Cariboo Chilcotin Portrait Project,
Station House Gallery, Williams Lake, BC, 2010

 

The aim of this project was to create a multifaceted portrait of the area by photographing a large number of individual people.

I photographed people both with cameras of my own construction using 4x5 black and white film and with a Canon digital camera. From the start my intent was to exhibit a print of every person I photographed.

With Williams Lake as the hub, my project encompassed the smaller communities of Soda Creek, Sugar Cane, Riske Creek, Stone, Alexis Creek, Horsefly, and Likely.

I have always been interested in exploring the dynamics between photographer and subject where both are conscious of the attempt to represent self as located in a specific place and culture. I was not interested in doing "A day in the life". I am interested in people and making portraits. The risking of trust between the photographer and the subject, the interaction, and working together to create something that otherwise would never exist is what draws me to do this kind of project.