It was standing room only as Chris Harris photography fans and community supporters poured into the 108 Community Hall to help celebrate the launch of his last book of regional imagery on Oct. 22.
“This is my last book, certainly of this kind, and its a culmination of my about 25 years exploring and photographing our region.”
British Columbia’s Cariboo Chilcotin Coast – A Photographer’s Journey depicts some highlights of Harris’ decades of photographing the beautiful, natural landscapes as he travelled around in this vast region, with his focus on the fabulous.
While there are a few of his early photos included, the imagery is mostly new that had never been previously revealed to the public, he explains.
“These images and short stories are designed to show not only the beauty of our region, but also [its] diversity.”
Each of his stories – a first foray into writing for Harris’ last book – takes people into a very specific and very different partof the region, he explains.
“Most of these places, people have never gone to before, so it’s a great way for the public to explore the region and findnew areas that might interest them – or just read it for an adventure.”
Harris notes that with short stories, the book is quick and easy to enjoy for even the most reluctant reader.
Harris notes his younger sister, Jane O’Malley, is a patron of the arts – including financial support for her brother’s book, which allowed him to maintain the same purchase price with 50 more glossy pages than any of his earlier volumes.
“She’s an artist – a painter – and she was married to one of the most famous painters in Irish history [Tony O’Malley], so we’ve been connected through art our whole lives.”
The book launch event was a special evening that included a custom audio-video presentation that went far beyond any of Harris’ previous book launches or presentations around British Columbia, he explains.
“It was absolutely incredible. There was such an energy in the room – a lot of emotion.”
Harris says the high-quality sound, screen and projection system was brought in from Vancouver by Ken Marshall, who worked with him on the presentation.
Noting the professional production manager and sound engineer worked for years in the Los Angeles film industry, he says Marshall composed an original score for each of eight slide shows Harris had put together.
“It was very, very powerful … it made for a very emotional presentation.”
Now that he has finished with publishing this type of book, he looks forward to capturing other types of “more abstract, art-driven photography, he explains.
Harris adds his wife, Rita Giesbrecht, travelled around the region with him for decades and edited his recent foray into more writing, and he also plans to take his turn supporting her as a Green Party candidate in the Cariboo-Chilcotin.
More information on other more upcoming presentations and Harris’ photography, books and local gallery is online at www.chrisharris.com.
