2014, The Best Of

All in all for me, 2014 was an interesting year of many changes, and growth. I wrapped up my first full year of school in five years, and ventured into one of my first summers unemployed. School started up for the second and final year, which I have still not fully processed. I made my first skate tour to major city centres, and I stumbled upon an idea with tons of potential for work down the road. Ultimately, my camera took me farther across this country this year than it ever has.

I learned a lot about myself as a photographer and as a human being in 2014. I learned a lot about how thinking positive can really change your outlook on life.

As the liquor starts to flow in my system I chose 10 photos from 2014 that I feel are not my best, but some of my most memorable moments from the year.

Connor Stone -- Hardflip -- Belleville, Ontario. January

I got my hands on some pocket wizards over Christmas break, 2013, and this was one of the first shots I pulled off with em where I had an idea of what was going to happen because of them. 

Mike Van Dolder handles a corner during the Hastings Cup in Bancroft, Ontario. February. 

Bancroft hosted the Hastings Cup in February, and I found a ride up there with some of the homies for a fun day of shooting. Rented out a 300mm for the weekend so I could get something like this, happy it all worked out. 

We were given 48 hours to find an active senior citizen in Belleville during our second semester in March. After having a subject fall through and a subject take too long. I got put in touch with Turk. Turk is a 65 year old bottle picker here in Belleville. He had to undergo a triple bypass surgery in 2010 and has not been able to find adequate full time work since the surgery. March

Chatting with Turk was easily one of the most heavy experiences I have ever had going through the photojournalism program at Loyalist College. He told me one of the most heart wrenching stories life stories I have ever heard a human being go through. After a two and a half hour interview session I snapped off this photo of him. 

Tyler Riddle -- Kickflip -- Belleville, Ontario. June

Because Tyler lives in Trenton, we don't always get to skate together. Whenever we do link up, we make the most of the time we get shooting together. He's one of those guys who just seems to love skating, no matter what. Thanks for the good times g! 

A buffalo grazes in the Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan. July

The Grasslands National Park was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. I found that I have a passion for long exposure and star trail photography this year, and when I found out that Grasslands happens to be one of the largest dark sky preserves in Canada I knew I had to go. I actually found out two days before I went that it happens to also be a large free range preserve for bison as well. It was a goal of mine to get a shot of the bison in their natural habitat, and I am pleased with the result. Definitely will be back here in the near future for more photo work. 

Tyrrell LeGrand -- Backside Flip -- Montreal. August

Through the last week of August, Tyrrell LeGrand and Corbin Schmidt made an epic trek out east from the humble prairies of the 306 to put some work in the big city streets. I had never made a skate tour before, let alone to two of the biggest destinations in Canada. The trip was amazing, many memories were made (and potentially forgotten) during the whole affair. It was a g time, thanks for the trip boys! 

Benjamin Slinn -- Ollie -- Trenton. September.

This may not be the flashiest shot, or the hardest trick I have ever taken. But what this shot represents to me is an idea, an objective, a goal. In September, one of the first assignments we were given is called Sense of Belonging. It challenged us to find a community of people, and photograph at least 5 people from within this community. The skateboard community of Belleville took me in without hesitation when I moved here in August, 2013, and it was the first group of people I thought of for this assignment. 

Since showing my first 5 images in the project I have continued to pursue the project and I will continue to persue the project across Canada for as long as I can. More details will be out soon enough, I got a few more pieces I have to put together for this to be properly announced.

  

Heart Lake, British Columbia. October

In October I traveled to British Columbia under some rather unfortunate circumstances. I got some time to make a few treks up to Heart Lake and reset myself after a hectic first half of the semester. It has forever put itself in my memory as a place of peace and serenity. 

A woman walks down Front Street in Belleville Ontario. November

In early November one of my professors told us we had the class period of two hours to produce either a feature photo or an environmental portrait. I've always worked well under the pressure of a deadline, and I came back with an image I was really satisfied with. I had been watching this location for a little while and decided it was time to camp on it. 

The Bay of Quinte, frozen after a relatively mild winter. December 

This is one of the few times I've actually felt compelled to make a photo for someone. This bridge is one of the iconic images of the Hastings County. I'm happy to have gotten an image of it during a scenic sunset. 

The Hometown Adventure

For a little bit more background about myself, I was born on Vancouver Island, where I lived until the age of 13 when my family made the move to Regina, Saskatchewan. 

Since that move in 2005 I have been able to go back and visit my hometown a grand total of two times. I brought my camera along with me to document some of the things I grew up seeing. 

On two of the four days I made the hike up to Heart Lake. It is a quiet, and beautiful spot to relax and get away from everything. It's quite the hike up to the lake but it's certainly worth it.

Who makes these crazy little things?

Greeting you early on in the trail is this little brook. Cross it for a harder trek.

The first trip up myself and my little brother Andrew were surrounded by clouds.

Found a number of these guys on the way up.

You've almost made it. It was such a relief to see this sign on both trips up...

And then you see this.. This was from the second trek up with Spenser. 

 Look real close, you might just see him. We debated getting closer but as we started packing it flew off. 

When I wasn't hiking, I was waiting for the rain to let up to try and skate around. When that didn't happen I decided to explore the town and see what I could see. 

Strange little place, Ladysmith is. Love it though!

A tunnel the town built to Transfer Beach underneath the Trans Canada Highway in Ladysmith. 

Aaaand a detail shot of it. 

Growing up I had logging roads just beyond my back yard fence so I'd always wander out and explore them. On my last day in town I got a chance to do it again, and I jumped at it.

Breaking out the fisheye again.

 Look up. You'll be amazed at what we miss out on.

Poutines, Panhandlers, and Presidential Suites

Starting my trip to Montreal was a journey on its own. Upon arrival at the Belleville VIA rail station I figured it'd be a good idea to call TPR and see if they had made it through airport security in Regina without any problems. 

He and Corbin missed their flight to Toronto due to a ridiculous policy. An agreement was made and I was to change my path to Montreal direct, and go to the Toronto airport to meet both of them at the arrival gate. 

Once we had gathered all of our belongings, we were off, on an overpriced taxi ride into the heart of Toronto to find a bus to Montreal. 

We had booked in for the red eye bus route to Montreal, stopping in the country's capital city for a changeover at the glorious hour of 7:30 in the morning. After a mostly uneventful and hazy bus ride to Montreal we were free to ride our boards. After finding a few cool looking places on our adventure to find a hotel we realized that there was going to be a bit of a language barrier. I speak very little  French, and TPR and Corbin didn't know any at all.

Myself, and Corbin, running on minimal rest trying to figure out the hotel situation. Photo creds Tyrrell LeGrand

After a crazy day of travel we decided to check into an overpriced hotel and skate from downtown all the way to Olympic Stadium to find the Big O. It was a must see for all of us, and it was a surreal experience. 

 Tyrrell LeGrand // Backside Smith, Montreal, 2014 

After scoping out some spots around Olympic stadium we bought our first metro tickets to get back to our hotel.  

Day two of skating began, and we set out to skate Peace Park. A few crackheads and crazies around, but it wasn't too much to deal with in the end. In all honesty they left us to our own devices. We didn't even get asked for change.

TPR had the brilliant idea of bringing along two disposable cameras. Tyrrell LeGrand // Frontside Lipslide, Montreal, 2014

Day three, we set out rather hungover after a night of festivities. We munched down a Montreal must have, the poutine. All filled up with grease we set off through Old Montreal to see the touristy sights and see what was skateable. TPR was told about a spot where people had seen skaters at before, and he knew it so we checked it out. 

Tyrrell LeGrand // Backside Flip, Montreal, 2014 

It's always nice to get a helping hand..... Montreal, 2014

One last try.... Corbin Schmidt // Nollie Inward Heelflip, Montreal, 2014 

Our final day in Montreal consisted of trying to find a the last few spots we could hit before we had to catch an evening bus back to Toronto. After some discussion we decided to go back to the Olympic Stadium, as we had all noticed and commented on the well known half pipe formation that occurs on the roof of the building. 

After jumping on the Metro with all of our luggage we made it back only to find out construction workers had resumed work... Right where we wanted to ride. Corbin had separated from myself and TPR, so he hadn't seen the big construction dude at work. He didn't take too kindly to Corbin being up there so we took off disappointed in not coming away with a photo. 

Gettin' the boot... Keep your scaffolds more secure homie.

After a bus ride back to Toronto we met up with Blair Starks, who would be our guide / host / driver throughout the majority of the Toronto portion of our trip. 

Blair Starks // Backside Crook up, Stouffville, 2014

After touring around spots in some obscure cities around Toronto we eventually made our way back into Toronto to check out Ashbridges. It was a really neat experience, coming from a city like Regina to see what a small portion of Toronto skaters are like. 

Tyrrell LeGrand // Hardflip to Manny, Ashbridges, Toronto, 2014

We hadn't made any plans where to stay yet. After some frantic google searching we settled on the second or third cheapest option for a hotel, who was happy to take us in for the night, We were given a room key, and we set off to the top floor to find our room. We had walked halfway down the hallway only to realize we weren't going to find our room. We turned to the end of the hall and made the glorious discovery we had been given the presidential suite. Hype!

Gives us a nice view of  Jarvis... And the notorious Hooker Harvey's is on the end of the block there. Toronto, 2014

Our second day in Toronto, we played tourist to the maximum. It was a good day for recovery. We scoped out the Toronto Fan Expo, which was a pretty ridiculous experience. None of us had been to anything like that before, so we didn't really know what to expect.

Got the snap before he drove off with his fare... All the cabs in the city and we ran across this one! 

After a night of going hard, and minimal sleep for myself and Corbin, we set off on the second last day of the adventure in sluggish fashion. We had some dominoes in mind, and some dominoes we found.

Corbin Schmidt // Backside Smith, Toronto, 2014

"I picked up the cashflow, then we playing chicken bones, and I'm yellin dominoes" 
Tyrrell LeGrand // Backside Crook, Toronto, 2014 

After cruising through some of the raw heat of the day, we took a drive over to Ashbridges to relax a little. I thought so anyways, Corbin went pretty hard in the bowl.

Corbin Schmidt // Fakie Ollie, Ashbridges, 2014

Our final day of skating through Toronto wrapped up at a spot that TPR coined "Little Roschdale by the Sea" and we all had a blast. A really low rail allowed the creativity to flow, and we got some tourists and drunken boaters excited about skateboarding!

Tyrrell LeGrand // Backside Feeble, Toronto, 2014

These are the drunk boaters. They went wild after Blair landed this! Blair Starks // Frontside Bluntslide, Toronto, 2014


We made one final stop on the way back to the van to make the last trip to Newmarket. Just out front of the Rogers Centre, Blair showed us this little gem.

Blair Starks // Gap to Backside Crook, Toronto, 2014

The final day of the tour was a bittersweet one. It happened to be August 30, which is my birthday. I got asked for ID for cigarettes (this hasn't happened in ages) and buddy almost wouldn't sell them to me... it's not like I just turned 19 either...

Anyways, we took a look at a church in Newmarket before being told to leave. We made a stop at a restaurant / bar in King City and raised some eyebrows by ordering two pitchers of beer at around 2:30 in the afternoon. After some decent food and a round of shots we made our way to the skate park.

Corbin Schmidt /// Frontside Slash, King City, 2014

We made our last journey together to the Toronto airport. Chatting a little bit about the experience we had just wrapped up we arrived at the departures terminal. We took our final snaps together, and said our final goodbyes in person. My first ever skate tour wrapped up in almost the exact same position it began.

Blair Starks // Tyrrell LeGrand // Corbin Schmidt, Toronto, 2014.... Thanks for an amazing tour. Rad skateboarding, rad times chillin. 

The first posting... More to come soon!

My photographic voyage began at the age of 11 years old when I first traveled across Canada with a cheap camera and about 10 rolls of film. Ever since that trip I've loved having a camera close by to capture moments as I see them.

For the past two years my focus has shifted to skateboarding because I have found an interesting community of people who are passionate about what they do. Day in and day out people are willing to sacrifice their bodies for the rush of landing a trick. I have a lot of respect for every individual I have encountered on my journey, and I continue to be amazed and inspired every day by what I watch happen on a skateboard.

Tyrrell LeGrand // Backside Flip, Regina, Summer 2014


For the past 13 months I have lived in Belleville, Ontario, where I am completing a diploma in Photojournalism at Loyalist College. I left my home in Saskatchewan to follow my dreams, and I am excited for what the future has to bring.

I will post some of my school work here, and some of my adventures on four wheels on wood. Stay tuned folks!