Projects & Assignments

Mike has had the privilege of being the photographer for a number of historical journeys during the three decades of his career.

The most ambitious project was  in 1987 . This was a four month, three thousand kilometer dogsled journey across the Canadian Arctic to Greenland. It was called the Qitdlarssuaq Expedition. This was an Equinox magazine assignment and major media event.  Their story was nominated for a National Magazine Award. The team was featured in the national and international media over the 4 month period. The late Paul Apak produced a six hour series on our journey for the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation.

Another world class journey was Polar Passage -1986-88 . This expedition was the first solely- sail powered transit of the Northwest Passage. This was a National Geographic assignment with skipper Jeff McInnis on a tiny open catamaran. They sailed for 100 days over three summers and traversed over four thousand kilometers of ocean, ice and wilderness. This expedition reached millions of people across the globe through National Geographic and other magazines worldwide. There were several television programs that profiled our journey and a movie and book.

In 1990 Mike was asked to be the official photographer for an International Ski to the pole led by Robert Swan of the U.K. The expedition was called Ice Walk.  He worked for four months with the team as they trained and made their arduous ski towards the great geographic prize – the north Pole. Mike provided imagery for the world press as the trip progressed. However  he had it easy.  Beedell flew in at various intervals on the expedition and photographed them during their epic challenge.

In 1999 Mike and  writer Pamela Coulston set out on a one thousand kilometer sea-kayak &  hiking expedition named Kayak Nunavut 99. The expedition mandate was to circumnavigate a huge Arctic Island (11,000 sq. kilometers)  called Bylot  and to celebrate the creation of Nunavut – our newest territory.  For two weeks during the journey they were joined by Inuit youth, artists and a national broadcaster to share the experience of traveling in a traditional method through this  awe-inspiring landscape. Via satellite phone Mike and Pamela sent stories and images from their kayaks to major newspapers across Canada. They reached millions of people  every week  over an eight week period. The journey became a five month odyssey lasting two summers.  Mike was then joined  for a portion of the expedition by his artist  friend  Allen Smutylo and his brother Dave Beedell, a science teacher.

Along with these milestone journeys Beedell has undertaken a myriad of assignments to create imagery for clients in the areas of:  editorial and book publishing, education, conservation, environment, mental health, indigenous people, justice, sport, religion,  natural history, travel & tourism,  industrial & energy issues.