Travelling school photographer 'brought to tears' watching northern kids grow up

Baby Nevaeh Tudlik was only nine months old when she got her first portrait taken.

Year after year, the same photographer would travel to Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, and snap a photo of her in front ofthe same background ethereal clouds that symbolize heaven, which isNevaeh's name spelled backwards.

Now, Nevaeh is five years old.

"It brought me to tears when I saw her in kindergarten when I was last there," said Katelyn Krueger, a photographer based in Toronto that spends eight months of the year travelling to remote northern communities to take family and school portraits.

"She had grown up so much," said Krueger. "Oh, it's incredible."

'Magical' moments

Krueger is one of a handful of photographers with Heirloom Portraits Inc., an Ontario-based company specializing in school and family portraits. The companymakes it its mission to serve 130 remote communities across Canada.

In the territories alone, the photographers go to about 40 communities a year from Old Crow, Yukonto Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut.

I was astonished that she could pull this baby magically out of her amauti.- Shirley Miller, president of Heirloom Portraits Inc.

They work seven days a week for four months at a time, using a variety of modes of transportation from float planes to trucks on ice roads to get to some of those communities, said Heirloom president Shirley Miller.

The photographersset up in a schoolor astore, and take photos of the students or families who line up.

The company, founded in 1989, started working with The North West Company in northern Ontario. That's when the small company saw a need and started to "adventure further north," said Miller.

In 1996, the photographers travelled to Rankin Inlet for the first time.

Slowly, they travelled to more remote communities. Now, placeslike Norman Wells and Lutselk'e, N.W.T., and Taloyoak and Naujaat, Nunavut are on the list.

Miller, who's also a portrait photographer, recalled a last-minute trip to Rankin Inlet 20 years ago.

She recalled a "magical" moment that day, when a petite, young woman approached her. "I said, 'Would you like your photo taken?' and she said 'No, my baby.'"

Miller said she didn't see a baby. Then, the woman pulled a toddler out of the hood of her amauti an Inuit parka."I was astonished that she could pull this baby magically out of her amauti," she said, laughing.

Charming interactionswith the people in the communitiesis what makes travelling photographers fall in love with the North, said Miller.

Onephotographer, who worked with the company for nine years, ended up moving to Iqaluit because she loved it so much, she added.

'She is growing so fast,' says mom

"I love it," said photographer Krueger. She saidin the past five years doing her job,she's been invited to several homes and community feasts where she tried narwhal and seal meat. She's alsobeentaken out on the land where she saw her first polar bear (outside of the Toronto zoo).

"I know there have been a lot of hardship, so for people to welcome me in, I know that's really special," said Krueger.

Alvina Tudlik, Nevaeh's mother, said watching her baby grow through these yearly portraits has been special.

"It's heartbreaking that she is growing so fast,"Tudliksaid.

Tudlik saidshe keeps in touch with Krueger and occasionally sends her photos of her daughter through social media. Tudlik said Nevaeh gets attached to Krueger when she's in town.

"I'm just thankful that [Krueger's]known my daughter since she was a baby," said Tudlik.

Both Miller and Krueger say they love photographing people in the North more than in the South.

"In the North, more people are less cranky," said Krueger.

Miller said that the portraits are more treasured up North.

"I'm starting to understand, it's a community up there and the communities are raising these children ... That's why, probably, they all want a photo of each other."

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