My younger brother Ryan and I took the ferry over to Nanaimo which is a small city along the the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The trip out there was pretty fun simply because Ryan had never been to the Island and I was showing him around (he was going to be staying for about 2 weeks, I was returning to Vancouver the same day). I managed to shoot a few photographs while we were on the ferry but the weather turned bad just as we arrived at Departure Bay (the ferry terminal when traveling to Nanaimo). Not all was lost, we did still manage to find a place that served heaped plates of scrambled eggs, sausages, toast and bacon for only $4 and free pool.. oh yeah!! We hung out for a couple hours and then I had to head back.
A few days later my friend Erin, Charlotte and Myself took a drive out to Squamish which is approximately halfway between Vancouver and Whistler. We spent most of the day exploring & pouring through thrift stores, picking up a few loose pins and badges as well as an awesome chair from the Seventies. In the afternoon we made a stop at the West Coast Railway Park which is a great spot even if you're only remotely interested in trains. A couple days before this trip I had also acquired my stereo field recorder. So I've attached some of the recordings of the day (*Note, there are audio clips between the photographs)
- Charlotte laughing about the fake real cat in the Thrift Store (00:25 min, Please use headphones where possible), 2010
-Ryan, 2010
-Ryan, 2010
-Nanaimo Labour Union, Nanaimo 2010
- Thrift Store, Squamish 2010
- Searching for pins (03:47 min, Please use headphones where possible), 2010
Some days are a little unexpected, you wake up at 4 AM to take you brother to a bus stop so he can catch a bus to catch a flight to Dallas, Texas. You drive home & fall asleep again. You're then woken up by your girlfriend who wants to know if you could drive and accompany her out to the Center for Aquaculture and Environmental Research in West Vancouver. You oblige (of course). When you arrive you're met by two Astronauts. The first is a Canadian Astronaut, Chris A Hadfield, who happens to be the Chief Astronaut for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the first Canadian ever to walk in space, who's attained countless awards and accolades for his contributions in the field of aeronautical design, testing and innovation. Seriously over achieved, the guy has an airport named after him. The second is an American Scientist & NASA Astronaut by the name of Stan G. Love who served as CAPCOM (spacecraft communicator) in Mission Control for Station Expeditions 1 through 7 and for Shuttle missions STS-104, STS-108, and STS-112. As well as being a crew member on various other missions. Another notoriously well studied and experienced astronaut.
The two men are out in West Vancouver training on the Nuytco Research DeepWorker 2000 submersible which will be used Pavilion Lake Research Project. A project which is researching the occurrence and nature of Microbialites in the extreme depths Pavilion lake near Kamloops B.C. The astronauts and the earth based Microbialite scientists and biologists are in a mutually beneficial relationship being that astronauts get hands practice on working in hostile and unforgiving environments while the scientists get the best pilots on earth to gather samples and make scientific observations of the untouched microorganisms at the bottom of Pavilion lake. I managed to take a few Photographs and do a field recordings of the preparation & first training run of the one manned submersible which took place just off the North Shore in West Vancouver.
- Radio transmissions of training exercise, recorded on location (06:28 min, Please use headphones where possible), 2010
- Chris A. Hadfield preparing for a Television interview, 2010
I recently had the opportunity to shoot the cover of L'Express du Pacifique, British Columbia's only French paper. The cover story was on the ongoing debate over abortion, the cover has two woman one "Pro-Life" and the other "Pro Choice". The shoot was very short notice (just three hours before it had to go to print).
My friend Mike Wilson was recently given a Linhof4x5" view camera by a friend who didn't want it anymore, Mike in turn gave me his well used & trusted Toyo 4x5" view camera explaining "I aint got no use for two". I was pretty excited to say the least. For those of you who don't know a 4x5" view camera is a type of of camera that uses either negative or positive film that is 4x5 inches in size (as opposed to traditional 35mm which is 24x36mm), now what that means is that when it comes time to print you get pristine detail & clarity because you have more detail in the film to work with and therefore there is less enlargement required. Not only that, but you are also able to control perspective and manage focus areas extremely well due to the cameras ability to tilt, swing and shift its focal planes. Many of the photographers I admire shot/shoot with the medium (at lease partially) Ansel Adams, Stephen Shore, Andreas Gursky and Jeff Wall to name a few.
- Various photographic film formats
Shooting on large format camera does have its challenges, you have to load each frame by hand in the darkroom. Everything you shoot is flipped and reversed on your focus screen. You have to use a tripod which rules out any "off the hip" shots. Its heavy & cumbersome to carry around as well as being slow to set up and focus. Its one shot at a time with a limit of 6 frames in a day (I only have 3 film holders). You also end up looking like a time traveler from the 1940's with massive old school camera perched on a tall silver tripod, your head tucked under a black cloth trying to get composed & focused. I love it!
- Oasis Car Wash, North Vancouver, 2010 (poorly re-photographed negative)
After testing my film holders for light leakage I set out to make my first picture. I used to live near the Oasis Car Wash in North Vancouver and I always wanted to do a shot there. Its reminds me of a golden age when having clean, shiny well polished car was of paramount importance to you status in society. The place doesn't seem to have changed that much over the years, it still very much has an art deco aesthetic to it with its palm trees and employees dressed in matching orange suits. It is still considered one of the best places to get your car washed and polished in the city, often with line ups stretching ten to fifteen cars long. As I arrived at the car wash I noticed an interesting looking Chevrolet for sale in the parking lot. It took me about ten minutes to set up (mostly because I was testing out the various camera movements available plus the reverse/flipped image is tricky to get used to). After double checking my focus and carefully draping a black cloth over the aging bellows, I slid in the film holder, set & cocked the lens and removed the dark slide. After pausing for a second or two waiting for a car to pass I made an exposure of f/6.3 @ 1/500th of a second on Ilford FP4 125 film (processed in Kodak T-Max 1+4 @ 20 degrees C).What you see below is the negative I re-photographed and converted to a positive in photoshop (not printed in the darkroom. So the quality isn't that great but least to get to see it.
- My 4x5" Toyo View Camera with an old school Seiko/Congo 150mm f/6,3 Lens (Thanks Mike)
Here are a few shots I've been meaning to post of some of Vancouver's local artists, with exception of Frog Eyes from Victoria all are Vancouver based. Red Cedar completely blew me away so go check them out if you get a chance, you won't regret it! Frog Eyes, Tarynohorse, Yukon Blonde, Apollo Ghosts & Gang Violence weren't bad either. Adios.
