Part art history, part road trip, and part detective story, Album Rock began when Matthew Hollett stumbled across an intriguing photograph from the 1850s on the website of the Corner Brook Museum and Archives. Paul-Émile Miot was one of the first photographers to visit Newfoundland. His photo Rocher peint par les marins français (Rock painted by French sailors) shows the word Album painted on a prominent rock in Sacred Bay, on Newfoundlands Great Northern Peninsula. Over 160 years later, the landmark is still known as Album Rock. But whats the story behind this curious scene? And who are the sailors posing on the rock? A lively and insightful work of creative nonfiction and poetry, Album Rock touches on the history of photography in Newfoundland, Miots travels around the French Shore, and the power of naming in shaping our perceptions of a place. Its also a celebration of curiosity and the joy of delving into the mystery of a peculiar photograph.

Part art history, part road trip, and part detective story, Album Rock began when Matthew Hollett stumbled across an intriguing photograph from the 1850s on the website of the Corner Brook Museum and Archives. Paul-Émile Miot was one of the first photographers to visit Newfoundland. His photo Rocher peint par les marins français (Rock painted by French sailors) shows the word Album painted on a prominent rock in Sacred Bay, on Newfoundlands Great Northern Peninsula. Over 160 years later, the landmark is still known as Album Rock. But whats the story behind this curious scene? And who are the sailors posing on the rock? A lively and insightful work of creative nonfiction and poetry, Album Rock touches on the history of photography in Newfoundland, Miots travels around the French Shore, and the power of naming in shaping our perceptions of a place. Its also a celebration of curiosity and the joy of delving into the mystery of a peculiar photograph.