This Montreal Woman Has The Greatest Job In The World
Whoever said you couldn't have your cake and eat it too, hasn't met Johany Jutras.
It's 5 o'clock in the morning, the sun is slowly rising, and Johany is packing all her equipment into her Volkswagen Golf. "You can't explain a day in the life of Johany Jutras because you never know what's going to happen". Every day is different.
Photo cred - Johany Jutras by Chris Hofley
Johany Jutras, is a Montreal freelance sports photographer for the Canadian Football League (CFL). She is the first ever to document the journey of the CFL through a road trip.
From an early age, she always knew she wanted to be a photographer, but for football?
"I hated football" she laughs.
She's the eldest of four - with three younger brothers. All of them played the Canadian sport, and yet she was never a fan of it.
"I would always go to see my brothers' games, but when you don't understand football, it could get boring" she told TSN during an interview.
That all changed one day when she decided to integrate the one thing she loved the most - with the game itself.
"I was around 15 years old, when I decided to bring along my camera to the games. I thought, I'm bored and i'm freezing - might as well take pictures".
Little did she know, those pictures would end up changing her life.
Photo cred - Johany Jutras
Slowly but surely, she started posting her high-resolution photographs on Facebook, going out to more games, starting with the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) (the national governing body of university sport in Canada.)
From there on, she felt this burning passion.
She didn't just want to take a pictures anymore, she wanted to tell a story.
"[Johany] is going inside, the inside" Henry Burris of the Ottawa Redblacks commented about her road trip .
She started getting jobs at the Alouettes sidelines, and things just rocketed from there.
"What I wanted to do was discover cities." she says.
Photo cred - Johany Jutras
"When I went out to Saskatchewan, the entire city wore green. If you didn't wear green, you were weird."
Green is the uniform colour of the Roughriders, the Saskatchewan football team.
"I want to discover those little things about traditions". That was the project, I wanted to LIVE through the CFL".
Photo cred - Johany Jutras
With years of pictures, action shots, frames of games, she built a compilation of still images about the Canadian Football League, and our Country.
She started to get more recognition as the years went by, catching the attention of TSN, The Montreal Gazette and Journal de Montreal.
But she never did it for the fame. When I asked what inspired her to take photographs, she remained humble, "I wanted people to see the game through my eyes, "behind the scenes" of the game.
Photo cred - Johany Jutras
Seeing them howl around and pray, it's inspiring. There's really something about it that speaks louder than words.
There's a patriotism aspect of the CFL. "It's about the passion and unique culture of each town."
What's next in her journey?
"Taking a few days off" she says.
"I've been working non-stop for the last six months, over 20 hours a day."
But I won't stop here, I'm going to continue what I started.
"You don't win the Grey Cup without sacrifices, without effort, you always need to do more. For me, I feel like I've already won the Grey Cup."
Photo cred - Johany Jutras
Johany is presently in Montreal for her book launch. The book has 9 chapters, representing the 9 different teams in the CFL.
The book launch will be held tonight at Les Ateliers Lozeau Plaza, 6229 ST Hubert, Montreal from 7-9 pm.
She'll be signing books, and there will be an endless amount of beer and photos on exhibition.
Books will also be on sale at the book signing or can be purchased online here.
