P.E.I.-born photographer nominated for 2021 Juno Award for album art

Remi Theriault grew up in Wellington, P.E.I., and eventually found his calling as a photographer working in Ottawa. Now he is being recognized for his work.

Earlier this week, Theriault became a Juno nominee as part of a team nominated for album artwork of the year.

The album by Ottawa singer-songwriter Lynne Hanson is called Just Words and the album cover features a photo of sticks and stones.

"I never really thought I'd be nominated for a Juno. [If] you ever saw me at a karaoke you know I'd never be close," a laughing Theriault said.

He said Jared Barter and Michael Zavacky, who work for an ad agency, got in touch with him about the project because they all had worked together in the past.

"They had a great concept from the get-go. Lynne was all on board. So we did some photography of Lynne for promotional use and we came up with the sticks and stones."

He said the group knew they were going to do a bunch of photos in the forest with Hanson and that sticks and stones were going to be a big part of the shoot.

"We played with a bunch of different designs until it came together to create this kind of very structured form that was inside of a circle that kind of replicates the vinyl that is inside the album," he said.

The light-blue backdrop was used to complement the browns of the sticks and stones, Theriault said.

Friends and family from the Island have also been contacting him to congratulate him on the nomination.

"A lot of calls, a lot of love," he said. "It feels good."

He didn't think the P.E.I. boy from a small town of 300 would be doing photography as a career.

"It's pretty cool to hear back from people from high school. My babysitter back from when I was four or five years old is sending me messages and everything. It's quite fun."

Theriault grew up in the Evangeline area and went to French school.

He said he found photography in his mid-20s and his first gig was doing photos of French musicians at the East Coast Music Awards. He did photography for local band Two Hours Traffic for a few years before heading to Ottawa to refine his photo-editing skills.

"It has been challenging to do photography, it's not easy, I always say about 80 per cent of the people I photograph don't want to be photographed so you have to get good at making light jokes and making people comfortable."

The awards will be presented in Toronto on May 16.

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