Salt Spring Photographer John Cameron
Right on schedule, in early January the sun rises straight out Ganges Harbour—about 122 degrees Southeast. And does so at a very civilized time around 8 a.m. This makes for lots of gawking and traffic congestion (30 cars/hr instead of 10) on Upper Ganges Road.
Or on Salt Spring. And that’s not the Pacific. Nope, it’s about a 7500 km drive from Ganges.
Next stop Ireland. Do you know where this is?
(In the dark of a Salt Spring winter with our dollar down for the count, Salt Springers get to thinking about travel…in Canada. This is a good spot!)
First light breaks through morning fog on a Salt Spring Island mountain trail. Winter in the Gulf Islands…
Performing Arts (Theatre, Dance, Music and GISPA) at Gulf Islands Secondary School is my business cause, and since it’s near the end of the first semester, there’s always lots going on. Last night I shot many hundreds of images of dancers moving quickly and unpredictably in the dark. Photography is all about light and it’s tough when there isn’t much of it. Can’t really ask the dancers to freeze during the dress rehearsal so I can get a better photo! Still, there’s bound to be 200 or so images that will work and the students will likely have many of them posted on social media before the day is out.
The students at GISS choreograph what they perform. Pretty impressive at the classroom level, and always pushing incredible at the GISPA (Gulf Islands School of Performing Arts) level.
This show runs two nights only:
Tonight, January 13th and tomorrow night, January 14th at ArtSpring Theatre 7:30 pm. Tickets are $12.
(check the SD64 website post for more images from the show)
Here’s the Press Release:
The youth of the Gulf Islands Secondary School (GISS) are excited to present their semester’s work of dance! The show will offer new works of choreography from the GISS dance studio. Included in the show is a great new R&B duet to Drake’s “Hotline Bling” starring Vani Engel and Kathryn Walker and a large group piece to Adele’s new hit song “Hello” choreographed by a group of advanced dancers.The eleven dedicated dancers in the GISPA program are also performing and will offer an exciting list of pieces. “Once Again” with music by Hang Massive is teacher Sonia Langer’s latest vehicle for teaching new vocabulary and offering a deeper understanding of the dynamics of swing and fall in the Limon aesthetic. “Existence” presents the GISPA group’s creation which depicts the emotional lifecycle of humanity as symbolized in the delicate cycle of an oak leaf. Taking inspiration from an ink and watercolour drawing by Rebecca Clark, the group worked together to create this mature work.
10:00 am, south of the Mount Erskine summit
Another day, another hike. This time on the Erskine Trails, with the marginally faithful Westie: Cameron.
The fog, frost and snow make it so quiet, peaceful and different from the usual view.
Caution required though as one step off that ledge takes you very quickly to forest floor many hundreds of feet below.
There are only so many mountains on a small island like Salt Spring. So it’s been mentioned and photographed before on this website. Quickly browse the other Erskine posts by typing erskine in the search box at the bottom of the website. Or, if you’re in a big hurry, just click here.