By Adam Frisk
Hello, Haliburton County! My name is Adam Frisk and I’ve recently joined The Haliburton County Echo, Minden Times and County Life as a reporter and photographer. I’m thrilled to join the talented team in a place that I’ve been proud to call home for nearly five years. I’m excited to contribute to our community through vibrant storytelling while capturing the day-to-day of local life and everything the county has to offer.
A little about me. I’m an award-winning photojournalist who was born in our nation’s capital but spent most of my childhood and teen years in Aurora, Ont. I studied commercial photography at Sheridan College in Oakville before graduating from Loyalist College’s photojournalism program in Belleville. From there I went on to earn a post-graduate in online journalism. I’ve been a journalist for more than 20 years, working at several major Canadian media outlets, including Global News and CTV News, throughout my career.
Early in my career I spent time in west Africa, documenting Rotary International’s efforts to eradicate polio. While in Cameroon, I photographed Rotary members and vaccination workers providing the life-saving vaccine to thousands of children. I myself administered the two-drop oral vaccine to dozens of children. That early experience helped shape my journalism and photography, striving to be compassionate through words and still images while capturing the bare facts of the story. I’m passionate about telling community stories, visual storytelling and finding the uniqueness that someone has to offer.
During my time in Toronto, I worked several photography jobs outside of my full-time gig. I was a paparazzo for several years and worked with a modelling agency. I also focused on my passion for landscapes and motion.
So what brings me to Haliburton? My family has had a cottage in the area for many years, a special place where I would be itching to get up to on a Friday afternoon to escape the city, like so many others. The plan was for my wife and I to, some day, have a cottage here, too. Then the pandemic hit.
About eight months into the ‘end of times,’ it looked like I wasn’t going to be back in the newsroom anytime soon, so we took a gamble and pulled the trigger. Yes, I’m one of THOSE people. But hey, I haven’t been happier! After joining the camera club and answering a wanted ad in the Echo for a freelance photographer, I quickly fell in love with the village. From the autumn decor that greets people entering town, to market days, midnight madness and sunsets over Head Lake, making the move to what my mother calls ‘God’s Country,’ was the best decision I have ever made. And now I’m working within the community which was the last step towards settling in.
