Bruce Flanagan
Biography
Bruce G. Flanagan was born September 14th, 1952, and grew up in a house on Church Street in Lynn Valley. After receiving a Brownie box camera when he was a child, he became fascinated by photography. He left school at age 15 to start working as a logger, a job that took him around the province. When he wasn’t away working, Bruce photographed the social and cultural life of Lynn Valley during the 1970s and ’80s. He took around 20,000 photos, some of which can be found in the North Vancouver Archives. He now lives in Courtenay on Vancouver Island.
Capturing Summer
“I used to go to Rice Lake when it was illegal. We used to go up there and go skinny dipping! We’d meet at the pipeline that goes across Lynn Creek and we’d sneak across and try not to get caught. It was great, a lot of fun. If you got caught, you’d just run like hell and scatter. It was a watershed, you weren’t allowed in there.
Oh yeah, I got pictures of things I shouldn’t have taken pictures of. I just loved taking pictures of the time, and I knew it was neat and that it wasn’t going to last forever. We’d go up to Lynn Canyon, sit at 30-foot, smoke, drink a couple of beer, and spend the day just enjoying the weather. I’d take pictures, and at the end of the day, we’d go home or go eat at Lynn Canyon Burger, the concession stand. Their burgers were the best.”
