Newsletter No. 25: August 2007
© Chris Harris. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
1. Grasslands Book Promotional Tour UpdateFor all our new subscribers, I have been working for the past three years on what is called The Grasslands Awareness Project, in cooperation with the Grasslands Conservation Council of BC. This project will culminate with the release of a beautiful coffee-table book to be released this October. At that time, as part of the awareness project, I will be going on a ‘Grasslands Gala’ book signing tour to several locations around the province.
About the Book
Spirit in the Grass
The Cariboo Chilcotin’s Forgotten Landscape
Country Light Publishing
224 pages, 215 colour images, approx. 60 pages of textHardcover, $59.95
The Cariboo Chilcotin grasslands are one of the ecological wonders of the world and British Columbia’s most endangered ecosystem. It covers less than 1% of the province yet supports over 30% of its threatened or endangered plant and animal species. The goal of this book is to increase awareness of the grasslands incredible beauty and ecological richness. The book is visually driven yet content rich. It contains informative natural history text written by leading ecologists Ordell Steen and Kristi Iverson, cultural history and poetry contributions written by award winning BC writer and poet Harold Rhenisch, and a visual arts perspective written by distinguished Canadian photographer and publisher Chris Harris. The imagery is the work of Chris Harris. This book will undoubtedly become one of the most important British Columbia conservation books published to date. A percentage of book profits will be donated to the Grasslands Conservation Council of BC.
"The stunning images in this book evoke wonder and awe, which are essential if we are to love and fight to protect such sacred places". – David Suzuki
About the Presentation
The travelling Grasslands Gala multimedia presentation will include slide-sound sequences in combination with stories behind the images and how they and the book were created. As a photographer, I will speak from the creative visual arts perspective rather than the science perspective. In this way I hope to provide a new and fresh avenue to appreciate our beautiful British Columbia grasslands.
Coyote traveling through the grasslands
© Chris Harris
Canon EOS-1D Mark II; Lens: 500 mm;
ISO: 400; Shutter speed: 1/500 sec., Aperture: 13
100 Mile House ‘Grasslands Gala’ Book LaunchBy invitation, October 19th will be the official release party and unveiling of the book, followed by a reception and book signing. At this event we will be acknowledging and hosting all of our donors, contributors, friends and supporters. Invitations will be going out shortly.
On October 20th the official grasslands awareness book promotional tour will begin. For both these 100 Mile House events, I will be joined by the books main contributors in this multi-media presentation. It will be a wonderful evening to share together. Everyone is invited and we will all be available to sign books.
Presentations confirmed to date are:
October 20, 2007. 7:30 pm
Martin Exeter Hall, 100 Mile Lodge & Conference Centre
100 Mile House, BC
Sponsor: Grand Book Launch by Chris Harris PhotographyOctober 24, 2007. 7:30 pm
Fort Langley Community Hall (9167 Glover Road), Fort Langley
Sponsor: Langley Camera ClubOctober 25, 2007. 7:30 pm
H.R. MacMillian Space Centre Auditorium, 1100 Chestnut St., Vancouver
Sponsor: Nature Vancouver (Vancouver Natural History Society)November 8, 2007. 4:30pm
University of Alberta, Edmonton
Room TBA
Sponsor: Environmental Research and Studies CentreNovember 12, 2007. 8:00 pm
Cammidge House, Boundary Bay Regional Park,
Tsawwassen (S Delta)
Sponsor: Delta NaturalistsNovember 13, 2007. 7:30 pm
Room 159, Murray & Anne Fraser Bldg., University of Victoria
Sponsor: Victoria Natural History SocietyNovember 21, 2007. 7:00 pm
City Council Chambers
Williams Lake
Sponsor: Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation SocietyNovember 27, 7:00pm
The Schubert Centre
3505 20th Ave., Vernon, BC
Sponsor: Allan Brooks Nature CentreNovember 28, 7:00pm
Alumni Theatre (Clock Tower Theatre), Thompson Rivers University,
Kamloops
Sponsor: Grasslands Conservation Council of BCDecember 2, 2007. 7:00 pm
Correlieu Secondary School,
850 Anderson Drive, Quesnel
Sponsor: Cariboo Ski Touring Club
Admission: $5.00 adult or $10.00 FamilyDecember 13, 2007. 7:30 pm
Sunnyside Community Hall
1845-154 Street, Surrey, BC
Sponsor: White Rock & Surrey Naturalists
2. The South CaribooThis past year I was contracted to create imagery for www.SouthCaribooTourism.com. The imagery will be used to help promote the South Cariboo region that extends north-south between Lac La Hache and Clinton along Highway 97 and between the Fraser River in the west and the Cariboo Mountains in the east. As is typical, I’ve overlooked my own spectacular region in favour of what I imagined as more exotic further afield. So this year I would like to share with you my discoveries closer to home and encourage you all to visit us on your travels. 100 Mile House is the hub of the South Cariboo and the above web site is where to go for complete information.
DECEPTION FALLS – PART IIi
Fall colours reflection
© Chris Harris;
Canon EOS-1D Mark II; Lens: 17-35 mm;
Focal length: 35mm;ISO: 400;
Shutter speed: 1/25 sec., Aperture: 14
In Newsletters 23 and 24 I took you to see Deception Falls east of 100 Mile House. I took you through the visual process of exploring the subject. This took me from the overall documentary image of the falls to the more expressive close-up view of the water cascading over the rocks within the deep blue shadows of the river gorge itself.
At this point I was ready to hike back out of the canyon so I packed my camera safely into my camera backpack and carefully began to hike back out over the very slippery rocks. How silly!! When should a photographer think the shoot is over? NEVER!!
Deep in the canyon, the last light of the day turned to gold. It was magic. Off came the backpack and out came the tripod and camera once again..
Fall colours reflection
© Chris Harris;
Canon EOS-1D Mark II; Lens: 17-35 mm;
Focal length: 30mm; ISO: 100;
Shutter speed: 1.3 sec., Aperture: 22
After making my initial reaction shot, I searched for a more meaningful composition. I was working fast as I knew the light was soon to disappear. Eventually I found this tiny pond of light which also showed the stream and rocks in the background. As water was running into this pond causing ripples, I made the exposure at over one second to soften both the water and the reflection. If you examine the two compositions, you can see the difference between a quickly composed image and one where deliberate thought went into its visual design. Lesson learned – once again! A day of photography is never over until the clock strikes midnight.
In the latest issue of Canadian Camera there was a review on my latest book. I thought I would share it with you.
The Bowron Lakes:
British Columbia’s Wilderness Canoe CircuitCountry Light Publishing
176 pages, 150 colour images (5 b&w)
Hardcover, $49.95Subtitled A Lifetime Journey, this book speaks to the value of place and time. The place is the Bowron Lakes in the Cariboo country of central BC. The time is that spent by the author in paddling the circuit over one hundred times as an expert canoeist, an accomplished professional photographer and an inspired artist. Harris’s dedication and enthusiasm are communicated by images and text that will stimulate discussion with friends over coffee and may motivate you to plan your next holiday trip to this World Heritage site. Brilliant technique, a love of nature and the impressionist vision of Monet allow these striking photo images to transcend photography to high art and drama.
Just as some musicians (think of Horowitz or Elvis) can arouse emotions by hitting a note or phrase with a slight delay, Chris Harris shows us the visual effect of anticipating and waiting for the right moment to click the shutter.
The accompanying text not only deals with the situations and techniques that lend themselves to striking photographs but also relates the natural and cultural history of the Bowron Lakes.
As someone with limited canoeing and photographic experience but a great love of the outdoors, I was struck by how motivated I was by Harris’s images and writing:
Appreciate nature and art. Get off the sofa and experience them. Protect the environment so that our grandchildren will be able to share it. Buy the book and spread the word.
Reviewed by Bill Burr
4. Nuk Tessli Alpine Photo AdventureEarlier this month Rita and I broke away from the office for a much deserved holiday. After two years photographing for my Bowron Lake book and the past three years for the upcoming Grasslands book, I felt it was time to head for the mountains. We have always wanted to explore the alpine area near Chris Czajkowski’s famous cabin on Nuk Tessli Lake in the Coast Mountains but had never managed to get there. So we got in touch with Chris, made arrangements, and off we headed to Nimpo Lake in the Chilcotin.
Nimpo Lake – float plane capital of BC
© Chris Harris;
Canon EOS-1D Mark II
Two image panorama
Chris greets us with a warm welcome |
Cairns guide us to the alpine |
Chris welcomed us at her wharf and immediately ushered us into her cabin where the aroma of freshly-baked bread swelled our appetite. After a delicious lunch, Chris got out some photocopied topo maps and showed us the best spots to locate our photo basecamp. After a cup of tea and some great conversation, I was anxious to don my backpack and head up to the alpine to photograph. By early afternoon, we were on our way.
Panoramic view of Nuk Tessli Lake from our photo base camp
Following Chris’ beautifully-constructed cairns, we hiked for four hours up a well-worn trail to where we established our alpine base camp, which would serve us for the next five days. The image above was the view from our camp overlooking Nuk Tessli Lake and the Coast Mountains.
For those of you around the world who don’t know about the adventures of naturalist Chris Czajkowski, I urge you to visit her web site. Author of many books, Chris single-handedly built three cabins in the wilderness, far from civilization. Nowadays you can visit her, stay at one of her cabins, hike and explore amidst alpine flowers, and share her wilderness lifestyle.
Over the next few Newsletters, I’ll share some of the images I made on this trip.