Jarrett Lindal, a Vancouver Island photographer, will have his photo featured in an issue of Canadian Geographic after capturing a cougar on a remote beach on the island.
Lindal, who has been photographing since a kid, rekindled his relationship with photography after a critical mountain bike crash where he broke his pelvis and back.
“Photography is what kept me positive through that injury and has been my main passion since,” Lindal said.
Canadian Geographic is a national, award-winning magazine that has captured Canadian people, places, and frontiers since 1930.
For Lindal it’s an honour to be featured in the magazine.
“It means so much to me, it’s been a long time goal of mine and not something I thought would happen for me yet,” he said.
Lindal said the photograph, called ‘The Stare,’ was a team effort between himself and his friend, Finn Steiner.
In a letter to Victoria Buzz, Lindal broke down just how he captured the fantastic photograph:
It was early morning on a remote Vancouver Island Beach and the sun had just started to rise.
My good friend Finn and I were laying down with our tripods buried in the cold sand, waiting for coastal wolves.
Just as we started losing hope, this gorgeous cougar walked down the beach right toward us, unaware of our presence.
We stayed completely still to ensure not to disturb her, but as she got closer, she eventually noticed us and paused.
It was an experience hard to describe in words, but we each acknowledged that neither party was interested in harming the other.
She politely allowed us to take her photo and then slowly sauntered off to the next beach, leaving that stare in our memories forever.
This shoot was a team effort with Finn Steiner and we both got to share that Cougar encounter together.
I wouldn’t have wanted to be alongside anyone else for it.
