Children and adults play ringette and hockey on a frozen field on McGuire Road as the winter sun sets on Feb. 7. Bill Miller figured the natural ice rink took up about half of his 10-acre property. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
An officer with RCMP’s Emergency Response Team keeps his eye on the scene from across the street on Alexander Avenue on Nov. 21. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
A group of moms and their babies take part in Baby Yoga at the Sardis Library on Feb. 6. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Brody Gagno with the Chilliwack Chiefs and Matthew Mosher with the Nanaimo Clippers stare at an airborne puck at the Chilliwack Coliseum on Feb. 16. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Bernie McNicholl (left), 93, gets a chuckle out of 94-year-old Warner Hockin following the 102nd commemoration of the battle of Vimy Ridge at All Sappers’ Memorial Park on April 9. The two veterans both fought in the Second World War. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Jesse Wegenast and his five-year-old daughter Anika pose for a portrait on Aug. 7, shortly before his new event, the Cultus Lake Flower Festival, opened to the public at his home in Yarrow. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Jesse Wegenast and his five-year-old daughter Anika pose for a portrait on Aug. 7, shortly before his new event, the Cultus Lake Flower Festival, opened to the public at his home in Yarrow. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Mariel Anderson, seen here on Aug. 31, is the brain behind Medieval Feast of Beast, a not-so-typical dinner theatre event. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Sixteen-year-old Mace MacGowan, a Grade 11 Chilliwack secondary student, started a petition asking the City of Chilliwack to create a climate action plan. He is pictured here on Nov. 19 at Salish Park. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
A Canada goose leads the way as Carol Ateah (left), Theresa Alexander, and the Elderkin family — Brian, Meghan and two-year-old Vincent — paddle along during the Paddle the Hope Slough event on April 29. About 90 people registered and along the way they learned about the importance of the local waterway, talked about solutions, and picked up some trash. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
From left, Fay De Jong, Margot Kiefer and Gina Quinn take in some of the textile sculptures made by Chilliwack artist Sylvie Roussel-Jannsens during her solo exhibition, Whole, in the O’Connor Group Art Gallery at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre on Jan. 26. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
People trek through the snow at Sardis Park on Feb. 13 after more than 40 cm of snow fell within 36 hours. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Siobhan D’Souza, pictured here on Feb. 12, is the artistic brain and talent behind 4th Dimension Escape Rooms. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Jeff Fortin competes in the 50-metre butterfly during the Chilliwack Masters Swim Club’s March Madness Swim Meet at the Landing Leisure Centre on March 2. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Chilliwack firefighters battle a house fire on Robson Street on March 9. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Kris Kremp of Alberta competes in the Canadian Horseshoeing Championship at Chilliwack Heritage Park on April 6. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Linda Hall, president of the Kamloops White Cane Club and director with Canadian Council for the Blind, pets a young goat during an agri-tourism stop at Fantasy Farms on April 30. Hall was one of about 40 visually impaired people visiting Chilliwack for the Canadian Council for the Blind’s Triennial Conference. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
A cyclist watches as firefighters extinguish flames at an industrial fire on Nowell Street and Fourth Avenue on May 2. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Curtis Spencer gets some air during the Vedder Mountain Classic bike race on May 11. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Cassidy Lanting takes a breather after two rounds of fighting during the Chilliwack Rugby Society’s annual Fight Night fundraiser at Tzeachten Hall on Jan. 26. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
A woman lets loose on the dance floor during Night to Shine at First Avenue Christian Assembly on Feb. 8. The event, sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation, was a full prom experience for teens and adults with special needs and took place around the world on the same night at more than 650 churches. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Dale Rosamond, seen here at his home on May 4, started up his business Hamster and Elderberry Armory last year where he makes medieval armour entirely in his small Chilliwack apartment. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Organizers of the Lock’s Pharmacy 70th Anniversary Party, Trevor McDonald (left) and pharmacy general manager David Lock, play air guitar on crutches on Aug. 1. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Chilliwack’s Kile Brown, performing as drag queen Hailey Adler, dances and lip syncs in front of hundreds of people during the inaugural Chilliwack Pride Barbecue at the Neighbourhood Learning Centre on Aug. 24. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Hampton House residents Vern Drader (umbrella hat) and Archie Young take part in the one-kilometre Silver Fox Block Walk on Corbould Street on Aug. 28. The theme was ‘Colour for Cancer’ and about 60 residents and staff from Hampton, Brichwood and Lynnwood took part in the event which was a fundraiser for the Terry Fox Foundation. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Josh Chow (blue gloves) goes up against Vicente Mabanta (red gloves) during Rise Fighting Championship Five at the Chilliwack Landing Sports Centre on Nov. 30. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Stacey Koehler, 17, says she’s been bullied so badly that she and her family are now moving out of the province. She is pictured in her home on May 14. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
Amber Price stands in one of 11 rainbow crosswalks now installed in Chilliwack on Nov. 14. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
A fan checks his phone during intermission at a Midget Wrestling Warriors event at Tzeachten Hall on March 22. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)
People enjoy a calm and quiet Chilliwack Lake on Jan. 13. (Jenna Hauck/ The Progress)Column by Jenna Hauck
Every year as Christmas wraps up and as the end of the year nears, you’ll find me excitedly clicking through our e-editions in search of some of my favourite images for my annual photographic year-in-review.
But this is actually the first time in five years that I’ve had the privilege to put this special issue together, due to my two maternity leaves… and boy have I missed it.
Come February, I’ll be celebrating 20 years at The Chilliwack Progress.
I started working here at the age of 12.
No, but I was very young (21) and fresh out of photojournalism school when purple, spikey-haired me landed this job.
And a lot has changed over the past two decades.
Back when I started in 2000, we were shooting film and even developing some black-and-white negatives in our darkroom. Although we’ve moved to a new office this year, I still remember the smell of photo fixer every time I walked by the darkroom, and I absolutely loved it.
The Progress was the first Black Press newsroom out of more than 100 to be given a digital camera back in 2001. I recall how fascinated my subjects and I were when I instantly showed them images on the camera’s LCD screen that I had just shot. The Nikon D1 camera was like a modern-day Polaroid.
But it’s really been over the past five years where the biggest changes have come, both at work and in my own personal life where I’m now married and have two children.
Gone are the days (for now) of waking up to the squelch of the scanner and rushing out to shoot a fire in my pyjamas at 3 a.m. It simply can’t be done with a four-year-old and two-year-old now.
Here in the office, The Progress has embraced the non-stop hunger our readers have for news both locally and globally. We’re constantly posting story links to our social media platforms every day. Updated technology makes it easier for us to layout and design our print edition twice a week, and new software allows us to see when a story has gone viral.
Personally, I now write much more and I shoot less – which I’ve come to realize isn’t a bad thing. I’m no longer “just” a photographer, I’m a multi-media journalist. We all are here at The Progress.
But I will admit that the change in my job description, coupled with our newsroom not being fully staffed for many months, resulted in a difficult year for me.
There were times when I wasn’t happy with the photos I was producing. I often found it difficult to focus on making beautiful images when my time was also spent interviewing and writing. It was hard to juggle both.
It was a bumpy road, but it soon smoothed out. The more I’d write, the easier it got and the more I enjoyed it.
And the easier storytelling with words came to me, the easier storytelling via photos returned, too.
One thing that helped inspire me this year was reading a book that I purchased 13 years ago.
The Great Picture Hunt by Dave LaBelle is all about “the art and ethics of feature picture hunting.” LaBelle’s advice on how to “people watch” and how to be patient, prepared and have compassion with your subject has re-fanned a flame in me that I felt was slowly being extinguished.
So as I head into 2020, I have a new vision. My passion for photography is still here, but now along with it, I see a new passion for writing.
READ MORE: Black Press Media’s best photos of 2019
READ MORE: B.C.’s top local news stories of 2019
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Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email:
jenna.hauck@theprogress.com
@PhotoJennalism
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