by Jamila Douhaibi | photo by Leah Gray –
Meet your Seaside Magazine photographer, Janis Jean. Janis has been with Seaside for four years and says that she always had an “ultimate goal to take photos for Seaside.” With a camera in her hand and/or her two retriever dogs by her side, Janis has been immortalizing Saanich Peninsula residents throughout many seasons.
Growing up in Victoria and moving to the Peninsula in her teens, Janis says that her heart has always been here. A lover of photography even as a kid, she remembers having a ’70s Kodak instamatic and often seeing her dad with a Canon around his neck. Gifted with the ability to read people and get them to put their guards down, Janis attributes this not only to her years of photography, but also to her time in the police force.
Janis moved to Vancouver in 1988. Prior to that she had been a dispatcher for police, fire and ambulance for Central Saanich. Janis worked on the North Shore and always had at least one bridge to drive over to get home; she remembers there were many times when there would be an accident on one of the bridges and she would have to sleep in the office. She was doing some side work in photography at the time, and says it was a challenging contrast of “detective during the week and weddings on the weekend.” Janis moved to Port Moody to have a smaller-town feel, but she missed home.
When she came back to the Peninsula in 2001 after having her daughter, Janis took three years off from policing and didn’t want to go back to full-time. She got hired to do job sharing and says there are “so many gems about the smaller-town living and the people here.” Some of those perks were a commute with two stop signs instead of a bridge, going home at lunch and later dropping by her daughter’s school at recess.
After retiring from policing at 49, Janis knew photography was “going to be my next chapter.” She sees her job as really getting to know people and then, she says: “I could bring out the best in them.” People rarely want their photos to be taken, and sometimes look at her like she’s their dentist, but Janis sees such value in capturing the right moment at the right time and then being able to share that with her clients.
Photographing owner Stacey Toews at Level Ground and getting up in a big bucket and taking photographs of the Saanich Peninsula firefighters – even though she is terrified of heights – are two highlights in her work with the magazine. One of her “most endearing” photo shoots was capturing a father and son during calving season at Michell Farms. Even though she doesn’t eat meat, Janis says their ethical raising of the cows and being part of a heartwarming moment was a beautiful thing to be able to capture.
And of course, we can’t forget about her two black retrievers, Charlie and Frankie. Janis says she and her husband are “dog people to the point of insanity.” She’s the go-to for dog questions with her friends, but admits to never being good with discipline. Though her dogs are gentle giants, every time she gets a new pup she says “it’ll be different this time … he’ll be trained.” She remembers a trip to the Oregon Coast when Charlie, now 13, ran at a family and stole their whole chicken. Janis ran down the beach as her husband apologized profusely. But the best part was, Charlie went back and stole the same family’s dessert! It was an off-leash area, but by then her husband was offering them cash. And now, says Janis, the dogs “have long leashes.”
From the Peninsula to policing in Vancouver and back; splitting her pants while photographing weddings to facing her fear of heights; chasing after her dogs to capturing the perfect picture; Janis has done a bit of everything, but says “my biggest role and honour in life is to be a mom.” And that’s the thing about meeting your neighbours, your photographers and even your friends. There is so much complexity to each of us that even if we think our story isn’t interesting, it always is.
Selfie photo courtesy Janis Jean.
