On September 3, 2012, I hopped on a plane leaving from Ottawa on a trip that would change my life. I was headed for Arctic Bay, Nunavut, on a one-year contract to teach ESL, Media and Career Studies. I was a fresh B.Ed. graduate from Queen’s University and, aside from spending three weeks in paradise in Dawson City, Yukon, I knew almost nothing about what I was getting myself into. I arrived in Arctic Bay needing a job, but left with a new love and appreciation for Canada’s north and for the path less travelled. Canada’s north, both landscape and people, have captured me. I love the north.
I have always enjoyed taking pictures. Even as a child, my father would drag me kicking and screaming out into the woods on a cold winter Saturday morning with some cameras. Once my protests abated, I would inevitably have a blast and find myself being lectured about using too much film. Now I have a digital camera, a growing technical and theoretical knowledge of photography and a career which is beginning to hinge on those skills. I teach Photography and Digital Imaging at the high school level – fancy that, I get paid to teach my hobby, play with fun toys (the school can afford much more cool stuff than I can) and, part and parcel of being a dedicated teacher, always learn more about my specialty. And I get to live in the north. It’s a hard life, but someone’s got to live it.
Aside from the qualitative story of my life, the important details of my life are: I am from Brockville, Ontario, and currently live and work in Norway House, Manitoba. I graduated from Queen’s University with a B.A. (Hons.) in history and philosophy in 2010 and a B.Ed. (I/S) in 2011. My interests are: photography (obviously), music (I play), hiking and outdoorsy stuff with a select few fine people. Reading (fiction) is becoming an increasingly large part of my life, but above all, I am mostly consumed with my career as a teacher.
I am proud of who I am and what I have accomplished, a quite happy person. The prospect of being better is something that gives me joy at the future rather than despair at the present. The last couple of years have been unpredictable and inconsistent with what I imagined my life would be like when I graduated high school – let’s see what fun twists and turns I wind myself into next.
Me at Creekshore Farms in 2011.