Bored Panda reached out to Richard’s lifelong partner and the managing director of his studio, Lucie Bergeron-Johnson. We asked some questions regarding the photographer’s work. We were interested in what drew Johnson to photograph the frozen landscapes and communities around Ontario's Lake Simcoe. Lucie told us: “While travelling to different places we would stumble onto these structures. Richard had always been fascinated by architecture made by a human - not an architect, or an engineer, which he did as a well-known Canadian architectural photographer. This was an exploration on the subject of small manmade structures; he subsequently went on to photograph many ice huts and ice villages throughout Canada.”
Asked to describe Richard’s photographic style, Bergeron-Johnson said: “Richard was also profoundly influenced by mid-century German masters Bernd and Hilla Becher and their systematic documentation of Germany’s industrial landscape including water towers, grain silos and mine heads.”
We were also curious about specific challenges or difficulties Johnson faced while photographing these frozen landscapes and communities. Lucie shared with us: “He did not like shooting on sunny days or on weekends… too many people around and too many cars/trucks on the road… Carrying his camera and tripod on his back in the first few years was heavy, so he got a sled to put all that he would need… there were also the camera sensors and lenses that did not like to be in the cold too long, so he figured out how to keep the gear warm while not in use.”
Finally, Bergeron-Johnson shared with us what she personally finds most captivating and inspiring about Richard’s photography: “It’s his tenacity and the discipline he applied over his 14 years of shooting the ice huts, capturing a slice of Canada. You can have 2 or 3 or more of the limited edition prints next to one another all different years and different provinces and you can’t tell what year it was shot - the horizon is at the exact same place in each print… He was on a mission to show the beauty in these quirky structures born out of need for warmth while fishing in winter… and how it goes on across Canada.”
