Preparation Plant Workers, Cardinal River Coals, Hinton, Alberta

This black-and-white portrait captures two coal miners (preparation plant workers) from Cardinal River Coals in Hinton, Alberta. The photograph honours the coal miners of Alberta, the hardworking backbone to Canada’s mining industry. Extemporizing on his duotone portraits, Chrismas believes in the importance of documenting the history of a group of people the general public knows little about, attaching a human face and story to the mystique of coal mining. 

Chrismas’ portraits are a true collaboration between the photographer and the subject. Chrismas engages the miners in lengthy, casual interviews before doing their portraits. Establishing this connection beforehand allows for a definite positive, humanistic tone to Chrismas’ work. There are no clichéd close-ups of work-worn faces – the men are shown full-figure in settings they and Chrismas decided upon. The photographer holds his sympathy in check so that the feeling of the work does not slide into the sentimental.