Hans Blohm, 86, photographs Inuit Circumpolar Council assembly
Hans Blohm, an 86-year-old photographer originally from Germany, is in Inuvik, N.W.T., this week photographing the Inuit Circumpolar Council's 2014 general assembly, like so many Arctic events before it.
The assembly gathers Inuit from Canada, Russia, Alaska and Greenland every four years.
It's a group of people that have proved a source of enduring fascination for the photographer.
Blohm first came to Canada in 1956 and began his career in photography taking school photos in Quebec and Ontario, before becoming a freelance photographer for news organizations and private companies.
He first visited the Canadian Arctic in the 1970s to take photos of the Dempster Highway under construction. Since then he has done work for Nunavut Tunngavik Inc, Makivik Corporation and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
Blohm says he is constantly seeing new things, and that keeps him enthusiastic about his work.
He was especially excited about a photo he took this week of all the flags on the stage at the Inuit Circumpolar Council's general assembly.
"I went behind, and I managed with an extreme wide angle lens ... to get the entire circle in with all the flags during the ceremony," he said.
"That sort of thing is an opportunity I did not know would arise. To be able to grab it, and do something with it, that's what I enjoy."
