NADF CCP Workshop 2019 - Valhalla Inn

Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund (NADF) are a not-for-profit Aboriginal Financial Institution serving entrepreneurs, businesses and communities in Northern Ontario. They hosted a 3 day workshop focusing on community planning. It took place at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay. I was there to cover a couple hours in the morning on the first 2 days. While I was there during the first morning they announced their new website launch which was super exciting. There was also a keynote presentation by Dan Longboat.

The second morning, Juliet Rickard shared her story with all the attendees, which was really great to listen to. After that, there were a variety of breakout sessions which included a general overview of CCP, How to work with different groups, and a mentors panel with Alice Sasines and Prescilla Graham.

Both days for me were a lot of fun to capture and I also learned a lot while doing so. That’s why I very much enjoy capturing events like this.

If you are interested in learning more about NADF I encourage you to check out their website here.

Dizzy Mystics as Tool @ Crocks Thunder Bay

Living in a smaller town like Thunder Bay means that a band like Tool will never make their way here. That doesn’t mean that it’s not possible to listen to one of my favourite bands. Enter Dizzy Mystics who stopped by Crocks Thunder Bay last night to do a 3 set performance. Admittedly I had never heard of Dizzy Mystics but they were covering Tool for one of their sets so I was all in regardless. They also did some original music and a Soundgarden performance as well, which I unfortunately didn’t stay for.

I really didn’t know what to expect but I was blown away by how awesome they sounded. I have only see Tool live once before, and that was a long long time ago. All I can say is that if Dizzy Mystics ever roll through your city and they are covering Tool (or any band for that matter), definitely check them out. Lead singer Kyle Halldorson held his own and then some compared to Maynard James Keenan, and that is no easy feat. Every single song they performed sounded amazing. It also helped that Crocks had some really good sound going on as well.

Rounding out the band are Jeff Laird (Drums), Alexandre Joyal (Guitar) and Aaron Bacon (Bass), who were equally outstanding. I am by no means a concert reviewer, but I did want to take a moment to share my thoughts and experience and of course some photos.

For anyone looking to find out more about Dizzy Mystics, head on over to their Facebook Page.

BrewHa! Caskfest - The Camelot Building

For the past few years I always make it a habit to get out and shoot the BrewHa Festival down at the Marina in the summer. Well, summer came early so to speak, as BrewHa held an event here in Thunder Bay at the Camelot Building last night. A couple months ago when I saw the announcement I knew immediately that I had to attend this one and take photos. So in exchange for some tickets I took my wife Anne (who is posing for me in the cover photo) and we attended the last evening session.

Another reason we were anxious to check out this event, aside from all the amazing beer, was to see the Camelot Building, which neither have been to in a long long time. We really didn’t know what to expect but it was definitely a pleasant surprise and it looked very cool inside. It really fit the atmosphere.

One of the highlights of the evening was the opening of a cask about ever 40 minutes. I was able to capture a few of these and I came away with some pretty cool photos. Supposedly, earlier in the day, there were some pretty epic ones that resulted in quite the mess.

Anne and I both very much looking forward to the summer BrewHa as it’s always a good time. Hopefully they end up doing 2 a year moving forward though. To learn more head on over to their Facebook Page for information.

ONWA She is Wise Conference - Marriott Downtown at CF Toronto Eaton Centre

ONWA held their second annual She is Wise Conference this past March at the Marriott Hotel in Downtown Toronto. It was also the second year in a row that I was invited to photograph it, and I was honoured to do so. For those of you who don’t know what this conference is all about, it’s easiest to just quote the mission statement for the event.

“The Nibwaakaa inaadiziwin (She is Wise in the Ways of Life) Conference captures the voices and perspectives of Indigenous women, fostering a discourse of strength, that seeks to change the narrative of violence, through collective cultural and gendered empowerment..”

It was 3 day conference filled with a lot of great speakers and exercises for everyone in attendance. Some of the notable speakers were:

Chief Stacey Laforme – Chief of the Mississauga’s of the Credit First Nation
Dr. Dawn Harvard – ONWA President
Cora Lee McGuire-Cyrette – ONWA Executive Director
Minister Caroline Mulroney – Minister of Attorney General
Kathy Abolson-King
Sandi Boucher)

The exercises ranged from KAIROS Blanket, Building our Bundles, Women as Medicine, Taking Care of Elders and Self Defence. Some of the key performances included a Hoop Dance by 14 year old Theland Kicknosoway and a Keynote Address and Performance by Susan Aglukark.

At least for me, the 3 days went by very fast, and even though I was hired to photograph, it’s hard to take in all the information while doing so. I feel very lucky to be a part of such an important event. I’m already looking forward to the next one!

KAIROS Blanket Exercise - Lakehead University

Last year I photographed the second largest blanket exercise in North America at Lakehead University. This one was a much smaller one but the impact and importance was just as big. The KAIROS Blanket Exercise took place in the main lobby of Lakehead University, and it was a really good turnout.

The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is a teaching tool that uses participatory education to raise awareness of the nation-to-nation relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada using blankets to represent land. There are more of these exercises happening throughout the year so I encourage anyone who has never been to go to one.

Wake the Giant Launch - Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School

I was lucky enough to be invited to take photos of the Wake the Giant Launch at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School here in Thunder Bay. ‘Wake the Giant’ is an initiative for local business owners to offer support for indigenous youth. The goal is to have over 150 local business come on board.

The idea behind Wake the Giant is to have local businesses display a sticker in their window, showing any youth that they are more than welcome there. Racism is still a problem here in Thunder Bay and of course across Canada so this is a very important start to help combat that.

If you would like to find out more about this cause head on over to the official Facebook Page.

31st Annual LUNSA Powwow - Lakehead University

Thunder Bay is a very diverse city, and that was on full display this past weekend as Lakehead University Native Student Association played host to the 31st Annual LUNSA Powwow. It was a 3 day event with warmups taking place on the Friday and the rest of the celebration happening on the Saturday and Sunday. There were 3 grand entries over the course of the weekend, a feast on Saturday, a wide range of drum groups from across the province and of course lots of dancing and singing.

After photographing it last year I knew I had to do it again this year because it is such an amazing atmosphere. With my wife being aboriginal, I have been lucky enough to be a part of the that culture for the last 10 years. Not only did I come away with a ton of great photos, I also created a short highlight video of some of the celebration below. I’m already looking forward to next years event. Luckily, there are many more powwows throughout the rest of the spring and summer so I’ll be sure to get out and check out some of them. Check out some of the highlights below!

If you would like to learn more about LUNSA click on the here.

Wolfy's 7th Annual Pond Cup

I’m very disappointed that I have missed out on the Wolfy’s Pond Cup for six years. I guess it’s better late than never. To be fair, the first time I heard about it was last year so there’s that. Regardless, having made it out to this years version, I’m just glad I finally got to photograph it. Westfort Productions was hosting this years event and they were also filming it. If you haven’t already, check out their video from last years event. They did an amazing job.

I simply volunteered my services the day before the event on Friday of this week. I saw it listed on Facebook as an upcoming event, and I knew I wasn’t doing anything on Saturday so it was a no brainer. Plus, I wanted to see for myself what it was all about. After getting a response pretty quickly, the organizer was totally up for me covering some of the day.

Thankfully the weather ‘warmed’ up a bit since earlier in the week but I still made sure to dress extra warm. I packed up some camera and headed down to the venue which was on 20th side road. As soon as I arrived I was very impressed with the setup. It was a home-made rink which was in immaculate condition with boards and lights and everything you would expect. One thing that surprised me, being a boot hockey tournament was that it was true ice. I’m not talking the warn in type of ice, but the kind that if you aren’t careful, you are going to fall flat on your but. How all those teams ran around on that ice all day boggles my mind.

Beside the rink there was a bonfire, a heated tent and some refreshments. It seemed to be all the players needed to get through the day. I was only there for a couple hours around noon and and then again in the evening, but I easily came away with over 350 final photos. I love photographing these types of events because everyone is there to have a good time, and what’s not to like about being outdoors photographing some backyard hockey.

I am very much looking forward to next years event if they will have me. I can’t wait to see the video that Westfort Productions creates for this years version. I hope that all the players got a good 10 hours of sleep in last night, because that must have been the most tiring day I could imagine.

CMHC - First Nation Youth Forum on Housing

I recently covered a small portion of a workshop for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation where they asked First Nation Youth to come and learn about housing, housing issues and solutions. It took place on the Fort William First Nation here in Thunder Bay. It was a two day workshop with a very hands on approach and I spent about 3 hours with the youth photographing them. I was only allowed to photograph a few of the students, who were all over 18 years of age, but I was still able to show lots of what was going on.

Near the end of the workshop, 3 students were interview and asked questions pertaining to housing and some of their thoughts. It was great hearing the perspective of our youth and what some of their solutions would be. It was a very eye opening workshop for me as a photographer and I’m glad CMHC is running these throughout Canada. If you would like to learn more, head on over to their website.

The Craft Revival - Holiday Edition 2018

Anyone who reads my blog posts will know that I try my best to get out and photograph events in and around Thunder Bay. The latest happening in Thunder Bay that I was very much looking forward to was the Craft Revival - Holiday Edition. Surprisingly, this was another event that I never had the chance to make it to before. I may be wrong, but I believe this was the 4 year it has taken place. I really wanted to go to the one that took pace earlier in the year but the timing just wasn’t right. Well, this time around my Anne and I made it out and we had a great time!

This years holiday edition had around 19 venues and over 200 vendors which is amazing. We made to almost every venue. Pretty much every one we went to was jam packed with people too. It was so nice to see such a fantastic turnout. I even had some photographer friends selling some of their work. That is definitely something I will have to do in the near future. Now I just have to print some of my work…

I of course had my camera with me and took photos along the way. I packed extremely light and just brought my Fuji X100F. It’s the perfect walk around lens and not intimidating at all. Plus, it takes pretty darn good photos. The highlight of the day was probably our pitstop at Prime Gelato for an Affogato, which now just learned they offer. If you haven’t had it yet, it’s essentially espresso poured over a gelato of your choice. Simply superb. We plan on going every Saturday until the end of time now.

I think we were downtown for just over 2 hours and it went by so fast and we saw so much. It was a blast talking to lots of the vendors and seeing such talent. I’m amazed at how many artists live in this city. It is very inspiring and I am proud to call Thunder Bay home. I’m already looking forward to the next event this summer. Hopefully I can make it!

ONWA - Poetry Night

ONWA held another Poetry Night yesterday and once again I was lucky enough to photograph it. I covered the last one and I was super excited to shoot this latest one as well. For those of you don’t know, Poetry Night at ONWA is held to raise awareness of Violence Against Women in support of the United Nations International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women.

It was an evening of poetry, prose and spoken word. The amazing Robin Ranger and his band played music throughout the night which was great. Along with the some guest speakers and poets, the final part of the evening allowed anyone interested to participate in an open mic. I was so impressed with the amount of talent from the people in attendance. It was an even better turnout then last year.

Poetry Night represents an extremely important cause, not just in Thunder Bay but across Canada and the rest of the world. If you would like to learn more about it, I encourage to head on over to ONWA’s website or Facebook page.

Remembrance Day 2018 - Waverley Park Thunder Bay

There isn’t much to say about this blog post. Below are simply some photos I took during the Remembrance Day event here in Thunder Bay. I try and get out every year to capture some of the moments and emotions. If you see a photo below with you or someone you know in it who might like a copy, feel free to contact me.