A Tribute to the Beauty of the La Cloche Mountain Range and a Celebration of Thirty Years of Adventure in Killarney Provincial Park – Coming 2025!

IN A LAND WHERE TIME STANDS STILL

For the past three decades, I have been canoeing and photographing the Killarney landscape. Apart from a few relics from the days before the Park was established, it seems like the landscape has not significantly changed over the centuries. There has been some deforestation, acid rain and forest fires, but those ancient hills remain. This environment provides a quiet spot to reflect on the vastness of the land, sky and water and to contemplate the intricate structure of a glittering white granite rock or tree bark from a jack pine. With the busyness of an ever-changing world today, for me, Killarney is a place to seek restoration. Because of the efforts of many individuals who lobbied to stop major development and those who worked to establish the area as a Provincial Park, it should endure as a place of refuge—a land where time stands still. Through the efforts of park staff and others who educate visitors on Leave No Trace principles while in the Park, the landscape will hopefully remain unchanged for centuries to come. Through my artwork, I hope to inspire viewers to appreciate the intrinsic beauty of this landscape that has been left to its own for many years. 

COMING FULL CIRCLE

This project is a completion (of sorts) and a new beginning with an altered perspective and understanding. 

After studying photography in London, I had moved up to the Bruce Peninsula. There, I started a family and started exploring the Niagara Escarpment and the west coast of Georgian Bay. I had developed a bit of a wandering spirit with regards to the land and my camera. I felt at home out in nature, in the wild places. A love of music by Canadian Singer/Song Writer Bruce Cockburn had led me to watch a film (Waterwalker/Bill Mason 1984 ) in which he created music for. Watching that film opened up a whole new way to explore and appreciate the wild places of our landscape. 

I now had to find a place to paddle a canoe into and start exploring, which inevitably would mean new photographic content. It was paintings by the Group of Seven of Killarney that first inspired me to visit the La Cloche Mountains. In July of 1994, four of us (myself, a friend from Owen Sound, a friend from university and one of his friends)  embarked on our first canoe trip into the Killarney backcountry. Since then, I have been interpreting the landscape in film and with photographs using my own aesthetic vision. 

In September of 2024, we (Scott Jordan and I) will return with our most ambitious canoe trip to date. We will start our 10 day canoe trip on the very same lake (from 30 years prior) and end the trip on the very same campsite that quickly became the standard for subsequent trips. We became friends during university, started families of our own, have collaborated on creative projects and now are returning to the place where our love of canoe tripping began. This particular trip will bring us to uncharted areas of the park. The route will actually circumnavigate very close to the perimeter of the park.

Coming full circle can refer to the idea of ending up where you started, but with a deeper understanding or a new perspective. This phrase is often used to describe a sense of closure or resolution, as well as the idea of a journey or experience reaching its natural conclusion. I can’t think of a more fitting way to celebrate the past thirty years exploring the park, than with a visual summation of those cumulative years of adventure. 

PHOTOGRAPHS + FILM

The proposed portfolio of images will reflect the joy and excitement I felt each time I canoed the lakes of Killarney and hiked the La Cloche Mountains.

These images will explore this unique and diverse landscape on both a grand and intimate scale—the big sky views, expanses of crystal clear water and rolling mountains juxtaposed to images that focus on small details in the amazing rock formations and water reflections.

Most images for the proposed exhibition will be new work, resulting from our upcoming canoe trip scheduled for September 2024. The excursion will be filmed during the same trip and will also show a bit of the behind the scenes of the photographic creations. 

Studying photography at Fanshawe College in London, during the late 90’s, meant learning analog photography (film, enlarger, darkroom…). It would be another 13 years until I would purchase a digital camera worth using. I enjoyed using the digital/lightroom process. However, as the decades have gone by, I have been yearning to go back to analog photography—even back further than what I learned in school! 

The photographs in the exhibition will be printed using a traditional mid-19th century monochromatic printing process called salted paper printing. This darkroom process is very hands-on, taking time and effort, akin to the time and effort of the canoe trip to reach my subject matter. The documentary/art film will have a similar feel to my most recent projects which can be viewed with this link.