of the place.
Q What equipment did you bring along and why?
AI had two cameras, both digital. The day I started shooting digital was the day I stopped shooting film. The transition was abrupt.
One camera was a Nikon D70 and the other was a Nikon D200. It's wise to have a backup. If, for instance, I was in a situation where I was shooting like crazy and my battery was getting low and I wasn't getting the shots fast enough or if it died completely, I've got the second camera ready to go. If something happened with one of my cameras and I had any technical problems, I would have a backup. I also had two zoom lenses. I find that a fixed focal length lens for that kind of trip just doesn't do it, because you always have to make adjustments in zooming.
Dominique Hurley, my assistant, had a Nikon D70S and three different zoom lenses. She also brought a mounted flash for fill-in lighting, which is great for portrait work.
Q How do you compare shooting for yourself versus shooting for a magazine?
AMy history of photography is probably quite different from most other photographers in that the majority of images I've shot over the past eight years have been right on my own property, right in front of my house. I've photographed in 55 countries around the world, and I've come home to discover the most joyous photography for me is right in front of me. I've done 40,000 pictures of my swimming pool for a project I call the Pool of Possibilities. I even changed the pool's liner to black so that I could get better pictures and not have the original blue liner influencing the colour of my images.
I love doing assignments, but the bulk of my work is shooting for my own books and projects. When I do an assignment trip, I keep in mind that I'm not going to be doing the editing, someone else is, and so I really attempt to look at the trip with the mind of the editor.
If I was shooting for myself and I was on the water, it might become a portfolio about light on water and what I experienced going down the river. And I might take hours just concentrating on the water the same way I would concentrate on the water in my swimming pool, where it becomes an artistic study in and of itself. But I know perfectly well that's not going to fit the bill for a magazine assignment. So, for example, I arrange with the group to give me a half-hour head start to go down the river. I paddle like crazy, climb up a huge cliff and wave half a mile away to them and say "Okay!" Then they leave their lunch break and come down the river. That's how I got the opening shot for your article, by planning ahead and making sure I was on that cliff so I could shoot the rest of the canoes in the context of the story, whereas if I were shooting for myself, I would just be part of that flotilla. And there's a real danger in a documentary-type story that all you end up with is the backside of the next canoeist, because you're just one in a train of canoes going down the river.
Dominique, my assistant, shot as much as I did. We planned it out so that she'd be in one place and I'd be in another to be able to cover more of the story. She wasn't an assistant in the sense of her changing lenses for me, holding an umbrella to shield my lens from the sun or anything like that. She was a second photographer. For instance, when we were breaking camp, there was a lot of activity going on at once: people packing up tents; others doing dishes and others moving the gear down to the water and packing the canoes. And this was all happening simultaneously, so I said to Dominique: "I'll cover the camp; you get down there and cover the water."
Q Tell us about what you've learned through years of shooting for magazines.
A I looked at your layout and said, "Oh, yeah, they have a nice variety of close-ups and little human-interest things." So my sense was, "Hey, very nice job." Dominique, on the other hand, is much newer to the game. She came out of photography school within the past two years, and so her perception was: "Oh, they missed putting in the best pictures!" And I just laughed because it was exactly the way I felt when I was a young photographer. I could see it at a glance that she was married to her ideas of what the best pictures were. But you're not picking the best pictures; you're picking the best pictures for the purpose. If you don't remember what the purpose is, of course you're going to be at odds with what an editor picks.
What experience has shown me too is that we're all such unique human beings there's absolutely no way on the planet that the best editor in the world is still going to pick what the photographer would pick, because they are two different people with a different eye. And that doesn't mean one is right and the other is wrong, it's just the unique perception of each individual. When I learned that, through years of doing assignments and shooting for editors, I realized that in order to enjoy doing the work, you have to be willing to put aside your personal preferences. And if you're not willing to do that, you're in the wrong game.
Q Tell us about an unforgettable moment during this canoeing adventure.
A One of the most memorable things for me was one that Candace Savage, the writer, didn't cover. She opened the article talking about this amazing storm in Saskatoon on the night before the trip and how she wasn't prepared for that kind of weather. But as a matter of fact, we got equally torrential rain and lightning and thunder during the trip.
The weather actually held off for us on the first day, and we were all relieved that we weren't out there getting soaked in the canoes going down the river. But it was definitely starting to threaten when we had our beautiful buffalo-stew dinner that night. And just after we got into the tents, the rain started. By the middle of the night, it was a full fledged lightning storm. The thunder was crashing right overhead, and the wind picked up and we even wondered if our tents would last. It was that violent.
Q Did you take photographs during the storm?
A You really have to make a judgment call as a photographer. Do I go out there and attempt to get pictures of the lightning? It would've been virtually impossible, because it_s not just taking the risk of being out in the lightning storm that's right overhead; it's also the risk to the equipment. So I did not venture out into the night to shoot, but I did take some shots from inside my tent in the morning with water on the tent.
Playing on the edge of what we consider comfortable is always a judgment call for a photographer. I think that's the distinction between a photographer and say, someone like Candace, a writer. She can sit in the comfort of her tent and write about the experience, or she can sit in the comfort of her home later and reminisce about the experience, whereas the photographer is married to the here and now. You can't get those pictures by reminiscing; you need to make the decision whether to be out in it. Sometimes as photographers maybe we do need to take risks a little bit beyond other art forms.
Q A final word of wisdom for our readers?
A I've seen a lot of photographers stop shooting because somewhere along the line, the fun is gone from it. You can't take this work too seriously. You need to look at it as something that really satisfies the craving of your soul, and if that component leaves, it's time to move on. The work will reflect it ultimately. You can't be a professional photographer and do it day in and day out for years and years, unless it's coming from a spark, a place of the heart that makes you love getting up in the morning and doing this. That's the most inspiring message I can think of: make sure you're shooting from the heart.
I have no trouble at all being out there and having a joyous experience. The others will probably tell you, I stood right up in the canoe and yelled at the top of my lungs, "I LOVE THIS RIVER, I LOVE MY LIFE!" And then that spirit catches on and other people start laughing and yelling back from another canoe: "I love my life, too! Hi cows, I love you cows!" It gets to be really fun.
That's my message to photographers: keep it light and at the same time look through the lens with the eyes of an editor. There's a lovely balance there that can happen. I'm there for you, but I'm doing it in a way that is deeply satisfying to my soul.
Q What photography gear can you never be without?
My setup is very minimal. I just have a Canon 5D Mark II body and a 24-105 mm lens, and for [the Stampede] assignment I had a 70-200 mm lens. I brought a tripod with me, but I used it rarely. In fact, it was eye-opening, because I have to do the writing at the same time and donÕt have the luxury to take along a lot of equipment. ItÕs limiting in some ways, but it also makes you improvise and take shots that might in some cases be overlooked.
I had never done rodeo photography before. As a kind of training exercise before [shooting the rodeo at] the Stampede, I went to Hastings ParkÕs racecourse in Vancouver to get a sense of shooting horses, which lens to use and so on. When I got to the Stampede and rodeo, I was intimidated because reporters covering the Stampede had huge lenses starting at 300mm, and they were just firing away. The technology they had was incredible. Then I came in with this modest 200mm lens and wedged myself in trying to find a spare spot. I got some different angles that are traditionally missed.
Q What do you look for in a photo?
AThe lens in your head is as important as the lens in your camera. By that, I mean the perspective you see the world through and the experience you bring to photographs, your own philosophy and worldview. You can have a photo thatÕs beautifully composed Ñ technically Ñ but that doesnÕt mean it speaks to people. For me, itÕs the photo that in some ways gets across my perspective on the world Ñ thatÕs what IÕm looking for.
Q Many photographers say the challenge with digital photography is going through thousands of photos after the shoot. How do you avoid taking too many photos while on assignment?
AI havenÕt learned how to avoid taking too many pictures. I think thatÕs a discipline many veteran photographers develop. I think mine is an exceptionally bad case because the shots IÕm looking for arenÕt necessarily composed shots; theyÕve got more of a reportage look where a lot of things are happening at once and people are not aware of the camera. ThereÕs lots of motion in my shots. So my success ratio is very low.
Q So youÕre sitting down to edit your photos after a great shoot. How do you decide which photos are keepers?
AThere are so many things to consider. Framing is a critical thing. I think this is one of the easiest aspects of photography, but in some cases itÕs overlooked, especially by some people who are just starting out. ItÕs easier to control whatÕs in your frame and what isnÕt. Sometimes itÕs just a matter of turning the body and crouching down.
Then you have to consider, is everything sharp? Is the lighting flattering on the subject? And then finally the hidden variable: is the picture telling a story? Is it saying something more than just the sum of its visual components?
Q What advice would you offer aspiring professional photographers?
AMaster the technical side of the craft in school, because itÕs enormously challenging to do it on the fly. IÕd also say that thereÕs no shortage of talented photographers in the world. But the big name ones out there are the ones who have also learned to network effectively. ThatÕs a huge piece of advice for those who are still in university or in a program: use the resources around you. Make connections with professors and guest speakers who come to your classes, show them your passion for what you do. Once youÕre outside of that program, youÕre on your own. YouÕre just another photographer. Even if you have an impressive portfolio, if you canÕt get it into the right hands, thatÕs when you start doubting your career choice.
Q How do you go from being an amateur to being a professional photographer?
You have to go in with some na•vetŽ. And in your formative years, you have to create a style and an ability to articulate your way of seeing.
Quite a few of my friends are art directors, so a lot of times I was told that you should make sure when somebody looks at your work that they donÕt simply remember that you had a lot of neat shots. If you want them to remember you, the photos have to have a strong style and depict strong scenes.
Not all your work has to look the same. You just have to have the ability to create a style so that when people think of an assignment, theyÕre going to think of you because theyÕll remember your style.
When art directors are assigning a story, they think of how they want it to look stylistically as well. An art director might say he or she wants it to look dark with a lot of motion in it, or dramatic, or funny.
I think when you have a theme and style, people understand what youÕre trying to say with your images, instead of them simply being visually attractive.
Q How do you recommend that photographers submit their work to art directors?
AThere are two things I encourage people to do: Figure out how to tell their story with a series of photos, and then edit them together. DonÕt just include a portfolio of wide shots. You have to have variety: Medium shots, close-ups. Then itÕs about editing them so they fit together. ItÕs somewhat like film. ItÕs valuable to put all three together to tell a story.
One of my favourite art directors prints out photos and lays them out on the floor. You see them differently that way. ItÕs difficult to do that on screen; you donÕt have that tactile aspect. I encourage people to lay out their images to see how one works with the other, how they relate.
One thing people donÕt do enough of is edit their photos. People will send me their photos of Cuba, for example, 200 of them, and thereÕs no way I want to look at all of them. ThereÕs a laziness in digital photography. WeÕre lazy in how we shoot and how we edit. We have to remember our photos are taking up other peopleÕs timeÉ If youÕre going to send an art director your photos, send 20 maximum.
Q To what extent do you involve yourself in your photos?
AItÕs important to be involved in your surroundings. So when youÕre shooting a person, youÕre not just finding someone that looks cool, like a woman in a village, and youÕre not just shooting because that person is dramatic looking. It has to become a richer experience. YouÕre enriching yourself and your own travels, and this will inform your photography. You might more access that way and learn more about your subject.
Sometimes with travel or architecture photography, itÕs just about walking around in an area and just understanding what youÕre looking at, and taking a bit of time to contemplate rather than just rushing in and taking shots right off the bat.
Q You travel a lot for your photography. How do you make sure you have all the equipment you need without carrying too much stuff around?
AYou develop a fetish for bags. I do yoga and I make sure IÕm physically fit.
Part of that is experience. I have been nailed with bringing a lot of stuff that I donÕt end up using. You have to envision what your trip is about before you go. You have to envision who youÕre traveling with, how much freedom youÕre going to have.
Often, that is dictated by who youÕre traveling with, or how much time youÕre going to have. How much can you physically carry without being encumbered? ItÕs misery carrying too much gear.
I think itÕs important you make sure you balance what you need and the versatility of your equipment. IÕve bought cameras that are tiny, but good enough that I can use them for a shoot. On my trip covering Showdown at Tumbler Ridge, I took my 5D Mark II Canon. I tried not to take too many lenses with me. ItÕs great to have a long lens, but itÕs a lot of carrying for one or two shots. Plus, we were on rafts, and I wouldnÕt want to bring out that camera then.
I have a secondary camera thatÕs really tiny. I can keep it on underneath my raingear and pull it out. ItÕs easy to use and IÕm never panicked about taking it out. So I try to have that versatility.
Q You seem to have a knack for creating a captivating image without showing the whole picture. How do you achieve this?
That type of style with cutting things off and extreme cropping and playing with focus, I really developed during my bachelor degree. I do what people generally suggest not to do. Laughs. They tell you to stand back and give yourself some wiggle roomÑI donÕt give myself wiggle room. I look at the viewfinder and I do a full-framed shot É I always shoot so tight that there is no cropping after. I guess I could add that itÕs always good to include a sort of trigger for a story that you have to provide some context for. With extreme cropping, you need to pair photos together to get a sense of what the story is. But it seems to get people to gravitate more towards the photos. I guess itÕs really about a confidence in your movements and abilities to extrapolate something.
Q Do you prefer to set up your photographs, or are you more of a fly on the wall?
A IÕm definitely a fly on the wall. I like to respond to what I see. I always have my camera on me. Light captures my eye just the way it hits sometimes, and IÕm photographing immediately. I just take out my camera; I rarely ever set up shots. Some photographers have a knack for doing that, but not me. I just always respond to whatÕs happening and play with those conditions rather than create something thatÕs not there.
Q What kind of equipment do you think is best to bring for shooting outdoors?
AI always have a 24-70mm lens, which shoots wide to portraits. ThatÕs my standard lens. ItÕs also always really nice to have a zoom lens, like an IS Ñ something with stabilization on it Ñ something that enables you to get closer. When you see something on camera, itÕs never as close as it seems, so itÕs nice to shoot as close as possible. Also, OP/TECH makes rain sleeves and they are amazing. ItÕs pretty much a piece of plastic that wraps around your camera and your entire hand and it sort of acts like a windbreaker. I actually used one for the Canadian Geographic shoot and it took a lot of stress off.
Also, I donÕt have a neck strap. I find theyÕre cumbersome and get in the way. I just have a hand strap and itÕs just like an extension of my body, and I can shoot faster É I find itÕs quicker. Hand straps are always a must, I always tell people to get one.
Q You seem partial to colour photosÑ what do you think they offer (aside from colour) that black and white photos donÕt?
AI think that both colour and black and white photos offer different things. ItÕs really about the purpose you serve. I normally shoot in colour, but I used to do black and white in school. For me, thereÕs something about the supple sensuality of colour, especially when itÕs not super overstated. Again, for my thesis project on horses, there are a lot of colours that are subdued, and IÕm kind of drawn to that. For reenactments, the colour just adds vibrancy. I like playing with colour and monochromacyÑ like a green glass bottle in a green field with white tents in the background. Black and white has amazing qualities, but I think for me I like capturing an experience or moment, and since we see those things in colour, thatÕs how I think itÕs best translated.
Q Landscape or vertical? Why?
AItÕs really whatever the photo calls for. Whatever works for whatever youÕre doing in the moment. The only exception is if youÕre sent out to shoot a cover, or youÕre told itÕs for an editorial spread. I guess always shoot both to be safe, but if youÕre shooting a cover you should play with that ratio and make sure you have what you need. I donÕt want to have to do cropping afterwards for a cover shot because that would upset me. I respect that I may have to, but IÕd rather do full frame. But, whichever is best; when in doubt, try both.
Q What is the biggest piece of advice you could offer to an aspiring photographer?
AThis is advice that I constantly strive to take, and itÕs a constant shift in attempt to accomplish this: to work constantly, to always be photographing.
I know itÕs unrealistic to always be taking your camera with you while doing other things, like working a nine to five jobÑbut if youÕre not photographing, youÕre treading water. YouÕre not learning anything. Get a new piece of equipment and learn how to incorporate it. Work constantly, and enjoy workingÑdonÕt do it out of force.
Q What's a good method for choosing how to edit your photos after you've taken them?
I think the biggest advice I'd have at that stage is just to be honest about what photos you have an emotional attachment to, and what photos are actually good. There's a really fine line between what we feel is the best, and what is the best to an eye not in the situation. So, the biggest piece of advice is to be honest with yourself. I don't know how to do that though. Laughs. It takes practice, and it helps to have someone else look at your work too.
Q How can you still take a good photograph when there's little to no available light?
A I tend to not be too worried about things like ISO or aperture. I know those are two really important functions, but if it's really low light, there's no harm in cranking the ISO and adjusting the aperture to get good shutter speed. I'm not too worried about graininess or blurriness ' in fact, that's something that actually adds to the photo and makes it better sometimes. In a low light situation, you're not looking at sharp things anyway, so I don't see anything wrong with that. Just crank the settings on your camera to whatever you can, and hope for the best.
Q Do you have a go-to piece of equipment?
AI use Nikon gear, but I'm not really brand-loyal. I use an 1855 kit lens and a 50mm portrait lens, but I tend not to be too worried about gear. I feel like the biggest piece of gear is your body. Getting yourself into the situations, having the motivation and getting a photo pass ' that does more than a piece of gear.
Q Angles: when do they work best?
AIn some situations you want to portray things in the most kind of documentary way possible. Like, if I'm shooting photos at a protest, I'm not too concerned about the artistic value; I'm not too worried about getting on top or getting below something, because in those situations you're not always safe, and a lot of the drama is around you. When working on animal issues, it's really helpful to try to show the animals' perspective, or to use angles in such a way that people won't be turned off. In this kind of situation I'd tend to use more artistic angles.
Fighting is a very well-documented sport, so I have tried to do something a little different there. My experience with fight photography has been brief, but martial arts has always been a passion of mine. I was lucky enough to document a big fight-night that happened on a beach in Tamarindo, Costa Rica back in 2010, and I've recently been documenting mixed martial arts training in and around Toronto. The style ranges from Thai Boxing to Jiu Jitsu to the more modern MMA.
There is a pretty well-established visual vocabulary when it comes to fight photos, such as the way that fighters are photographed, and how the fights themselves are photographed. I've been fortunate in the sense that the settings where I've been doing my photos (beachside, or in very small clubs or high-school gyms) haven't been explored as much, so I'm able to capture different details and a different mood. I should say though that I've been greatly inspired by past fight photos. David Trattles's 'Boxing Ladies' photos were particularly mind-blowing.
Q What is the biggest piece of advice you could offer to an aspiring photographer?
AThis is advice that I constantly strive to take, and it's a constant shift in attempt to accomplish this: to work constantly, to always be photographing. I know it's unrealistic to always be taking your camera with you while doing other things, like working a nine to five job'but if you're not photographing, you're treading water. You're not learning anything. Get a new piece of equipment and learn how to incorporate it. Work constantly, and enjoy working - don't do it out of force.
Dawn Goss's genuine interest in the people and places she photographs fuels her career. Focusing on the moment rather than the technology, Goss is an inspirational photographer who approaches her craft with thoughtfulness and consideration for the world around her.
Stephen Krasemann_s love of nature and the outdoors stems from his childhood outings into the wilderness of the Thunder Bay region. Krasemann has published five photography books, but recently focused his attention on oil painting of the natural world which, he says, is an interesting challenge. 
