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NUNAVUMMIUT by John Hasyn | Make Your Own Book

Laughing Out Loud And Other Inuit Values To Keep Your Company From Chillin' Out

“We try to hire local Inuit, but they have little education and so it’s hard for us to give them anything but the most menial jobs,” said the mining engineer sitting next to me on the flight from Yellowknife to Cambridge Bay, a small Inuit community on the edge of the Arctic Circle. It’s a familiar story and makes sense on one level since seventy-five percent of Inuit do not graduate high school. On another level though, that engineer couldn’t have been more wrong.

I first visited Nunavut in 2006. I had spent twenty years as investment analyst and portfolio manager, assessing companies for their investment potential. Others told me that I was good at it, but in the wake of the Enron and Worldcom scandals, I became aware that I was losing a grip on my craft. As an outsider, I could perform all the sophisticated and complex financial analysis in the world, but if a company had lost touch with it’s fundamental human values, no amount of number crunching would help me in the long run. I had no techniques to protect against moral bankruptcy. So, I decided to jump ship before it got worse – and it did.

For a complete change, I went to Nunavut, for reasons that are still not totally clear to me. I’ve returned many times and through my interactions with and observations of Inuit, I have grown to appreciate the power of Inuit Qaujimajauqangit or IQ (an Inuktitut phrase meaning “knowledge, which has long been known”) - a formal set of rules that guide and influence ethical behavior of Inuit, even today. I must qualify this by saying that I’m neither a scholar of nor an expert in this ancient system, but merely an observer.

Modern society appears to be quickly taking over in most Inuit communities. But, behind the ubiquitous satellite dishes, cell phones, SUVs, junk food and MP3 players, is a culture that remains rich in tradition, with survival and subsistence strategies that would make many a management consultant drool.

Whether it is society as a whole or a corporation that is an integral part of that society, survival is a cultural issue and more specifically, the human values inherent in a culture will ultimately determine its fate.

In my experience as an analyst, many companies fail in the long run because they somehow lose a grip on some very basic human values that defined them at the outset. The last couple of years have provided numerous examples of this phenomenon. It doesn’t matter how good your product is or how smart your people are, if your employees cannot relate to each other on a basic, civilized human level, the company is ultimately doomed.

Inuit have survived and will continue to do so because their values are such a stable, unquestionable and unconscious part of everyday life. For sure, they may have more access to modern conveniences today and are experiencing the societal problems associated with this, but how Inuit respond to each other on a human level has not changed in centuries.

The point here is, everything evolves, but human values should remain stable and at the core of any society, including a corporate society. The problem with many companies is that as the business model changes and evolves over time, so do the values. Somewhere in the chase for quarterly earnings performance and growth, human values get diluted or lost completely and when this happens, the resulting behavior of corporations can have a devastating effect on the societies in which they operate.

The drum used in traditional Inuit drum dancing is a symbolic instrument. The centre of the drum represents Inuit values. The strength of these values in turn, shapes the strength of the people. Values influence learning mechanisms and also define what Inuit view as important knowledge to pass from one generation to another (which is depicted in their traditional songs). Surrounding the centre of the drum are the determinants of health, well-being and community conditions that impact learning. These factors define the collective strength of Inuit and are seen as having an overall effect on the learning potential of individuals.

Every company should have its own version of the drum. The values that have sculptured Inuit psyches for two thousand years can be applied to any corporate entity today. They act as an “archetype” in a purely Jungian sense – a collectively inherited unconscious pattern of thought that can be applied to any individual.

Admittedly, it is now a cliché to say that a company’s assets go up and down with the elevator. What is not so banal is to say that those same assets are intrinsically linked to the survival of a company via a system of very basic human values. Values are at the core of Inuit culture and should be at the core of any culture, corporate or otherwise. Humans are humans, regardless of whether they live in the Arctic or Wall Street.

Respecting elders. In Inuit communities, the oldest person is always the most important. In the old days, incompetent people did not live to an old age. Elders, by definition, were held in high esteem because they had lived a long time, thus proving their competence. Elders not only have more life experience, but are also repositories of knowledge accumulated over many generations. For these very practical reasons, Inuit look to their elders for leadership.

Though many companies today embrace some form of mentoring program, it tends to be based on hierarchy rather than experience. For example, a 40-year old superstar Vice President might become a mentor to a 45-year old employee somewhere down the corporate ladder. It is rare that age is viewed as an asset in and of itself within a corporation, although at the board level, it is often the case that counsel comes from retired executives of age, sometimes from completely unrelated industries. Why should only the very top-level management have access to elders? Why can’t advisory committees comprised of elders with appropriate experience be set up to serve middle management and lower? Many retirees with valuable expertise and experience would welcome the opportunity to play the role of coach for one or two days a month. I know someone who founded an investment bank and maintained an office at his company well after his official retirement date. He literally just hung out there for a couple of days a week and consulted with anyone who cared to walk into his office, regardless of rank. He was regarded as one of the firm’s greatest assets and many senior executives in the investment business today owe their careers to his wise counsel.

In some aboriginal communities, it is said that when an elderly person dies, a whole library of knowledge dies with them. Why do companies choose to retire that library of knowledge before it is absolutely necessary? They should do more to harness this collective intelligence.

Making decisions through consensus and discussion. Most aboriginal cultures, including Inuit, embrace the concept of the “sacred circle”. If there is a problem to be solved, any member of a community regardless of age, gender or status can elect to join the circle. A rock is passed around and the person holding the rock states his or her views on the issue at hand. There’s no judgment, no disagreement, no discussion – it just is. The rock is passed around the circle until all that can be said about an issue has been said and the solution to the problem becomes clear and self-evident.

The main message here is that everyone’s viewpoint is important and valid, there is no intellectual hierarchy involved in the outcome and decisions are not forced, but arise as a result of the process. In essence, it’s the process that solves the problem, not an individual.

I’ve experienced corporate environments that try to engage in this type of collective decision-making, but it’s often flawed. Meetings are called, opinions gathered and the boss then makes a decision, usually too quickly. Rarely are discussions exhausted and participants often engage in what behavioral psychologists call confirmation bias – a tendency to cognitively overweight confirming evidence and underweight disconfirming evidence.

The sacred circle requires faith and trust in the process. It also requires patience and time - the real or metaphorical rock has to be circulated until a solution becomes self-evident. Like the human body, the process has its own natural rhythm and is not governed by the clock. If you allow the process to unfold naturally, you will find that the resulting solution has a different quality to it. The decisions that ensue carry more of a collective responsibility and are free of the competitive tension that is often evident in regular corporate decision-making processes.

Being Innovative and resourceful. At one time, everything the Inuit needed to survive – food, clothing, and shelter - came from the land. Needless to say, they had to be extremely innovative and resourceful. If you’re ever lucky enough to camp, hunt and fish with Inuit elders, you will marvel at their creativity and ability to do so much with so little. But, these abilities seem to have their root in the concept of serving others. In essence, the more innovative and resourceful a person is, the more they can give to others. To describe this better, I’ll borrow a Buddhist term called right effort, albeit within an Inuit context.

Today, youth-elder camps are held throughout Nunavut to teach kids traditional Inuit survival skills. An unintended consequence of this is that Inuit youth begin to understand the concept of right effort - always doing your best with whatever resources are available to provide for family and community.

Companies try to analyze effort by measuring productivity or more recently a concept called return on effort. But, this is like writing down an improvised piece of music after it has been played. It may be a useful analytical tool, but it fails to capture the mental energy that produced the music in the first place.

Effort is about mental energy and right effort is about creating environments that make people “want” to do things rather than “having” to do them. We have all heard of leaders who inspire their teams to work above and beyond what is expected of them. A common thread in leadership research is that good leaders always lead by example. This phenomenon is played out in interactions between Inuit elders and youth. Inuit elders always show and rarely tell.

Another important aspect of right effort is a sense of “giving”. The purpose of hunting in Inuit society is to provide for family and community. Even today, many Inuit communities have communal meat caches that anyone can access. If a person hunts, he takes only what he needs for his family and shares the rest with the community. The concept of sharing is so ingrained in the Inuit psyche that once I gave a chocolate bar to an Inuk kid at the airport and he broke it into five perfectly equal portions and shared it with his four friends. So, the point is, when Inuit do something, they do it for others as well as for themselves. The consequence of being innovative and resourceful is that it results in being able to give more to others. It is this sense of giving that motivates young people to want to learn traditional skills and ultimately work for the benefit of their communities (unfortunately, this has not yet been recognized in the school curriculum).

In a corporate context, Right effort at the employee level should, in theory, be inextricably linked to return on investment at the enterprise level.

Working together for a common cause. What I have observed about modern Inuit is that there is little difference in their behavior inside and outside of the workplace. Of course, there are exceptions and “office politics” do exist, but by and large, the same values hold true inside the workplace as they do out. Much of this has to do with the size of the communities, which are still relatively small - less than 1,000 people in most cases. In other words, you generally have to live with the people you work with.

But, there’s something more to it than that. On the whole, Inuit are not “measurers” by nature. In “modern” society, most human interactions are a chance to engage in some form of measurement. We measure whether someone is good-looking, smart, wealthy, educated, useful etc. We have become so good at it that it’s not even a conscious process anymore - we have already decided whether a person “measures up” within the first few seconds of meeting them.

In traditional Inuit societies, if you were part of a functioning community, that was all the qualification you needed. Everyone was welcome and included, because everyone had a part to play in the community as whole. The harsh Arctic environment took care of the measurement part – if you didn’t perform, you simply didn’t survive.

In the modern workplace, Inuit assume that if you’re there, then you’re part of the community. There is little evidence of clique or silo mentality, where groups are formed around some predetermined qualification, measurement or in some cases, emotional insecurity. The community works together as a whole and everyone has a valid opinion, which carries equal weight in the decision-making process. The community is always more important than the individual. The whole is always more than the sum of the parts.

Developing skills through practice, experimentation and action. There are some things that just cannot be rushed and some skills only elders can possess. Every Inuit youth knows and understands this. Inuit also seem to intuitively understand that experience has its roots in experiment. Watching, learning, experimenting, making mistakes and celebrating small successes are at the heart of traditional Inuit learning methods.

It’s fascinating to watch Inuit elders teach traditional tool-making skills to young people. It’s a very quiet process - little is said, but much is shown. Additionally, everyone is welcome to try, there’s an implicit understanding that learning has its own natural rhythm and is a life-long process.

Today, there is much angst in corporate HR departments about how to deal with the restlessness, impatience and general sense of entitlement of the Millennial Generation (those born after 1981). Many companies spend large amounts of money training these young employees only to find that they will jump ship without blinking an eye, leaving a company with little or nothing to show for its investment. Companies need to figure out how to deal with this in order to maximize their “Return on Investment in Millennials (ROIM)”.

Much has been written on how to get the best out of Millennials. Ironically, what is most striking about this research is that it illustrates that this demographic cohort is inherently a values-based generation. It’s a generation that was raised with a strong sense of community (albeit a digital one) and uncompromising social ideals (it has the highest volunteer rates in history).

During my visits to Nunavut, I have worked a lot with Inuit youth. If you ask a group of Inuit teenagers to draw their ideal man or women, they invariably draw a facsimile of their grandparents. When pressed to explain their drawings, it appears that it’s not so much the personification of their grandparents they idealize, but rather the values they perceive are inherent in this generation. In other words, they are reacting to an archetypal quality of that generation.

I’ve also tried this exercise on youth living in the south from a variety of cultures and nationalities. Even when material objects, such as cars or clothes factor into their renditions, they’re often associated with deeper ideals. For example, in a recent exercise in an inner-city school in Toronto, when asked why their ideal man was wearing Hip-hop clothing, the group responded by saying that clothes represented authenticity, not fashion. Other words used to describe their drawings included integrity, honesty, warmth, imagination and friendliness.

The point here is that the millennial generation is the key to strengthening corporate values. They have a lot to offer and in return they simply ask for a sense of community, participation and recognition. They will respect and respond positively to a system that embraces all the things I’ve discussed so far. That’s why they should be listened to carefully and their opinions given equal weight in the decision-making process. In a sense, this is a nice bookend to the first value I discussed – respecting elders. Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear a group of Millennial employees give a presentation on corporate values to a Board of Directors? Would it be very different to one given by elders?

Laughing out loud. This is not really a part of the official Inuit Qaujimajauqangit, but I thought I’d include it here because it’s a trait that I notice the most when I’m with my Inuit friends. When I first visited Nunavut, I asked someone who had lived there for a while what I needed to know about the Arctic. “You need to know how to laugh” was his response. Real laughter, the type that emanates from your belly, is such a natural part of life for most Inuit that it makes you appreciate how much it has been lost in our own cultures, especially the workplace. Why is smiling and laughter regarded as a weaknesses in the workplace? To be sure, there is seriousness to business, but if the workplace can embrace other “softer” emotions, why can’t it embrace laughter too. Besides, laughter keeps you warm in so many ways.

There is a common thread running through all these values - they a deeply anti-narcissistic. Narcissism is rampant in corporations today, but to strengthen any values-based organization, people have to believe that they belong to a community in every sense of the word. Trust, integrity, honesty, inclusiveness, participation and respect will always win out over personal advancement at the expense of others. Everything Inuit do is collectively driven – unfortunately, even suicide is regarded as being for the benefit of family and community.

In the old days, Inuit hunters used materials taken from their prey for their hunting equipment. They recognized the irony of harnessing the sacred power of an animal to use against others of its species. They appropriated both the actual and the spiritual powers of predators to assist them in their hunt. To use these powers, hunters had to show the animals proper respect by taking good care of their hunting equipment. It had to be mended and kept clean and free of contamination, otherwise, a cloud of impurity surrounded the hunter, making him visible to the animals and angering Nuliajuk, the spirit who controlled access to sea mammals.

In order to thrive, companies need to recognize that values are basic survival tools. They harness all the powers necessary for a corporate society to grow and flourish responsibly. They should be looked after and kept free of contamination. Only then, will the spirit of capitalism provide access to all its riches.

If you ever feel the need to question the resilience of these traditional Inuit values, try sticking your head in the freezer for ten minutes and imagine trying to come up with coping strategies that would allow you to survive in these climatic conditions permanently. You’ll quickly realize that the only ones that make real sense are those that rely on others around you. Laughing out loud is also helpful!

Inuit Youth Have A Voice Too

The first line of the chorus from the song “Teenagers” by the band My Chemical Romance is, “Teenagers scare the living sh*t out of me.” For most of my adult life, this could have been my mantra. Quite frankly, I found teenage coolness intimidating and always dreaded or avoided interacting with them. I’m also of an age where I can barely remember the details of my own adolescence.

Today, I actually really want to be around young people. That’s been a big change for me. I’ve learned I can connect with a teenager. I never thought that would be possible until I started working with Inuit youth.

I first visited Nunavut in 2006 in search of something good. Ever since Nunavut was formed just over a decade ago, the majority of reports have been only of its socio-economic failures. Generally, when I only see bad, I know there is something good just around the corner. It didn’t take me long to find it.

Upon arrival, I met Lori Idlout. She introduced me to a stunning culture—one of gentleness, kindness and generosity. What I saw did not wholly reflect what the media portrayed.

Lori is the executive director of the Embrace Life Council (ELC), an organization dedicated to working with youth in Arctic Canada. As we have witnessed in the series of media reports on Nunavut this week, young people in the North have issues, to say the least. The ELC’s mandate is to empower these youth to act and think positively and to celebrate their life, culture, language and history.

In 2008, despite my lack of experience working with youth, I was asked to help as a photography facilitator on an Embrace Life Council initiative called “Inuusivut” (meaning “Our Way of Life”). The main focus of this project is to provide the necessary skills-based training in photography, filmmaking and leadership to enable youth to be the driving force in the visual exploration, promotion and sharing of mental health related issues. In short, two Inuk filmmakers and myself travel throughout the Territory teaching a variety of visual communication techniques to groups of kids aged between fifteen and nineteen. So far, we have trained about one hundred and twenty youth in twelve communities.

It was especially challenging for me to take on this initiative because there were many barriers that had to be broken down before I felt I could connect with Inuit teenagers. I had to earn their trust not only as an adult but also as a stranger - or Kabloonak - in their community.

We teach about fifteen kids at a time and our 7-day workshops usually begin with an introduction to camera mechanics and basic visual composition. After a day or so of playing and experimenting, the youth are ready to work on their individual projects; either a photo-essay, multi-media project or short film. The ideas are storyboarded and scripted as best they can, shot and then edited to final production using state-of-the-art equipment. At the end of the week, we have a public showing where family and friends are invited and the kids get to stand up in front of an audience to introduce their projects. For most Inuit teenagers who are naturally extremely shy and quiet, this can be a daunting task.

The kid’s projects are mixed and always interesting. They sometimes tackle difficult subjects such as sniffing, bullying, the environment and those memorable and pesky adolescent relationships - subjects that are almost impossible for them to verbalize, but somehow come alive when cameras are put in their hands. The projects also seem to have an interesting mix of Northern and Southern sensibilities, often captured in their use of both English and Inuktitut languages – or Inuklish as we call it.

I’ve come to believe that art is part of an Inuk kid’s DNA. The level of artistic and visual acuity is nothing short of astonishing. When we show them what they’re capable of, it has a very positive effect on their well-being and mental health. Getting them involved in documenting their community not only encourages active participation, but it also turns the focus from death to life. Through this kind of communication process and participation, we hope that the youth will not get sucked into the funk that creates a cycle of failure, which in the worst of cases, leads to substance abuse and all too often, suicide.

John Ralston Saul, in his book “A Fair Country”, states that “a successful Northern strategy means Northern communities made stronger in a Northern way, which means approaches not imitative of Southern urban beliefs, but approaches naturally integrated as a blend of old and new Northern ways.” From my viewpoint, the first place to start with such a strategy is with Inuit youth.

At one of our public showings in Rankin Inlet, I was asked to say a few words. I told everyone that I had started the week teaching basic photography and ended the week trying to replicate some of the photographs taken by the students. I also wanted to say that nowadays, the only thing that scares the living sh*t out of me about teenagers is their immense creative potential and raw intelligence. But I didn’t think that would translate well into Inuktitut.

Time Flies

Cannot believe how long it is since I last blogged. So much has happened in my life that I don't know where to start and won't, but will vow to post thoughts and sketches from my camera on a more regular basis from now on.

Inuk Kid

Inuk Kid
Originally uploaded by John Hasyn Photography.

It doesn't seem like almost 9 months since I last updated my blog. How time flies. It's fitting though that my last post was about Nunavut because I just spent the last couple of weeks in Baker Lake, Nunavut attending the 2007 National Elder & Youth Summit. You see, since I went up there last summer I've been doing some projects for a charity called the Embrace Life Council: taking photographs and producing a brochure to send around schools and communities. Anyway, the summit was a great place to take more pictures of youth and also include elders. This time, however, I interviewed my subjects about some of the issues the Inuit face in Northern Canada. Still going through the edit, but I hope to produce a podcast to support this ongoing project. If you want to see more pictures of Nunavut and the summit you can see them on my site at www.johnhasyn.com.

Philip "Phat Philly" Ningeongat

Philip "Phat Philly" Ningeongat
Originally uploaded by John Hasyn Photography.

To see more photos of Inuit Youth and Iqaluit go to my webiste at www.johnhasyn.com.

Trapped On The Rock

St John's
Originally uploaded by John Hasyn Photography.

I don't think I've ever been in a place that has had so much snow over a 24 hour period. But, here I am in St. John's Newfoundland and almost without warning yesterday, a storm came in, first from the west and then from the east to dump a total over 50 cms. Of course, all the flights out were cancelled and now I can't get on one until 4.45pm tomorrow. Oh well, may as well play tourist for a couple of days!

Does Andy Scott sound like an Aboriginal Name?

While in Saskatoon last week, I picked up a book by Harold Lerat
called "Treaty Promises: Indian Reality." It reminded me how ignorant
I am about the Indian situation and its history here in Canada. I
come from England where the only education I received on Indian
Affairs was from John Wayne movies. This is surprising since the
English were largely responsible for stealing other people's land
around the world in the 19th century. You would have thought we would
have learnt something from the mistakes they made. Anyway, my visit
to Saskatoon, with its large aboriginal community, has prompted me
to start reading and researching a lot more about the current
situation in Canada. For some time I've had a desire to produce a
photo essay on youth culture among the Inuit and will probably still
do this. But, I think it would be interesting to broaden this project
to include aboriginal communities as a whole. The suicide rate among
aboriginal youths is about 10x the national average. Why do things
remain so bad for these communities in this day and age? Why is the
Minister of Indian & Northern Affairs a man named Andy Scott? Could
we not have that department represented by an aboriginal? These are
some of the questions I'd like to explore over the next few months.
I'll keep you posted.

There Is Hope!

A friend's son asked me to make a presentation at his high school
about my trip to India. It was a grade 11 world politics class and so
I biased the conversation & debate toward international aid and the
roles of the UN, IMF and the World Bank. I used my trip to India to
illustrate one of the more successful programs administered by the UN
(WHO). I was so impressed with the intelligence and awareness of
these kids. Considering that my generation (the baby boomers) are
responsible for much of the mess we see in the world today, the onus
is on these younger kids to attempt to put things right. A huge
responsibility! I'm sure I was pretty ignorant when I was 16 and
certainly didn't know (or even want to know) anything about world
politics. But these kids understood and were able to debate the
central issues around poverty and health. They were also very attuned
to how fortunate they are and the need to share and maybe even change their lifestyles a little.

On a different note, check out my new website at www.johnhasyn.com. I'm now totally in control of the design and content and I'm very happy with it. Thank you Lena Ho of Allina Creative Designs for all the great work you did on my previous site.

Website Update

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Originally uploaded by John Hasyn Photography.

I've been updating my website (www.johnhasyn.com) over the last week with lots more pics on the "photo stories" tab. Just like the above photo of the Scarborough pier in north eastern England brings back memories of my childhood, another strange thing happened to me this week. The first time I went to northern Ontario about 20 years ago I discovered the fabulous Highway Book Store on HWY 11 in Cobalt. If you've never been there it's an institution and definitely worth a visit. The shelves are stacked 3 deep in places and there are always many surprises behind the front row of books. Anyway, this week I was given an assignment to photograph the owners - Dr & Mrs Pollard, for Cottage Life Magazine. I've always wanted to do a little photo essay on this store, which prides itself on being open 365 days of the year. It's a real treat for me to go and photograph up there and I'm looking forward to seeing the results!

Vancouver to Calgary

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Originally uploaded by John Hasyn Photography.

I just finished a drive through the Rockies from Vancouver to Calgary, mostly along HWY 1 (Trans Canada Highway). The weather wasn't that great but it made for some great photo ops.

Bach Is My Excuse!

I know you're supposed to make time for these blogs once you've started them, but I've just been racing around over the last few weeks from one job to another. Last week I photographed 9 days of the International Bach Festival at U of T's Faculty of Music. It was a long week but I enjoyed being around Maestro Rilling from Germany and watching him work with a different Bach cantata and different orchestra everyday was both interesting and inspirational. I'm also in the middle of a few more photography sessions with Loblaws and will be going to Vancouver and Calgary over the next couple of weeks, driving between the two cities through the Rockies, which will hopefully make for some good photographs along the way. I've been doing quite a bit of commercial work recently and I'm starting to need to do something a little more meaningful with my cameras. I must start focussing on my leprosy project again.

Visa Pour L'image

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Originally uploaded by John Hasyn Photography.

Just got back from 2 weeks in France & Spain where I attended Visa Pour L'image, the largest photojournalism conference in the world, in Perpignan. It was incredible to see the diversity and quality of work that is being done today, especially considering the difficulty of getting anything published these days. Newspapers are hurting economically and are so risk averse that it is difficult to have hard core photojournalism published. Also, a recurring theme at the festival was the level of censorship today, particularly in the US. For example, stories that focus on dead or wounded US soldiers in Iraq are very difficult, if not impossible to publish. Also, stories that seem to favour the "Palestinian angle" tend to get completely ignored in the US. Another interesting thing was the number of pure documentary projects being done and financed purely by grants and private funds. Marcus Bleasdale's brilliant work in the Congo and Heidi Bradner's 10-year project in Chechnya come to mind. One thing is certain: there is no money in photojournalism, although it must be one of the more satisfying and interesting ways of working in photography. When I left the festival, my mind was very much on war, conflict and the starving and poor. After visiting the Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona, it really struck me that what we are seeing in Africa today is no different from what we experienced in Europe and Asia during the last 1,000 years. For example, wars fought over diamonds in the Democratic Republic of the Congo today are no different from the salt wars, opium wars, Spanish conqests, Christian crusades and many, many more examples of rape, pillage and plunder throughout the ages, including the oil wars of today. Same issues, different places, different times. It is hard to believe that things will ever change.

On a more cheerful note, I learnt today that I placed second in the medical category at the International Photography Awards for my portraits of cured leprosy patients. Considering there are over 25,000 entries from around the world, I would have been happy with an honourable mention. I'm over the moon with a 2nd place finish!

Tennis & Toronto

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Originally uploaded by John Hasyn Photography.

I decided to spend an afternoon at the Rogers Cup International Tennis tournament on Monday. It used to be called the Players International, then the Du Maurier International, then they did away with sponsorship of sporting events by tobacco companies, so the local cable company took over. Since I last went about 5 years ago, they've built a big stadium and it now feels like a mini-U.S. open. Lots of high priced hot dogs and brand name companies selling their wares. This to me symbolizes the mentality of Toronto. Gone is the quaint city feeling of 20 years when I first immigrated. Now we are desparately creating a mini-New York.

Taste Of The Danforth

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Originally uploaded by John Hasyn Photography.

Every year about a million people descend on my little Toronto neighbourhood to enjoy what has become the biggest street party and food festival in the city. Danforth Avenue becomes a mass of bodies, food and bare flesh. If I was shooting at 125th of a second, it's unlikely that my eyes could focus for much longer on any specific thing. Click on the photo and go to "Taste Of The Danforth" set to view larger portfolio on Flickr.

Four Days in the Wilderness

I just returned from spending 4 days kayaking and camping on Lady Evelyn Lake, one of the most northerly lakes of the vast Temagami system in northern Ontario. It was spectacular and the sunsets sublime (no photos!! - the last thing the world needs is another sunset shot!). It really is an interesting experience to be out in the wilderness alone. I've been doing this every year for the last 6 or 7 years and have regarded it as my private silent meditation retreat. The first and second days are the hardest. It's difficult to describe but it feels like a violent sensory deprivation shock to my system. For me, it manifests itself as extreme loneliness (something I rarely feel, even when travelling alone) and I feel this incredible urge to race back to civilization. Then, after a couple of days it disappears and gives way to complete silence and peace. I gradually become acutely aware of all sounds and as I'm kayaking across the lakes my attention is focused purely on the currents, the wind direction and the splash of my paddle for 5-6 hours at a stretch. The pattern reverses itself when I return to "the world". For the first 12 hours or so I cannot stand any social interaction. Everything and everyone just irritates me and it feels like my nerves are exposed. Gradually, everything gets back to normal. It's the same pattern every year. I didn't really understand it before, but this time I made an effort to observe the feelings and think about what was happening. I can only describe it as a voilent shock to the emotional system. When I go out, the shock is one of "lifestyle deprivation." When I return, the shock is some form of "lifestyle over-stimulation." The body and mind are so use to receiving some kind of stimuli that when it is abrubtly taken away, the emotional system goes into shock or withdrawal. It cries out for human contact or interaction. Likewise, when the mind becomes accomstomed (and it's quick) to other forms of stimulation, it simply cannot deal with a sudden rush of human contact. It has to adjust slowly. Only a few days in the wilderness, completely alone can this be experienced to the full. Does this make any sense?

Festival Time

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Originally uploaded by John Hasyn Photography.

Last year, I spent the whole summer photographing summer festivals around Ontario. Click on the photo above to see the full portfolio.

A Night At Moorelands Camp

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Originally uploaded by John Hasyn Photography.

Spent the night at Moorelands Camp on Lake Kawagama (see photo above), just south of Huntsville. The camp is run by Moorelands Community Services and offers inner-city, underpriveldged kids a chance to experience camp. My task was to take a group picture of 120 kids to say thanks to the camp's donors. It was great fun. I've been volunteering at a work weekend at the camp for a few years, but have never been there when the kids are there (our work weekend is always on a weekend before the kids arrive). Spent the evening watching a movie with the kids and in the morning managed to marshall all the kids on the dock to take the picture. Set up and picture took a total of 30 minutes. Impossible to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time.

In The Back Seat of a Delhi Taxi

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Originally uploaded by John Hasyn Photography.

This picture is from my "In My Back Seat of a Delhi Taxi" series. To see the full series, just click on the image and go to the appropriately named set in Flickr.

The New Face of Leprosy

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Originally uploaded by John Hasyn Photography.

I'm tired of seeing the pictures of extreme deformity on Infomercials sponsored by The Leprosy Mission International. Here is the new face of leprosy.
Click on photo for detaied caption.

Too Long

When I started this blog, a friend said to me that the problem with blogs is that you have to update them on a regular basis. He's right, 1 1/2 months is just too long. I have no excuse but extreme laziness! Lots of things have happened since I last blogged. I've finished my work for Loblaws and they've asked me to work for them again in the fall and throughout next year. I'm thrilled because I really like the team I'm working with. My photography has also improved tremendously. I also picked up a new client: Visa Canada. I just delivered a CD of the work I did for them on Monday. Hope they like it! The big news is that the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development, the body responsible for distributing the leprosy drug free of charge around the world have asked me to take more photos in Brazil and Africa along the lines of the photos I took in India. Apparently, the Novartis Foundation is extending their agreement with the WHO for another 10 years to supply drugs free of charge to leprosy patients worldwide. They want to produce a book commemorating this event. I'm really excited and welcome the challenge and opportunity of showing the leprosy elimination programs in a more positive way. I now really feel that my photography is well and truly kick started. It's only taken 3 years! Ha!

It's Been Awhile

It's almost a month since I last updated this blog. A month of criss-crossing the country taking pictures for Loblaws. I really like the work and I'm doing what I like doing. Now the nice weather has arrived, I'm cycling down to my studio again. I've also been updating my research on leprosy and have all the names and contacts for treatment centres in the U.S. Last week I contacted a treatment centre in New York City. I was shocked to hear that the clinic had 400 leprosy patients and was told that leprosy has far from been eliminated in the U.S. Photographing these centres will be difficult because of the legal & privacy issues associated with doing this kind of work in the U.S. It's certainly not like India where I was allowed to take photos of people without having to get a release form signed. Anyway, I'll continue to pursue this line of research because it's a tremendously interesting story. I've also read that leprosy may be spreading through the HIV/AIDS communities in the U.S. but cannot confirm this. Lots to do! Next week I'll be going back to Halifax with Loblaws then onto to Calgary and Montreal before returning for a week of shooting in Toronto. After that I have a small one day assignment with Visa.

A Sunny Evening in Calgary

After 3 days of photographing for Loblaws, I spent the early evening strolling around downtown Calgary. Pretty ugly actually. Hope there's less concrete and glass outside of the downtown core. This is my first trip to the city. I'm surprised. I thought it would be a little more sophisticated. Do I sound like a Torontonian? Having said all that, I spent a very enjoyable hour at the Art Gallery of Calgary, which I stumbled upon while I was wandering down a pedestrian street called Stephen Avenue Walk. Great exhibition by a Vancouver artist called Jeff Burgess and some fun sculptures made from cellophane wrapped around wire frames that looked like stationary elliptical curves (can't remember the artist's name). There was also an installation by Chris Lloyd of his printed out emails that he had written to Jean Chretian and Paul Martin everyday for the last 4 (maybe 5) years. I wish I could have photographed these because the installation was spectacular in the beautiful north light of the upstairs gallery. Back to Toronto tomorrow morning then onto Halifax next week and Montreal the week after. I'm really enjoying the creative challenge of churning out a semi-entertaining slideshow of photographs from the Loblaws executive training sessions. Not a technical challenge (although the lighting is crap) but definitely a creative challenge. Anyway, everyone seems to like the fact that I'm shooting in B&W. Even did a few with select colour ala the film "Sin City." That went over well and will try more of that next week.

Advertising by Leprosy Mission Canada

I caught the final frames of an ad/infommercial on TV by Leprosy Mission Canada, the Canadian arm of Leprosy Mission International, an NGO specializing in caring for leprosy patients worldwide. I was a little surprised because the ad overtly stated that the drugs to treat leprosy cost $295. This is clearly not the case. The Multi-drug Treatment is provided free worldwide by Novartis and the World Health Organization. The ad also left the viewer with the impression that deformities can be cured once the drug treatment has been completed. This is wrong also. Deformities have to be surgically corrected and will not be healed through drug treatment alone. I know this is not ethical, but is this kind of advertising even legal?

Another Favourite Photo

Another one of my favourite pics from India. This small village boy carried this bird around with him everywhere. Every so often he would wrap it in the rags that hung around his neck.

A busy few months ahead

The good news is that I'm booked all the way through June 16th doing commercial work for Loblaws. This means that I can also spend some time trying to get my leprosy photos out there and working on developing the project further. I came across a book on the last leprosarium ("Carville")in the U.S., which surprisingly did not close until 1999 after more than 100 years in operation. The remaining patients were released back into society. I think it would make an incredible story to find these patients and photograph them.

One of my favourite pics

One of my favourite pictures from India. A proud father cradles his daughter in his lap while she sleeps. The picture was taken in a slum in the city of Bhubaneswar in the state of Orissa.

New Stories

I've put up some new photo-stories that can be linked through my website at www.johnhasyn.com. If interested, I have also included a 1000 word text article on leprosy to accompany the photographs.

A Week of Recovery

I've spent the last week recovering from my trip. After a month of successfully avoiding sickness, I managed to get sick on my last night in Delhi. It made for a very long journey home and then I went down with a cold. Needless to say, my week has been long and tiring. However, I managed to build a completely new website that will be totally dedicated to photo-stories. It will be linked to my main website any day now. I've put up 6 photo-stories, including some from my recent trip. If you want a sneak preview, go to www.johnhasynstories.websiteanimal.com or just wait until it's linked on my main website. Next week will be busy with 3 days of commercial shooting for Loblaws.

Photo Essay

For anyone who is interested, I have posted a short photo essay on leprosy at www.americanphotojournalist.com (search my name under "portfolios"). Comments would be most welcome!

A Different View of Leprosy

Spent the last week visiting remote villages in the state of Orissa, about 700 kms south of Calcutta. What an experience to travel to rural places and photograph leprosy cases in their homes and places of work. The treatment and support services are fully integrated into the health care system and I witnessed an incredible commitment to the elimination of this disease from the state leprosy officer all the way down to the volunteer health care workers in the villages. I wasn't prepared for how physically hard this project would be. We spent on average 12 hours a day visiting communities on bad roads and temperatures of 35 to 40 degrees. It was all worth it. The face of leprosy is very different in the communities. The stigma related to the disease is slowly being replaced community support. Photographs will be posted when I get back to Toronto.

An Afternoon In The Community

I spent the afternoon on the back of a motorcycle visiting the communities surrounding the hospital. The objective was to photograph people who had been cured and who were living a normal life (a rarity before free multiple drug therapy was available). I visited a tea-seller. Noone knows that he had leprosy (if they did, they would stop buying his tea) and so I pretended to be a tourist, which meant taking photos of everyone in the village also. The tea seller treated his disease early, and therefore, there is no sign of deformity. He is able to live normally in the community without anyone suspecting that he had leprosy. His tea selling business was funded partly by a grant from The Leprosy Mission.

Just Another Day At The Leprosy Mission

Spent the morning taking portraits of patients at the leprosy mission. Their stories are fascinating and sad. Photographed one man who was a farmer and had been away from his family for 10 months. When I asked him about his future, he was worried about this time gap and whether his family would want him back. Sometimes, leprosy patients are not wanted by their families, because in tight knit rural communities, the family is often alienated as much as the leprosy sufferer. Therefore, either the whole family moves to another community or the person with leporosy is sent away. There are some real success stories in the hospital too. The trick is catch the disease early before there is any sign of deformity. Even slight deformities can be corrected by surgery and I spent the afternoon in "greens" photographing an incredibly complex hand operation. The hand is cut across the palm and the tendon of each finger is tightened or loosened to correct the hand deformity. Badly damaged tendons are fixed by grafting a tendon from a different part of the hand - called a tendon transfer. All this is done with minimal facilities and few staff. A prayer is said before each operation.

First Day in Leprosy Hospital

Spent the day at The Leprsosy Mission Hospital just outside Delhi. Hospitals are still situated outside cities because of the stigma attached to leprosy. Despite their terrible suffering, most patients would Nameste and smile every time I walked into a room. Nobody objected to me taking photographs despite their terrible deformities. The hospital is situated in the middle of several leprosy colonies. Colonies are the only place these people can go after being cast-out by the families. They are totally self-sufficient communities within communities. The suffering is devastating. The Mission Hosptial specializes in reconstructive surgery and physical rehabilitation in addition to drug distribution and diagnosis. The staff nurses and doctors are simply incredible.

Leprosy Project Will Begin Next Week

At last, I've finalized the first stage of my leprosy project. I shall be travelling to India next week and will be spending about 3 weeks in leprosy treatment facilities in and around Delhi, Patna-Bihar and possibly Orissa. I'm excited about the project finally coming to fruition after 4 months of research and preparation. I'm also apprehensive about the culture shock and whether I can deliver the goods! That's healthy, right? I'll be posting as much as possible from there and any comments are welcome.

Photo of the Week #2

Children hold up pictures of tsunami victims at a prayer vigil held in Toronto on January 8, 2005.

Thoughts From a Novice Yogi

I've been practicing yoga for about 3 years now (I'm on the 50-year plan!). Obviously, there are all kinds of symbolic things to be aware of. For example, like life, postures are not always comfortable and sometimes painful. By being aware of this fact, the postures seem to become less painful over time. One thought that has become my resolution for 2005 is to acknowledge my own personal space. The space that my mat consumes in a yoga studio symbolizes how we are all together but separate. In both the yoga studio and in life, instead of getting annoyed at the people around me for having different behaviors and attitudes, I'm going to try and concentrate on my own space. I can be present in the same space as other people, but still have enough room for my own mat.

My Photo of the Week #1

JUST DO IT!!!

Every week I hope to post a photo that makes me feel good. This is of my niece who modelled for me on the roof of a Toronto office building where they is a very windy running track!

Leprosy Funding

I've spent most of my week trying to figure out how to finance my Leprosy project in India in March. I've agreed with the World Health Organization to exchange photos for logistical support at the local level, but still need to finance getting over to Calcutta and a few weeks of food and lodgings. The project will celebrate the WHO's Leprosy Elimination Program. They hope to declare the end of leprosy as a public health problem by year-end 2005. A truly historic event by any measure, considering this disease has been around for 2600 years. I'm in the process of applying to the Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council and Toronto Arts Council for grants and some wild cards such as the Indian High Commission. We'll see what happens! Nothing I've heard or read indicates that there is any kind of living to be made in documentary photography. Sometimes I wish my camera could be interested in fashion or food photography, but I seem to have no say in this matter!

A Tsunami in Darfur Too!

There is no doubt that the response to the Tsunami disaster has been overwhelming. Stories of children giving away vacation money and the millions of dollars that have been raised throughout the world to help the people of South East Asia. But why does it take an event like a Tsunami to wake people up to the devastation that is happening all over the world. It is said that over a million people have been displaced and tens of thousands slaughtered by government affiliated forces in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Aid and human rights agencies have been trying to draw attention to this genocide for most of last year. Why is it mostly ignored? Similarly, if the world mobolized to eradicate HIV/AIDS with the same gusto as the Asian disaster, we would be able to solve this problem for good. Last week, CNN devoted an entire weekend's coverage to the Tsunami disaster. If they did the same for the atrocities in the Sudan, would people care more? If they dedicated an entire week of programming to HIV/AIDS in Africa, would people watch? Would kids send their vacation money?

My Inaugural Blog

A new year and a new blog. My inaugural blog, no less! As indicated above, this blog is about following my camera, wherever it may take me. But first, I think I should give you a little background info. My camera beckoned me about 3 years ago. At the time I was working in an extremely comfortable job in the investment business in Toronto, having built up a pretty solid reputation over 15 years or so. However, throughout my working life, I had been a keen amateur photographer, an interest that started when I was 16 years old. Photography was my creative outlet. A way to feed my soul. Then, in 2001, I think I lost control to my camera. I took a sabbatical from my job, travelled with my wife to South Africa, Vietnam and Cambodia and began a new phase of my life (a mid-life crisis as some people would say). I decided to pursue photography full-time, knowing that it meant starting all over again. The journey has been emotionally exhausting, to say the least. I've described it as akin to swimming across Lake Ontario (not that I've ever done it). For the longest time (through 2002 and 2003) I felt that I wasn't quite half-way across and could turn around anytime while the weather was still great and the water was calm. Going further meant swimming into the unknown; maybe a storm and rough water. Turning back, though, meant giving in. My Yorkshire blood wouldn't allow me do that, so I carried on. I went on photography courses, opened a studio, started doing work for free and got rejected many, many, many times. Here we are at the beginning of 2005. I feel that I'm now way past the half-way mark - no turning back now. The weather is still okay and the water not too bad. I have a decent portfolio to show people and I'm starting to get paying work! Hopefully this year I will also start to use my camera in more useful and meaningful ways. I'm negotiating with the World Health Organization to document their campaign for the eradication of Leprosy. This project will take me to India in March/April. I've also applied to work for Medecins Sans Frontieres. The current is too strong now. I have no control. I'm drifting across Lake Ontario and who knows where I'll land. This blog will hopefully take you with me!