Challenging conditions can be an opportunity for growth ✨

Plus: The story about the mountie with the beaver in the canoe.

Apr 03, 2025

Welcome to this month’s edition of Fuelled by Creativity! This edition is chock-full of ideas and inspirations, so be sure to venture right to the bottom. It’s coming to you just before I depart for Greece and Cyprus with my family, after which I’m off to Bhutan with OFFBEAT! I am excited for the adventures that lie ahead.

Taken on a previous visit to Bhutan. Photo: Paul Zizka.

Here’s what’s in this month’s issue of Fuelled by Creativity!

Reader Question: Tips for photographing less-than-inspiring landscapes
Behind the Image: The mountie with the beaver in the canoe 🇨🇦
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Reader Question of the Month

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Q: I'm curious how you'd approach a landscape that's quite flat, or less geographically compelling. The stand-bys, like old barns and elevators, feel overdone, and sunsets can be graphic but possibly uninteresting. Would you look more for odd geography? Or wildlife? Or make your life easier and find more compelling terrain?

A: This is a really good question, and I can definitely relate. How can you approach a landscape that's quite flat and less geographically compelling? Approach it the same way you approach bad light, bad conditions, or any kind of challenging situation in outdoor photography: You stick it out, take on that challenge, and jump on that opportunity for growth.

Yes, you could look for better geography, wait for better light, or look for wildlife, but I feel like there’s an opportunity to embrace the challenge to create something new and fresh.

You're right; if you go out on the prairies, the barn shots and the elevator shots… it does feel a little like it’s all been done. But, occasionally, I see unique takes on those places and not necessarily ones that rely on Mother Nature putting on a show and offering an incredible gift. Sometimes, you’ll get lucky that way, but sometimes you have to make your own luck.

I often see unique takes on iconic and over-photographed places — even places that are difficult to shoot. And what do those photographers do? Sometimes they use different tools. Many people will go to those places and shoot everything telephoto or wide. You could go the opposite direction. You could try long-exposure renditions or get the filters out. You could introduce the human element, introduce other props, or try comparative photography.

For example, you could go back to those places at different times of year and different times of day. Instead of focusing on a single image, aim for a collection of images to get the creative juices flowing. You can tell such different stories that way than you would with just one single image. Revisiting a location in various seasons or comparing day to night can open up new creative possibilities.

Experimenting with compositions is another approach. For example, instead of placing an element in the thirds or dead center, you might use negative space or frame your shot through something unexpected. I think there are a lot of ways, through composition alone, to overcome the challenge of creating something new in a place that feels overdone.

Hopefully, that's helpful! I welcome people’s ideas in the comments, too!

→ Simplifying scenes in challenging conditions is the topic of my next video release, available exclusively to paying subscribers.

Behind the Image

By extremely popular demand, the story behind the image of the mountie in the canoe!

Ten years ago, I set out with friends and local professional contacts in the tourism industry to create the “most Canadian image ever” in time to post on Canada Day (July 1). One friend was well-connected with local tourism and managed to recruit a few key elements in Canadiana: in particular, a stuffed beaver being used for decor at a local restaurant and a bonafide Royal Canadian Mountie Police officer.

This image was taken as part of a series. The full installation included the mountie in a canoe, a man clad in plaid chopping wood on the shore, and a woman in a Mario Lemieux hockey jersey sitting on the dock on a Hudson’s Bay Blanket holding a Tim Horton’s coffee with Canadian bacon and maple syrup on the side. The beaver hovered just above the water with one of our volunteers submerged in the lake, holding the beaver from below so we wouldn’t damage it. His dedication was legendary.

I chose to post only the mountie with the beaver in light of our country’s reckoning with what it means to be “Canadian” and the call to challenge our narratives that exclude Indigenous history and traditions, as well as those that perpetuate colonial institutions. I’d love to re-create this image in a way that tells this broader story.