One season ends another begins. So I’m back in the interior working out of Clearwater B.C. Staying in a nice hotel on the lake here, things are chill.
Pretty steep ground for the interior I found, but its nice to have technical ground out here. At the end of the coastal season I found my body aching all around. My nights off spent laying on the couch sipping craft beer, rather then being social. But then again I find myself doing that every night off now, Maybe its being anti-social or just another step into the crust. I digress. I had a little break in-between contracts to give my body a quick rest.
Anyhow, here are some photos from the coast and Clearwater. As my foreman Brian would say, “Here’s your piece, you know the drill”
Day 30 something. Shifts are now blurring by and I’m always burnt on (lets face it, I’m a burnout going in). Anyhow usual stuff happening, putting trees in the ground and trying not to think about it.
Nathan For you with friendsEvergreen Swag1000 yard stare on night offChas getting blessedJohn giving us tips on how to plant these monster trees. .36c a tree.Connor pounding hardThe boxes these massive trees came were literally called Coffin Boxes
Three weeks in and things are going well out here. My feet aren’t as sore and I’m not out of breath after a few trees in. Days are starting to go by quicker and my body is starting to get numb (this is a good thing). My days off consist of laying around watching better call saul.
So whats left is to keep on trying to grab shots, but it is hard in some ways. as soon as I’m on the block I mentally go into planting mode, and shooting becomes secondary. I definitely need a day where I just focus on shooting.
Anyhow only 90 something days to go.
Early mornings
A FIST trying to access a quad block
I wasn’t to sure what image to use, but I like both these shots of “Spookie” walking into the block.
Or
Got back to the cache and found John a.k.a Johnny 2 Shoes like this. He very lazy man.
Well here we go again, lack of work and student loans coerced me back into treeplanting. Hopefully this year I’ll be more vigilant for blogging. Last season the bush killed my Macbook (the motherboard was completely fried) and that took away the means of editing unfortunately.
But good news this year is that I will be doing mostly motel shows, which means my laptop won’t be subjected to extreme hot & cold temperatures.
But on a side note this is the seventh year my shovel is going back into the ground. To be honest I did not think I would be planting for this long, but then should I be surprised? It’s better than the 9-5 grind I suppose. Plus having an element of instability in my life makes things interesting.
Anyhow, Now I’ve been living in a cabin next to the ocean for about 10 days, about 20 minutes from Campbell River. Been planting for about 9 days now.
I have to say my body is aching (surprise), but the coastal ground is a little easier this time around. I now know where to look for spots and know whats acceptable planting medium.
Round 2 of blogging, it’s going to be fun coming up with new content and getting creative with shots. Day 9 of 100 something days.
Here’s the basic gear I brought with me for the season, I’ll be adding bits and pieces as a go along.
Gear list
Block Bag
Aquapac Wet & Dry Backpack 35 L
Rain Gear- Marmot Rain jacket
Boots
Asolo TPS 535 V Backpacking Boots
Viberg 105 Leather Sole Caulk Boot
Caulk Tool & Spare Caulks
Work Gear
Bushpro 4 bagger
Workwizer shovel with left kicker cut off
Nalgene Bottle
Work Clothes
2 long john shirts
3 long john pants
2 board shorts
8 pairs of wool socks
Hi-Vis T-shirt
Wool hoodie
Travel bag
Asolo Encounter 60 L Backpack
Clothes
2 Plaid shirts
2 “Presentable” jeans
2 t-shirts
4 pairs of normal socks
5 pairs of boxers
softshell jacket
Not Shown
Dakine travel kit with toiletries
Towel
Assorted adaptors
Copies of Generation Kill By Evan Wright & War by Sebastian Junger
Journal
Ducttape
Photo Gear:
Canon 6D
Canon 70D
Lenses
Canon 16-35mm f/2.8
Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8
Canon 50mm f/1.8
Computer Gear
Macbook Pro Retina mid-2012
2 Seagate 2 TB Hard Drive
1 Lexar Card Reader USB 3.0
Sound Gear
1 R0de Mic
1 H1 Zoom Recorder
1 GoPro 1st Gen
Lighting Gear
1 Canon Flash 430 EX
1 set of Pocket Wizards Plus X
1 ETTL Cord
Random
Thinktank Memory Card Holder
2x-LP-E6 Batteries
Canon Battery Charger LC-E6
Bag
1 Thinktank Shapeshifter
Not shown
1 light stand
1 umbrella
1 softbox
Will buy proper tripod on 1st paycheck
And some photos from first shift
John Gilcrest Laces up his new $400 #viberg boots near #campbellriverJohn and Brian Making a plan to sling trees into a #treeplanting block near #campbellriverThe 2016 #evergreen #treeplanting crew
Rain gear is important while #treeplanting on #coastalbcElana Bagging up #trees before a walk-in.
Artisan works 3-1 shift. Which Now I realize I will put out a blog out weekly rather than by shift. Now I’m back out in the bush working, the hardest thing I found was keeping a charge. Not so much in my camera, but on my iPhone and Macbook. The Camp provides power outlets for workers, but they end up like this.
Power cuts out whenever, so I started plugging my laptop in the trucks or directly into the generator.
Shift 1-
So here it is Year 6 of Treeplanting. I have to admit I really didn’t feel like coming out this year, but “mans gotta eat” as Randy Bobandy would say.By eat, I mean eating away my debt bit by bit.
Anyhow I though it was time to start a photo doc on camp life. I figure I need a photo story in my portfolio, so heres a start. Anyhow, I figure I should keep shooting after my internship, keep things fresh and work on isolated photography.
April 20th, 2014- Didn’t take long for the smell of cannabis to hit my nose as soon as I stepped off the plane in Vancouver. Maybe less than a half an hour? Anyhow I wound up downtown Vancouver at the Art Gallery were over 30,000 had gathered to Celebrate the 20th annual smoke out.
As soon as I had made my way into the event I was greeted by a least 4 merchants trying to push goods ranging from sticky kush to lolypops laced with THC. It didn’t take long for me to realize that all streets around the Gallery was a free for all for sparking up and slangin dope.
Anyhow, I never before have seen such a gathering were you can’t make your way around the haze of smoke that constantly surrounds you. Not to mention the wave of people you constantly bump elbows with. Pretty well the same as the 5 o’clock rush hour at union station.
But when 4:19 PM hit and the countdown began, and the crowd started to power up. By the time 4:20 PM hit the front of the art taller was blocked by the clouds of white haze. As the smoke rose I began to wonder if the event was still politically motivated? Or had it become a festival to get high at and have a good time? I personally think the overcrowded area around the the Vancouver Art Gallery is a symbol for an overdue legalization.