Feature Artist - Kyle Hamilton

For me, photography is something that has just kind of happened. Sure, I used to flip through old National Geographic magazines and think how cool it would be to take the photos I saw, or wonder how I could get into Powder Magazine, but that was because I wanted to be a professional skier; I never really thought of being a professional photographer.

The sum of my formal photographic training is a three-week intersession course that I took at university because I was traveling to NZ, Fiji, and Tahiti for a year, and wanted to know how to use an old SLR film camera my dad gave me. Some of the photos I took on that trip looked pretty cool, so some friends asked if I would take some photos for them. This led to more family photos, a couple of weddings and finally I decided, “Maybe I should take my photography a little more seriously…”

I am a visual person. I doodle, I draw, and I dabble in acrylic paints. I am also an avid reader, and a bit of a closet writer. I am drawn to photography because it provides a creative outlet for my visual side by allowing me to tell a story through an image. I generally laugh at the overly pretentious artist-type, so when I write stuff like this paragraph, I find myself laughing.

My photography business has grown from those first family photos to a long list of portrait and wedding clients. I have also received awards for my landscape images, have been involved in the Island Lake Lodge Photo Shoot Out the last two years and recently opened a small gallery space in the Griz Inn.

I moved to Fernie about six years ago. I started coming here with my family for ski holidays in the late ‘80s, but finally moved to Fernie for the winter of 04/05. It was such a dismal winter that I went back to school in the spring to finish a second degree. A year later, I was on my way to England to study Law, and decided to spend one last summer in the mountains. Three weeks after moving back to Fernie, I phoned my parents and told them to cancel my plans.

I am often asked why I decided to stay in Fernie. Every time I think about it, I always come back to the community. The people of the Elk Valley are amazing. I was welcomed with open arms and feel that I have been adopted into an extended family. To show my appreciation to the community for everything they have done for me, I try to volunteer my photography services to as many charitable events and groups that I can. Recent events and groups I have shot include: the Knights of Columbus Soap Box Derby, the Ice Gala, Shred Kelly’s Olympic Fundraiser and the Highschool ‘A’ Provincial Girls Basketball Tournament.

Being a photographer in this town is incredible. There are so many creative people in this community, many of them photographers as well, that it has really pushed me to improve my art. Just like the rest of the community, the cadre of photographers is extremely supportive. Any time I’ve ever had an issue, technical or creative, a solution has always been a phone call or email away. Nowhere else have I seen this level of support among peers competing for the same small market.

My goal with my photography is to let it grow organically and see where it will take me. Photography is a cutthroat industry whose monetary rewards are rapidly shrinking, so if someday I can support myself by taking photos, then I will feel that I have accomplished something significant with it. I am always deeply honored when someone asks me to provide them with my photographic services and will forever be stoked whenever someone contacts me for photos; and it isn’t my mom.