It wasn’t easy getting a seat at the West Vancouver Library last Wednesday night. The West Van Historical Society presented Local Voices: Shooting the North Shore with Ralph Bower, retired Vancouver Sun photographer and Mike Wakefield, who also recently retired from a 35-year photography career with the North Shore News.
The place was packed. I found myself sitting next to former Vancouver Sun and NSN columnist Trevor Lautens, behind former Sun business reporter Alan Daniels, and in front of Peter Speck, the founder of the NSN.
I can’t say I worked with Ralph when I was at the Sun in the ‘90s, but when I did a search of my stories, I see Ralph had photographed a couple of them. And, as I research my current book Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History, I keep coming across photos that Ralph shot. Ralph started at the Vancouver Sun in 1955, and he brought along the camera he worked with—a Speed Graphic that held 10 negatives. He was still there—just—in 1996 when the Sun bought six digital cameras for $20,000 a pop, and in doing so, wiped out film.
Ralph and Mike are local North Shore boys, born, bred and stayed. Ralph in Queensbury and Mike in Lynn Valley.
Both were asked to share five of their favourite photos. Ralph chose a Canucks game in 1970 when he was the first photographer to place a camera in the net; his friend Harry Jerome at Empire Stadium in 1962, Muhammad Ali, the 1958 Second Narrows Bridge disaster, and a horrifying photo of a knife wielding man dangling his tiny son from a third-floor balcony.
Mike chose a photo of kite surfers at Ambleside which he took moments before falling down the rocks and breaking his camera. There’s a beautiful shot of the top of the Lions Gate Bridge peaking out from under the fog; one of dozens of people snapping phone shots of the Vancouver Aquarium releasing seals at Cates Park, a fascinating study of award winning film students at Carson Graham Secondary, and Jim Burton and his wife Susan.
“The best photo I’ve ever taken, I probably had the least to do with it,” said Mike. It was Jim Burton’s 101st birthday and he was being awarded France’s Legion of Honour for his service in the First World War. Burton wanted Susan, his wife of 70 years in the photo. Susan had Alzheimer’s, so they went to the care unit. Burton helped Susan into a chair and combed her hair. Susan gripped his hand and smiled. Burton kissed his wife’s hair. And Burton told Mike “We are ready for our photo.”
He’d already taken it.
“Sometimes it’s skill,” says Mike. “Sometimes it’s dumb luck.”
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14 comments on “Documenting Local History”
Such warmth and love in the final photograph. Everything from the smile on her face to the way to the way she tenderly grips his hands. Bless them both.
Great story along with the picture.Black & white photography ,(for me anyway) is a better medium to describe a moment in time.Makes the macabre feel even more so.
Thanks for sharing this and all your other stories.
My pleasure! Thanks so much for following
The Jerome photo . Was he crossing the finish line? My friend Thora Swindells father Lloyd was his coach . Both sadly not with us today. I am appalled by all the equipment left track side in this pic.
Wonder if any of the spectators realize what they were witness to.
I was working nearby the place where the incident with the man with knife and dangling boy, and happened to encounter it whilst out on my coffee break. It was unreal, and no one believed me until this photo (and story) showed up in the Sun.
Amazing. I’m curious where it was?
It was the northwest corner of Heatley and Cordova.
Name of librarian in the top photo is Lynn Brockington.
Fixed. Thanks for catching that Nancy
Another excellent post. It’s great to see these fantastic photos. I really enjoyed working with Mike over the years and Mike, if you’re reading this, congratulations on your retirement!
Thanks Shelley!
When I was a boy it was a big thrill to get your photo in the local paper. I still remember the photographer, a low-key man named Miller Knutson, who worked for the Penticton Herald in the 60s and 70s.
He was quite recognizable, and it wasn’t just the giant camera. One time Miller was taking of the mayor and friends, so I squeezed into the frame and saw myself in the paper the next day.
Anyway, to the point of this article, thanks to Miller and the other newspaper photographers. As a result of their daily work we have a detailed visual record of every facet of our local history, not just nice pictures of school kids like me.
Oh what a heart warming picture of Jim & wife Susan. Just the right time – are the best photos
Thank you joining us, Eve, and for your post about Local Voices: Shooting the North Shore.
So beautifully laid out, your words so complementary to Ralph and Mike’s photographs.
So very much appreciated by me and my colleague Lynn Brockington, by WV Historical Society and WV Memorial Library and by Ralph Bower & Mike Wakefield, ‘the two old button pushers’ !
Thanks to everyone for your comments. I have forwarded to Mike and Ralph so they can respond directly.
To Skip Savage: thank you, yes, the detailed visual record of every facet of our local history – so true and so fundamental to the purpose of Local Voices and the work of local historians, here on the North Shore, in Vancouver and everywhere!