Myrwin

Photo by Val Reid

Myrwin, aka Myrtle (McEachern) Winchester, is a photographer, graphic artist, and journalist living in Pender Harbour on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. She shoots with a Canon 60D, with Canon, Tamron, and Sigma lenses, but use a little G10 for quick and dirty shots when she doesn't want to pack the gear and doesn't have time to set up.

"I was born and raised in a small, northern New Brunswick mill town, learning both photography and darkroom techniques from my father at an early age. He gave me a camera on my sixth birthday, demonstrated considerable (I imagine) patience in teaching me how the mechanics worked, and in his darkroom encouraged my curiosity about the transformation of a negative to a print. I have yet to find anything so magical as a sheet of blank photo paper in developer solution gradually revealing shadowy outlines that transform into sharp detail as chemicals translate what the camera recorded from the light it was allowed earlier in the day.

"I studied film processing, photography, and art at Douglas and Kwantlen College, which led to many years as a photojournalist. In 2000, six months of chemotherapy gave me and my OCD an opportunity to get to know my first digital camera and master Photoshop. I finally moved on from oldschool film and chemical processing to embrace the digital age, and I never looked back.

"In the top-right photo, taken by my good pal, Val Reid, I was focused on a new fawn at Daniel Point, BC, with no idea I was being photographed. Val and I spent many happy afternoons exploring the Pender Harbour area with our cameras and a picnic lunch that likely included a bottle of Pinot Grigio. We were once chased out of a private parking lot by a gang of thugs at Sakinaw Lake, but that's another story."

On the Sunshine Coast, see Myrwin's work in the pre-show presentation at Raven's Cry Theatre in Sechelt, and on the walls at Java Docks in Madeira Park (where Shelley and crew serve the best Eggs Bennie around).

PUBLISHED PHOTOGRAPHY

• "Pender Harbour Landing-- history with a view" by Peter Robson.
  View and read the book: "Pender Harbour Landing"
• Zoom Magazine, Pender Harbour BC. View and read the feature article by Nancy Pincombe: Zoom Magazine: Myrtle Winchester
• Northwest Boat Travel, Woodinville, WA, USA. 
• Quill and Quire, Toronto ON.
• British Columbia (formerly Beautiful British Columbia), Vancouver BC.
• BC Nature (Federation of BC Naturalists), Vancouver BC.
• The Scrivener (Society of Notaries Public), Vancouver BC.
• Various newspapers throughout British Columbia.
• Various tourism and other websites.