This exhibit features a collection of beautiful canvas prints by the late Sharron Palmer-Hunt, Past President of Gabriola Photography Club and avid wildlife photographer.
As a leader and a cherished friend, Sharron dedicated much of her time, energy and commitment to the betterment of our Club, and her legacy will continue to inspire us all.
Sharron was a passionate advocate for wildlife conservation, using her lens to tell stories that touched our hearts and opened our eyes to the wonders of the animal kingdom and the importance of preserving biodiversity. She was also a member of Gabriola’s Eagle Monitoring committee and served on the board of GROWLS (Gabriola Rescue of Wildlife Society) for many years.
Sharron was our first Club webmaster, developing our website and tending it faithfully until health challenges intervened. You’ll find many of her beautiful wildlife images on this site.
Let us remember her with gratitude for the joy and inspiration she brought into our lives. We sincerely thank her husband, Peter Palmer-Hunt, for collaborating with us to produce this exhibit and for providing this collection of Sharron’s canvas prints.
25% of proceeds from sales from this exhibition will be donated to GROWLS, and another 25% will be donated to Gabriola Photography Club.
Last fall, Gabriola Photography Club member Ron Rivers journeyed to South America, spending almost two weeks in Ecuador, including close to a week on the remote Galapagos Islands.
He’ll be showcasing that adventure in a presentation to our club at our meeting on Wed., Feb. 4.
Ron will share his photos of Quito, the ancient capital of the Incan Empire, and of the equator – both the “French Equator” and the real equator.
He’ll also take us to the unique and precious Galápagos Islands, the volcanic archipelago located 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador – home to iconic wildlife including several species of boobies, giant tortoises and marine iguanas.
The meeting will be held via Zoom, on Wed. February 4, 2026, at 10 am PDT. The link will be sent by email to all Gabriola Photography Club members on the weekend before the meeting. Make sure your membership is up to date so that you receive this info.
As an ongoing project, Gabriola Photography Club curates the art display space downstairs at the Gabriola Medical Clinic on Church Street, Gabriola Island. Club members take turns having solo exhibitions or taking part in group exhibitions.
We are pleased to present a new exhibit, with a variety of prints by seven club members: Linda Blokhuizen, Sally Bullas, John Konovsky, Sher Falls, Corinne Flaws, Laurie MacBride and Vicky Scott.
The show is on now and will run until February 26, downstairs at the Gabriola Medical Centre, Mondays through Fridays during daytime hours.
Linda BlokhuizenSally BullasCorinne FlawsJohn KonovskyLaurie MacBrideVicky ScottSher Falls
It was another good year for our Club! Some highlights…
Membership:
35 as of December (almost the same as Dec. 2024, though some of the faces had changed). Sadly, we lost a beloved longtime member, John Poirier, who passed away in May 2025.
In-person events:
4 Club field trips and photo walks (2 of them off-island)
Annual Fall Show
As well, four club members gave in-person photography presentations for the community.
Exhibitions:
Members who displayed prints in our shows: 13 (35% of club). This included:
4 solo shows (Medical Centre)
2 group shows (Medical Centre)
1 group show (Chiropractic)
1 group show (annual fall Rollo show)
Learning & inspiration at our 19 zoom meetings:
5 guest presentations – one more was re-scheduled to 2026
2 presentations by club members
9 themed photo assignments
18 members shared about 800 images from our assignments & field trips
Financial matters:
Balanced budget achieved again this year
Raised almost 10% more revenue than forecast, mostly due to donations
Expenses were only about 75% of forecast, mainly due to one cancelled speaker fee
Top revenue sources: membership fees, donations, silent auction
Top expenses: speakers, communications (zoom & website accounts)
The full 2025 financial statement will be available to members once it has been finalized and approved by the executive.
Website:
almost 1000 visitors in 2025, mostly from Canada
23 new posts added (events, speakers, shows etc)
Top post in 2025: “Gabriola Artists” (Blair’s show) – 73 views
After having to re-schedule several times, we are delighted to finally be able to welcome John Barclay as our first guest speaker of 2026.
John is an award-winning freelance photographer based in Bucks County, PA. A passionate photographer, workshop leader and inspirational speaker, he has been presenting his programs to audiences around the world and his work has been published in a number of books and magazines. John has received an excellence award from B&W Magazine and was chosen by Dewitt Jones to participate in Dewitt’s www.healingimages.org program. You can see a few of John’s images below (click to enlarge).
John explains the background and purpose of the presentation he’ll be making:
“Why Dream – Believe – Create? There was a time when I felt I could not create. My self-talk was, I am not a creative person, I’m not smart enough, I can’t do this. After seeing images projected at the first workshop I took, I dreamed of becoming a good photographer. Primarily with the help of well known accomplished photographers Tony Sweet, Nancy Rotenberg and later Dan Sniffin, I was able to chip away at the negative self talk and believe that I could create worthwhile images. Thus Dream – Believe – Create has become the centerpiece of what I teach in my workshops. I believe that everyone has dreams and can achieve their dreams. I also believe that when you truly believe, you will be liberated to be able to create.
The process and journey required to create images feeds my soul and brings me great joy. My goal in this presentation is to inspire you to capture the essence of the subjects you are drawn to, using the creative medium of photography. This might entail capturing a small intimate portion of a scene. It might involve more creative techniques such as multiple exposures or the “slide sandwich” or camera movement for a more expressive interpretation.
I will also touch on the digital darkroom including the popular HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology and how having a keen understanding of these can help you achieve your artistic vision. Numerous examples will be shown which include traditional nature scenes as well as more abstract and urban compositions. We will explore the beauty in both the grand scale as well as more intimate details. The ideas presented in this program have application to any genre of photography.
I believe, like Ansel Adams, photographers bring to their images their own journeys, their sense of the world, their experiences and their passions. For me photography is simply another medium of artistic expression, visual poetry if you will.“
The meeting will be held via Zoom, on Wed. January 7 at 10 am PDT. The link will be sent by email to all Gabriola Photography Club members on the weekend before the meeting. Make sure your membership is up to date so that you receive this info.
Gabriola Photography Club 