Coffeewith ...Charlie Falk

It seems there are endless stories Charlie Falk can recall based on the thousands of pictures he's taken throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

His store in Gander, Falk Foto, feels like an old record shop when you first come in, with bins filled to the brim with prints of various pictures, and markers indicating what community or region they come from.

Every picture he picks up sets Mr. Falk's mind ablaze with recollections. It could be a reminiscence of how he came to meet a subject, a story of what he and his friends were up to when camping in the wilderness looking for moose shots, or tales of a keepsake he found on a specific trip.

Mr. Falk has an obvious fondness for his work, and he's keen to share. Getting coffee from a drive-thru window, he'll start chatting up the cashier in a warm manner, asking about where they're from.

By the time he's back on the road, Mr. Falk has dispensed a business card, hoping to share his images with those who've yet to gaze upon them.

Born and raised in Gander, Mr. Falk started out his adult life as a transport truck driver before discovering the joys of photography.

Q: How did you first become interested in taking pictures?

A: Years ago when I was travelling around in the United States, I took lots of pictures of stuff to show people where I was, just so they'd believe me [laughs]. Anything strange I saw, I took a picture.

Q: Where were you travelling?

A: I went to Mexico, and I did 35 states.

Q: What are some of the things that stick in your mind from that trip?

A: Lots of stuff. I thought that was all I'd ever want to do, but I don't want to do that anymore. There's too many places in Newfoundland and Labrador.

There isn't too many places I haven't been to in Newfoundland and Labrador. All my life, I've been travelling with helicopter pilots.

Q: What in particular makes Newfoundland and Labrador so good as a base for taking pictures?

A: There's no place like home. It's home, so that's it. In my studio, I have a lot of pictures of stuff that's gone now - pictures from different days.

Q: Can you remember what was the first camera you owned?

A: Yeah, you'd get it at the bank for opening a bank account. I got two [laughs]. I wore it out.

They were little Kodak things. I've still got one of them somewhere. I got my aunt to open an account too, so I had two cameras. I shoot now with an old Hasselblad. I still use film too.

Q: You mean you still use film exclusively?

A: Yeah.

Q: Why have you stuck with film?

A: I like film. I've had no problem with film, and I still like it. I'm old-fashioned, as you can probably gather.

Q: Have you ever tried digital photography at all?

A: Yeah, a little bit. I like what I have. I like negatives. First of all, digital wasn't all that good when it first came out.

Q: Is there something you think to having more of a limit on the number of pictures you can take? Because with digital, you can just snap and snap away.

A: I used to do that anyway for years with film.

Q: How many rolls could you go through say in a day, at most?

A: It would all depend on what you're at. Seal hunt stuff, I used to go through a lot (of rolls). A lot of the time, it's hard now to find pictures that are better than what I already have.

Q: Have you had to change where you send your film to get developed?

A: Yeah. The place I was using, Lifetouch in Winnipeg, they finished up. The people going to university still use film instead of digital, so there's a lab up there where you get negatives printed. This place is working out good. I don't mind sending film, but it just takes long.

Q: Have you ever developed your own film?

A: Oh yeah. I'd go out for a day shooting, and then I'd go into my darkroom for days. This was back in the '70s.

Q: Are there any sorts of images or scenes you're still trying to find that you've yet to come across?

A: Not a whole lot.

Q: Does that ever frustrate you at all?

A: No, not really. You don't know what you're going to see. I just like to drive around the bay looking for pictures. I don't get frustrated at all.

You can go to a place 100 times and not get a decent picture, and then you can go there another day, and look out!

Q: What compelled you to pursue photography as a business in the late 1970s?

A: I was working with Air Canada in the summertime, and there'd be these nice days where I thought it would be great to be out on Change Islands - it was on my mind steady. I was doing weddings and getting people to change shifts with me.

Q: When you setup to take pictures, do you start snapping right away, or do you take a second to observe your surroundings and take it all in?

A: You take it in, and then you figure out where the best light is coming from.

Q: Would you say lighting is the most important thing to consider when taking a picture?

A: It might be. I pretty well use a flash all the time. I've got a 15-million candle watt, and a 10-million candle watt, and another one out there. Three big flashes. What the light hits is what shows up. That's what gives you the picture.

Q: In terms of framing an image, was that something you found you were good at right away, or was it a skill you've developed over time?

A: I didn't even know about framing or points of interest. (Twillingate artist) Ted Stuckless started talking about points of interest once, and I didn't know what he was talking about. He said, "Yes you do," and he started picking up pictures to show me. I didn't know - I just do it.

Q: Is there a favourite place you have for taking pictures?

A: Not really. I like to visit resettled spots. All the spots. I've been to Fogo 53 times to take pictures. Every time I take a snap, I write it in my book. That's a lot of trips to Fogo. I've made a lot more than that to Twillingate, and probably just as many trips to Change Islands. Little Bay Islands is a nice spot, and so's St. Brendan's. These are the spots you have to go to.

Q: Is there anywhere in Newfoundland and Labrador you haven't been yet that you'd like to visit?

A: I hear these young photographers telling me they've been to every spot in Newfoundland, and all my life, before photography, I'd been around to them. Then the boys with helicopters came along, and there's a lot of spots. There's some islands in Placentia Bay I haven't been to.

Q: Where did you take your first helicopter ride to?

A: Ten Mile Pond. There's three or four Ten Mile Ponds, and this is the one between Lewisporte and Glenwood, down that way.

Q: Have there been any specific cases where you've gone to great lengths to get a specific image?

A: All kinds of them. I went three times to the Western Brook Gorge in the night time to get a full moon in one winter. It was never there.

Q: Would you say there was ever a good happy accident you came across taking pictures?

A: [Looks at an image taken of the Northern Lights.] I got setup for the Northern Lights. Push the button, and they go out. It was just like I had pushed the button so they would go out. They weren't coming back, so I lit everything up with the big lights and flashes, and waited 20 minutes or so, and shot it off, and the Northern Light weren't coming back on.

Daylight had started, and your eyes don't pick it up, but using the camera with long exposure ... put in a roll of film, and bammo!

Q: Is there a favourite subject you have for shooting?

A: One character is Linda Pierce. She's from Boyd's Cove. We were down on the causeway, drove down and there she was. I thought I had to get a picture of her, so I went to my truck, came back with the lights and camera, waved, and got no response.

I came back three times within the year. First time, she was chopping wood, and I waved and got no response. Another time, she had to buckets of water walking by the fence, and I waved, but she wouldn't respond. She'd just hang out in her window.

I didn't want to try and take one, because I don't usually do that. Exactly a year later on May 24, she was out by the window, and again, there was no response. There was a fella on the beach, Patrick, and I took a picture of him.

I was saying how I'd like to get a picture of the lady in the window, and he said, "Oh, that's my sister Linda." So he came up and introduced me - she had cataracts on her eye and couldn't see me. She's been long dead now. She was never married and the nicest kind of lady.

Q: People in the area who may not know of your work as a photographer may recognize you for your distinctive braided beard. What influenced you to style your beard in that way?

A: Keeps it out of the way. If it's not braided up, it gets in the way.

info@ganderbeacon.ca