Through the Lens: June 2020

When you look at this photo of a grizzly bear munching away on sage grass near Campbell River, British Columbia you can’t help but smile. The feeling of both innocence and curiosity, captured by Viktor Davare, is everything we need these days. As bears came out of hibernation this spring, do you think they wondered where all the humans had gone? Want your photo to be chosen as a Photo of the Week? Upload your best shots to one of our Assignment Galleries for your chance to be featured!

Photo: Viktor Davare/Can Geo Photo Club

Community relocations are part of the story of what has and continues to shape Canada as a country. As part of our educational project on relocations in Canada, we want to know: what does home mean to you? We’re looking for photographs that capture your personal concept of home, be it the house you grew up in, a place you visit when you need to rest and recharge, a landmark that makes your community unique, or a person who represents comfort, hope and identity. In this uncertain time of social and physical distancing amid a global pandemic, home has become even more important. It’s not just where we spend most of our time; it’s where we find safety, balance, creativity and, hopefully, joy. Submit an image and tell us the story behind it for a chance to win one of three cash prizes, including the grand prize of $1,000.

Photo: Carlos Marrero Reiley/Can Geo Photo Club

It’s hard to believe Zach Baranowski’s beautiful pictures of the Mingan Archipelago are of a real place. The string of islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between eastern Quebec and Anticosti Island are home to seabirds, rare plants and the largest concentration of erosion monoliths in Canada. Fossils, bunchberry flowers and puffins dot the landscapes. “At first glance, tiny Île Nue de Mingan at the western end of the archipelago doesn’t look like much,” writes Baranowski. “It’s a nearly featureless landscape save for a few more limestone towers rising from the beach. On closer inspection, however, the island is a unique and fragile environment.”

Photo: Zach Baranowski

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