On November 12 and 13, two engineers who met at the Almonte Fitness Centre over twenty years ago will present a glorious photographic and musical tribute to their home and native land. Bill Pratt’s mesmerizing images of our country’s wild beauty will be accompanied by original music composed by Ian Douglas and performed live by the Raintree Earth Ensemble. Their goal is to elicit an emotional response that reminds us just how fortunate we are to live in Canada. It is a celebration of life in this glorious and free country.
Twenty-two years ago, my artist profile of Pratt touted a photographic show he was about to present in Almonte. He told me that during the Quebec separation crises of the mid-1990s he began to give presentations to make people reflect about Canadian unity. In the process he discovered how important it is to him to make connections with viewers who are as passionate as he is about our great country. My husband and I attended one of his shows in 2004, and we were overwhelmed with emotion by the time we left. We already have our tickets for Canada Wild.
Back then Pratt was carefully selecting canned music to accompany his breathtaking images. He was presenting shows as fundraisers for the Lanark County Therapeutic Riding Program, and occasionally to group meetings and camera clubs. When fellow Almontonian Ian Douglas approached him in the gym with an idea to compose original music to perform live to the flow of his images, Bill was intrigued.
Artistic temperaments can be tricky to merge. Even with the same goals and the best intentions, resolving conflicting ideas of how best to evoke a particular emotion can be fraught. Fortunately, these two strong-willed and passionate artists have learned to overcome their creative conflicts with humour and mutual respect. Bill knows how effective music is in stirring emotions, and Ian composes original, wordless music to heighten the effect of each of Bill’s powerful images. The Raintree Earth Ensemble features Ian on piano and djembe (hand drum), Kelly Sloan on vocals, Steve Smith on cello, Neil Saungikar on percussion, and Steve Reside on percussion and vocals.
Both artists take pains to explain why there are no words. It’s very simple: words make you think; their shared goal is to evoke emotions. Leo Tolstoy wrote, “Music is the shorthand of emotion.” These artists know that without words the human voice evokes the purest emotional response, as listeners have to fill in the details themselves. They want you to feel what Bill feels at 4:30am standing on top of a glacier when the sun transforms a remote landscape into a powerful emotional experience. They want you to marvel at Canada’s vast stretches of wilderness and feel a connection to our iconic wildlife struggling to survive there. Whether that experience is spiritual, cleansing, healing, or a call to environmental action is up to you. But you will be moved.
Bill Pratt’s photographic odyssey began more than forty years ago when he took his camera with him on a trip to Algonquin Park. He has earned his reputation as an outstanding Canadian nature photographer. His current Canada Wild presentation consists of three segments — Arctic Dreams, Algonquin Wild, and Yukon. In the process of acquiring his images he has been stranded for three days in the Arctic, almost fallen out of an airplane, and spent countless pre-dawn hours freezing and waiting. And waiting. Polar bears and foxes and moose don’t adhere to schedules. Sometimes the sun doesn’t appear for days.
He culls his images for the show from his treasure trove of over 42,000 shots, searching for those that best “celebrate the rugged landscape and delicate beauty of Canada’s wilderness.” He spends many hours considering the emotional impact he hopes to achieve from each shot. Then he goes to work with his image processing tools and refines and clarifies the message he intends to convey wordlessly.
During his long career with Parks Canada as a Chief Engineer, Eastern Ontario, Bill oversaw the long-term maintenance of Canada’s heritage assets at Fort Henry, and the dams, bridges, and 52 locks along the Rideau Canal. His job also entailed travel to China and Ireland, where he made presentations and found opportunities to take photographs. He has been a fundraising partner with Algonquin Park for more than fifteen years, and has created images that adorn merchandise sold at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa.
Ian Douglas is a composer, musician and poet who is well-known on the Almonte musical scene, both as a founding member of Raintree Earth Ensemble (world/folk music) and The Ragged Flowers (psychedelic folk/rock). His lifelong fascination with music began in Toronto’s Humber Valley where he studied piano privately and learned music theory at the Royal Conservatory. His love of music continued to expand, and he immersed himself in the world of drumming — including orchestral, jazz/rock, and African hand drumming. He recently retired after a long career as a research engineer in water quality for the City of Ottawa. He was also an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto.
O Canada!
Photographer Bill Pratt and musician Ian Douglas have joined together to create a celebration of our home and native land that is a welcome and very timely reminder of our good fortune to live here. They have overcome physical and artistic challenges to remind Canadians of the incredible natural beauty of our country. They are offering us a chance to feel grateful for what we have, to experience with our senses how lucky we are, and hopefully, in Bill’s words, “… to inspire a deeper appreciation for the wilderness that has shaped us as a people and remains essential to the human experience.” Their hope is that Bill’s stunning images complemented by Ian’s evocative compositions will foster a commitment to preserving Canada and its wild places for future generations. A brief sampler of their heartwarming tribute is available at raintreemusic.com/sampler, and tickets to Canada Wild are available at TicketsPlease.ca.
