Author Tags: Gold Outdoors Photography


Articles: 4 Articles for this author

---

Chris Harris is something of a publishing loner. His company at 105 Mile in the Cariboo includes a studio constructed of straw bales.

Over 17 years he's produced ten photography books in his 'British Columbia and Beyond' series; with a focus on his regional landscapes, from the Bowron Lakes to Barkerville and the serpentine BCR line.

Harris is also a skilled outdoor adventure guide with a knack for positioning his camera in interesting places most of us will never get to.

Spirit in the Grass: The Cariboo Chilcotin's Forgotten Landscape (Country Light $39.95) is something else again.

After immersing himself in Cariboo-Chilcotin grasslands for three years, Harris has placed himself near the forefront of a movement to preserve one of B.C.'s most endangered ecosystems.

"I've walked through the grasslands in snow and ice, thunderstorms, rain, wind and fire.

"I've tramped across ancient lichens in heat that turned my skin to leather and have camped on open benchlands to capture the dawn...
"The sound of the meadowlark is now a part of me, and the grasslands now centre my life.";

For Spirit in the Grass, Chris Harris often spent nights camping on the grasslands, camera at the ready as morning light crept into the viewfinder. The first light came quietly, "as if slowly pushing the darkness away.";

In one early morning shot, patches of bunchgrass and sagebrush shimmer like distant galaxies.

Harris also photographed late into the evening where in one shot the setting sun turns Mid-Fraser River Canyon into a molten slash that disappears into black benchlands.

The grasslands were by far the most challenging landscape he has photographed because the land is flatter and the colour palette is muted.
"The grasslands reveal themselves quietly and slowly,"; he says. "They're soft and rolling, the colours pastel, and it's much more difficult to create images that that evoke a response.";

The viewpoints range from sweeping, wide angle perspectives high above a jade green Chilcotin River to tight close-ups that mingle light, form and purple mariposa lilies into something hinting at Monet.

Harris also has an eye for adding drama to wildlife photos: a California Big Horn Sheep defies gravity as it crosses a nearly vertical cliff face so it can nibble on a small green bush.

For this project Harris collaborated with two ecologists from the Grasslands Conservation Council, Ordell Steen, a former research ecologist with the B.C. Forests Service, and Kristi Iverson, a plant ecologist and past chair of the Council.

From these experts we learn the intermountain grasslands are part of the rich tapestry of ecosystems. In the grasslands, only about 30-55 centimetres of precipitation falls each year, less than any other area in the Cariboo-Chilcotin.

"Air temperatures are the highest in the region,"; writes Iverson. "Forests cannot thrive in the grasslands; only plants that hold their moisture against the pull of the dry air, or that can avoid the drought by becoming dormant, survive in the grasslands.";

This climate results in abundant bunchgrasses, sagebrush, cactus, lichens and diverse wildlife, including the largest breeding population of Barrow's goldeneyes in B.C., as well as three species of bats that occur only in the grasslands and ancient sandhill cranes.

Threats to this delicate habitat include our habit for dousing fires at every turn. When fire traditionally swept through, once every seven to fifteen years, it renewed life by keeping the forest in check and fertilizing plants with ash.
"After 1860, the frequency of the fires decreased as cattle grazing removed the fuels necessary to carry fire, First Nations people were penalized for starting fires, and fire suppression reduced the size of wildfires. When the fires stopped, trees and shrubs invaded many cool, moist sites in the grasslands.";
Many areas are now choked with forest. The grasslands are also being seriously eroded by urban development. We need look no further than the Thompson and Okanagan to see what can happen if human habitation isn't adequately curtailed.
Alien plants introduced by humans, can displace native species and animals; over grazing by cattle can "hammer"; the grasslands, and no one knows for certain what global warming will bring.

Poet Harold Rhenisch contributes a brief cultural history of the grasslands, tracing the first nomadic people from almost 10,000 years ago, to more permanent Secwepemc and Tsilhqot'in pit house villages beside the rivers.

White settlement and ranching followed with the gold rush of 1858, and legendary ranches like the Gang Ranch, Alkali Lake Ranch and Empire Valley Ranch sprang from the superb bluebunch wheatgrasses.

Wild horses still run free in the Esketemc, and the Esketemc people migrate each year to "bring the horses and their spirit home, and then to return them again, in this culture that has never been broken.";

Harold Rhenisch concludes: "Because of the continued honour that the Secwepemc and Tsilhqot'in people and ranchers have maintained for the land, the spirit remains in the grass.";

A portion of the profits from the sale of this book will be donated to the Grasslands Conservation Council of British Columbia.

978-0-9685216-8-7

Mark Forsythe is the host of CBC Radio's BC Almanac.
His new book is The Trail of 1858 (Harbour, 2007),
co-authored with Greg Dickson.

--review by Mark Forsythe

[BCBW 2007]
Mark Forsythe

---

MANY BRITISH COLUMBIANS ARE proud to know that Whistler /Blackcomb is ranked number two in North America by leading ski magazines. But few of us realize the 120 kilometer Bowron Lakes canoe circuit has been called "one of the top ten canoe routes in the world" by Outside magazine. Chris and Jenny Harris are not' surprised. They've canoed the circuit dozens of times as professional guides. And they estimate that close to 100,000 people many from Europe have also paddled the route. Bowron Lakes Provincial Parks is nestled in the Cariboo mountains east of Barkerville. The couple, who lead at least four tour groups around the lakes every year and give lectures and slide shows about the lakes, have just released The Bowron Lakes (Soules $23.95). "The book is like a memory of the experience for those who have canoed the circuit," says Chris, "and an introduction for those going for the first time." The text includes descriptions of the natural and cultural history of the area by zoologist Syd Cannings and cultural historian Jim Boyde, and includes a map describing .the circuit. Harris says his Bowron book is the first one about this provincial park but the guide is misguided. Well illustrated with historical and contemporary photos, Richard Thomas Wright's Bowron Lakes: A Year-Round Guide (Heritage) updated in 1989, explores the liquid parallelogram with research drawn from the Barkerville archives and resource people such as hunter/outfitter Frank Cushman. "The history of the Bowron Lakes is closely tied to mining, trapping, big game hunting and resort style living," says Wright, "in that order. Where trappers, homesteaders and holidayers once tried to push back the wilderness, we now canoe, hike, snowshoe or ski in ways unchanged for a century. In many places you can sense the ghosts of days past." Harris ISBN: 0-9695235-0-S Wright ISBN: 0-919214-77-0

[BCBW 1991] "Outdoors";

---

by Sage Birchwater

In 2008, photographer Chris Harris and writer Harold Rhenisch set the bar high with their first high-altitude collaboration, Spirit in the Grass: The Cariboo Chilcotin's Forgotten Landscape, nominated for two BC Book Prizes.

According self-publisher Harris, they have surpassed that effort with Motherstone: British Columbia's Volcanic Plateau (Country Light $39.95), a coffee table book that portrays the majesty of the Central Interior and invites the reader to take an expedition into time; to peak into our geographical beginnings, and wonder how the landform we call the Cariboo Chilcotin was formed.

Motherstone covers a vast region of volcanic activity from the edge of the Chilcotin Plateau, where it buttresses up against the Coast Mountains in the west, to the sub-glacial volcanoes of Wells Gray Park to the East.

"I'm a mountain person,"; Harris explains. "Mountains turn me on. I've ridden through these mountain ranges before, but this time I walked through every inch of it.

"When you walk you feel like you're touching the earth. You feel the energy coming up through the earth.

"I found I was in tears out there. The volcanic landscape is so untouched; so powerful.";

As with most Chris Harris projects, Motherstone began with the germ of an idea years earlier that took on a life of its own. When Harris was on horseback in the 1990s, photographing in the Ilgatchuz Mountains with outfitters, Roger and Wanda Williams, he and fellow photographer, Kris Andrews, decided to take a side hike over a ridge to see what was on the other side. Harris came back with an image of a crater lake nestled in an undisturbed volcanic cone. In fact, it was a tarn in a cirque.

This became the seed for the Motherstone project. "I vowed to go back there,"; he says. "It was the heart of the Ilgachuz volcano. How many people go through there in a year? It was a masterpiece of nature. I virtually don't think anyone has ever been there.";

When he began the actual work of photographing for Motherstone, Harris wasn't sure what the project was going to look like. "All my books are total exploration,"; he says. "I've learned to trust the process. Doors start to open. I just like being out there hiking, physical and free, exploring with the camera.";

Harris decided he wanted to walk the ground he intended to photograph rather than travel by horseback. He hired guide outfitters Dave and Joyce Dorsey, and Roger and Wanda Williams to pack his camp gear and equipment two days into the wilderness. They ventured to three West Chilcotin shield volcanoes, the Rainbows, the Ilgachuz and the Itcha mountain ranges, while he and his wife, Rita Giesbrecht, and friend, Mike Duffy, went by foot.

As a hiker, Harris returned to the tarn that inspired the project years earlier, and noted only slight changes to the landscape, caused by gravity and erosion over a fifteen-year span. For the most part, the natural vista was totally undisturbed except for a possible goat or two.

"No one has walked here,"; he says. "And with every drop of rain or snow flake, or with every freeze and thaw, the Ilgachuz volcano Gallery is re-hung. Nature has not finished creating this masterpiece of art yet.

"It was totally an amazing experience to be up there and feel that energy coming up through my feet and legs.";

Over a two-year period Harris photographed hundreds of magnificent images, then he handed the project over to Rhenisch who came up with the term "motherstone"; as he was driving home to Campbell River from the Cariboo.

"It jumped into my head. The red rock south of Spences Bridge talked to me. It's nice to feel in this vast, empty universe we've got a home. I'm of this place. I am this place speaking of itself. We are this place.";

Going back three billion years, Rhenisch says British Columbia was formed by the drifting of continental plates. Chains of volcanoes formed along stress lines in the western Pacific, drifted east, and smashed into North America.

"Very little research has been done on this region,"; he says. "I spent three months researching to find out what the story was. Everything we have in British Columbia is caused by continental plate movement. Rock is a record of a dance that happens in time.";

Motherstone, according to Rhenisch, is essentially the story of going out to the mountains and walking. "We wanted the book to be the art of the mountains, where the mountains are creating the art. The earth is an expression of itself where you can walk across ground no one has ever walked on before. The earth is seeing itself for the first time through your eyes.";

Both Harris and Rhenisch are adept at pulling back the veil of every-day perception to reveal the essence of what makes the Central Interior unique. Rhenisch uses the scientific expertise of UBC professor Dr. Mary Lou Bevier to augment gut-felt romantic impressions to tell the story of this remarkable place.

"It's an interesting balance-the scientific and the mythological,"; Rhenisch says. "We had to have the science right, but at the same time it's not a scientific book. We had to tell the story of being there. Science couldn't do that.";

With his tenth book, Motherstone, Harris hopes to once more create an awareness of the value of the natural world and the biodiversity of the Cariboo Chilcotin region. Awareness affects public opinion about places,"; he says, "and only public opinion affects change.";

The amalgam of art, science and adventure makes for one message. "The natural world is not something we must set out to conquer and subdue,"; says Harris. "On the contrary, in fact it is our only hope for survival.";

After launching Motherstone at a gala reception in 100 Mile House in October, the duo commenced an extensive, province-wide tour and slide show. Seven hundred signed, hardcover copies of Motherstone ($69.95) were made available. For information, visit chrisharris.com

Sc 978-0-9865818-0-9; hc 978-0-9865818-1-6

---

Reviewed by Trevor Marc Hughes

*

Featuring remarkable photographs and valuable text, Chris Harris's latest book is a both a guided tour and a tour de force of the Cariboo-Chilcotin region and adjacent coast.

Reviewer Trevor Marc Hughes opens enticing windows into the geology, natural history, biodiversity, and stunning visual attributes of the Chilcotin Ark, a newly-coined wilderness area that extends from Tweedsmuir Park to the Fraser River.

*

Anthropologist Wade Davis calls Chris Harris "one of Canada's finest nature photographers."; A quick glance through the pages of British Columbia's Cariboo Chilcotin Coast: A Photographer's Journey, Harris's most recent oeuvre, establishes how dedicated he is to capturing the places he loves. The images are exquisite.

From the start, Harris creates a distinct mood. It's to do with the connection he makes to his chosen home. It's clear that he reveres it. And his argument for the Cariboo Chilcotin is made with his camera.

The work resembles Wade Davis's opus on the Stikine River Valley, The Sacred Headwaters (Greystone, 2011), in that it calls attention to a certain part of the province with the intent to welcome adventurous and respectful visitors and discourage industry.

Throughout the book there is mention of the Chilcotin Ark, a 2.5 million hectare tract of wilderness encompassing a unique ecosystem extending from the province's tallest mountains to dormant volcanoes, ancient rainforests, and retreating glaciers.

Harris, an adventurous spirit, has been a guide in this area for many years. The region has deepened his sense of place. He loves his life and work in the sublime Cariboo and Chilcotin plateaus and their incomparable mountains.

We travel with Harris on various journeys through the different environments the Ark has to offer. Along the way he chronicles the history of the land.

Readers will also relish his descriptions of natural solitude, ranging from the dip of a canoe's paddle in the Bowron Lakes, the call of a kingfisher, to the jaw-dropping sight of an immense ancient Western red cedar.

In the "Halls of Wood"; of the ancient forest east of Isaac Lake, Harris enjoys his photographer's perspective within these massive trees with diameters of five metres, some possibly as old as 1,500 years.

In some ways, Harris' book is also reminiscent of Carmanah: Artistic Visions of an Ancient Rainforest by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (Raincoast Books, 1989), published in response to the possibility that the ancient hemlock and Sitka spruce of southwestern Vancouver Island's Carmanah Valley would be logged.

For Harris, the perceived threat to his region comes from global warming, mining, and development.

Why should we care? Harris argues that the Chilcotin Ark is, of course, inseparably and intimately connected to the rest of British Columbia. It drains important rivers. It contains "the greatest water tower in the temperate zone of the earth: the Waddington Massif.";

With detailed maps to guide readers, the book boasts a specificity not present in books of its kind.

Part guidebook, part travelogue, part visual smorgasbord, it is ambitious in scope. We know where Harris and his travel companions are at all times.

Sometimes Harris considers it desecration to photograph certain aspects of the landscape, the grandeur of which makes him feel insignificant. It is as though the deep natural and human history needs to be acknowledged before an image can be captured.

One such time is when he came face-to-face with a massive glacier that provoked a reverential state in Harris, who decided that taking photos would be sacrilege. The glacier's awesome presence and antiquity reminded him that he was following in the footsteps of the First Peoples, who since time immemorial made such pilgrimages without the need to capture images along the way.

The section of the book that describes a journey through the Anahim Volcano Belt is notable for its close dedication to natural history, making British Columbia's Cariboo Chilcotin Coast more than just a photographic reconnaissance.

The shield volcanoes northwest of Anahim Lake defy age. Millions of years old, the Rainbow Volcano has withstood two ice ages. Here Harris points out the innate wisdom of these aspects of the natural world. For him, even jagged, eroding lava remnants have their own story, their own personalities.

Even mountains have moods. On a canoe expedition across iceberg-laden Jacobsen Lake, Harris describes the parental glacier as "a moving, breathing entity.";

From the experienced photographer's vantage point, capturing these environments is an exercise in finding light. The challenge to an author is describing that light.

When a shaft of light hits the basalt of Pipe Organ Mountain it's hard not to cheer Harris for this ideal opportunity to capture the image through his viewfinder. This is nature photography at its superlative best.

At every turn Harris looks into natural history and the stories the land has to tell. But in The Fjordlands and the Coastal Rainforest section, the tone changes. Here Harris looks more on the human history of the area approaching the Bella Coola Valley. He investigates the ways of the Nuxalkmc (Nuxalk, previously Bella Coola) people, and learns the cultural uses of cedar trees for bark and planks.

He also travels The Precipice, a ten-thousand-year-old trail used by nomadic hunters in an ages-old valley of eroded basalt. Harris tells of a depository of obsidian, a volcanic glass traded extensively within Indigenous British Columbia.

What's clear in Harris's tale is that modern industry has been short-lived and fleeting in the Chilcotin Ark.

He compares the ancient obsidian trade route with the short-lived pulp and paper mill of Ocean Falls and a derelict logging wharf in Kwatna Bay. It's a germane and fitting comparison.

It's often posited that mountains, glaciers, flora, and fauna make an overall map of the Earth's history. This hits home especially when Harris tells of the Cariboo-Chilcotin Grassland and its endangered ecosystem, which he describes as "one of the ecological wonders of the world.";

I am not sure who would dare contradict such a conclusion.

A book for anybody with a love of nature and the province's natural history, British Columbia's Cariboo Chilcotin Coast captures, with its breathtaking images, Harris's sense of excitement when he wakes up early to catch the sunrise over a pristine lake, absorb the solitude and peace of being alone in the wild, or climb in the astonishing Rainbow Mountains.

At times bordering on the poetic, this is not an ordinary collection of photographs from the natural world. It's a love letter to a region the author admires and respects - and a letter that invites his readers to appreciate it as deeply as he has.

978-0-9865818-4-7

*

Insert image 10.

Trevor Marc Hughes lives in Vancouver with his wife, Laura, and his two sons, Michael and Marc. If he can help it, he doesn't ride his motorcycle in Vancouver; he takes it out of town, where he enjoys exploring British Columbia. His focus is speaking and writing about his adventures and learning more about his home province's history. A former actor, he was in the regular cast of CBC-TV's Northwood and worked as a broadcaster at CBC Radio Vancouver, mainly with The Arts Report. His two books are Zero Avenue to Peace Park: Confidence and Collapse on the 49th Parallel (2016), and Nearly 40 on the 37: Triumph and Trepidation on the Stewart-Cassiar Highway (2013), both published by Last Autograph Press. He has written for magazines such as Canadian Biker, Rider, Motorcycle Mojo, Inside Motorcycles, and RidersWest. In 2016 he spoke at Horizons Unlimited Canada West, a gathering of overland travellers in Nakusp, giving a presentation he calls Riding Across Historic British Columbia.

*

The Ormsby Review. More Readers. More Reviews. More Often.

[BCBW 2017]