Volume 55 Number 48
Friday, December 4, 2015
Thompson, Manitoba
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Photographs that defy words
Nickel Belt News photo by Marc Jackson Bev Taylor in front of some of her many photographic gems.
Marc Jackson
My Take on Snow Lake mjaxon@gillamnet.com Bev Taylor is an artist that few compare to. She takes pictures, but not just snapshots at the beach or the family picnic. Taylor has curiosity in respect to subject matter, is not adverse to getting up at, or staying up till, five in the morning for the proper lighting … and she is always prepared for that one-of-a-kind shot or magical moment. Anyone who made their way through the packed
venue of the Aurora Borealis Arts Council’s recent craft sale (Nov. 22) will know of what I speak. She was set up in the northwest corner of the Lawrie Marsh Hall with a sampling of her many works of art. There are the amazing shots of the northern lights, some from shore; several snapped while perched precariously on a rock out in the lake! There are the black and whites of creeks and quarries and bulrushes. Shots of sunsets and islands and water so still, it is a mystery where the land ends and the reflection begins. Landscapes we have all witnessed, but could never capture the way Taylor has. The artist herself is modest to a fault, almost oblivious to the talent she possesses. It certainly isn’t from a lack of people pointing it out to her. While stopped to look over her work at the craft sale, every person who came by commented on the beauty of her photos and her ability to seek them out. She
shrugged her shoulders and thanked them and was more than willing to share tips and the funny little stories about how she got a certain shot, or how late she stayed up for the proper lighting. In conversation with Taylor, she admits her equipment isn’t the best. “All I have is an old Rebel (Canon) and my iPhone,” she said. She thumbs through several shots on the latter which she’d taken at Snow Lake’s Sunset Bay Beach, right after the first snow. They are amazing. “Pretty good for a phone,” she states. “It’s not the phone, it’s your eye,” I tell her. Again she shrugs and shows me a photo of a hummingbird in flight. It was after she took this picture that she realized there was something to photography and she admittedly wasn’t half bad at it. That was in 2007 and she has literally tens of thousands of shots that she has taken since. Of course not all are masterpieces, like any pho-
tographer, you take 100 to get one that does something for you. But it is obviously something she enjoys doing and with a new camera at some point in her future and the exposure that she gets at sales like this; expect big things from Beverly Taylor. Taylor’s photography is on sale in Snow Lake at HD Central. She frames them herself, with help from friends, and she has her photos printed in Flin Flon. Apparently one can also check out her inventory by search on Facebook. In other news … back on Oct. 19, 2013 during a lively Q & A session during a Snow Lake Chamber of Commerce luncheon, the then vice president of Manitoba Business Unit for Hudbay, Brad Lantz, was quite candid and forthcoming in answering questions posed to him in respect to employee testing and housing issues. However, a few eyebrows rose when he commented on the differ-
ence in price between Flin Flon and Snow Lake real estate. When asked a question about housing prices and if they were in line with those in Flin Flon, Lantz said he personally felt they were a little high, but noted that that would be a judgement call by those buying. “It depends who we bring in here,” he opined. “Right now a lot of the people we bring here are transfers from Flin Flon who aren’t looking to relocate; they are looking for camp accommodation. When they are not working, they go back to Flin Flon. I would like to think at some point in time that they would not want to do that for 20 years … that they will want to stay here.” This line of thinking has been the consternation of many in the community, particularly those looking to sell homes, so it was interesting to see facts that the research of local businessman Dave Mayer has
brought to light. In a recent email, Mayer stated that he did a comparison of houses in Snow Lake, Thompson and Flin Flon. The houses he compared in Snow Lake and Thompson were more closely related in size and vintage, with Flin Flon’s tending to be a bit older and somewhat smaller on average. “I figured them all out on a per square foot price and then calculated the selling prices to the assessed values,” said Mayer. The findings: Snow Lake $150.43/sq. ft. and up 16 per cent to assessment; Flin Flon - $173.00/sq. ft. and up 32 per cent to assessment; Thompson - $211.31/ sq. ft. and down 3.5 per cent to assessment. This was based on info provided by Gerry Haight (from the assessment branch) in the summer of 2014. So it seems, in comparing Northern Manitoba’s mining communities, Snow Lake has some of the cheaper real estate.
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