In his foreword to David Nunuk’s Natural Light: Visions of British Columbia ($49.95 cloth 1-55017-273-5, 122 pp., Harbour Publishing), editor Dave Jones describes the two traditional methods of photographing the province’s bountiful scenery. The first is the “forced march” approach, wherein a photographer goes on a northward march from the 49th parallel to the Yukon border, “clicking vigorously all the way.” The second method is rare. Here the photographer travels many of the same routes, but at a leisurely pace, often in several trips made over several years, looking for the unique image to catch the spirit of a particular place. David Nunuk took that route for this book of gorgeous photographs.

Nunuk’s work does go beyond the usual images of ancient trees dripping with moss and of snow-capped peaks, though there’s plenty of that here, too. Many of the photos are snapped at the day’s turning points – dawn, sunset, twilight – and taken from angles carefully chosen to highlight the scenery’s contrasts and particular moods. Especially interesting are some of the book’s winter photos, which capture a post-snowfall hush, and Nunuk’s interesting take on natural scenery encroached upon by the province’s burgeoning towns and cities. It may have been interesting to show the darker side of this encroachment, but Nunuk’s love of nature triumphant always wins the day in these photos.