About Colin

After three years wandering North America in an RV, Colin has settled in Ottawa. His artistic practice is largely representational, but Colin also tries to reveal abstract and surreal impressions of his mind’s eye. Colin was born in Halifax in 1948, grew up in Montreal, and returned to Nova Scotia to attend Acadia and Dalhousie Universities. He taught high school history in the Halifax area for 28 years and then spent five years in leadership roles with the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.

Fine art photography has become his passion since retirement. Although largely self-taught, Colin has taken courses in digital graphics at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

His prints have been exhibited at ViewPoint Gallery in Halifax (including several solo exhibits), as well as at a number of other galleries in Nova Scotia, and now a gallery in Ottawa.

He has conducted presentations of his work, seminars and workshops for a number of photography societies in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and wrote a number of articles on digital processing for the Photographic Society of America Journal. Colin has previously self-published seven books of his photography: Light Painting, Water Songs, Photographing Northern Italy, Fine Art Photography 2005-2009, Kokopelli, Metamorphosis and The Topography of Wonder, all of which can be viewed on his Books Page (to be linked).

Colin’s personal credo for a life well-lived is: To love, appreciate, enjoy, create, reflect and wonder. Balance the physical and mental. Create an aura of happiness and beauty around you by giving attention to your environment and the people in your life. Seek out beauty in your world, especially in the oft-overlooked common-place things. Revel in, rather than fear, the mystery of existence and consciousness. Seek to understand different ways of thinking and being, and celebrate diversity. Remember, not all questions need or can have answers. Create meaning in your life. Seek quality, not perfection. Learn from the past and plan for the future, but live in the present. Do what you can within your human limits to make your world more just and humane.

Through his photographic art, Colin attempts to reflect his way of seeing and living in this world. To him, creating and seeing provide a healing counterpoint to the trials and sorrows that life throws in one’s path.