Wilderness Nova Scotia: A Photographer's Journal

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Although it is one of our smallest provinces and was one of the first to
be settled by Europeans, Nova Scotia retains some wilderness areas. Most
are protected as parklands; a few remain as pure wilderness, Crown land
seldom disturbed by human visitors.

Barrett takes us on a visual tour of these remote areas. Through the
excellence of his image-making we feel the crunch of dry leaves deep in
the still woods, breathe the cool, moist air bounced off a hidden
waterfall, smell the seaweed baking on a hardscrabble beach. The quality
of his landscapes is such that they draw in the viewer to share the
environment as he experiences it.

Barrett works this magic through the mastery of light. He experiences a
landscape through the quality of the light and will settle for nothing
less than exactly the right time of day and light for every scene. He
has a nice sense of composition, which often adds a feeling of isolation
to his landscapes. The book includes many slow shots, which give a
feeling of timelessness to the scenes; to study them is to gaze at
eternity.

The text is Barrett’s journal of his wilderness travels, of stormy
nights in a tiny tent, of dangerous rock climbs, long hikes, and the
pleasures of impassive vistas. He includes specifics on many trails open
to hikers.

Photographers, naturalists, hikers, environmentalists, and anyone who
yearns for a link to nature will welcome this beautiful coffee-table
book.