Newsletter #219: December, 2025
© Chris Harris. All rights reserved

This Newsletter is celebrating 20 years of sharing photographs and stories of the Cariboo Chilcotin region in south-central British Columbia.

Welcome everyone!

Contents:

Inspiration on Highway 97
A celebration of self-expression
Autumn drive in the Cariboo
Season’s Greetings

Inspiration on Highway 97

When driving home from Vancouver, I like to take my time — to view the landscape critically with an eye for compositions that expand my sense of place.

I arrived at Lytton as the sun was nearing the mountain tops, just in time for evening light. From experience, I knew that just above the confluence of the South Thompson and Fraser rivers there was a landscape designed especially for railway enthusiasts….and photographers!

If I were to design a model railway layout, this area would be my inspiration.

Tunnels and viaducts attempt to protect trains from continuous rock and snow avalanches which cascade over a winding rail line that cuts through steep and multi-coloured mountainous terrain. Below the track is the turquoise-coloured South Thompson River which contains rail remnants from years past.

The following images were all made within a 10-minute walk from where I parked on the highway. It’s a defining viewscape which speaks to the courageous workers who built the rail line and the engineers who travel it to this day.

After just a 30-minute photo break, I felt uplifted; ready to continue my journey home.

Trains were a huge part of my life as a kid, so I always find it a thrill to watch a train winding its way through the Thompson and Fraser River canyonlands.

Scree avalanche hazard

Winding through the Thompson River Canyon

Rail tunnel

Curving rail line

Avalanche overpass

Avalanche protection

Rail tunnel above South Thompson River

Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City rail lines

Freight train winds through a forest fire burn

The highway, railway, and waterway reflect evening light

A Celebration of Self-Expression

All artists of every medium try to develop their own individual style; a form of expression unique to their own character and talents. This is why I always discourage photographers from asking other photographers “How do you do that”. To copy another artist’s style is to discount their very own unique talent, creative imagination, and their potential of generate their own distinct expression. There is art in everything, and every photographer should seek to discover it in their own unique way.

Two weeks ago, photographer friend Mike Duffy and I meandered along the short Bridge Creek Trail to a waterfall in our local town park.

For the entire walk, I decided to modify my usual impressionist technique in the hope of discovering a fresh variation to my own Impressionist expression.

Every one of the following images was captured on a 1-hour walk with 1 camera, 1 lens, 1 slow shutter speed setting, and 9 exposures. Each exposure was handheld, and the rapid shooting mode was never used.

Without carrying extra camera bodies, lenses, and tripod, and giving no thought to changing camera settings, I concentrated entirely on my favourite pastime; making strong compositional studies. It was relaxing and visually stimulating.

The hour spent together photographing while meandering along a local familiar trail was a time of creative thought, imaginative exploration, and self-expression.

Later, we celebrated our art-inspired hour at the local coffee shop!

Bridge Creek

Ash tree

Red beyond the stump

Forest Impression ~ I

Forest Impression ~ II

Forest Impression ~ III

Forest Impression ~ IV

Impression of Mike making an image

Bridge Creek Falls

Below the Waterfall

Autumn Drive in the Cariboo

On November 12th, friend Shayne Middleton and I, set off for a day’s drive, exploring and photographing the Cariboo region near my home. Our destination was Farwell Canyon.

I love an open-ended photographic adventure; not knowing where we might go, how we might get there, and what we might photograph. As we drove the back roads, and looked closely at the passing physical world, we chatted about our imaginary worlds. It was stimulating and exciting, for the imaginary world has no limits; it’s a world of limitless possibilities.

Here we go!

November 12, 2025; 135 mm focal length

June 24, 2014; 16 mm focal length

While driving slowly along Mission Road, I recognized a single tree in the distance. We reflected back in time and realized that both of us had been on this road together eleven years prior. Having both photographed it then, and we stopped and photographed it again. What a difference!

Cariboo barn, Mission Road

Shades of roadside beauty, Mission Road

Waves of autumn texture, Spring Lake Road

Toward the Farwell sand dune

Big Sagebrush

Hoodoos in Evening Light

Touches of warmth

Chilcotin River, Farwell Canyon

Driving home; a wonderful day it was!

Season’s Greetings

I woke up early one morning last week to see aspen trees outside my window laden with fresh wet snow. Up like a flash, I was soon on my way along an unploughed back country road. I was at a banquet of beauty.

Wintery Cariboo landscape