NNSL (Jun 01/98) - Jim MacDonald just wants to show people what it's like in his world. "I want to express my world through photography and share it with other people," he says.

It all began for MacDonald in 1969, with a German 'Z' 35-millimetre camera and a few books from the library. By age 12, he was snapping pictures around London, Ont., and developing them in a self-constructed darkroom.

"If you can read, you can do anything," he says.

MacDonald says he found his photographic niche after his first year in college. "They were starting color in the second year and I wanted to stick with black and white." He left school and after a cycling trip to San Diego, CA., MacDonald began working to support himself.

In 1976, MacDonald moved to Rankin Inlet after "hearing wonderful stories of the North from two women living in Pangnirtung." Employed by the Hudson's Bay Company, he travelled to Arviat, Igloolik and Hall Beach.

Up until 1984, MacDonald kept his work private, when his desire to push the art of photography to a higher level led him to a major change in his life -- he decided to work part-time to spend more time on his photography.

"A lot of hard work and self-promotion" has made the past few years busy for him. A recipient of grants from both the Canadian and NWT Arts Councils, his prints have been displayed in Yellowknife, Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet.

MacDonald has also participated in exhibits across Ontario and has been approached by a fine art magazine based in Florida.

MacDonald has also spent the past year developing a Web page in order to communicate his work with the world. Worldwide attention has been drawn to his original style, which is a 25-day creative process.

"Each shot is unique from the composure, exposure and development of the film, to the matting and mounting of the print," he says. "Photography students from as far as New Zealand and Japan have contacted me for information." MacDonald is currently seeking funding to travel across the Eastern Arctic with intentions to "photograph the land six months prior to Nunavut and six months later." He is also planning a new exhibition of prints shot from 1992 to present.