Brian’s autobiography:

     Born and raised in Nova Scotia I explored every corner of the Atlantic Canadian Provinces by air, land and sea.  I started my self directed apprenticeship in outdoor photography in the late 1980s and began seriously exploring the natural world through my lens in 1990.  Back then I was shooting a manual film SLR Camera learning with each picture I took and roll of film that I developed.  

     Between 1990-1997 I earned a Fish and Wildlife Technician diploma from Fleming College in Ontario followed with a BSc. with Honours in Biology from Acadia University.  My honours thesis specialized in population genetics and wildlife management.  During the 6 years at college and university I continued to passionately teach myself everything I could about photography.  

     While studying at Acadia University I concurrently worked as a lab instructor in the biology program during each of the four years during my honours degree, including my first year.  I taught labs in “Introductory Biology” and facilitated the “Introductory to Genetics” labs while completing my degree and honours thesis.   This was the beginning of my teaching experience.

     After 7 years of my self directed photography education, read between the lines, “trial and error!!”, and after finishing up my 4 year degree at Acadia University, I moved to Banff in the Canadian Rockies and began my professional landscape photography business in the summer.   I’ve enjoyed a long career as a professional photographer thriving through numerous changes in the industry.  We’re presently adjusting to the new normal in the wake of the Covid-19 global pandemic.  But, the most dramatic shift in the “landscape” occurred  when the photography World shifted from film to digital between 2001 and 2002.  I am still amazed at how quickly and completely that radical shift happened throughout the industry.  

I’m grateful that I had the courage to embrace professional grade digital cameras early on in the transition.  That decisive move put me on the “front line of the digital revolution” as I adapted my thriving event photography business from a 100% film operation to a 100% digital operation that spanned the Canadian Rockies and employed 13 photographers seasonally.   I swiftly made this shift in less than a year.

     I also began teaching and leading photography workshops and tours in 2006.  My professional instructor experience and experience from Acadia University ,and later at Lakeland College in Vermillion, AB, has proven invaluable.  This experience and training has served me while developing and delivering my own educational workshops and presentations featuring my outdoor photography from around the World.  

     I’ve delivered landscape photography seminars and hosted workshops and tours across Canada, in California and in Japan.  I thoroughly enjoy teaching landscape photography workshops and leading tours.  It is very rewarding to see the sparkle in my students’ eyes, and the realization in their faces in the moment when “they get it!”

For almost 30 years photography has been an integral part of my life.  I can’t imagine not being a photographer.  

Photography is part of who I am.

Kazue’s biography:

     Kazue studied and worked as a nurse in Japan before deciding to move to Canada in 2005 after numerous lengthly vacations here starting in 2000.  On her first trip to Canada she arrived in Vancouver fresh out of Japan for her first time and couldn’t speak any English.  After arriving in Vancouver she promptly bought a used motorcycle in Squamish, BC and a small tool kit at Canadian Tire in Squamish, BC.  She was convinced she had everything she needed to travel and promptly her used motorcycle to Newfoundland and back to Vancouver while carrying a backpack stuffed with everything she needed for

the trip.  She did have a few some stops along the way to repair the occasional mechanical breakdowns on the side of the road with the tool kit that she bought at the start of her trip.  She is amazing and simply does whatever she sets her mind too.

     Kazue is an integral part of the photography business behind the scenes.  She is the anchor in my life, the sounding board for my brave new projects in the development stages.  She also provides me with a well needed reality check every now and then when my dream a little too big for the business!.  She is the ying in my yang.  Kazue definitely has her hands full keeping me grounded and heading in the right direction.  She loves the travel and the excitement of the next big project.  She is an integral part of business.

The Team:

     After getting married in 2010 Kazue and I are now loving our landscape and wildlife photography business more each year as we grow closer together exploring and photographing the world together.  I’m constantly amazed at how she sees and photographs the world in a very different way than I do.  The ying and yang of outdoor photography!

     You can see some of my recent work and our up coming workshops and tours here on our website and you can read an introduction to my recent feature article in Outdoor Photography Canada magazine.  In the article I take the time to outline my approach to landscape photography and how I achieve emotional communication in a fine art photograph.  I hope you like the article!

      Memberships to professional organizations are an important part of giving back to the industry as well as continuing my own self-directed learning.  I used to belong to numerous organizations but have narrowed them down to what are the most relevant organizations and the ones that I think reflects my style the most.  These are the organizations I belong too:

 

President of the International Landscape Photographers’ Association (ILPA)

North America Nature Photographers Association (NANPA)

Winner of the “Best Unique Tour Company in Alberta” in 2019 AND 2020 from the “International Tourism and Hospitality Awards.”

Mailing Address and toll free number:

Brian Merry Photography
Box 104
Banff, AB T1L 1A2
Canada
Studio:  1.403.763.1114
brian@bmerryphotography.com

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