Back To The Land | Canada
With the southern Saskatchewan stories wrapped up and a final blog post on Jim Commodore, I will have more adventures from southern British Columbia and Vancouver Island as I continue to photograph people from small town and remote areas across Canada. If this is your first time reading one of my posts on Back To The Land I'll give you a quick brief on how each trip starts. First, I do very little research on the places
Read MoreVal Marie is gem of a town that lies on the borders of the Grasslands Nations Park surrounded by some of the most stunning prairie landscapes with incredible morning and evening light I have never witnessed. I suggest if you're looking to explore some of Canada's unknown or less listed parks, this would be at the top of my list as it boasts wild roaming bison, camping, backcountry camping, hiking, informative seminars on the grasslands ecology,
Read MoreI recently sat down with Suzie to find out more of her life story. Suzie was born in Kingston Ontario then moved briefly to the UK and then back to Canada where she received a BA in Philosophy. From there she spent the next 10 years travelling all over the world as far as India, South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Nepal. With her love for travelling she would return back to Canada every so often working in Banff in order to fund the next adventure halfway around the globe. When I asked Suzie about each of these places she visited, she had few words but looking into her eyes I could see the memories flash with expressions of joy and subtle smiles that revealed everything that words could not express…
Read MoreOn my first few days in Val Maire, Saskatchewan my days were spent visiting the cafe's and the local hangouts introducing myself to locals, getting a good feel of the surrounding landscape and deciding on who I could potentially photograph. One thing I find interesting about this Back To The Land project is each place I visit for any period of time, I know immediately if I'll be staying for five minutes or five days. This is purely based on intuition and gut feelings. I have always wondered where does this gut feeling come from and why does it happen? I do sometimes think about what might have transpired in life if I ever chose to ignore that little
Read MoreOn my first few days in Val Maire, Saskatchewan I continued my pursuit in finding people with interesting stories. I managed to find Wes Olson randomly by one of the ladies that runs the coffee shop at the local museum just off the main highway as you pull into Val Marie. Usually when I decide to stay in a town for an extended period of time, I usually hit up the local spots getting a good feel for the area and the people who call each town home. As I ordered just a drip coffee from the lady at the counter, I also asked her about various
Read MoreHaving only spent less than a week on the road, I am still in awe of the endless skies and rolling hills that meet the horizon in the province of Saskatchewan. It’s wave like grasslands and wheat fields dance in the wind reminding me of coral reefs swaying in unison among the ocean currents that bring them to life. When venturing off any major highway or road, you can find
Read MoreAfter photographing Arthur James in Orkney, Saskatchewan, and thrilled having found my first subject for my "Back To The Land" project, I continued East. I headed towards Val Marie, which lies on the borders of Grasslands National Park. As I pulled off the highway, I made my way down the centre street. Within 100 meters, I managed to spot the post office, the local grocer, a cafe' and a couple of buildings in the early stages of a renovation or demolition, with my appetite starting to grow into a severe case of the hangries. I pulled into the cute little cafe' …
Read MoreI have just woken up in Consul, Saskatchewan and my night was nothing short of interrupted. I wasn't thinking first when I pitched my tent on the outskirts of town as it was under a flood light from a nearby property leaving this orange haze that left little chance of a dark slumber. Not to mention waking up to a group of drunken teenagers coming from what I can only imagen being a barn party that went late into the night. Ahhh at that age... drunk, stumbling home through fields and hopping barbed-wire fences. Actually I'm a little jealous. When I woke it was around 6am
Read MoreOnly in small town Saskatchewan can you get a club house, a full tank of gas, and a brand new 2015 f-150 with zero percent financing within ten feet of one another. Ok... you could probably do the same in other parts of Canada I just thought it was funny when I stopped in Kindersley. I'm in Kindersley sitting at a diner called the Coliseum Restaurant which is attached to the Esso station and next door to the Ford dealership. I arrived around 2pm and needed a little break to plan my next course of action as I could not decide on two possible options. Either I head directly
Read MoreAfter a crazy morning of torrential rain (See prior Post with video) I pulled out of Hanna, Alberta at around 6:15am and headed East on Highway 9 towards the Saskatchewan border. With the rain still coming down hard, I made my way into the towns of Stanmore and Chinook that were just within view from the side of the highway, only making brief visits driving at a walking pace up the few streets that make up these small towns. With the rain still coming down and not a single person in sight I decided to keep driving. As soon as I pulled into
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