2017, winner of the Koh-Vechere Graduation Award for Athletic and Creative Excellence

 

This all started when I showed a photograph in my fourth-year photography class at Emily Carr University of Art & Design. During my critique, one of my classmates bluntly told me my photograph was “boring.”

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I looked at the image again. Maybe they were right—it was kind of boring. Landscape photography often feels stale, with over edited shots of iconic areas around Banff turning into clichés. We’re inundated with the same photos of Lake Louise, Bow Lake, Rundle Mountain, and so on. I’m over it. How boring.

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Even the backcountry can feel boring to some: rivers, lakes, birds, waterfalls, and silence. But to me, the backcountry holds a deeper meaning. Growing up away from my community, it’s where I feel most Indigenous. It’s a place of stillness, where I fish, swim, camp, and watch the stars. It’s anything but boring—it’s sacred.

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I looked at my classmate, then back at my photograph, and said, “Yeah, well… I guess landscapes are boring.”

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All photographs are available in multiple sizes. Please inquire for purchase.