Queen's visits memorable for long-time Citizen photographer

Among the many events and happenings he covered during his near four-decade career at the Prince George Citizen, Dave Milne considers photographing the Queen's two visits to Prince George as highlights.

"Absolutely, yeah, I would say that, for sure," Milne said Thursday. "It was a major event."

Not only was she in Prince George in 1994 to open the University of Northern British Columbia, but she also visited the city in 1971 during a province-wide tour to mark the 100th anniversary of B.C.'s entry into Confederation.

Milne's tenure with the Citizen stretched from 1968 to 2006, when he retired, and he was there for both occasions, as well as the 1986 visit by Charles and Diana. 

Compared to the two later visits, security was "lax" during the Queen's 1971 stop in the city, where she passed through what's now known as Lheidli T'enneh Park. 

"It was quite easy to get some decent photographs and to follow her along," recalled Milne and later noted that there was no boundary between her and the people that she was greeting. 

"There's no rope there's nothing," Milne said in reference to one of the photos he took.

Stressing that he was anywhere from 20 to 40 feet away on any of her visits, Milne was nonetheless impressed by the Queen. Despite her celebrity status, she came across as a "genuine person" who was "willing to meet with people, talk to them."

In contrast, he was less impressed with some of the international press corps, notably the photographers from the British newspapers. Many showed up with ladders to get a better view and had no compunction about butting away to the front and in the way of the other photographers to get their images. 

"You had to be ready to fight for a shot," Milne said.

They left Milne with the impression of being bullies but also acknowledged they had a job to do. And Milne did manage to get his photos using nothing more than a 200 mm lens.

"With the Queen, we were at a distance and making due with expressions on people's faces and making sure everybody's eyes were open, you know, we were looking for expressions," Milne said.

By the time the visit in 1994 rolled around, printing of the Citizen had progressed from black and white to full-fledged colour.

"At that particular time with our offset press, we were producing the best colour of the very few newspapers of our size in particular that were producing that quality of photo so it was a landmark in itself," Milne remarked.

Editor's note: Unattributed photos posted with this story were taken by either Brock Gable or Lisa Murdoch.