Canada's Really Big.

Tiny snapshots of a huge land.

By Amy Jo Espetveidt

December 5^th, 2013

Canada's Really Big

No really. It is.

No wait. That’s an understatement. Canada’s freaking HUGE. When we set out on our epic journey to photograph the little things that make Canada beautiful, I knew it was big (hey, I’d done the trip twice before via road and maybe half a dozen in a plane). But did I really think about how big? No. We spent 22 and a half days on the road and traveled 13,464 km of highways, backroads, trails and questionable terrain. That doesn’t even include the 178km each way of ferries or the many, many hikes we took along the way.

Alberta

The goal of the trip was to travel from Calgary to the northern tip of Newfoundland and the town of Quirpon where my father was from. I wanted to introduce my husband to my Nan and Pop plus the odds and sods of family remaining on the great Northern Peninsula. The trip had been in the works for three years, saving, planning, cancelling, rescheduling. I knew I wanted to a photographic project along the way and after pondering it for ages I came up with Canada’s Really Big: Tiny Snapshots of a Huge Land.

Saskatchewan

The concept was simple, combine my passion for macro photography with the beauty of Canada. Shouldn’t be hard, I thought. Once on the road finding the subjects was easy – a whisp of grass seed in the ditch along Alberta’s Highway 1, a mushroom buried in the weeds along a trail head in St. Anthony, Newfoundland, snails hanging out in the Bay of Fundy’s many tide pools – it was the tedious amount of travel involved that became difficult.

What are these photos about?

Manitoba

We set out, traveling east on the Trans Canada, stopping in Medicine Hat the first night and Winnipeg the next before jumping down into the United States to save time, money and sanity (anyone who’s traveled Northern Ontario knows it’s tough enough to do it once a trip). We took routes that were less than well traveled, drove across the epic bridge connecting the two halves of Michigan, took random backroads through New York State, saw the graves in Salem, Massachusetts, took a few rides at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine and crossed back into Canada.

What are these photos about?

ONtario

We even got to spend an extra few nights along the east coast thanks to a delay in the ferry to Newfoundland (we were going to catch the boat on Saturday but couldn’t get on until Monday thanks to a mechanical issue). Once in Quirpon we only had a few days to visit, hike and shoot. We picked berries, found the spongiest moss ever, hiked along the limestone barrens and checked out L’Anse aux Meadows. Our trip to Labrador was cancelled (again, thanks to the boat delay) and our time was cut short.

What are these photos about?

Quebec

We booked it for the ferry, looking to avoid Hurricane Leslie, crossing in the nick of time and squeaking by the flooding in Truro, Nova Scotia. Although not caused by the hurricane, the storm we encountered pushed Leslie further out towards St. John’s, the roads shut down less than an hour after we drove by. Thankfully, we got time to shoot on the way there and ended up getting awesome pictures none-the-less.

What are these photos about?

New Brunswick

New Brunswick passed in a flurry, Quebec came on way too quick and next thing we knew it was time for the trek across the shield and the seemingly never ending sprawl of Northern Ontario. When we left summer was in full swing, ditches full of blooms, insects gathering. By the time we hit Ontario nearly three weeks later, frost had touched the land turning leaves gold and red. Those same ditches where now brown, the last wildflower holdouts heading to seed.

What are these photos about?

Nova Scotia

Manitoba and Saskatchewan flattened out, bringing fall colours, beautiful sunsets and giant snakes. Just ask my husband how big the garter snake was that squirmed over his foot at a rest stop outside of Moose Jaw. As we pulled up to our house back home in Calgary, we knew we were both bagged. The timezone switches, changing sun sets and all those kilometres had worn us out.

What are these photos about?

Newfoundland

But we managed to find and capture some of that beauty that I had set out to shoot – Oseeggs on the beach in Newfoundland, goldenrod blooms feeding the bees in New Brunswick, dew clinging to chicory blooms in Ontario.

What are these photos about?

Canada might be really big but she sure is beautiful.

Canada's Really Big set out to show that not everything beautiful has to be big and a lot of the most stunning sights in this country are the ones missed.