Algonquin Park: Excursions with a Photographer

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, Japan Foundation Fellow 1991-92, and the author of
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Home and As Though Life Mattered:
Leo Kennedy’s Story.

Several volumes featuring stunning photographs of Algonquin Park were
published in 1993 and 1994 to celebrate the centenary of Ontario’s
provincial parks system. Dave Taylor’s Algonquin Park has about two
dozen fine, small color photographs and more black-and-whites, but his
book is not for the coffee table.

Taylor’s topic is both the Park and photographing wildlife. Three (of
nine) chapters deal with photographic equipment and techniques. He wants
the reader to understand how his equipment and his point of view affect
his approach to photography.

The style here is casual, companionable. It conveys something of
Taylor’s enthusiasm for work that is also a way of life. His intimate
knowledge of the Park is supported by his wider experience in Banff,
Alaska, and Kenya, so that he is able to explore Algonquin’s
eco-system from a global point of view.

The subtitle, “Excursions,” sets the tonic note. The same word,
numbered and dated, supplies most of the chapter headings. Taylor’s
enthusiasm is infectious.