'It gave me comfort': Prince George man finds solace in photography

You may see him near the river, but he also disappears into the wilderness. 

Prince George resident and photographer Dale Adams didn't always have an eye for beautiful pictures. He wanted to go down different career paths when he was younger. 

"You know, a marine biologist was one," he tells PrinceGeorgeMatters. "And a police officer. Certain things changed the way I thought about it. Mentally, I don't think I could have handled it."

While joining the police force wasn't for him, he did enlist in the army.

"I enlisted when I was 17," he says. "Thankfully, I never saw war."

In 2007, Adams travelled to Vancouver on his motorcycle to enlist again. During a stop on Vancouver Island to see a riding buddy of his, Adams changed his mind and didn't sign up for the army.

"Everything happens for a reason," says Adams.

A streak of bad luck followed in 2010. Adams started to show signs he was sick after losing weight rapidly. His mother also passed away from lung cancer the same year.

It was a year later, in 2011, after him losing a large amount of weight, that he realized something was wrong. Doctors told him he had aspergillosis, a fungal lung condition which is caused by inhaling certain mould spores.

Adams ended up going from roughly 200 pounds, to just 82 pounds.

(via Contributed)

"It gave me a chance to be at home, raise a newborn the whole time I was sick," he says. "I was hands-on with him; I knew he was safe and it was a great learning experience." 

Adams says at that time he was struggling to find his place in society. He ultimately found solace in photography.

"It gave me comfort," he says. "It was therapeutic because with all of the stuff we took on. It was relieving to be out in nature and I just absolutely fell in love."

Adams is known for capturing extraordinary nature shots around Prince George as well as animals in the wild, and understands his work can help bring a community together. (To see a sample of his portfolio, check out the gallery above.)

"It gives me great pleasure to know that I captured something that was able to tell a story for someone who maybe has something bad going on in their life and that one photo happens to inspire them," he says. "Or, make them feel good. I don't care for the money, it's to give people joy."

You can also view more of his work on his Facebook page.