This was my third year photographing the Keewaytinook Internet Highschool (K.I.H.S) Graduation. It’s always such an amazing and rewarding experience. Each year I have photographed the event, the number has graduates has gone up. This years event was no exception, with a graduating class of 32. Just like last year, Valhalla Inn played host to the graduation.
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Lakehead University - Material Witness - The Outpost
The Office Of Aboriginal Initiatives hosted a special production of “Material Witness this evening at the Lakehead University Outpost. I was lucky enough to photograph some of it.
Material Witness was inspired by Spiderwoman Theater's 1976 production of Women in Violence. Irreverent, sometimes surprising, the show is rooted in powerful storytelling, with a twist of humor and an uplifting musical beat. It is a multigenerational exploration of violence, healing and renewal in the lives of Indigenous women in urban and rural communities on Turtle Island.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Wolfy's 7th Annual Pond Cup
I’m very disappointed that I have missed out on the Wolfy’s Cup - 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.
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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.
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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!
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