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A P.E.I. man who spent four decades photographing the outdoors and teaching students has died.
John Sylvester, born in 1955, died Jan. 19 at home with his daughters by his side.
Sylvester was an internationally published photographer and author.
He spent his 40-year career capturing images of people and landscapes around the world, with an emphasis on his beloved home province, Prince Edward Island.
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His legacy will live on through the many photographs he took and published.
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He loved spending time in nature-photographing, hiking, cycling, paddling, and cross-country skiing. He loved music, playing guitar, singing, dancing, reading, cooking and gardening in recent years.
Some of his images were captured in his 2014 book, “Prince Edward Island: Landscape and Light,” which was published by Acorn Press.
“Although the book is mostly new photography, I did slip in a few older images, including some that go back pretty close to 30 years,” Sylvester told The Guardian in 2014.
While his subject matter has remained the same, other things are dramatically different from when Sylvester started on his career path in the mid-1980s, namely technology.
The switch to digital a decade ago really changed things up.
“Traditionally the landscape photographer always photographs the magic hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset. For most of my photography that is still true, but you can really expand the day now and capture things that you couldn’t capture before (like the night sky),” he said.
One unexpected skill that developed in Sylvester’s 30 years as a landscape photographer is that he became an avid weather watcher and dedicated storm chaser, but one typically that shows up before or just after the big blow.
Funeral arrangements are with the Central Queens Funeral Home where visitation takes place Jan. 26, 2-5 p.m. A celebration of life is planned for Jan. 28 at 11 a.m.
Dave Stewart is a reporter for The Guardian in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X at @DveStewart.
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