Cape Breton Photography Exhibit

[Gary Samson]

A show of one hundred photographs exploring the rugged beauty of the Cape Breton landscape opens on October 12th and continues until November 26th at Cape Breton University. The exhibit "In the Blood, Cape Breton: A visual Diary by Gary Samson and Lindsey Vladyka" includes many images made with 4x5, 5x7 and 12x20 view cameras. Gary and Lindsey spent two months in the fall of 2008 photographing the island and it's inhabitants. In conjunction with the show, a book "In the Blood: Conversations on Cape Breton Culture" was published by Utah State University Press and Cape Breton University Press featuring seventy black and white photographs by Gary Samson along with a short essay on photographing the island. The website for the show is:

www.cbu.ca/art-gallery/art-gallery-exhibitions.asp

[Nathan Potter]

Gary and Lindsey, congratulations. A great place to photograph and experience the old Celtic culture, a bit of which still peeks out from under the veneer of modernity. Wow, the changes over the last half century. I visited first in 1950 when it was still common to see cod drying on outside wooden slats in Grand Etang; now replaced by a giant electric energy windmill. Neils Harbor no longer a fishing center but pretty much restricted to crabbing. Hope you got a chance to visit Morrisons Restaurant up at Cape North where you could interact with a few of the old timers that are left. Used to be a few ancient fish stained copies of the Cape Breton Magazine scattered about with stories about earlier times on the island.

BTW how available is the book which I think you indicated was published.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Gary Samson]

Hi Nate,
Thanks for your kind words and observations on Cape Breton. The book "In the Blood: Conversations on Cape Breton Culture" is now available from Amazon and Utah State University Press.