Memories of a Shoebox France Pinhole and digital Photography by Orion Carlisle & Stéphanie Biky February 25 – March 31, 2012 Mon,Wed 9am-7pm Tue,Thr  9am-6pm Fri          9am-5pm Sat        10am-2pm Alliance Française de Calgary Herald building #200, 206 7 Ave SW Calgary AB T2P 0W7

Cette exposition est née du désir de stéphanie de prendre en photo les monuments  avec la technique du sténopé ( une boîte dont l’une des faces est percée d’un minuscule trou qui laisse entrer la lumière ).  L,été 2011, alors qu’elle préparait avec Orion leur voyage en France en couple, elle lui expliqua son besoin de garder en mémoire son patrimoine culturel et d’utiliser l’ancêtre de la photographie: l’appareil sténopé.  Quelques semaines plus tard, Orion lui offrait quatre sténopés à emporter avec eux.  Au travers de ce projet, ils partagaient leur passion commune pour la photo.  À la base de leur expression artistique: une boîte à chaussure et une boîte de conserve  pour saisir leur mémoire de la France.  En même temps qu’ils nous transmettent un peu du patrimoine culturel de la france, ils nous invitent, tout simplement, à profiter de cette exposition: mémoire d’une boîte à chaussure.

This exhibit was born out of Stéphanie’s desire to photograph monuments using pinhole photography. In Summer 2011, as she and Orion were preparing for their first trip to France as a couple, she shared to him the idea to keep the memory of her heritage and to use the ancestor of photography: the pinhole camera.    A few weeks later, Orion offered to Stéphanie four pinhole cameras to take on the trip.  So this project became a collaboration, a sharing of their passion for images.  They captured, with a shoe box and a can, a memory of  France: a foundation of artistic expression in their life together.  With this exhibit they wish to share this with you, to simply enjoy as a legacy.

I am releasing my first calender of photos “Wild Flowers of the Canadian Rockies.” Its a limited edition of just 100 calendars.  One for $12  or two for $20. Please contact me at the link below if you are interested in purchasing a calendar.

From the back cover:
As a visual artist I love painting and photography. I love capturing the intensity of life in common things. I have loved photography since I was a little kid. I still have a print of gorgeously blurred black and white photo of a sunflower from my first photo class in 3rd grade. I am still taking photos of flowers today, however I take photos of other stuff too. As my job takes me around the world my camera captures the textures of life.

As an outdoor person I love to discover nature revealing its secret beauty. The most beautiful often takes the most effort. Many of these wildflowers of the Canadian Rockies bloom for a short time and require long hikes into the high alpine elevations. To me flowers talk to our souls; sometimes smiling, sometimes melancholic, sometimes vibrant, sometimes peaceful.

The first jam was a mother grizzly and her two cubs. She even a gave a bit of show by leaving a present in the snow. The next jam was a black bear quietly grazing the grass and dandelions in an open field. A few times he (or she: I did not bother to check). A few times he wondered over to the guardrail and leaned over to a stopped vehicle and stretching out his paw. Humm you think he was fed before. And what was interesting was he only did this to motorhomes. He completely ignored the cars. OK a show indeed. Then some people would get close up to the railing taking photos. Then the bear moved toward them, like an amoeba the group moved away. And as the bear moved back to grazing the amoeba moved back in… People and amoebas that would be an interesting topic… over a cup of coffee or pint of beer. Enjoy the photos….

The road winds its way through the heart of the Canadian Rockies along one river and then another as we go from one valley to another. Frozen lakes sit quietly under the snow. Patiently anticipating the thaw to come. A lone coyote walks across the open space of one frozen lake, the mountains rising steeply behind him. The sun peaking through the cold clouds. Near the Banff – Jasper Park border, we pass Parker Ridge. Just last Fall I hiked this one. Wild flowers and clear views on a sunny luck warm day. But not to day. Still covered in deep snow, groups with ropes and ice picks, scale the sides and then ski down. Ski tracks drawing abstract designs into the face to the ridge. We watch and then moved on. Dropping from the high passes into another valley. An hour or so latter we pull into Jasper Village. A small town in the middle of the Park. Just waking up from the winter slumber. Like the frozen lakes waiting with expectation of a warmer days.