Team Power Smart

spotlight on energy conservation w hen asked if he considers himself to be environmentally conscious, larry Paris will agree, but adds that "I always feel like I'm not doing enough." Despite his modesty, people more conscious of the environment than Paris are difficult to find. He is an avid outdoorsman, a talented wildlife and landscape photographer and winner of the 2009 Team Power Smart photo contest, and a dedicated Team Power Smart member. To say Paris is in tune with nature would be an understatement. Since joining Team Power Smart in 2008, Paris has successfully completed one 10 per cent reduction challenge and is now immersed in the next challenge. "I'm already doing so much because it's habit," says Paris of his energy-saving activities, "and once it's habit, it's no big deal." Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Paris and his wife of 42 years are avid hikers who packed up and moved to B.C. in 1971 to explore our province's great outdoors, and they've never looked back. "The environment is cleaner, the people seem friendlier, and there's lots of space!" says Paris, a retired social worker. Together with their two daughters, the couple has explored some of B.C.'s most spectacular sights on foot – from the peaks of the Cascade Mountains to the desert of Keremeos. It's a hobby that pairs well with his passion for photography. Paris has documented years of family hikes and holidays, and has an impressive collection of stunning wildlife and landscape photos to show for it. In fact, it was on one of the couple's many adventures through B.C. that he captured the winning photo for the annual Team Power Smart photo contest in 2009. Sailing the Inside Passage from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert aboard a BC ferries vessel, Paris captured a dreamy-looking vista of brooding clouds, lush mountains and calm waters, all just beyond the ferry deck in the foreground. "I took hundreds of shots that day, but if you take enough pictures, one or two are bound to be good." aBoVe: Larry paris hikes the Lower east summit of Frosty mountain; the highest peak in manning provincial park, B.C. LeFt: Larry captures the raw beauty in tofino in B.C. using a Nikon D800 Digital sLr. 42 10 team power smart fall olumbia Magazine • fa ll 2013 B r itish C 2013 That photo won Paris a nifty new camera from london Drugs – a Nikon D90 SlR. The high-end digital camera is a far cry from the technology that first inspired his passion for photography. "I can remember getting my first Kodak Brownie camera as a kid – it was just a square box that you could take pictures with. You had to take it to the store to get them developed, and a week later you'd get 12 pictures back, maybe four of which actually turned out." Despite his longtime love for photography, he has no sentimental regrets over the transition to digital, which he regards as the perfect medium for photographing wildlife. Paris recounts the stories behind some of his favourite photographs: a reddish-orange bear prowling the hillside in Manning Park, a doe and her baby staring at the camera head-on in his backyard, wind-sculpted snow ghosts at artist Point on Mount Baker the day after a big storm.

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