Dirty Devil

This was the first photograph I ever took.

I don’t mean that it was the first time I took a picture…it was simply the first time I saw beyond just capturing the obvious. I was 19 years old, on a 3 month NOLS course, just done a 3 week stint of winter camping in Idaho’s Palisades, and beginning a month of desert canyoning in the Dirty Devil river basin of southeast Utah. It was the second week of March, and you can probably imagine our euphoric sensations as we were truly, I mean truly experiencing our first spring. Shedding our winter camping layers and putting on shorts and short sleeves rekindled our spirits…no more need to constantly focus on keeping insulated, warm and dry!

So that’s where we start, sitting on a warm boulder in the late evening sun high above our campsite, watching the bustle of our 12 person group in the midst of preparing dinner, setting up tarps, getting water from the river. (Speaking of which, The Drity Devil River is a tributary of the Colorado River and get it’s name from the unusually large amount of silt in the water, so we quickly learned to let the water settle before drinking or cooking with it. But on this night we had not yet gained that insight…so crunchy couscous it was). As I sat and watched and wrote in my journal, I looked up from time to time to watch the majestic canyon walls rising up all around me, and the light began to change. The shadows became longer. The rock more orange. And once my instructors set up their Black Diamond tarp, I saw my shot. I just needed a little bit of time to let the shadows mature.

I grew bored with my journal. I watched Mary and John (our two instructors) go through their well practiced evening routine. They had been guiding and sharing their lives for some time, and they had achieved a fluidity that is rare to witness amongst two people, both in their personal interactions with each other and their joint group presence. I was envious of them, right down to my bones. And still am now. I could probably do that one day, couldn’t I? Who knows, but…the shadows had grown and reached their potential! I grabbed my Minolta XG-M, set it on my overturned boot, and captured my first photograph. It was back in the days of film, so I wasn’t sure if I had gotten anything, but that was the first time I felt even a little bit like a photographer. I loved that image when I saw it for the first time. I blew it up and made a big print for my dad. But I’ve looked at it so much that I’m not sure about it anymore, funny how photographs change. Photographs can lose their visual appeal, but they never lose the ability to transport you back to the moment.

Spain

Just returned from a few weeks of work and play in Spain. What a blast! I was there to shoot a biking trip from the Pyrenees to the Costa brava, but decided to stay for a bit and climb in Siurana, just south of Barcelona. Even got to spend a little time with my sister in Barcelona, being tourists and lingering over multiple cups of coffee.

The biking route was easily the finest riding in the most mind-blowing scenery I have ever been to. The highlight was a 25 km downhill  on a twisty-turny descent with countless hairpin turns; a great reward for the 20 km climb on the other side of the pass. It was fairly cold in the mornings, but warmed considerably in the afternoons and when we approached the coast and left the mountains behind. Foam party. Uncooked meat. Wine. Wine. Wine. Warm clothes. Tapas. Desigual. 137 people. Dali. Wine. Wayne Sneag. Heather Laney. Mas fun.

Onto Siurana. We took a train to Reus then jumped in a taxi for a twisty drive up to this hill-top town of 28 residents. I can still remember the approach and the first views of the rock. What an area! We barely touched what the area had to offer in just over a week…climbed 8 of 9 days to make the most of it, but still only had a sample of the area’s potential. The climbing was technical and diverse, lot’s of different route styles…mostly runout (5 bolts on 30 meter pitches) keep your shit together type of climbs. Pockets, friction, cracks, open hand pinches – got on some real classics of the area. But the best part of the climbing was the backdrop, lush mountains and rock forever, and steep valleys for that added sense of exposure.

All in all a great trip. Slight hiccup with the flight on the way home. (oh ya, i didn’t tell you about the flight there with the Polish football team and their non-stop “Na zdrowies”…destroyed me). (and I didn’t tell you about chipping my front tooth at a foam party in Palamos). I can see why biking teams train in the Spanish Pyrenees, and I can see why Sharma lives a stone throw from where we were…insane scenery, fantastic and affordable food, and a laid back culture that doesn’t seem real anymore as I sit here in rainy, cold Montreal. But hey, I’m sure it’ll all be there when I go back!

Berlin

So I went to Berlin on the way to Italy this past summer, had a chance to catch up with an old friend and watch some World Cup. Perry toured me around Berlin, showed me as many nooks and crannys as he could, partied, watched the world cup, saw The Wall (which has become an incredibly long mural of incredible beauty), a couple of museums (holocaust memorial pictured below), partied, ate, drank, got some kraut, then had more kraut, beer, stayed up way too late, checked out Perry’s hotel, sat in parks, checked out a massive party, saw tons of squats, learned a new card game…and all the while, Perry never stopped talking. I mean the dude told me everything there is to know about Germany and Berliners. I had to stop him by feeding him…anything to stem the flow of information! But now, I might just be the 2nd most knowledgeable person on the subject of Berlin, it’s history and people. But alas, I’ve forgotten most of it and must return for another visit. Danke Perry, I’ll be back in the spring.

La Dolce Vita ~ Biking in Tuscany

In June I found myself on location shooting a luxury bicycle trip through the rolling hills of Tuscany, Italy. We biked from Just south of Florence to the southeast of Sienna over a week long trip. The biking was challenging, the scenery was beautiful, the hotels blew me away, the food was perfect and the wine was flowing!

The main challenge of the trip was being in the right spot along the route to get the photos I needed. I would get on my bike and try to get ahead of the group and stop at a picturesque location…set up quickly and take a couple of shots…then jump back on my bike and race to catch up to the group, pass them, and find another spot to capture them biking past me. Was fairly exhausting work, but I’ll take biking the Italian country-side over a lot of other types of photography! Knees were kinda trashed by the end of the week though.

We also did a wine tasting at he Chianti Kitchen, and an olive oil tasting at a hill-top abbey.
Highlight for me was the quality of the region’s food, a combination of freshness and simplicity made it easy to enjoy meals after a hard day on the bike!

Turn off your cell phones

I’m not sure how to best describe paddling a heavily laden canoe into fierce headwinds for three days to start our trip. Perhaps Nick Erb could, as he found himself in another part of the park at the same time. But for the four of us on our 9 day canoe trip in Temagami, about 100km north of North Bay ontario…it was a tough way to start the trip. Canoe muscles were not quite there yet. But we mustered all our stuborn energy into propelling ourselves forward. And we got where we needed to get.

Day 2 brought about a long portage and the most impressive storm I have ever witnessed. Crazy heart stopping thunder and lightning, good sized hail sending us running for cover…all in about 25 minutes. The following sunshine and calm warmed us up, and the receding storm was visible for hours to our east.

Day 3 brought us to the Temagami river where we began dragging our canoes through dry swifts due to the lowest water levels in over 30 years.

Day 4 brought joy! after fighting headwinds for the past 3 days, we got to Red Cedar Lake and felt the wind at our backs! We pulled out the kitchen tarp, and set sail for the other side of the lake…over 10 km in less than an hour!

Day 5 We managed to sail all the way accross Lake Wicksteed. Lost Ben’s hat to the waves, but made a mean shepherd’s pie!

Day 6 was full of portages (8 I think).

Day 7 I can’t remember.

Day 8 saw me catch my first fish!!! Small mouthed bass, about 3 lbs., carried on a 3 km portage, battered with flour, cajun spiced and fried!

Day 9 was cloudy and calm. all the way up Rabbit Lake we paddled towards our breakfast of bacon and eggs in Temagami.

Pappillon Honeymaker

CHAD

On Wednesday I spent several hours photographing the life work of my friend and Montreal artist Chad. We managed to shoot over 500 pieces on the first day, but we’ll have to schedule another day to try and complete the job! His work ranges across most artistic mediums…oils, water colors, pencil, clay…he lives to create.

After seeing his many paintings and drawings over the past 10 years, I am amazed to be able to look through  them all in one go. Patterns emerge when you view art this way. His style is exploratory yet consistent; aggressively pursuing diversity in composition, color palette, subjects (loves figure studies), and concepts.  I’m not sure Chad gets as much enjoyment out of the final product as he receives from the process (I think I was more excited to document his work than he was). When he isn’t painting, drawing or sculpting; Chad is cutting and styling hair at his downtown salon on Mackay street…where you can always find his current works of art on display. Kind of a fun pace to have a coffee and relax.

I love the idea that Chad will always be creating. It’s something that I can count on.

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Portfolio Time!!!

Here’s a sneak peak at my graduating portfolio. After choosing the field(s) of photography that we intended to pursue, we could either submit 11 images in one category or a Major and a Minor of 6 and 5 images respectively. I went with the latter, Majoring in “annual reports” and Minoring in “studio portraiture”. My goal was to present images that reflected my ability to shoot both in studio, and outdoors.

Right from the get go I knew that circus artists would be my portraiture focus. My intention was to illustrate the simplicity of their incredibly complex movements and keep the images as “clean” as possible. I had a tough time cutting it down to 5 images after working with so many visually impactful artists.

As for my Major, I almost didn’t do it. I wasn’t sure that I could represent mountain resort lifestyle in only 6 images. The “annual reports” format allowed me to utilize a greater number of images in order to paint the broader picture I desired.

You’ll have to wait for the next graduating class’ vernisage to see my printed work in public, so this low-res venue will have to do for now. Keep an eye out for the invitation next December.

Épreuve Synthèse

Thankfully I received an invitation to see the graduation performances of this year’s École nationale de cirque graduating class. The show was inspiring and impassioned, two traits which I aspiring to emulate during my own portfolio creation process. I’ve had the pleasure to work with several of the students during the past year or two, in and out of the studio environment. However, to watch them during their routines offered a different perspective than I had experienced while working with them. Their bodies came alive, their elements seemed like natural extensions of their creative spirit, and their focus was captivating. I won’t tell you which was my favorite, but I can say that I was truly enthralled by them all!

To synthesize their performances into one or two still photography images has never seemed so difficult a task. But it is a project I look forward to continuing.

Their year-end show will run from June 8-20 at TOHU. You can get tickets here.

RRG

Nestled in the heart of Kentucky is one of the world’s premiere sport climbing destinations, The Red River Gorge. The area abounds with more rock than you will ever be able to climb,  and enough varying route difficulties to please any level of climber. It’ll sometimes leave you wondering if you ever left the climbing gym, but there are some crags that take a little more effort to get to…and the solitude you can find is of great contrast to the more popular spots. I love that people are lazy, keeps the harder to reach places worth the hike!

We managed to get on a few classics like RO Shampo, The Return of Chris Snyder, Fuzzy Undercling, Too Many Puppies…can’t remember the rest, but we pretty much got on at least one classic a day. Lots of steep stuff with hidden deep pockets!

I think climbing in an odd numbered group is for me! I can lead a climb and then just hang out on top to get the shots I need, way better than the typical butt shots. Just have to build myself a little sitting harness to make hanging out a little more comfortable. Anybody know of a good system?