Mr. McKenna

Just wanted to include this neat shot of Frank McKenna I took the other day.


Not sure how famous he is outside of New Brunswick, but in this province he's basically a legend. A Liberal who came to power by winning every single seat in the legislature in the 1980s, he dominated politics in this region, and is still regarded as an elder statesmen. His name is often bandied about whenever people talk about the federal Liberal leadership.

He also made Miramichi, forcing the region's towns, villages and LSDs into one unhappy amalgamation. Most everyone over the age of 40 would undo it if they could.

A complicated but, as I discovered, very charismatic man. Shame he's out of politics.

Canada Day/Rock n Roll Fireworks

The city is usually too cheap to do Canada Day fireworks, so the Rock n Roll festival usually obliges.

Here's some shots, taken with a Nikon D70s on a tripod. Enjoy.








That is all.

The dark side of the bridge

I'm not the cops reporter, but I happened to be on the right side of the river when the call came: Someone jumped off the Centennial Bridge.

We knew it was suicide from the beginning. It's really hard to just randomly fall from the bridge. My first ever suicide.

By the time I got there (it was just around the corner from my house), the cops were everywhere.


I'd covered a few deaths by this time, including a very memorable stretch last summer where it seemed every time I was on for the weekend, somebody died.


The water was choppy that day, and it was expected they'd have to search the entire length of the river down to the bay before they'd find any sign of him.


It was a recovery operation by that point, of course. Nobody was talking about finding the guy alive. At that height, jumping into the water would have been like falling onto a concrete parking lot.


The reason I'm even writing about this is just for a sense of what it's like to watch the police search a river for a drowned man. As any reporter who might read these knows, we almost never publish suicides. But it's a small town. Everybody knew about it within a couple of hours.

The boss argued we'd have to publish something, due to the simple fact people would be rushing to the paper on Monday only to find nothing at all. I agreed, but I couldn't help remembering my "no suicides" training, and wanting on some level to make the story go away.

The higher-ups' response was blunt. We killed the story. A morning's work gone, but that's how it is sometimes.


For non reporters: One of the reasons we don't report on suicides is because it may spark copycats. And before that day was out, we heard through the grapevine at least one person had freaked out and tried taking their own life.

So there's definitely something to it.

Meet the press

Premier David Alward, undergoing what may be the easiest media interview he'll ever suffer.


Alward was just in town for a tour of one of the local elementary schools. The young lady is a "student reporter" who helps produce their weekly newscast. They're actually pretty advanced.

Alward's apparently okay with kids, but tends to become slightly too "official" with media. Not this interview, though. He was obviously enjoying himself.

Ice out.

Every year I include a shot of the Miramichi's ice sheet in ruins, with mostly awesome open water.


It may not be much to most folks, but I live in the Maritimes: The winters are long, and the frozen river is a symbol of the long season. Including a picture of the last remnants of it is part of the spring ritual, a reminder that we have half a year or more to enjoy the open river.

Just how I cope with it. And to think I grew up in Africa and Brazil.

The big day

So I finally filed my application for permanent residence in Canada. That date was three years and three days after I first moved back to the Maritimes.

As you can imagine, it took some doing. Here's a shot of all the paperwork, courtesy of my buddy Lucas:


That took, like months to gather. Years, for some, thanks to insufferable delays by my company for some of the stuff I needed, not to mention a couple paperwork scares I'd really rather not talk about, even though they were sorted out.

Basically everything from Brazilian translated and notarized police clearance certificates (boy, those were fun. Thanks mum...), degree copies, English language proficiency tests (I don't want to talk about it), exact-spec headshots, reams of forms and addenda, and so on.

But it's in there now. In a couple of months, they'll either send me a letter telling me its in processing, or send it back because I forgot to dot an "i" somewhere. They do that.

But even if the latter happens, barring any heartless immigration officers, it should only be a matter of time now.

And now onto a year or so of ... more waiting.


(If I look scruffy and tired, it's because it was a Tuesday and I'd been up since 5:30 a.m.)

I wish I was a refugee. I'd have had straight-up citizenship, like, yesterday if I'd just had the sense to be born in a strife-torn third-world basketcase, rather than to two loving parents who raised me in good, mostly stable countries.

Aerial winter shots

In another example of the unexpected perks of the job, the pond hockey tournament had to be held at the Miramichi Airport this year due to poor ice at the lagoon at French Fort Cove. Airport means airplane rides, means another selection of aerial shots. Here we go.

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The former town of Chatham, where I live:


As always, the dominant landmark is the Centennial Bridge, while the single largest structure, St. Michael's Basilica, is also pretty prominent.

Here's a shot of the basilica itself, along with the snow-covered graveyard behind it:


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Over to the former village of Douglastown, notable mainly for its Wal-Mart, malls district and the new office of the Miramichi Leader:


To put it into perspective: Our last digs were in a former industrial building on the airport formerly used for drying out parachutes after military exercises. With poor heating.

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French Fort Cove:


Usually the home of pond hockey tournament, it was pristine this season. I still think there was thick enough ice to host it. Then again, I was born in subtropical Africa and spent most of my teenage years in Brazil. I'm prepared to admit I may not know much about ice.

The airport location seems to have worked out for the best:


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Over in the former town of Newcastle, here's the town square:


The orange-roofed building at around five o' clock to the square is city hall, the place where I spend most of my Monday nights. Rest assured, I will need extensive therapy to recover from that experience when I finally get out of here.

Newcastle had its share of industry before this marvellous town's total economic collapse, as seen in this shot of the partially demolished former UPM millsite.


The locals are still pissed its being demolished. Miramichiers have trouble letting things go.

A grand day out, all 'round. And on the company's dime, no less. I figure the least they owe me after three years of toil is a free plane ride.

So I took this satellite shot of Miramichi Bay from space, 'cos I take the odd jaunt up there from time to time:


Actual explanation: The boss is from a fishing community up the bay, and a lot of the fishermen were complaining the ice was taking too long to form this year. So she sent me, her good little terrier, to write about it.

My quest led me to MODIS, whence the picture came, and the Canadian Ice Service (I was ashamed to find I was surprised we have that), who told me it's the least amount of ice in the gulf since, like, the 1970s.

Mainly included this 'cos I love aerial shots, and so you can see where I live in the winter. Miramichi Bay is clearly visible in the shot, maybe two thirds the way up. You can clearly see the long, white bands of the Miramichi River, where it breaks into two inland. To the east, across the iceless strait, is the eastern edge of Prince Edward Island.

Aaaaand, that's my frigid Maritime wasteland.

Winter sunrise

My office is right by the river in Douglastown, almost exactly opposite where I live. I've watched many sunrises from there, though not by choice, thanks to stupid early deadlines on Tuesday and Thursdays.

Some nice photo ops ensue sometimes:


Some parts of the river hadn't quite been snow-covered yet, meaning some colourful reflections:

That is all.

Coyote on the river

My 18-200 lense was finally repaired this month, and I continue to be amazed at how insane the zoom is.


This shot, of a coyote on the frozen river, was taken from the shore, hundreds of metres away. It's a little fuzzy, but the fact I could see it at all is amazing. I only really have a workman's grasp of my camera and its lenses and what they can and can't do, something I'd like to change this year.

First time I seen one of these things. It was just making its lazy way up the centre of the river toward the bay, no care in the world.

First snowfall of 2011

Unlike my Maritime friends, I spent Christmas and new year's in Brazil and Argentina, two countries that are particularly famous for their lack of snow.

This, of course, meant I was due for some karma ... which arrived in the form of epic Maritime snowstorms over the past two weeks, not to mention a cold.

I'd complain, but ... I had it comin.'

Took some of these shots down by French Fort Cove and the ski club. Winter is a bitch, but her bounty is beautiful.

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The temptation to dislodge that snow was mighty.


The cove trails had a definite gothic vibe to them.




The rest of town got hit with a fresh dusting, too.

That is all.

Best of 2010, Part III

And the last of my selection of best or favourite shots from 2010.

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This shot I like because of the way the good colonel is lit by the projection of the area of Afghanistan he just came back from.


He was in town as part of a Canadian Forces PR initiative to explain this marvelous method they have of actually moving into Afghan villages and getting to know the villagers. Apparently it works better than just sweeping in, killing some Taleban, then buggering off back to base.

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This is the late Chief Noah Augustine, from Metepenagiag First Nation, also known as Red Bank.


He had a number of economic development initiatives that were ahead of his time. He ended up losing office in a handful of votes, then dying in a car crash a few weeks ago. Also, he killed a guy once, but was acquitted.

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Always loved this one, taken during a really hot day.


The look of unadulterated joy on that kid's face is just priceless.

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This one is darker than I'd like, but still neat.


A bunch of local peacekeeping veterans signing the travelling flag.

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That's it for best shots. Nowhere near as good as last year's selection, but I still got a few good ones.

Best of 2010, Part II

My best and/or fave shots from 2010, continued.

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A rare shot of a politician looking human:


Michael Ignatieff and his wife Zsuzsana Zohar at the Miramichi Folksong Fest.

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I kept this one in mainly because of the composition, the lighting and the kick-ass podium they had to pose next to.


The presenters of the school district's Creative Use of Technology Awards.

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This came out well, too:


This young lady was one of two Miramichi students to make it to the ranks of the presitigious New Brunswick Youth Orchestra. In past years, the kids have gone to China, Italy and New York to strut their stuff.

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Aside of just being a neat little shot, a bit of context helps with this one:


The gentleman pointing so proudly at the tail end of what I assure you is an enormous pile of lumber is Danny Anderson, the owner of the only mill still operating in Miramichi. He just got some financial help from the government, represented by the two then-MLAs off to the side, that allowed him to modernize and get back in the game.

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And this one is from Justin Trudeau's visit.


Those ladies will be the first to agree: he is so very pretty.

Best of 2010, Part I

Once again, a selection of my best or favourite shots from 2010. Enjoy:

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The PM's last visit.


Not the best lit or composed shot, but I still like it because the bridge is in the background, and I had to wrangle with the PMO for four days before finally managing to get this shot, which no other paper ran.

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Also a not super-composed shot, of then-Opposition leader David Alward, standing in the city council chambers:


I like this one because of the proprietorial pose he strikes, with his hand on the pedestal with the city logo on it. This was two days after the Norwegian solar panel company said they were putting off their polysilicon plant plans for the city due to economic uncertainty. That project was to be a success story for the ruling Liberals, and Alward, of the Progressive Conservatives, swooped in straightaway.

He ended up winning September election. Guess that's all we need to know about how effective a strategy that was.

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Ahhhh, mud-fest:


I had a whole post dedicated to this marvel of redneckery (not to mention one of those rare moments where I wish I'd grown up in Miramichi), see below. It's all the mud splashes that make this shot.

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Some more fun:


The Junior Chatham Ironmen were doing an into-to-baseball dealie with the young'uns. Mainly like this shot because of the colour, angle and depth.

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And a sad shot to cap this set off:


Residents of Esgenoopetitj First Nation, known to everyone as Burnt Church, light and release dozens of Chinese lanterns on what would have been the birthday of Hilary Bonnell, the teenager who was murdered on the reserve in 2009.

French Fort Cove Freezes

Well, there's just no avoiding it: We're in for another proper Maritime winter, although a tad late.

Here's some shots I took down at the lagoon at French Fort Cove in the city, just after it started to freeze but before snow could fall to cover it. Enjoy.



In another couple of months, the ice'll be a few feet thick, enough to support the annual pond hockey tournament. Always a fun time.