Nettie Adams is a photographer who lives and
works (mostly) on Saturna Island. I met
her at her lovely forest home on East Point Road on a sunny, summer afternoon
where we talked about her passions, art, Saturna, bamboo and hardy cacti…
Tell me a little about yourself and
your art.
As a photographer, I rarely set out
to shoot a specific image. Photographs just happen. They are fragments of
timelessness captured in time. I know this to be true because of the way I
feel. Excitement, complete fascination, a sense of connection, even rapture at
times. Something in my visual world just “speaks” to me and I am hooked. This “timelessness” is a
miracle to me. I am so human, so bound by norms, expectations and judgments
that to be caught in a moment, of creative exhilaration, is pure joy.
How did you come to live on Saturna?
I first came to Saturna in 1985 to
attend a friend’s wedding. I was busy with the wedding and taking photographs and didn’t see much of the island. Five years
later, when Charles and I were looking for somewhere in the Southern Gulf
Islands to get married, I remembered Saturna.
We were married in St. Christopher’s Church in 1990. We were living and working in
Vancouver, so we went back home afterwards, smitten by Saturna, hoping to one
day be able to buy property there. In 1996 an opportunity
arose to buy property and then we camped for another 20 years until we bought
this house. We are regular part-timers; we spend about two-thirds of our time
here.
How did you become a photographer?
I have always been a
photographer. I think I had a Brownie
camera when I was five years old and took pictures of my pet bunny. I have a degree from UBC in Fine Arts with a
specialty in photography. I was
fortunate enough to be taught and mentored by the now world-famous
photographer, Fred Herzog. He was
actually a Biomedical professor at UBC and, at that time, there was no one to
teach photography in the Fine Arts Department, so they hired Fred to do that. It was a very special opportunity. A group of us tripped around with Fred in the
mid 70’s. Fred taught
me that if you get one or two good shots out of a roll of 36 (back in the days
of film) you were doing awesome. Of
course, every shot that he took was amazing. He also helped me to develop an eye – to look for things that other people didn’t see. When I finished my degree I didn’t show any of my work for thirty
years. I’ve always had a camera and I continued to take
family photos but any other photos that I took, I just kept to myself. I also worked for Lens and Shutter for many
years and saw a lot of other people’s
photos (laughs).
How did you start showing your work
again?
Jean-Francois Renaud was curating
the art exhibitions at the Saturna Café and he said, “I can offer you a show.” Saturna had rekindled my interest in artistic photography and so I said ‘yes.’
There was a lot of nervousness
and trepidation, but I agreed. There’s nothing like a show to motivate you (laughs). That first show was in 2012 and was called “Sagacious” and I’ve had several other shows since. I once covered the inside of the Café with panoramic shots of tree bark that totaled 21 feet in length. It was called “Enfoldment.”
Ethereal Egg
What inspires you?
Saturna inspires me. It has been a very photographic summer. I often photograph community events and I did
the Lamb Barbecue, again this year. This time I focused on all the work bees
and volunteers. It was amazing. It’s
important, to me, to document
that event because the record says so much about community. There are so many
people, who do so much, that it is almost impossible to describe to someone who
hasn’t seen it. In many
ways, I’m like a voyeur
when I’m behind my
camera but when I photographed the BBQ this year, I got to see how I fit into
the community. That was an important moment for me.
How do you fit into the community?
I saw that everything that people do
is important – building
the tables, making the rice, cleaning the site – and I saw that what I do is important too. By taking
photos I help others to see the community. I am a connector and making
connections through my photographs builds and unites the community. I help to broaden the view; to provide a
window to each other and to life.
Tell me about a piece of work that
you are really happy with and why?
(Nettie took me inside her house to
see two photographs that she has mounted and framed on her wall. Both photos portray intimate moments of young
people in Thailand. One is titled “Boys” and the other “Painted.” As she shows them to me and speaks about them she has tears in her
eyes). Sometimes it is a privilege to take a
photo. There is a moment when I see
something and I am smitten. It’s the movement of the light and I
lose all sense of time and space; time stops and I am in awe. I live in that moment. Photography is a means to capture the magical
wonder in nature and the world.
What projects are you working on or
looking forward to?
This weekend I have a show opening
at the Café called ‘3 x 3 – In Plain View.’ Two others photographers, Maureen Welton and Nancy Angermeyer and I are
showing together. I feel honoured to be
sharing the space with these two women. The show will be up during the Art Saturna Tour on the BC Day
weekend, August 3rd and 4th when other artists on the island also have their
studios open. I’m also very excited about an event I’ll be having at the Sunset Talks at
East Point on August 30th. It’s called ‘Night de Light’ and my images will be projected large-scale
onto the side of the Fog Alarm Building.
Having my images presented in such a grand scale is something I’ve dreamed of for a long time. Bring a blanket and come see!
You can see more of Nettie’s work at:
nettieadams.ca
-By
Monica Morten
