July 1st is Canada Day and this year Canadians are celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday. On July 1st, to honor this special celebration, I spent most of the day gazing through 15 years of photographic archives and selected 150 of my favorite color images shot in Western Canada where I was born and raised. Oh Canada, my home and native land. You’re so beautiful! Here’s my Canada 150 in a slideshow:
Canada 150 – Happy Birthday to my home and native land! from Carol Watson on Vimeo.
The Red Coat Trail runs along the southern portions of three provinces in Canada: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. This route is the same route taken by the North West Mounted Police in 1874 as they tried to bring law and order to the Canadian West. One of my personal projects is to photograph the vanishing relics of rural life along the Red Coat Trail. A few years ago, I photographed along the Red Coat Trail in Saskatchewan. On my recent trip to Alberta, I headed out on the Red Coat Trail south of Taber and headed east to Foremost. I was able to capture these images to add my series.
I’m revisiting my archives and came across this image from 2005 that was taken in Alberta, Canada. This is one of my favorite places and I know that when I visit it again, there’s a good chance it will be gone.
Whenever I look at this image, I immediately start thinking about a song by The Gourds called “Steeple Full of Swallows“. Here’s the lyrics:
Steeple full of swallows
Hammer in the weeds
heart full of my head
mosquito’s on my feet
You must be the fine hairs
You must be the frown
You must be the reason
All the lights go down
Steeple full of swallows
Smoke in the house
heart full of my head
mud in my mouth
You must be the cinder
You must be the sound
You must be the reason
all the lights go down
You can listen to the song here: Steeple Full of Swallows
Earlier this summer, I flew to my hometown in Alberta, Canada and had the pleasure of photographing Katherine’s bridal images. What was remarkable about this shoot was that she proved that Canadian girls are incredibly resilient. Katherine powered through this session despite getting eaten alive by some of the biggest swarms of mosquitos that I’ve seen in years. She had absolutely no complaints while we posed her, shot quickly and then quickly covered her with a blanket in between takes. Such grace under trying conditions!
Katherine and Kevin were married this past weekend and I wish them many years of happiness!
