With new book Canadian Photographs, Geoffrey James captures the country’s ‘funkier’ side | Canada Voices

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a book title worth? Not much, in the case of Geoffrey James’s coffee-table book Canadian Photographs.

“Titles are always tricky, and this one’s a bit ambiguous,” says the Welsh-Canadian documentary photographer. “But when I came here in 1966, there were 20 million people. Now there’s 40 million. I suppose this book looks at what we’ve done, and about the everyday and the things that I find.”

The title is also a tip of the hat to Walker Evans’s American Photographs, first published in 1938, and Robert Frank’s The Americans, from 1958.

Using a Leica digital camera, James sought to capture the country’s vernacular, from small-town fairs to cityscapes to views from train windows. What it is not is a geography lesson or a meditation on Canadian identity. Instead, it is a resistance to what he calls the “corporate landscape” that typically represents the country.

“We’ve been sold a bland image, with Lake Louise and the CN Tower,” he says. “Canada is more interesting than that. It’s funkier, and I’m trying to celebrate that.”

James’s Canadian Photographs will be launched at Toronto’s Stephen Bulger Gallery (Saturday) and Vancouver’s Polygon Gallery (Oct. 29).

Old Brewery Mission, Montreal 2012

The Old Brewery Mission in Montreal began as a soup kitchen in 1889. There is a tradition, which I totally disapprove of, of pictures of bums with their flies open lying on stoops. I don’t do that. You can see that someone peed on the wall, though. As for the cameras sign, who uses a camera any more? Everyone is a photographer now. The iPhones are extraordinary. I think I’d like to do a book with one.

Fairground, Quyon, Que., 2012

This is in Quyon, a village that is part of Pontiac, Que. It’s just there, you know? If you go to this place in the summer and take a picture, it’s not going to look like much. The thing about all these pictures, they have to be photographs that work. A great photograph is not just a picture of a sign. This works as a picture – the Elvis is just gravy.

Sainte-Catherine Street, Montreal 2013

I didn’t set this up. These things happen in a split second. It’s just reflexes. If I don’t see a picture, I don’t take a picture.

Queen Street East, Toronto 2017

This in the Beach neighbourhood of Toronto. It always makes me feel like I’m in a small seaside town. I don’t know what I can say about this photograph. I’m walking around with a camera and a beautiful couple with a baby comes by. The light is slightly misty. The pictures take themselves in a way. What I mean by that is that I don’t fiddle with them afterward.

Shawville, Que., 2015

This is the Expo Shawville Fair. It takes place on the Labour Day weekend. It’s THE big event, and I go every year. There’s people having a great time, and I love the animals. My favourite thing on the Monday is the demolition derby. People destroying cars, there’s nothing more satisfying.

Shawville, Que., 2018

I just love the old couple and the wheel. They were so sweet. I love the fair, but I go to shoot photos. I’m very anonymous. Nobody knows me – why should they?

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