103 working with the CWRO on the exhibition and distribution of photographs. It was from the summer of 1917 that Rider-Rider found himself (though not yet on paper) Canada’s sole official photographer. This arrangement appeared to suit the newly minted Honourary Lieutenant Rider-Rider just fine, as he was instructed simply to “get at it,” and with the help of two assistants, a batman, and a driver, he did just that. We know, then, that Rider-Rider had pre-war press photography experience, and that he was not given many specific assignments. What do his photographs of war tell us about his approach? An examination of his entire wartime oeuvre is beyond the scope of this article, but a few notable examples courtesy of the Seaforth Highlanders Regimental Archives collection will give us a small glimpse of Rider-Rider’s Great War photographs. 14 15 16 17 18 The GreatWar William Rider-Rider, O-2052: ACanadian Red Cross Ambulance starting from a Dressing Station, October 1917, Seaforth Highlanders Regimental Archives, 2018.413.2052. Despite the photograph’s title, the Ambulance is not the only subject of this scene; instead, it is the utter destruction of the town in which the vehicle is situated. Several figures offer a sense of scale, while, again, a railway track delivers a clear vanishing point.
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