Canadian Landscape Project

This country has propelled me on a life long journey to photograph its landscape.

Everyday, as the earth spins eastward, the sun’s light skims across the surface of the North Atlantic ocean on its daily mission to herald morning on North America’s oldest and most easterly city – St. John’s Newfoundland. Perched atop Signal Hill, Cabot Tower glows from the morning rays a full six time zones (4.5 hours) ahead of the West Coast. In it’s journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific, this sunlight will illuminate over nine million (9,984,676 km2) square kilometres of a landscape defined as Canada, where 35 million citizens awaken each morning to a day as diverse as the world’s second largest country is expansive.

This is Canada, a landscape ranging from Arctic Polar Deserts in the high north, to coffee plantations on the southern Gulf Islands. This country has captivated my imagination and propelled me on a life long journey to photograph it’s landscape. My photography focuses on natural habitats, therefore I have chosen to portray Canada from it’s natural (physiographic) boundaries rather than it’s political borders.

Physiographic characteristics are comprised of a combination of features including geologic structure, relief attributes, continuous permafrost (atmospheric and hydrologic effects) and the tree-line (vegetation). Combining these features, with an emphasis on the geologic structure, Canada is a composite of seven distinct regions, with differences between them visible from space: Arctic, Cordillera, Interior Plains, Canadian Shield, Hudson Bay Lowlands, St. Lawrence Lowlands, and the Appalachian.

I intend to continue exploring these regions with a vision to portray their essence through a photographic style that invokes a sense of wonder for the diversity and beauty of Canada’s landscape. Ultimately, I hope that the body of work I create will contribute to our collective notion of a Canadian identity.