Photography alum shoots Canada's icy north

By Courtney Rodriguez

rodr0086@algonquincollege.com

When Ottawa photographer Michelle Valberg set out to find inspiration for a photography book, she found it embedded in the arctic landscapes of the Canadian north.
The Algonquin alum brainstormed ideas for her latest work after being concerned with environmental issues and how it would affect Canada.

“I want to showcase landscape work in a soft environmental message,” said Valberg. “Not about what is happening in our country but what we have to lose and in a beautiful way.”
Valberg’s concept changed entirely during a trip in June to Nunavut and Baffin Island.

“I went up north and my whole focus changed,” she said. “It’s very hard to compare the north to the rest of Canada.”
Valberg and a group of nine people, accompanied by Inuit guides, rode on Inuit sleds called komatiks pulled by Ski-doos for an eight hour ride to where the ice ends and open water begins, and set up camp.
“[We’re] just plunked into this absolutely extraordinary part of the world,” said Valberg. “We were out in the elements and vulnerable, completely vulnerable.”
Out on the ice, Valberg photogaphed the northern landscapes and its species, including the endangered bowhead whale and polar bears, who were the first species to become endangered because of global warming.

“At times, that’s all you could hear, was the sound of whales,” she said.
Her time up north introduced her to a lifestyle entirely different from the rapid pace of urban life she was accustomed to.

 “The absolutely amazing thing was to be standing on the egde of the ice and waiting for things to come to you,” said Valberg. “Our entire life, we chase after things. We run here, we run there, and we’re always the one on the chase. This was a time that we just stood on the ice and waited for the polar bears and the whales to come to us.”
Her second expedition took her to the Torngat Mountains on the Labrador Peninsula at the tip of Labrador and Eastern Quebec, where she traveled on a Russian icebreaker and explored the land.
“They would drop us off and we would explore,” said Valberg. “The Inuit guides would stake out a territory for us and were always there to watch out for polar bears. It was amazing.
“You just feel spiritual. There’s so much going on there, so much history, with all the different Inuit tribes.”
Valberg especially cherished the northern hospitality. “They were really excited to bring you out and wanting to show their culture and why it’s so important to preserve it,” she said.
Her book, tentatively titled Our Lasting Legacy: An Environmental Message, will be her third published work. Valberg said her goal is to have it out in time for Earth Day on April 22, 2010. In the meantime, she still has many Northern miles to travel.
“I have to go up to Yellowknife and Whitehorse and do that whole area, and then I still have some exploring to do in Nunavut and northern Quebec as well,” said Valberg, who added she was fortunate to be able to work with Nunavut Tours and Adventure Canada on her last trip. “There’s still lots to do and unfortunately it costs a lot of money to go up there.”
Valberg keeps an open-minded approach while creating her current work in progress.

“I think allowing yourself to be open to change, and that’s what it’s gone from, from Canada to the north, and being able to adjust it as you go is a really good thing,” she said.
The only thing that will not change is the underlying environmental message of the book.