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LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
A Fort Simpson resident has combined his passion for photography and the Nahanni National Park Reserve into a new book.

This image of Wrigley Creek with ice still on it on June 24 is one of approximately 170 photographs featured in Chuck Blyth's book Nahanni: A Selection of Photographic Images of the South Nahanni Watershed. - photo courtesy of Chuck Blyth

Chuck Blyth wrote and photographed his new book: Nahanni: A Selection of Photographic Images of the South Nahanni Watershed.

The 154-page, coffee-table-style book features approximately 170 photographs snapped between 2007 and 2010.

Blyth, who worked for the Nahanni National Park Reserve (NNPR) for 15 years – many as the park's superintendent – is a self-taught photographer. Blyth has taken photographs for as long as he can remember.

"Everyone in our family had cameras," he said.

The idea to create a book of photographs of the park came to Blyth in 2007, when he made the switch from film to digital photography. As he began posting photos to Facebook, people commented on how good they were.

Blyth knew the only coffee-table book depicting the park is out of print. He saw an opportunity because he has pictures of many places in the park during all seasons and, importantly, had the ability to go back.

The book fills a niche for people who have visited the park so they have something to purchase when they get back to Fort Simpson, he said.

"(I knew) it would be good memories for people who canoed through the park and good memories for people who'd flown over the park," said Blyth.

Blyth decided to organize the book geographically, starting at the Ragged Range and moving through the park before finishing with aerial photographs of the park – something other books lacked. He had no shortage of images to choose from.

Blyth has approximately 23,000 digital images from the park. Narrowing it down to his best images left him with 5,600 pictures to choose from.

Blyth picked the photos he liked best, approximately 300, and then had his son Michael Blyth narrow them down further.

"It was good to have someone objective look at it," he said.

Realizing he was lacking photos of a few areas, Blyth got permission from his sons John and William Blyth as well as Frederic Baril to include a few of theirs.

"It worked out quite well," he said.

Blyth used the self-publishing website Blurb to create the book. In the book, every picture is accompanied by a caption that includes where and when the photo was taken and often a lyric from a song by David Crosby, Stephen Stills or Graham Nash.

Getting permission to use the lyrics from the companies representing the musicians was the most time-consuming part of the production process, said Blyth.

"It's really complicated and really diplomatic," he said.

Blyth said he chose Crosby, Stills and Nash because he's listened to them his whole life and their lyrics are linked, in his mind, to the images.

Blyth will produce 1,000 copies of the book with copies available through Blurb.

He said his hope is the photos of the park will inspire people like he was once inspired by the Albert Faille movie and a slideshow developed by a former chief warden of the park.

Blyth also has an additional goal. Everyone who purchases a copy of the book is eligible for membership into Friends of the Nahanni. Almost every national park in Canada has a friends organization to promote the park and fundraise to support park projects, said Blyth.

The NNPR is different because most visitors aren't from the area and only come once. Blyth said he realized any fundraising or advocacy group would have to be organized electronically. Gathering the names of people who purchase the book and want to join is a step toward starting the organization, he said.

With his book completed, Blyth is moving onto his next project – a book of his own artwork of the NNPR and the North.

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