Dale-Harris Hugh (Canada)

Dale-Harris Hugh

Hugh Dale-Harris is an educator, photographer and adventurer who livesin Nolalu, Ontario with his partner Amy, their 3-year-old daughter Wynne and their two former sled dogpets, Esker and Trooper.

ÃÂ His love for the outdoors and teaching beganat summer camp and later decided to get his teaching degree and continue his passion for educating people in the wilderness.

Since graduating in 1995, he has worked year round at outdoor schools such as Outward Bound Canada. His work using wilderness skills as a vehicle have people learn how to take risks, push their comfort zones, overcome challenges, develop interpersonal skills and expand their leadership potential has been extremely invigorating and rewarding for him. Hugh's work in the outdoors has taken him to remote, pristine and breath taking areas of Ontario, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and the Yukon. This is when Hugh's passion for photography developed. It began by simply documenting the beauty around him. Then,from the feedback of friend, family and professionals, he began torealize the potential his photographs have in affecting and, in a sense, educating people.

He sees his photographs as ways of capturing moments, evoking emotion, and embodying the essence of peopleand places. Some of Hugh's work consists of photos taken on unique wilderness expeditions. His hope is for the viewer to be riveted by the subject matter and also be moved by the sense of risk and adventure that are a part of the images.

wo of these expeditions are Arctic dog sledding expeditions. The firsttook place in 2004 when he took part in a 3,000 km dog sledding journey across the Canadian Arctic. The expedition lasted over five months,recording the Inuit Elders' perspective on climate change and delivering an online K-12 education program to approximately 3 million learners. The second took place in 2005 when Hugh joined the Barclay's Capital Ultimate North Team, in an attempt to prove that Robert Pearyand his party were the first to the Pole in 1909. The team added to thestack of evidence by arriving at the North Pole by dog team on April 26, 2005, within 3 hours of Peary's time. Hugh's passion for the Arctic, however, began several years before these expeditions. His experience teaching in Iglulik, Nunavut in 1999 caught him a case ofthe Arctic bug. These expeditions afforded him an opportunity to revisit the Inuit culture he values so much and plans to include education in the North as a part of his Master's in Education this year. Hugh also is and avid fisherman and white water canoeist, who especially enjoys travelling in remote areas of northern Ontario. A lot of his canoe trips take him to some breathtaking photographic opportunities and fishing grounds. Hugh's favourite fish is the pickerel, which is found below the larger rapids Ãâ "it tastes fantastic cooked over a roaring camp fire" says Hugh.

List of major accomplishments

: 743km dog sledding expedition to the geographic North Pole (departed Cape Columbia, Ellesmere Island, Canada).
: Arctic Transect, 155 day, 3,000 km dog sledding expedition. From Yellowknife, NWT to Pond Inlet, Nunavut