Photography by Ian Neilson
A photograph can show you what happened. A story can help you understand why it mattered. These are some of the moments that have stayed with me.
I captured this photograph for Brandon Cook when he was Canada’s top boxer. He went on to fight on some of the biggest stages, but this frame has always stayed with me. It holds the hard work, the dedication to a craft and the courage it takes to earn—and own—your moment. Somehow, in the middle of all that violence, there is beauty too.
This is my beautiful son, Finn, just a few days after he was born. It may have been the last time he was ever still. I was eager to catch this quiet little moment before life began moving at the pace Finn would soon set for all of us. Looking at it now, I can still feel how new everything was—and how completely in love I already was.
Three weeks after Finn was born, I stood in a backyard in Revelstoke and watched one of my best friends marry the love of her life. The mountains were the backdrop. The light found them at exactly the right time. But neither was the real story. Love was.
Whenever I look at this photograph, I think: the moment. I had been asked on short notice to photograph a wedding because the bride’s grandfather was sick and they wanted him there. This was the instant these women finished setting everything up—smiles, tears and everything in between. It showed me what people can accomplish when love is the goal.
Every photograph holds something