Itinerary - A chronology
of our challenges
The photos that make up RESPECT were
taken in northern Canada between October 2006 and July 2007.
A series of exhibitions followed. Here is the chronology of the event
including the assignment that took place over four seasons.
-
Summer 2006 – SAJO
asks Reporters Communication to design an assignment
on Canada's boreal forest that will culminate in a series
of outdoor exhibits. An aviator and a narrator will cross
the country. This team will be joined by a variety of photographers as
they fly from east to west, covering the four seasons.
-
2006 Thanksgiving Weekend
– Larivière of Reporters Communication
meets Douglas, the pilot, in Montreal. Allen
McInnis, a photographer for the Montreal Gazette, offers to join
in. They will fly to Parc des Grands-Jardins and Parc des Hautes-Gorges
in Charlevoix, and return with photographs that kick off the project.
-
With those first images in hand Louise Larivière
starts to look for partners. She will act as project coordinator as well
as chief of mission and narrator. She and Douglas will soon start their
journey across the country in a small aircraft, a Cessna 182.
-
October 26, 2006 – Photographer
Kazuyoshi Ehara is flown to Wawa, Ontario, north of Lake
Superior, to complete the fall shoot.
-
February 23, 2007 –
Photographer Jim Ross and the pilot, Douglas, battle
extremely cold weather to shoot the boreal forest over Slate Island, a
few kilometers from Terrace Bay, Ontario.
-
February 25, 2007 –
After being grounded for a few days because of high winds, Douglas and
Larivière are able to fly to Poplar River on the east side of Lake
Winnipeg in Manitoba where they are met by photographer John Woods
who has flown in from Winnipeg.
-
On February 28, 2007, the project comes to
a stop. The plane will rest in a hanger in Winnipeg during the remaining
winter months.
-
June 1, 2007 – Woods,
Douglas and Larivière survey the western side of Lake Winnipeg
for photo locations. Woods will finally get the shots he wants on Sunday,
June 3rd, a few hours before his assignment ends.
-
Douglas and Larivière fly from Manitoba
to Saskatchewan over rugged, forested terrain. Since there is no possibility
of an emergency landing in this environment, the team is without any kind
of a safety net. After a short stop in Grand Rapids to interview Chief
Ovide Mecredi, Larivière begins to grasp the profound knowledge
the aboriginal have of the boreal forest.
-
June 6, 2007 – Todd
Korol meets them in La Ronge, Saskatchewan and photographs the
La Ronge boreal region. Douglas and Larivière head down to Edmonton
to pick up the next photographer. The plane is grounded with avionic problems
and must be repaired.
-
June 8, 2007 – Douglas
and photographer Dan Rieldlhuber head for High Level,
Alberta. Larivière will join them and travels there by Greyhound
bus. Rieldlhuber shoots numerous locations including the foothills of
the Rockies, but his main focus is the ancestral hunting lands of the
Dene Tha’ First Nation around High River. Weather remains unpredictable,
disrupting progress.
-
June 12, 2007 – Douglas
and Larivière leave Rieldlhuber in High Level, making their way
to B.C. to meet Jeff Ross who photographs northern BC,
focusing on the Fort Nelson First Nation traditional territory.
-
June 15, 2007 – Douglas
returns Ross to Vancouver to pick up photographer, Andy Clark.
-
June 18, 2007 – Clark
and Douglas leave from Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. The plane lands with
a flat tire in Williams Lake.
-
June 19, 2007 – Douglas
fights some extremely bad weather on the way to the Yukon and is forced
to use flight instruments to guide the plane for the last part of the
trip. Overnight in Watson Lake.
-
June 20, 2007 – Photographer
and pilot reach Whitehorse in the Yukon where Larivière is waiting
for them. The team’s assignment in the Yukon’s boreal regions
extends from Haines Junction in the west to Dawson City in the north.
-
June 25, 2007 – Clark
flies back to Vancouver, and Douglas and Larivière head north.
They are forced to spend the nigh in Dawson City due to bad weather. The
original plan was to fly north to the Beaufort Sea and then back along
the Mackenzie River to Yellow Knife in the Northwest Territories.
-
June 26, 2007 – Another
failed attempt to reach the Beaufort Sea: Douglas and Larivière
are forced to turn back due to severe thunder storms.
-
June 27, 2007 – They
make yet one more attempt to reach Yellow Knife, this time via Whitehorse,
Watson Lake and Fort Simpson. After flying over the spectacular landscape
of the Nahani Valley, they land in Fort Simpson for refueling. The plane
breaks down on the runway, thereby signaling the end of trip.
-
June 28, 2007 – Douglas
will take the plane to be repaired in Fort Nelson. Rules and regulations
make it impossible for Larivière to fly with him. She will hitchhike
her way down the following day.
-
June 29, 2007 – They
both fly down to Fort St.-John, yet again avoiding severe thunderstorms.
-
June 30, 2007 – Douglas
will returns to Vancouver, Larivière to Montréal.
-
July, 2007 – The thousands
of photographs that were taken are carefully edited and selected by photo
director Alain-Pierre Hovasse, and sent to Epson
Canada in Toronto for printing.
-
August, 2007 – More
than 150 images will be laminated and mounted by Contact Image
in Montréal. All images are protected with Drytac products
(weather shield).
-
SAJO has designed and constructed
60 stands, each weighing 1,000 pounds, to display the images. Forty of
them are being shipped to Winnipeg, the remaining 20, installed at the
Biosphere.
-
RESPECT opens at the Biosphere
on August 16, 2007 at 5pm and runs until February 28, 2008.
-
RESPECT opens at The Forks
on August 23, 2007 at 1pm and runs until the end of October 2007.
-
RESPECT opens at The World Press Photo
Event at the Just For Laugh Museum, on August
30, 2007. The event runs until September 30, 2007.
Acknowledgments»
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