"A PHOTOGRAPHER’S JOURNEY"
Presenter: Chris Harris
6th Bonnie Nichol Lecture Series
Monday, November 5, 2018
BIOGRAPHY:
I was born in Montreal and brought up in Beloeil before taking most of my education in New Brunswick. I was home when my father, Chic Harris, joined the Montreal Camera Club in the late 60s. I watched him grow as a photographer and was deeply inspired by his creative journey. With a camera that Dad gave me, I travelled the world and began a life of adventure. Dad later introduced me to Freeman Patterson with whom I took my first and only workshop in 1974 at Shamper’s Bluff. Both Freeman and my dad have been my mentors, inspiring me to follow my two passions for wilderness adventure and photography, and I have carved out an exciting and rewarding life, full of wonder. “Photography is not so much about the images I create; it’s about life experiences. I photograph to live a meaningful, creative, and rewarding life, reveling in the art of the planet earth. Through photography, I feel blessed.” (Submitted by Chris Harris) |
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Chris Harris is a professional freelance narrative photographer. Since leaving a career of wilderness-guiding, pioneering outdoor adventure tourism, and teaching, Chris has been one of this country’s foremost and most respected photographers.
Chris dedicates his photography to bringing awareness and reverence to the value of beauty, nature, and biodiversity in his home region. He is the independent publisher of his own work as books, of which his thirteenth, British Columbia’s Cariboo Chilcotin Coast; A Photographer’s Journey, was released in October, 2016. With this publication, Chris Harris reveals for the first time the unique and globally significant Chilcotin Ark, the largest and most diverse eco-system in the temperate world. Chris is the holder of multiple awards that recognize the standard of excellence that characterizes his work. For the past 30 years, Chris has dedicated his skill, innovation, passion, and creativity to documenting and presenting to the world an extraordinary landscape in British Columbia known as the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast. He has done more exploration and photography than any other individual or organization, earning him the title of the Ansel Adams of this region. Part of this area has been dubbed the Chilcotin Ark because of its potential as a refuge from the ravages of climatic changes that threaten us. It contains one of the world’s remaining large intact grasslands with an interior wetbelt rainforest and possibly the last water-towers stored in glaciers. It is the largest contiguous and most bio-diverse system in the temperate world providing us with blueprints for survival because of its resiliency and sustainability. In this presentation, Chris will be joined by his wife, Rita Giesbrecht, who has accompanied Chris on all his exploratory photographic adventures over the past seventeen years. They will address the themes of post-wildfire regeneration and resilience, following the unprecedented wildfire season that swept through British Columbia in 2017 and changed the face of the landscape along with the psyche of the people. Based on their personal experience, these burned areas feature a unique beauty that offer spectacular visuals. This Canadian presentation tour promises to be the highlight of what has been an impressive career that has benefitted the region immeasurably. This is ambassadorship of the highest quality. Website: https://www.chrisharris.com |