Saj Henderson's photos

In 1956, Ted Shaw endeavored to choose the tallest, straightest cedar tree he could find. The tree he chose stood 133 feet tall, and after it was felled and delimbed, the tree was transported to Thunderbird Park’s carving shed. From there, Mungo Martin, Kwakiutl tribal chief and renowned carver, along with his son, David, and Henry Hunt strove to create the Story Pole. After laboring over their creation for six months, the Story Pole, standing 127 feet and seven inches tall, was erected in Beacon Hill Park where it could overlook the Strait of Juan de Fuca. At the time of its installation, it was the tallest free-standing story pole in the world.

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This photo, that I took while visiting the Château de Chenonceau is one of my favourites, to catch birds ‘on the wing’ is to lend flight to your soul.

My visit to the Château de Chenonceau was a highlight from my trip to France in 2019. I like to photograph sculptures because they don’t move and they never complain that their photograph is not flattering!

The Château du Clos Lucé in Amboise was a beautiful place to visit with its open-air museum dedicated to Leonardo. As you stroll through the grounds, above your head you’ll find his paintings, hung as translucent canvasses in the trees.

Details from the stone entrance to the National Museum of Finland located in central Helsinki and built in the Finnish National Romantic style.

Arbutus, or Pacific Madrone, are magnificent trees that grow in the dry southeast regions of Vancouver Island. They are very distinctive trees and beautiful to photograph. The bark is thin, smooth, and reddish-brown, peeling in thin flakes or strips to expose younger, smooth, greenish to cinnamon-red bark underneath.

The blur is intentional, it's not your eyes! I shot through the window of a store across the street from a shop in our Chinatown, where you can still find many stores selling traditional Chinese goods.

The Japanese Garden Walking Bridge is reflected in the pond at Hatley Park Gardens at Royal Roads University. The original Japanese garden was designed in 1910 by Isaburo Kishida, who had arrived from Japan in 1908 to work on this and other Japanese gardens in Victoria.

Located on Vancouver Island on the west coast of British Columbia, Victoria’s Chinatown is the oldest in Canada, and one of the oldest in North America. In an effort to further strengthen the presence of Chinatown as a downtown focal point for residents and visitors, the community came together to light up Chinatown year-round with the Heavenly Lights Project. Colourful overhead decorations include lanterns and strings of festive red and yellow lights.

The Bear and Frog totem for Sidney, B.C. is one of Tony Hunt’s first independent commissions. The pole is 12 feet high and is dominated by the image of a bear, in the Kwakiutl style. The carver added the frog as a secondary theme as he was familiar with carving this figure. The totem is now over 50 years old and is in good condition for its age. Tony Hunt was a Hereditary Chief of the Kwakiutl people (Kwakwaka'wakw) of Fort Rupert and Kingcome Inlet, B.C. and came from a family of totem pole carvers. His grandfather was instrumental in recreating the art at the BC Museum Thunderbird Park in Victoria. His father Henry Hunt took over the lead role in 1962. At Thunderbird Park Tony and his brothers Stanley and Richard learned the art of carving traditional totem poles. He went on to create over 100 carvings and is famous around the world. He died in 2017, shortly after the death of his son, Tony Hunt, Junior.

Thunderbird Park was established in 1941 when a display of totem poles from the Royal BC Museum's collection was set up at the corner of Belleville and Douglas streets in Victoria. In 1952, Anthropology Curator Wilson Duff initiated a pole restoration program and hired Kwakwaka'wakw master carver, Mungo Martin, as chief carver for Thunderbird Park. Thunderbird Park is named for the mythological creature found on many totem poles: the ones in the park came from the Gitxsan, Haida, Kwakwaka’wakw and other First Nations.