About Us
 
Louise Abbott and Niels Jensen are partners in life and in Rural Route Communications, a multimedia production company based in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. They specialize in documenting rural life and rural heritage as well as the natural environment in Canada and abroad. They produce feature stories for magazines and newspapers as well as books and video documentaries.
Recent books: Memphrémagog: An Illustrated History / Une histoire illustrée (Georgeville Press, second edition volume 1 and first edition volume 2, 2017)
Recent video documentaries: Nunaaluk: A Forgotten Story (COTA, 2014), Saving the Founder’s Home (2015), and The Islands of Lake Memphremagog: A Natural and Human History (2015).
Since the summer of 2007, Louise and Niels have worked with the Cree Outfitting and Tourism Association (COTA), documenting life in the James Bay region of Quebec at different times of the year in photographs and in video. They published Eeyou Istchee: Land of the Cree / Terre des Cris with COTA in 2010. They have also produced several videos for other Cree clients, including the Cree Regional Authority, the Cree Nation of Wemindji, and the Cree Nation of Mistissini.
In January of 2011, they produced a collection of forty photographs for permanent display in the Justice Building in Mistissini.
Books by Louise Abbott:
The Coast Way (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1988)
The French Shore (Waterous, 1996)
A Country So Wild and Grand (Coasters’ Assocation, 1999)
The Heart of the Farm: A History of Barns and Fences in the Eastern Townships of Quebec (Text by Louise Abbott, Photos by Louise Abbott and Niels Jensen)
Films Directed by Louise Abbott:
The History of Nunavik (Kativik Educational Television, 1993)
The Pinnacle and the Poet (National Film Board of Canada, 1995) To purchase this film, visit the National Film Board boutique.
Alexander Walbridge: The Visionary of Mystic (Missisquoi Historical Society, 2002)Â
Quebec Roots (Blue Metropolis Foundation, 2008)
Giving Shelter: Historic Barns of the Eastern Townships (Rural Route Communications, 2009).
Crisscrossing Space and Time: A History of Farm Fencing (Rural Route Communications, 2009).
Historic Georgeville: Walks and Talks with John Boynton (Rural Route Communications, 2011)
A New Life for an Old Bridge (Hamlet Heavy Timberwork, 2011)
Once Upon a Time (Blue Metropolis Foundation, 2012)
Louise also wrote the script and served as assistant director on The Empty Net/Le filet vide (Imageries, 1996).
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Photographs by Louise Abbott:
Louise’s photographs have appeared in more than thirty photo anthologies, including Une Histoire des Québécoises en Photos; Hivers; Regards du Québec; Montréal au XXe siècle; Treasures of the National Archives of Canada; and Children in Photography: 150 Years.
Her photographs have also appeared in various non-fiction books, including Haiti: The Duvaliers and their Legacy (McGraw-Hill, 1988), written by her sister, internationally acclaimed author Elizabeth Abbott.
Her work has been exhibited in Canada, Mexico, and Europe.
Her photographs are represented in the collections of Library and Archives Canada, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (National Gallery of Canada), the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and other public institutions.
Louise has received arts awards from the Canada Council, the Quebec Ministry of Cultural Affairs (now CALQ), the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the Bannerman Foundation, and other private foundations. In 2002 she won the Norman Kucharsky Award for Cultural and Artistic Journalism given by PWAC (the Professional Writers Association of Canada) and the Greg Clark Internship Award given by the Canadian Journalism Foundation.
Niels Jensen is both an award-winning furniture designer-cabinetmaker and an award-winning photographer. In 2003 he began to collaborate with Louise Abbott on photographic projects. He and Louiselive in the hamlet of Tomifobia in the municipality of Ogden but travel frequently on assignment. As a husband-and-wife team, they have produced photo-essays for newspapers like the (Montreal) Gazette and magazines like Heritage, along with a book on the agricultural history of the Eastern Townships titled The Heart of the Farm andEeyou Istchee: Land of the Cree / Terre des Cris. They have also co-produced many video documentaries.Â