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.
Most recent book: Eeyou Istchee: Land of the Cree/Terre des Cris (COTA, 2010)
Most recent video documentary: Historic Georgeville: Walks and Talks with John Boynton (2011). This 36-minute film traces the social history and architectural heritage of the picturesque village of Georgeville in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.
Since the summer of 2007, Louise and Niels have been working 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 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 new Justice Building in Mistissini.
Louise and Niels frequently collaborate with colleagues at Strata360, a business in Montreal that specializes in cartography, graphic design, and multimedia "in the service of environment, heritage, and sustainable development."
Books by Louise Abbott:
The Coast Way (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1988) Preview. Purchase.
The French Shore (Waterous, 1996) For a list of feature stories that Louise has produced about French-speaking Newfoundlanders, please see "Modern French Presence in Newfoundland and Labrador" in Memorial University of Newfoundland Bibliography.
A Country So Wild and Grand (Coasters’ Assocation, 1999)
Films by Louise Abbott:
The History of Nunavik (Kativik Educational Television, 1993) Read a review.
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) To purchase this film, visit the Missisquoi Museum boutique.
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).
Louise also wrote the script and served as assistant director on The Empty Net/Le filet vide (Imageries, 1996).
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. For a list of some of her exhibitions, see Vox.
Her photographs are represented in the collections of Library and Archives Canada, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (National Gallery of Canada), 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, 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 Louise live in the hamlet of Tomifobia in the municipality of Ogden but travel frequently on assignment, often on their Honda motorcycle. 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. They have also co-produced more than one dozen video documentaries.