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Circumstances Alter Photographs
Canadians invented lacrosse, basketball, insulin, pablum, five-pin bowling, Wonderbra, the zipper, the telephone, the blackberry, the snow blower and the skidoo.
And you might also want to know the first battlefield photos ever taken under fire are, believe it or not, Canadian.
While suppressing the so-called Northwest Rebellion in 1885, and doubling as a correspondent for the Quebec Morning Chronicle, Captain James Peters of the Royal Canadian Artillery's 'A' Battery took more than 70 photos of the Saskatchewan battles at Fish Creek, Duck Lake and Batoche (on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River), including a rare image of the Métis leader Louis Riel as a prisoner.
Michael Barnholden has showcased these eerie images for the first time in their entirety in Circumstances Alter Photographs: Captain James Peters' Reports from the War of 1885 (Talon $35).
According to Barnholden, these photos, neglected for more than 120 years, document "the moment when the 18-year-old country of Canada turned away from becoming a Métis Nation by declaring war on its own people.";
To record Riel's defeat as well as the subsequent campaign to subjugate Metis and First Nations forces under Big Bear, Poundmaker and Miserable Man, Captain Peters was taking advantage of new technology. In 1883, "naturalist"; or "detective"; cameras came on the market that enabled the likes of Peters to carry a camera over his shoulder.
Hand-held photography became viable with faster shutter speeds. As well, James' camera used coated plates that did not require preparation and could be stored for later development.
"For the live rebels,"; he wrote, "I generally, for fear of fogging, took them from a distance, as far and as quickly as possible. All these little contrivances, and many more are necessary when one is trying to take a portrait of an ungrateful enemy.
"Numbers of my plates are under-timed; but I am not particular. Those taken when the enemy had surrendered, and were unarmed, made better negatives, but 'circumstances alter photographs.'";
Following a rebel victory masterminded by Gabriel Dumont at Fish Lake, some 300 Métis and Indians led by Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont held off a force of 800 men commanded by Major-General Middleton between May 9 and 12, 1885. Riel was captured and hanged later that same year, but Dumont escaped via Cypress Hills to Montana where he surrendered to the U.S. Calvary.
Released as a political prisoner, Dumont joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show as a celebrity and marksman. Historians have suggested Riel might have been victorious if he had given permission to Dumont to enact his plans for guerrilla tactics, such as destroying railway tracks.
Long fascinated with Dumont, Barnholden has produced a new edition of Gabriel Dumont Speaks (Talon $16.95) featuring his new translation of memoirs that Dumont dictated in 1903, as well a new introduction, a Métis Historical Timeline and some new images.
Barnholden first began working on his Gabriel Dumont book-which has led him to reproduce the little-known photography of Captain Peters-back in the early 1970s.
Peters 978-0-88922-621-0; Dumont 978-0-88922-625-8
And you might also want to know the first battlefield photos ever taken under fire are, believe it or not, Canadian.
While suppressing the so-called Northwest Rebellion in 1885, and doubling as a correspondent for the Quebec Morning Chronicle, Captain James Peters of the Royal Canadian Artillery's 'A' Battery took more than 70 photos of the Saskatchewan battles at Fish Creek, Duck Lake and Batoche (on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River), including a rare image of the Métis leader Louis Riel as a prisoner.
Michael Barnholden has showcased these eerie images for the first time in their entirety in Circumstances Alter Photographs: Captain James Peters' Reports from the War of 1885 (Talon $35).
According to Barnholden, these photos, neglected for more than 120 years, document "the moment when the 18-year-old country of Canada turned away from becoming a Métis Nation by declaring war on its own people.";
To record Riel's defeat as well as the subsequent campaign to subjugate Metis and First Nations forces under Big Bear, Poundmaker and Miserable Man, Captain Peters was taking advantage of new technology. In 1883, "naturalist"; or "detective"; cameras came on the market that enabled the likes of Peters to carry a camera over his shoulder.
Hand-held photography became viable with faster shutter speeds. As well, James' camera used coated plates that did not require preparation and could be stored for later development.
"For the live rebels,"; he wrote, "I generally, for fear of fogging, took them from a distance, as far and as quickly as possible. All these little contrivances, and many more are necessary when one is trying to take a portrait of an ungrateful enemy.
"Numbers of my plates are under-timed; but I am not particular. Those taken when the enemy had surrendered, and were unarmed, made better negatives, but 'circumstances alter photographs.'";
Following a rebel victory masterminded by Gabriel Dumont at Fish Lake, some 300 Métis and Indians led by Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont held off a force of 800 men commanded by Major-General Middleton between May 9 and 12, 1885. Riel was captured and hanged later that same year, but Dumont escaped via Cypress Hills to Montana where he surrendered to the U.S. Calvary.
Released as a political prisoner, Dumont joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show as a celebrity and marksman. Historians have suggested Riel might have been victorious if he had given permission to Dumont to enact his plans for guerrilla tactics, such as destroying railway tracks.
Long fascinated with Dumont, Barnholden has produced a new edition of Gabriel Dumont Speaks (Talon $16.95) featuring his new translation of memoirs that Dumont dictated in 1903, as well a new introduction, a Métis Historical Timeline and some new images.
Barnholden first began working on his Gabriel Dumont book-which has led him to reproduce the little-known photography of Captain Peters-back in the early 1970s.
Peters 978-0-88922-621-0; Dumont 978-0-88922-625-8
Submitted on September 21, 2009 in By David.
