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In May 2016, our lives were turned upside down. Our home and all of our cherished keepsakes were taken from us by the Fort McMurray wildfire. We all made it out safe and that's what's important. However, there were so many cherished keepsakes that we can never get back. School pictures, baby pictures, dance pictures and videos, baby books, and the list goes on. The year following the fire I went a little over board with getting professional pictures done with my family. I was trying to create new memories and new captures to showcase in our home once it was rebuilt. Finally, my husband told me we really can't afford getting our pictures done all of the time and suggested I learn how to use a camera. I laughed at first, no way! I'd rather leave that to the experts. A few months later, I decided to take a two-hour beginner's photography class here in town. That was October 2017, and I have not put the camera down since. I have become passionate about learning and taking online photography courses in my little free time. I am a very quiet and private person. Photography has been a place for me to have a voice, be creative, and put myself out there. I am passionate about capturing the magic of childhood. Candid moments and the little details and moments that may not seem very significant now. I know that in the future, when I look at these images with my children, we will realize how these little candid moments were in fact the big and important ones. Ashley Tobin was another Fort McMurray mother who turned to creative expression to deal with anxiety following the fire. She asked around for submissions from the community and received the stories of 92 other locals. This book, includes Ashley's story, 93/88,000 tells stories of evacuation, reentry and the time between. My story was submitted handwritten, I wrote it and never proof read it at all. Sealed it, and sent it in. It made the book. I still to this day have not re-read my own story. We are coming on to the second anniversary of the fire and I decided to pull the book out, took a picture of the cover and one of the pages with my words on it. Someday I hope to be able to read it. To see more work by Melissa check her out on Instagram: @melissarichard4 #womeninphotography #AlbertaPhotographer #photographycanada

In case ya missed our EDMONTON 2019 PHOTO INSPIRATION Pecha Kucha Event AT THE GARNEAU THEATRE - or you wanna see it again - Rodeo + lifestyle photographer Chantelle Bowman shares her passion for photography and life in rural Canada. In case you're not familiar - Pecha Kucha is a format where speakers only have 20 slides X 20 secs/ slide to share their story. It's TOUGH. But really, really fun... #womeninphotography #emergingartists #AlbertaPhotographer

In case you missed our EDMONTON 2019 PHOTO INSPIRATION Pecha Kucha Event AT THE GARNEAU THEATRE - check out artist/ archivist and Edmonton's Historian Laureate Marlena Wyman's presentation featuring Alberta pioneer photographer GLADYS REEVES story. In case you're not familiar - Pecha Kucha is a format where speakers only have 20 slides X 20 secs/ slide to share their story. It's TOUGH. But really, really worth it. #womeninphotography #AlbertaPhotographer #fineartphotography #photohistoryincanada

In case you missed our EDMONTON 2019 PHOTO INSPIRATION Pecha Kucha Event AT THE GARNEAU THEATRE - check out Executive Director of the SEITIES Gallery + publication, Sanja Lukac's inspiration creating an international showcase of contemporary photo-based art using historical and traditional techniques. In case you're not familiar - Pecha Kucha is a format where speakers only have 20 slides X 20 secs/ slide to share their story. It's TOUGH. But really, really worth it. #AlbertaPhotographer #fineartphotography #womeninphotography #HistoricalProcess

In case ya missed our TORONTO 2018 PHOTO INSPIRATION Pecha Kucha Event- or wanna see it again, PhotoED Magazine editor/ publisher, RITA GODLEVSKIS talks about what's ahead for this indy Canadian photography publication, including our new #photoedelite DARKROOM MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM, -open to anyone in Canada! + our FREE digital edition, + stuff we LOVE to do + stuff we LOVE to share! In case you're not familiar - Pecha Kucha is a format where speakers only have 20 slides X 20 secs/ slide to share their story. It's TOUGH. But really really fun... #womeninphotography #emergingartists #fineartphotography

In case you missed our EDMONTON 2019 PHOTO INSPIRATION Pecha Kucha Event AT THE GARNEAU THEATRE - check out Timothy Starchuk's presentation on drawing inspiration from marketing data, travel, minimalism, personal reflection and luminosity. In case you're not familiar - Pecha Kucha is a format where speakers only have 20 slides X 20 secs/ slide to share their story. It's TOUGH. But really, really worth it. #AlbertaPhotographer #fineartphotography

When Chris Donovan was a child, he looked up at the smoke billowing from the pulp mill in his hometown of Saint John, New Brunswick, and asked his dad if that was the factory that made all of the world’s clouds. “No,” his father replied. “They make money.” Chris Donovan is a multi-award-winning documentary photographer who has travelled the world to tell stories with his camera. With patience curiosity, and a gentle approach, Chris produces work that highlights people often ignored by mainstream media, thrusting them into the public sphere. He refers to his interests as finding "the interplay of community and industry" and finds photography compelling because it is a "universal language, accessible to all. Following formal photography studies at Mount Allison University and Loyalist College, Chris' vast portfolio of impressive work has led him to win the News Photographers Association of Canada's Canadian Photojournalist of the Year award for two consecutive years (2017 and 2018). His work has been recognized by Pictures of the Year International (POYi), the Sony World Photography Awards, and the National Newspaper Awards. His clients include Maclean's Magainze, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, The Washington Post, ESPN, and many other news outlets Chris' current and ongoing photo book project The Cloud Factory speaks to the disparity of wealth in Saint John. "This is an important project for me because it's about my home, " says Chris. "Saint John is home to a number of billionaires, members of the Irving family who run the country's largest oil refinery and own dozens of other companies, including all the local newspapers, employing practically the entire city. It's also home to some very high child poverty rates. "I don't try to be an activist or to change things with this project. It's not about blaming anyone for the issues in new Brunswick. It's about challenging a culture of censorship. What's worrisome isn't what's in the newspaper - it's what's left out. That's where The Cloud Factory comes in. Books, like newspapers, are a record of history. I hope that my books can fill in some of the blanks." Chris’s own projects and images do not, however, feature idyllic scenes of Maritime life. His project Patricia’s Dolls tells the heartbreaking story of a Saint John woman for whom life has been a challenge. “Patricia is a special needs woman who walks around Saint John and always has one or two dolls with her — in her arms or her stroller — caring for them as if they were her own children. Everyone in town knows Patricia but very few people actually know her story. Unfortunately she is often bullied because of her connection to these dolls. In 2013, I was working on a project called Humans of Saint John that was inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York. Patricia was one of the people I interviewed. “She told me the story of how she had been sexually assaulted by a relative as a teenager. She became pregnant and had a baby as a result, but because she was not mentally fit to care for a child, he was taken away at birth and put into foster care. "I saw Patricia again in 2017, she mentioned that after I posted her story online, she noticed people were treating her a bit better. I asked if she would be interested in working together on a photo essay. She agreed, which culminated in the project Patricia’s Dolls. “Patricia said that she wanted everybody to know her story but she was uncomfortable sharing it with strangers. This project was difficult for a few reasons. The first is that we had to make sure Patricia fully understood what she was consenting to. “Patricia was accidentally thrown against a ceiling as a baby while a relative was playing with her. She suffered brain damage and now lives with a caretaker; although she is very high-functioning. Once I started to understand Patricia, I felt an obligation to help others understand her, too. I met with her caretaker and her sister and we discussed what disseminating her story might mean. Patricia and her family were insistent that this was something they wanted to do. “Ultimately, we ended up publishing the story with CBC and it was shared tens of thousands of times in Saint John alone. Patricia and her family said it had a measurable impact on the way she was treated. They felt like it had improved her life. “This was an extremely rewarding story because it was one of these rare moments where there’s proof that the pictures actually improved someone’s life. However, deciding that I needed to back off for her sake was also one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I think that when we get wrapped up in documenting people’s personal lives it can get complicated quickly and that is a blessing and a curse.” Chris finds inspiration for his projects from people in his community, such as Patricia, but also is inspired by fellow Canadian photographers. He speaks gratefully of the influence that photographers from his hometown had on him, either in helping him develop his skills (such as Jamie Wilson) or in their work that changed his perspective (such as Matthew Sherwood and Dan Culberson). When asked to provide advice to emerging documentary photographers, Chris says, “The main thing is to make a lot of pictures. Even if what you’re photographing doesn’t seem big and important, just keep taking pictures. Think about a professional athlete, for example: they’re working at their craft every day. Practice, practice, practice, game, practice, conditioning, practice, game, practice, etc. I try to think of my assignments and working on my personal projects as the game. If I were just playing game after game and never practising, I’d probably be a subpar athlete and I think the same is true with photography.” chrisdonovan.ca IG: cdonovanphoto Find this story and more in our DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY - ISSUE #56

I have been an artist my whole life, but it was only after a tragedy in my family that I discovered the deeper meaning I wished to share through my work. In 2010, my newborn son, whom we named Zachary, died in my arms from a cardiac tumour. That event has shaped who I have become as a woman, mother, artist, and photographer. It took me a year after my loss to return to my creative work. That was the time my art and photography morphed into an outlet to understand my sorrow. Little did I know that early work would be the genesis of an ongoing series I call The Quiet Rebuild. The series includes paintings and wood sculpture, but the most compelling component is the photographs. By 2013 I had arrived at a place on my grief journey where I felt compelled to tell the stories of others. I was the Artist in Residence at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre when I put out a call for volunteers to participate in The Quiet Rebuild. The online call went something like this: “Have you been through a personal struggle and are rebuilding your life? I’m looking for volunteers to share their stories in conceptual portraits.” The response I received was tremendous. People from across North America reached out, marking the beginning of a unique collaborative process. Those who lived in (or could get to) one of the cities where I planned to shoot — Toronto, Edmonton, and Calgary — answered a questionnaire about their experience. They shared the life situation that had prompted them to contact me. There were those who had left abusive relationships, battled crippling physical or mental illness, or had lost someone they loved. In getting to know these individuals, we talked about the words and images that described them both in their lowest moments and on their roads to recovery. It was impossible not to be inspired by these people. I also felt humbled that they trusted me. I spent time reflecting on all that they had told me and I meditated on a way to conceptualize their stories into meaningful photographs. This was the stage of the collaboration where I asked them to trust me. When they arrived at my studio, we sat and talked. These conversations were not the kind between “photographer” and “subject,” but between people sharing stories with vulnerability. We created a mutual trust for the work we would do together, and set a tone. Tone is very important for me when capturing the messages behind these portraits. I can sum up that message in one word: resiliency. The resiliency of the human spirit is what I find captivating. It is the desire we have to move towards healing, happiness, and fulfillment. Resiliency is the inner drive to get up every day and put on your pants, one leg at a time; to eat, work, and live — no matter what struggles or hardships you have faced. Though I was completely heartbroken after my loss, I recognized the seed of resiliency in me. That was also what I observed in every volunteer model in The Quiet Rebuild. “Healing #14”, for example, features a Calgary-resident named Cassandra whose father passed away when she was 15 years old. Cassandra felt lost and struggled in school. Music is a big part of her life, which was something that connected her with her father. I just happened to have been given 88 keys from my friend’s old, rotting piano a month before meeting Cassandra. I knew they would be perfect for her image. Together we — Cassandra, her sister, my videographer (for the documentary on The Quiet Rebuild), and I — sat on the floor of the studio building a headpiece and other sculptural groupings of piano keys used as props. It was a collaboration between strangers with the goal to visually communicate a deeply personal, yet universal, story. We may have begun as strangers, but we ended up lifelong friends. The Quiet Rebuild is an ongoing project. If you would like to participate, please email me, Alexis Marie Chute. See more portraits from this series at: www.AlexisMarieArt.com We featured this story and other amazing photography collaborative projects in our FALL 2017 - Canadian COLLABORATIONS issue. It's not too late to get it in print! HERE. #womeninphotography #AlbertaPhotographer #fineartphotography #blackandwhite #experimentation