In film, pt. 2

This is part 2 of a 2 part series featuring my film work between 2014 and 2016. To see part 1, click here.

I've always loved landscapes and scenic work. It's some of the first stuff I started messing around with when it comes to my "photographic journey" if you want to call it that. It seems only natural it was some of the first stuff I started shooting on film.

This post consists of some of the visuals I have come across during my time travelling across Canada. From British Columbia to Ontario, here's some things I've found.

A view from around Algonquin Provincial Park in the fall of 2014.

Banff, Spring 2016. Had to walk through some freezing knee deep water to get to a good point for this one. Shot on 120, still unsure about this crop though. 

St. Thomas Anglican Church, in Belleville Ontario, summer 2015. 

The bridge spanning the Bay of Quinte, in Belleville Ontario, summer 2015. 

Canmore, Alberta. Spring, 2015 on my way back east. Woke up early in Banff to make sure I got this beauty magic hour lighting.

Cathedral Grove, Spring 2015. A short visit to the island, but a productive one. I've always loved that trees can seemingly regenerate from their old husks. 

Goldstream Falls, just outside of Victoria British Columbia, spring 2015. My short island tour took me from the far western portions of Vancouver Island, to the far south in a span of three days.

Highway 6, between Regina and Southey, Saskatchewan. After torrential rainfall in the spring of 2015, a few portions of this particular section of highway appear to be miniature lakes. I feel for whoever owns these buildings; in the last few years I haven't seen any changes in this particular scene.

From water damage, to fire damage. This was somewhere along highway 17 in Ontario in the spring of 2015. Just outside Dryden, if my memory serves correct. 

Lake Minnewanaka, in Banff, Alberta. Spring 2016, while moving between St. Catharines and Penticton. 

Saw this while visiting Alyssa Lloyd in Bancroft, Ontario, spring 2015. She's got a hell of a view to look at every day!

Long Beach, British Columbia, spring 2015. Long Beach is just outside of Tofino, my favorite place I've ever visited. I do miss that salt air.

Johnston Falls, Alberta, spring 2015. These falls are west of Banff. Some of the coolest and freshest looking water ever. Pure glacial run off. 

I think this is around the Killarney Park area in Ontario, in the spring of 2015. Took the scenic route through Ontario on my way back east; skipped all that horrible Toronto traffic by doing so.

Highway 62, between Belleville and Bancroft, in the spring of 2015. The last leg of my epic solo journey.

The northern portion of Okanagan Lake. This was my last stop in the Okanagan heading east back to Belleville in the spring of 2015. 

The southern portion of Okanagan Lake. The homeland, Penticton British Columbia, spring 2015. 

An orchid, in the Cathedral Grove forrest in the spring of 2015. Testing the detail of my TLR.

The Penticton Herald office, in Penticton British Columbia, where I spent three and a half weeks or so as an intern. I learned a lot in my brief stint here; and I continue to learn at my new job in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

Somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, in the spring of 2015. Mountains are amazing. I went quite a bit off the beaten trail to make this one. Saw a few bears on the road down to the trail I found - had to make sure I was quick here! 

The Rogers Pass, in the spring of 2015. Pretty much 100% guarantee I am stopping for a smoke break at this point. 

Sandbanks Provincial Park, Ontario, Summer 2015. I only made three visits to Sandbanks. I'm glad I brought a camera along all three times. 

Penticton Indian Band lands, British Columbia spring 2015. Water is one of my favourite subjects.

Snake Falls, Ontario, Spring 2015. These little rapids / falls caught my eye on the highway driving through Ontario. I believe they're before Sault Ste Marie.

A rock stack at Flinton Falls, in Ontario, fall 2014. 

Wikaninnish, British Columbia, spring 2015. Another one of those magical stops outside of Tofino.

A winery, en route to Naramata from Penticton in British Columbia, spring 2015. 

Until I get a few more rolls developed, that's all for now folks. Thanks for reading and checking out my photos! I'm excited to be working with film; the next step for me is to learn how to develop my own work, and then perhaps I will be able to post more consistently! 

Watch for my upcoming "Sweet 16 for 2016" post, which will be 16 of my best from the last year. 

2015: In Review

Tis the season for reflection... 2015 has been a wild ride from start to finish. I met a lot of interesting people along the way! I graduated college (what the hell? four years ago if you told me that was a possibility I'd have laughed.)

Yet again, I found myself in a new city, in a new part of Ontario. I miss Bellevegas a lot more than I realized I would. It had it's quirks, it had its characters. I met a number of incredible skateboarders, made a lot of friends, and I had a lot of good times there. When it's time to go, it's time to go though. I'll never forget y'all!

I had some interesting experiences behind the lens and personally, and I feel to an extent that I have grown from them all. That's what we're all after right? Personal growth? I'll celebrate that as a win.

My 5D is currently with Canon, getting repairs done to the hotshoe and a few of the buttons. I've been encountering a lot of problems lately with my flashes not syncing correctly with the shutter, which has taken it's toll on my shooting. Right from the end of May until now I've been regulated to one flash, on my camera body in order to achieve high speed sync shots. There have been a number of times this year where this was incredibly frustrating, and ultimately I chose to dedicate my summer to filming two video projects.

As I did a year ago, I'm gunna make a list. This year however, there are my most memorable experiences from the past 365 days (In no particular order.)

Cirque du Soleil was simply one of the most incredible things I've ever had the privilege to shoot. Being asked to cover such a big event as an intern was a little nerve wracking at first, I'll tell you. As things got underway all self doubt left and I had a blast. The colours of Varekai were amazing. The acrobatics were mind-bottling. Being able to tour the stage and speak with the performers and some of the people in charge of the production was incredible. It's events like this that remind me how lucky I am to use a camera every day.

 Ahhh.. Banff. More specifically the Johnston Falls. Easily some of the purest oxygen I've ever inhaled, along with some of the most dynamic scenery. In my second day of traveling across Canada I took a shorter driving day in order to make it to these falls. I made my way rather slowly through the Rockies, stopping at my leisure to photograph the sights. Making the falls just before magic hour only left me a little bit of time to shoot so I tried to make the most of it. After discovering a strange looking trail off the main paths I mosied my way down to this little spot.

 Getting to meet up with Jesse while I was in BC was a great time. It's always awesome to get to explore new places to skate with homies! Kelowna was a blast, and despite a papering of no skateboarding signs we managed to get in some great shots and do so relatively hassle free. I can't wait to get back out west and see ya again dood!!

Long Beach will always be the best place in the world to me. I'm not a beach person at all either; I just think that the forests surrounding the wild Pacific ocean, and the smell of salty air  is the most amazing environment to wake up to every day. It was also great to see Spenser Smith, my oldest friend, and shoot together like we used to 10 years ago. The waves normally get wild, and the tide is usually a lot closer than it is here. It was nice to see a father taking his young one to enjoy the natural beauty before we eventually destroy it.

This photo will forever remind me how insane a journalists life can be. In one day, I went from shooting a beer fest, to taking photos of kids and rubber ducks, to sitting in a court room listening to the verdict in a double murder trial. I'll always have a soft spot for photojournalism, even if it doesn't end up being my career. 

TPR you crazy bastard. 306 Rooftop Tour is basically what happened when we met up this year. I'll never forget it, that's for sure. Shout out to you too, Chevy. You're a natural born killer! Keep at it!

A large older dude didn't like the fact we were skating on this schools roof, and he felt the need to be vocal about it. I played deaf up until he was literally right behind me yelling about damage and hurting ourselves or some such bullshit. After he insulted our collective intelligence (as this frame was being made) I'd had it. Being the only guy on the ground sucks, but I'll stick up for my homies. We aren't stupid, we know the risks of what we do, and I'm pretty sure we aren't five year olds with mommies who'll sue the daylights outta anyone. Fuck off and let us do what we do.

More TPR on more rooftops. Noseblunt Pull, at a spot a lot of people have dreamed of skating.

Try it, you never know what'll happen!

This was one of those awesome wake up at 5am to go skate sessions. It was a blast, and I could never ask for a better way to start my days.

Bellevegas. 

This was an idea I had actually come up with in the Spring of 2014. As I found issues with my camera, I adjusted to accommodate. There was no better year to get started on filming this project that had been floating around in my head! I actually filmed this simultaneously with production of That Life 2.0, so that gave me a challenge. After countless hours editing, I produced a full 22 minute video on DVDs for the homies to watch and enjoy. Once the fatigue from that project wore off I began working on a shorter web edition. I couldn't be happier with the results!

Filming was a new challenge to me, and one I'll always enjoy. My passion lies in still images though, so as my gear gets back to 100% I'll move my focus back to stills.

I've been messing around with some architecture stuff here in St. Catharines. I'm working a full time job in a greenhouse now, so I'm free to shoot some of my other passions. I haven't gotten to do any skating here yet outside of filming with Connor, but I hope to meet some people once the snow melts! There isn't a lot of street skating here sadly, a lot of guys go up to Hamilton for it I guess. We may see what's up there next year!

Until then, keep it real my friends. I miss you all, even if we don't talk much anymore. Life's a trip, make it a good one.

The Dark Sky Adventures

 Penticton Indian Band, British Columbia

This was the result from the second night I brought my camera out, roughly 45 minutes, with light being casted on the hill from Penticton. Once I realized I wouldn't be working with totally ideal dark sky my challenge became figuring out how to use the light pollution to my advantage, and light painting in a way. 

Penticton Indian Band, British Columbia.

The longest star trail exposure I've done so far, roughly an hour and forty-five minutes, picking up light pollution from the city of Penticton, headlights from a road to the north, and from the airport to the south of where I was. I'm still pretty impressed by how it all came together. It's interesting to see how different the sky looks at night depending on when I start my exposures, this is the second time it came out with a purple tone to it, even after working in post.

Penticton Indian Band, British Columbia.

Moving on to shorter exposures, I found a few spots on Band land that stood out to me for one reason or another. The first time I saw these two trees the way the light hit em was cool to me, and I tried to capture that here. 

Penticton, British Columbia.

Penticton to the left, and Highway 97 towards Osoyoos, wrapping around Skaha Lake on the right. The light in the foreground is Skaha Hills, a housing development that the Penticton Indian Band is working on. This was one of the neatest views at night during my whole trip in my opinion. 

Penticton Indian Band, British Columbia. 

This is the now former Boonstock grounds. Heard a lot of interesting opinions on the music festival while I spent time reporting in Penticton. Everything from bring it back, to good riddance. I never attended, I can't say if it's good one way or the other. Full moon setting over the valley, and the airport off in the distance. This was one of the first spots I checked out with my cousins while I spent time in Penticton, but one of the last spots I decided to shoot there. 

Heart Lake, British Columbia.

I hiked up the trail so quickly trying to get some nice shots during magic hour, but the real interest to me was the stars. They took ages to show up, and once they did I realized I was battling against the rising full moon, and the light pollution cast off by the setting sun. While it turned into an interesting photograph, I'll certainly be back here for a moonless night.

Little Qualicum Falls, British Columbia.

Spenser took me to these falls on our way home from Tofino, I've seen them before I'm pretty sure but I was really young, and didn't have a camera. Even now, it was either my 50mm or my fisheye, which dwarfed the falls too much for my liking. 17-40 is probably ideal based off what the shot looked like on Spenser's 18-55! Technicalities aside, if you're on the island you have to check this spot out. Day or night, it's a gorgeous set of falls.












Green Mountain Road, Penticton Indian Band.


This was my last night in Penticton, and one of the few times I was out alone while making these photos. It was a little bit freaky at first! These S curves were fun to drive, had a pretty scenic creek beside them, and gave a pretty cool view of the dipper at night. I just wish I wasn't shooting against a waning moon, just another example of take the shot when you've got it in mind...

Shooting stars and shooting at night is turning into a new creative outlet for me, and has been ever since I started messing around with longer exposures in Saskatchewan. I'm glad I got a chance to shoot some pretty interesting night skies in BC, it just made me excited for the possibilities ahead this year in my free time. 

I didn't get too many more chances after these to make dark sky photos, I was up against a wide variety of weather on my trek back to Belleville. Mostly clouds at night, and when it wasn't fully cloudy it was broken clouds. Banff would have been real swell to shoot a few of these, but I'll be back soon enough to get em done. I've got two blogs left about the month and a half I spent in BC and on the road. One to go up in the next day or two, so keep your eyes open!! 

The Internship: In Conclusion

I wrapped up my time at the Penticton Herald a few weeks back. I went above and beyond the required hours for the photojournalism program, but it was well worth it. 

I got the opportunity to travel to Spokane, Washington and watch Cirque du Soleil's production Varekai and the following day got to interview members from the cast, and crew. 

I pitched a photo story to my editor James Miller about the Salmon Hatchery on Penticton Indian Band, and almost everything fell perfectly into place for that to happen. It's always nice when things fall into place, and lately it feels like just that is happening. 

Overall, the internship was a great experience. I've learned so much, and I've grown so much from when I left Loyalist over a month ago today. I couldn't be happier with how every thing played out while I worked at the Penticton Herald. I met some incredible people, and watched some interesting things happen with my camera in hand. 

Some of the photos and stories from the last two weeks I spent working:

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/news/article_45bb45c6-f2b5-11e4-bf05-6f2d6f16e3ba.html  

This is the Fish Hatchery story. I also got pointed towards the Penticton Fly Fishers Club while I was working on this story. This was an unexpected surprise, none of my previous research into hatcheries in the area had brought them up. Getting their approach was fascinating to me as well; I hope they get a chance to start raising rainbow trout fry!

Cirque du Soleil Stories: 

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/entertainment/article_7f4ee080-f923-11e4-bd26-17acbd5f74a1.html

Anyone who knows me should appreciate the clown photo. That wasn't easy.

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/news/article_34226950-f77b-11e4-b338-0b00803e4af3.html

How the hell do you move a circus? 

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/news/local_news/article_dff8a3b8-f6c5-11e4-bd93-8bfc72e41ccc.html

19 years old, and she's been in Cirque du Soleil for three years. Much respect! 

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/entertainment/article_2134b914-f524-11e4-919a-5b608ad5e60a.html 

When you get to do what you love for the rest of your life, you're pretty damn lucky. 

Couple More random shots:

Odds and Ends:

I spoke with Sarah Cornett-Ching, a Summerland native who started her racing career at the Penticton Speedway, over the phone before she raced at Bristol Speedway. 

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/sports/article_6fbfc59c-ea34-11e4-8081-af44fea030f4.html 

I took this photograph of the Run Club at Outma Sqilix'w School on Penticton Indian Band, who has a few members participating in the Unity Run this year.

http://www.pressreader.com/canada/penticton-herald/20150421/textview 

I went to Young @ Art, and took some photos of youth making art. I learned that Penticton schools no longer offer the chance of taking art and drama in the same year, so the art gallery opened up an after school program to accommodate to those who wish to take both. 

In conclusion, here was a thank you letter I wrote to my editor and the city of Penticton for being so open with me while I was working there. 

http://www.pentictonherald.ca/news/article_141bf1b6-ff74-11e4-8188-6f21150b5ab1.html