show & Tell
Fourteen East Kootenay photographers share snapshots of moments caught between land, sky, shadow, and seasons, each telling a tale from our vast corner of the world.
“Soon after summer draws to a close and autumn begins, the annual Fall Fair makes its much-anticipated return,” says Cranbrook shooter Morgan Turner. “The smell of mini donuts and cotton candy fills the air, and the evening’s soundtrack is excited screams and the roar of machines. Neon-bright coloured lights illuminate the grounds as the sun dips behind the horizon in a sea of warm pastel colours. It’s nights like these that make lasting memories.”
IG: @mturnerphoto
Lisa Kinnear splits her time between Crowsnest Pass and Kimberley. “Hot summer days produce dramatic evening thunderstorms that reverberate through our valleys,” says Kinnear of this photo near Frank Slide, AB. “Few slept through this storm, with its booming thunder and lightning. I was able to capture these bolts before the storm overtook my shooting location.”
IG: @bound_for_mountain
Matt Kuhn says Fernie’s distinct seasons and diverse landscapes provide the perfect backdrop for his work, life this image here. “Fun light painting an image of a lone tree one night, creating a super neat visual,” Kuhn explains, “and bewildering passerbys into thinking there was some twilight zone things going on.”
IG: @mkuhnphoto
On assignment for The Trench debut issue, Kimberley’s Nicole Leclair worked with a group of soon-to-be-graduates who modelled vintage prom dresses. “This model, Paige Johnston, arrived with pieces she wore in her cosplay, including a handmade shawl and elf ears,” she says. “I was moved to abandon the shot list for a moment and spend some time getting her portrait.”
IG: @nicoleleclairphotography
Cranbrook’s Trevor Phillips considers himself extremely fortunate to have been able to photograph a herd of bison near town, during the winter of 2024. “These magnificent animals were killed off by governments of North American to starve the indigenous people who called these lands home. It’s great to see farmers and governments trying to repopulate the species again.”
IG: @trevor_phillips77
A Ktunaxa member of the Aq'am reserve, Blaine Burgoyne, photographed the St. Eugene Church, as part of a Shaw TV show a couple years ago. They wanted some B-roll footage of Burgoyne taking photos. “So I brought the interviewer over to the church and he started filming. This is one of the shots that came out if it.” The St. Eugene Church opened in 1912 and closed in 1970. “The heart’s repaired with love,” says the 34-year old, “like stained glass windows.”
IG: @indigenous_view
World-travelled photographer Jesse Winter shot this photo while on assignment for The Globe and Mail covering a prescribed fire on the Aq’am territory, near the Cranbrook Airport, in April, 2023. “It was my first time seeing fire of this scale up close, and it was an incredible experience,” says Winter.
IG: @jwintsphoto
While filming an engagement video for a friend in West Creston, Binil Philip saw a herd of elk in the field as the sun was setting. “At first,” says Philip, “I thought about driving by, but then decided to stop. That led to a photo I now cherish, reminding me of the amazing place I call home.”
IG: @travelingbrownie_
“We’d already spent the entire day at Silver Springs, but it was another relentlessly hot East Kootenay summer, so stopping for a quick jump in the river only felt right.” So went the noteworthy day Kimberley’s Noah Ko snapped this photo. “I guess I found out what I would do if all my friends jumped off of a bridge. It also happened to be my birthday and there’s nowhere else I would have rather spent it.”
IG: @noah_ko
Photographer Mike Graeme spotted this trio of Bighorn Sheep while on assignment for The Narwhal, near Grasmere. “Illness, harsh weather, and habitat loss nearly wiped out bighorn sheep from Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi, its homelands,” says Graeme, born in Nelson. “To support the herd's survival, the First Nation — commonly called Tobacco Plains Indian Band — is working with the province to restore critical bighorn habitat in the Galton Range by thinning forest to emulate cultural burning practices that helped bighorn thrive for millennia.”
IG: @mikegraeme
Cranbrook photographer Jenny Rae Bateman headed to Wycliffe last summer for the bronc riding competition at the 35th Cranbrook Pro Rodeo. “Bareback bronc riding is one of the more physically demanding rough stock events,” she says, “with nothing more to hold than a leather rigging known as a cowboy wedge, the cowboy can’t touch the horse, himself or the rigging with his free hand.” As a photographer, there’s no other event that compares to this.
IG: @jennyraebatemanphotography
“This was shot while on assignment for a story about the resort in Kimberley, and it was lunchtime,” Revelstoke-based photographer Bruno Long recalls. “I rolled in with a fun little crew of families and hung around while everyone went inside for lunch. Sometimes, the best images happen when you stand back or walk away from the crowd and take in the whole scene. Everyone just parking their skis outside for lunch was a moment that I couldn't resist."
IG: @eye_b_long
SUP enthusiast and global adventurer, Bruce Kirkby, asked Kimberley’s Nicole Leclair to join him for a special day of year. "You know the one, when the snow starts but the lakes aren’t yet frozen,” says Leclair. “Bruce and his paddle board brought life, movement, and colour to an otherwise desaturated and still surrounding.”
IG: @nicoleleclairphotography
“This is one of those perfect days,” recalls Fernie’s Nick Nault. “Not often 50cm’s overnight lines up with a bluebird day. The groomers that night couldn’t keep up so you didn’t have to go far off the groomer to find overhead snow. This shot is taken 20 feet off the side of the groomer dead centre of The Bear.”
IG: @nick.nault
Spencer Robertson, based out of Fernie, usually focuses on portraits. In this case, he focused on his son Kai, who preferred high speed action to sedentary poses. “Sliding down the footpaths trodden in the early-December snow, Kai couldn’t get enough of his speedy toboggan. Every incline along Lizard Creek in Mount Fernie Provincial Park is another opportunity to zoom ahead of mom and dad.”
IG: @spencerrobertson
Find this full-length story and more in The Trench’s Winter 2024/25 edition: