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2010 06 10

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Gérard Delisle - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

QUELQUES NOTES À MON SUJET

 

Franco-Ontarien, c’est à Welland, où suis né et c’est là (dans un quartier qu’on appelle encore le «French Town » que j’ai vécu comme enfant et adolescent. Welland est situé au plein coeur de la péninsule du Niagara dans le sud de l’Ontario, à quelques kilomètres de la frontière américaine.

 

Mes parents, des Québécois, sont déménagés à Welland pendant la 2e guerre mondiale, une période de grande croissance économique pour la Cité des roses. C’est dans ma ville natale que j’ai fait mes études primaires et secondaires, gràce à un réseau complet d'écoles publiques de langue française.

 

Pendant les années 70, j’ai travaillé comme animateur social en Ontario français (Direction-Jeunesse --- un organisme provincial créé par des jeunes franco-ontariens), au Sécrétariat d’État du Canada et ensuite à l’Association canadienne-française de l’Ontario (ACFO).

 

Dans le nord de l’Ontario, j’ai oeuvré au Centre de développement de l’enfance et de la jeunesse (région de Smooth Rock Falls /Kapuskasing/Hearst) pendant les premières années de ce centre de santé mentale pour enfants et adolescents.

 

Un ami de Radio-Canada depuis l’âge de 13 ans, j’ai eu le plaisir d’y travaillé aussi : à l'âge de 20 ans/pendant un été à CJBC Toronto --- plus tard, à CBON, la radio française de Radio-Canada dans le nord de l’Ontario. Par la suite, j’ai occupé les postes de coordonnateur régional des services en français et aussi celui de superviseur de programmes au Ministère des services sociaux et communautaires de l’Ontario (région de Hamilton/Niagara).

 

Plus récemment, j’ai été le réprésentant de l’Ombudsman de l’Ontario dans le nord-est de la province. Autodidacte et grand curieux maintenant à la retraite, j’accorde maintenant de plus en plus de temps à ma passion, la photographie.

 

Je suis membre du Club de photographie Polarisé de l’Outaouais. C’est inévitable; mes photos reflètent souvent mes autres passions et intérêts.

 

J’ai quatre grands enfants, dont je suis très fier.

 

Quelles sont mes passions outre la photo et mes enfants ? J’en ai plusieurs car je suis gourmand de nature : la croissance personnelle/la santé mentale et la santé tout court, le cinéma/les média et les nouvelles technologies, la lecture et l’écriture, la simplicité volontaire, les relations hommes-femmes/intergénérationelles et interculturelles, l’Ontario français et la francophonie, les collages et les arts en général, la cuisine, le cyclisme, le plein air, le jardinage, le bricolage, etc. À l’occasion, je présente des causeries sur mon vécu avec la dépression.

 

Gérard Delisle

Ottawa, ON

Canada.

 

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Gérard Delisle - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

A FEW NOTES ABOUT ME

 

When out in the community with my camera, I am often asked: Are you a professional photographer? My response is always the same: Photography is my passion, not my job. In the 70s, I spent many hours in my improvised darkroom making black and white prints from negatives of photographs I made as a child using my mother’s good ‘ol black box camera.

 

In 1966, when I was sixteen, I bought my first 35 mm camera (a Minolta rangefinder) and travelled by train to Vancouver with a group of St. John Ambulance cadets, thanks to a travel exchange program organized to celebrate Canada’s centenary in 1967.

 

In 1972, I purchased another 35mm camera, this one a SLR, the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II. That camera was my faithful companion for almost 30 years. My four children,

Maxime, Mélanie, Catherine and Stéphane were often ''haunted'' by dad towing his camera and wanting to make more photos of them. Stéphane, my oldest, was only five when he took his first photos of me using my good 'ol Pentax .

 

In 2001, I made my first digital images as the official photographer for the 25th anniversary of Montfort Hospital’s Mental Health Program. In 2003, I acquired a NikonD100, a digital SLR, and now work exclusively with that wonderful tool, along with Photoshop in the digital ‘’darkroom’’.

 

When I describe my work, I often use the theme ''Le monde tel que je le perçois et que je l'imagine | The world as I see it and how I imagine it''. I am fascinated by people and the world we live in. I have things to say about myself, my family and friends, my community, etc. that I can’t fully express except through my photography.

 

When I have my camera in my hands, I feel alive and able to communicate my joys, my fears and those of the places and people I cross paths with when I decide at a very specific moment to press the shutter release.

 

Now retired, most of my time is spent on photography. With the support and encouragement of my children, family and friends, the passionate artist in me is exploring and expressing himself. My tools: a NikonD100 and and version 7 of Photoshop. My photographic journey is made more pleasant by rubbing shoulders with the members of the only French-language photography club in Canada's National Capital Region, the ''Club de photographie Polarisé de l'Outaouais''.

 

I was born in the City of Welland, in the Niagara Peninsula, in the southern part of Ontario, Canada, near the American border. I spent the first twenty years of my life in my home town, except for a one- year stint in Montréal in1967, when I was 17.

 

During the seventies, I worked as a community development worker within Ontario's French-speaking community. During five years, I was a Social Development Officer at the Department of Secretary of State (now Heritage Canada). I also worked in Sudbury for CBON, a radio station with Radio-Canada, the French-language counterpart of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

 

Later, I worked in Hamilton, with the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services, first as the area office's French-language Services Coordinator and then as a Program Supervisor. More recently, I worked in Timmins for Ombudsman Ontario.

 

Now retired, I spend as much time as possible exploring my passion with photography.

 

My photos reflect my wide range of interests: my four children (all adult now!), my interest in the arts, graphics, collages, media, cycling, mental health, the French-speaking community in Canada, cinema, new technologies, reading, simplicity living, cooking, the outdoors, gardening, woodwork, etc. I regularly accept invitations to speak about my personal experience with depression.

 

For more information, links to my blogs, favorite sites, etc.,

send me a note. Your comments about my photos are always welcome.

 

Gérard Delisle