About Harry Palmer


Photograph by Stephen Lau

There are three sides to every photograph ….  the subject, the photographer and the viewer.  My  personal history can be relevant to how I found and saw the images herein, however the viewer may see the image quite differently.

The author of this website is me, Harry Palmer, born in Calgary, Alberta in 1930. I had no siblings and from childhood on I lived in many places including Calgary, Edmonton, Nanaimo, Fort St John, Vancouver and Toronto. At the end of 2014 I am 84 years old and married, with five children and thirteen grandchildren.

I was graduated from the University Of British Columbia in Applied Science (Mechanical Engineering) in 1951. Upon returning to Calgary I began a career in professional engineering that took me to worksites and other business locations across North America including Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the Arctic Islands and all across Canada.

My employers included The YMCA, Canadian Western Natural Gas Company Limited, Pacific Petroleums Limited,  Dome Petroleum Limited, Palmer Gas Consultants Limited(me), Golden Arrow Manufacturing Limited(president), Alberta Gas Trunkline, TransCanada Pipeline and Dome Petroleum Limited (for the second time).

In the latter years of my engineering career I was responsible for the environmental affairs of my employers. It was then that I developed the skills and concepts of documentary art photography.  The art to see in context of the environment and to develop compelling images. At the end of 1984 I left the oil and gas industry to apply myself full time to my photography of Canada.

At the beginning I had help through various workshops by photographers such as Dr Harry Thompson and Paul Caponigro.  I looked at the images of the great painters to understand what they were doing in the context of light, colour and composition and the overall essence of their work.  From then on it was trial and error.  When the film era ended, I had already moved into digital imaging.

The scope of this website includes people and places of Calgary, Canadian War Veterans and their Memorials, the Canadian Prairies, British Columbia, First Nations, Rosebud, Companions Of The Order Of Canada, Canadian Arctic, Hybrids and the Alberta and Saskatchewan Centennials(Tallpecs).

My work has been exhibited and collected internationally. Collections include the National Gallery Of Canada(Canadian Museum Of Contemporary Photography), the National Library and Archives Of Canada, the Bibliothéque Nationale de France, the University Of British Columbia, The Glenbow Museum and the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park. The Pikanni of Treaty 7 have honoured me with a name “mistaki spita” and a headdress, courtesy of Chief Reg Crowshoe, Chief Leonard Bastien and Herman Many Guns.