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but they are often hidden away in dusty old boxes.
I live in such a place, Temagami, Ontario is an old mining and logging village and like similar communities that lose their prime industry it is slowly eroding away. I felt that a visual record of the people of Temagami was missing, photographs of elders and seniors. These are the people who live and remember Temagami in its hay day, the very roots of the village and lake community. These are the folks who remember how their Grandfathers and Grandmothers literally lived off the land and how it was so different “back then”.
In the winter of 2006, I began putting this project together with some research and planning but essentially it would involve making portraits of the elders and seniors of the community. After several months of research I had the scope of work, ambitious as it was, I was excited. Although Temagami is a small village the municipality is huge and encompasses the Teme-Augama Anishnabai First Nations on Bear Island; the permanent and seasonal Lake Temagami Islands residents as well as the village and mainland rural areas.

The Temagami Elders Portrait Project was on paper and ready to go but I soon realized that the cost of printing and framing was going to run into hundreds of dollars! I needed assistance. I approached Temagami Community Foundation and applied for some working funds. I wrote letters to all the community leaders, clubs, groups and associations explaining my goal. The idea was met with great enthusiasm by all and I did receive a start up grant from the Temagami Community Foundation.
The goal of the project was to photograph as many community elders and seniors as possible to produce a body of work that records the history and humanity of our communities as a living history.
In brief, here is the scope of the project:
• The initial project will be to try to archive 30 to 200 portraits
• It will take place over the next 2 years starting in winter 2009.
• Portraits will be a permanent record made with digital equipment.
• Archival DVD’s of the final project will be produced for permanent record and kept where archiving facilities exist, such as the library or Municipal office.
• All portrait photographs will be made print ready at a size of 11 x 14, matted and framed using acid free materials.
• A selection of the portraits will be framed for display. The original scope is about 20, but the actual number will depend upon funding.
• The framed portraits will be displayed gallery style in halls, municipal and administration buildings, and may also be available to businesses that apply to display them.
• The long-term goal is to keep this as a living project/archive
Now the questions were: how and where to begin, how to approach the people, how to get the shots, who to photograph first? Unfortunately, by then my busy season hit full tilt and I needed to concentrate on my other business (construction) for the time being; the project would have to wait until next winter. In the winter of 2007, we decided to sell our house in the village. My wife, Suzanne, a teacher would now have to commute full time from our house on a Lake Temagami island to the Temagami Public School …another year lost for the project.
In the summer of 2008, I met Sherry Guppy, a local artist and we chatted briefly about the work we were doing. Sherry is working on a great project, called “Storytelling in Temagami: Collecting the Living Memories.” It is funded by The Ontario Arts Council from an “Artist in the Community/Workplace” 2008 grant. The project involves holding Round Table sessions with community elders, talking, remembering and telling stories from the past. Partnering with The Temagami Legion to hold the storytelling sessions, Sherry and Shanna McFarland were making digital audio recording of these sessions with audio equipment funded by The Temagami Lions Club.
I thought “WOW!”, and the lights came on! I approached Sherry and asked if we could partner our efforts; what a great opportunity to photograph these folks interacting and to have them sits for portraits! We accomplished two full sessions during the summer and another is planned for the fall. To date there are about 35 portraits ready for framing, as well as hundreds of candid photographs. There are now 15 framed B&W portraits hanging in the new Temagami Library and in the new Temagami Family Health building. So the project lives and breaths! You can see some of the portraits at www.gooderham.org; look for The Temagami Elders Project.
The following is some detail of the shooting. The old legion building in Temagami was a challenge with poor florescent lighting and few windows, so some close inspection of the setting was needed. I finally settled on a northern wall with some natural light and a 6’ black background. A gold reflector leaning on my kit bag gathered both natural and reflected light form my sb800 with a 40”shoot thru umbrella. Set at about 5’ high and 5’ away from the subject. I played with settings but found that the best was to use my Nikor 18-200 VR 3.5 at from 50mm to 80mm and 1/200 with an f stop of 7.1 to 9, the flash was set to manual @ ¼ power. In the 2 sessions I captured the portraits of some great people , they range in age from 80 to 97 years old it was a pleasure to work and photograph them. My crowning achievement was to photograph Catherine (Mamo) Morrison 100 year last winter and as a special treat her seven month old Great Great grandson Ryder agreed to pose with her, what an opportunity!
Although the funding has run out (I am applying for more framing funding) I will continue to shoot and archive. I have made contact with several more seniors and with the First Nations on Bear Island; hopefully a session or two on the island to record the Elders will result. At this time I am anxiously awaiting the lake to freeze so I can pursue the next phase.
I am thrilled to have accomplished this much in such a short amount of time and that this permanent gallery of portraits will stand the sands of time. I have enjoyed sharing my experience in hopes that it may inspire other artists to engage in their own community and uncover the stories hidden within.