Wildfire picture wins nationwide award for Squamish photographer

Wildlife photographer Jillian A. Brown is all about juxtaposition, as a few of her newest work suggests.

Her successful picture in Canadian Geographic’s 2025 Flora and Fungi class, which was introduced earlier this month, is a transparent depiction of distinction in life and loss of life, however its symbolism carries a extra private which means, not just for Brown as an artist, however particularly as a psychological well being advocate for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

For context, Brown’s successful picture exhibits the “deadly beauty of flames consuming moss on a rock face,” as described by Canadian Geographic’s web site.

Brown instructed The Squamish Chief that she had labored to captivate not solely the fast drama of June’s wildfire at Dryden Creek, however most significantly, the overarching theme of collective neighborhood in her work. 

With potential tragedy and trauma, there got here magnificence in moments of the wildfire, and never simply, it appears, within the bodily sense. 

The Squamish Chief spoke with Brown about her motives in capturing scenes from the wildfire as an entire, and in addition these in her inspiration behind her successful picture’s submission. What follows is a model of that dialog edited for size and readability.

Q: I’m curious to know precisely what the final interpretation of your successful picture was, as a result of it took me a few glances earlier than I spotted it wasn’t some apocalyptic aerial shot, however really a close-up. To me, it appears virtually illusory.

A: It’s so humorous that you simply say that. I knew the entire scenario and what I used to be photographing, [but] I by no means ever noticed this. I acquired so many feedback and personal messages of individuals asking how I acquired that picture. People had been saying, “You can’t fly drones!” And so I really needed to do a video explaining the picture, as a result of I used to be frightened folks had been, for one, getting the flawed notion, and in addition that folks had been pondering I used to be doing one thing that you simply’re not alleged to do. Drones are usually not allowed inside 9 kilometres of a forest fireplace. Once I seemed on the picture, and I might see the place they had been coming from, I truthfully considered it as what it was [to me], nevertheless it’s been actually neat to listen to that folks view it that manner, and simply how a lot folks can see {a photograph} so in a different way, particularly if they do not have the story or the context precisely. 

Q: A superb picture can inform a narrative inside a narrative. It’s like a bit of artwork. Regardless of different folks’s interpretations, what was going by means of your head while you took that picture, and why did you resolve to submit that picture specifically to the competitors?

A: I entered quite a lot of pictures into that competitors, and I entered all of the classes as a result of finally they’ve a grand prize winner, and that is typically a aim—to be the grand prize winner—however that picture was the one picture that I submitted into that class, as a result of I do not {photograph} flora and fungi very a lot. I like landscapes, usually animals. 

[My work is] about documentation. For me, that is my favorite factor. I can showcase a narrative, whether or not it is an animal interacting within the wild, the forest fires, or folks on adventures. Flora and fungi typically do not, in my thoughts, showcase a narrative as a result of it is [just] sitting there. It’s fairly often very stagnant pictures, [even though] a lot of photographers do unbelievable work at making this stuff come alive. So once I came upon that picture received, it blew my thoughts, nevertheless it was a photograph I used to be actually pleased with.

The story behind it for me makes it even higher. It received simply because I used to be so immersed inside what was occurring with the hearth in Squamish, [which] was a giant a part of me eager to submit it.

Also, simply the best way the hearth was shifting throughout the picture, with the little twinkles of daylight breaking by means of actually thick bush, and hitting little bits of the rock and the embers throughout the burned moss. It got here throughout as such a juxtaposition of loss of life and life, as a result of moss is so associated to a really flourishing life, particularly in Squamish, with it being a temperate rainforest. I assumed it was simply so stunning: the juxtaposition of life and loss of life throughout the one factor inflicting each.

This specific picture was taken from one of many campground spots, and it was the final spot the place there was a camper, and he wasn’t in a position to transfer his trailer. And so all of them got here collectively and acquired it out of there. This picture was taken proper as the hearth was 20 ft from the spot. They had been grabbing hoses and placing water on … Their intuition was to guard their livelihood. 

Q: What was the very first thing you thought to seize in photographing June’s wildfire? I’ve seen the whole lot from helicopters and the water being dropped, to close-ups like this in your Instagram. Was there a selected narrative you had been following along with your pictures?

A: A giant focus for me was showcasing the general story of the neighborhood going by means of this. I used to be attempting to {photograph} all of the totally different first responder companies, in addition to all of the folks, after which the hearth round them, too. [I wanted to] showcase the whole lot put into this to guard a neighborhood, irrespective of how small or massive. I used to be photographing [the campers] as they had been placing water on this fireplace and trudging by means of thick forest to take action.

 

Q: How have your adventures as a nature lover and photographer, in addition to your psychological well being advocacy, influenced your method? 

A: I’ve all the time corresponded my adventures with psychological well being, and I feel it is really extra my studying about psychological well being and PTSD that has given me the compassionate eye. Also, the flexibility to be empathetic whereas doing my job. So many photographers will simply attempt to present the drama, and to me, I do not suppose that is empathetic to a scenario. 

I had quite a lot of conversations with the individuals who had been scared, at their properties on Depot Road, specifically when the digital camera was down, and I used to be simply speaking to them as people and as folks. [I heard] their tales and the way that first evening was, and so they had been up all evening, listening to the boulders crashing in the direction of their properties and issues. Well, I might have photographed the tears of their eyes, or the best way they had been type of chuckling as a result of they did not know what emotion to really feel. So I feel it is much more associated to my experiences and my information of coping with my very own psychological well being and PTSD than really having comparable experiences.

Q: On a lighter be aware, what occurs now that you have received this class, does this transformation something for you? 

A: You get printed in Canadian Geographic and get a subscription, which is superior. Those are all the time improbable issues, since you get to have your work on the market.

But for me, the essential factor is that this can be a picture that has such a private story. I hope that folks see the connection to my neighborhood with it, and to me, as a result of flora and fungi are usually not one thing I take into consideration photographing. It’s making me suppose perhaps I ought to push myself to {photograph} this stuff somewhat bit extra. 

There was one thing so stunning a couple of actually easy factor: If that fireplace hadn’t been there, no one would have made a double take of that picture; that little bit of fireside added this dimension to it. 

It is not essentially about successful; it is about the truth that proper when that forest fireplace occurred, I pushed myself to exit and discuss to folks, after which [they invited] me to go to the campground. I’m proud that I put in that effort as a result of I used to be on the market all day, some days partaking with the neighborhood. I’m extra pleased with that than really successful. 

Ina Pace is The Squamish Chief’s Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) reporter.

This reporting was produced by means of the LJI, which helps unique civic journalism throughout Canada.