Steps and Leaves

This image was shot in the abandoned townsite of IOCO.  This was the company townsite set up by Imperial Oil Company.  Back in the day, the nearby refinery was way out in the boonies, and the Imperial Oil Company set up a townsite to house it's employees.  The was at the eastern tip of Burrard Inlet.  Fast forward to today, and the townsite is abandoned, and just about swallowed up by the City of Coquitlam.

There is not a lot left of the original town.  Just a grid of a few streets and avenues, maybe three or four in each direction.  The old grocery store remains, as does the community hall, the school, and a handful of houses.  Everything is all boarded up and secured with fences.  These steps are in front of one of the houses and to capture this image was quite an adventure.

I had to back my truck right up to the fence in front of this property.  I extended my tripod up as high as it would go, and even blocked up the legs a little on a piece of firewood and a rock.  I perched myself up on the endgate of the truck and tried to view the ground glass in order to compose this image, without knocking anything over.  This was all necessary to just get me above the level of the security fence that was in place around the property.  Given the somewhat awkward circumstances I don't think I created the best composition that I could have.  But it was all I could do not to knock over the tripod and the camera.

This shot was taken on Kodak Tmax 100 film, rated at 80 iso, and developed in 510 Pyro.  I used a slightly long Nikkor 200mm lens on my Ebony 4 x 5" view camera.  The light was fairly contrasty and I also tried a second shot on Ilford FP4 which was given plus development in HC-110.  I like this one slightly better, although a reasonable print could probably be made from either negative.

From Beginning to End - Roadside Ice

While the previously posted image was one of the first ones from the Vancouver Island trip, this one was one of the last.  This roadside ice was photographed right beside the Trans Canada Highway, near Rogers Pass.  I shot this on Ilford FP4 film, rated at 160 iso and developed in HC-110 Developer.  The film was given extended development to increase contrast.  The photograph was taken on November 1st at around 3:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony 4" x 5" view camera and a rather long 250mm lens.

First One from Vancouver Island

This is one of the first film images that I took during the recent trip out to Vancouver Island.  This old cable was laying at the water's edge along side an old abandoned dock.  The tide was going out, and when I started to set up my view camera the cable was half in the water.  But, by the time I exposed the image, the water level had already dropped a little.  I believe that this particular dock was once used to load logs that had been hauled down to the coast.

I shot this one on Kodak T-Max 100 film, rated at 80 iso, and developed in 510 Pyro. The photograph was taken on October 21st at around 2:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony 4" x 5" view camera and a slightly wide 125mm lens.  No filter was used or needed.   

David Thompson Country Calendar - November Image

This is the image that I selected for the November page of my 2023 David Thompson Country calendar.  This is one of the fantastic Limber Pines out at Whirlpool Point, on the Kootenay Plains.  I shot this one back in November of 2020 on Kodak High Speed Infrared film.  The spectral sensitivity of this film results in black skies, snow that looks a little dirty, and glowing vegetation.  I think it works quite well in this shot.

Homeward Bound

We packed up in Kamloops on the morning of November 1st.  We headed over to the Kamloops Residential School.  We thought it might be worthy of a photograph, but it turns out it is still in use... or at least some of the buildings around it are.  We thought it would be in bad taste to photograph it with so many people around, given its ominous history.

Instead we headed over to the Tranquille Sanitorium.  This site was once called Kind Edward VII Hospital and was used to treat tuberculosis patients.  It later became a mental hospital.  It is now privately owned and an application is in place to demolish it and build a housing developement.  We could not gain access to the site but we were able to photograph it from the road.

At the nearby Kamloops airport we spotted two really cool old Beechcraft Float planes,  This are still currently in use by a small airline.  Sadly we could not properly photograph them as they were behind a high chain link fence.

Once again defeated we hit the highway to the east.  Out near Salmon Arm we found an old abandoned sawmill.  It was heavily covered with graffiti and had become a local dumping ground.  We explored there for a little while and managed a couple of photographs.

We continued on through Rogers Pass and eventually made it back to Mountain Time.  There were some cool ice formations on the roadside in a number of places and we stopped to photograph them as well.  Eventually we made it to Golden and checked in to a local hotel for the night.

The next morning, November 2nd, we packed up and hit the road for home.  It was snowing quite heavily all the way through the Kicking Horse Pass and as far as Canmore.  We did stop at the Natural Bridge in Yoho National Park, and at the old Telegraph Building in Field for a couple of photos.  The snow tapered off to rain once we got out of the mountains beyond Canmore.  We rolled into Calgary and dropped Chris off at his place.

Arturo and I made a brief stop at the Camera Store in Calgary before heading north on the QE2 up to Edmonton.  The last leg of the drive was rather uneventful, with only a fuel stop in Red Deer.  I dropped Arturo off at his place before eventually make it back home in the early evening.

It was a great trip, with a couple of good friends, and I thoroughly enjoyed the two weeks.  But it was nice to be back home and see Margarit and the girls, and sleep in my own bed.  Hank was pretty happy to see me too....

Lower Mainland - Wrapping Up

October 30th was our last day in the Lower Mainland.  We had leads on a couple of sites that we wanted to explore.  Sadly the day was a complete bust, and I never even took my camera out of the truck.  We tried to get access to an abandoned ferry moored in the Fraser River near Mission.  But to get near it we had to cross private property and it was all heavily posted with No Trespassing and Warning signs.  We also spotted some abandoned boats in the Fraser River but they were on Native Land, and once again there was no access.  This seemed to be a common theme through much of our time on the lower mainland, and even on occasion out on Vancouver Island.  Photography in highly populated areas is certainly a challenge.  But, even though we were unable to photograph some of the things we wanted to, we still came away with a lot of great images.

The next day was Halloween and we had to check out of the Condo in Surrey and start making our way home.  We decided to take a couple of days and make it a more leisurely return trip.  So, we headed up the old Trans Canada Highway through the Fraser Canyon.

Our first stop was at the old Alexandra Bridge over the Fraser River.  This was a single lane automobile bridge that has since been replaced by a newer larger one a short distance downstream.  The Provincial Park here was closed and the parking area was barricaded.  We had to park on the shoulder of the highway and then walk down the trail to the river.  I was in a bit of a foul mood on this day.  This was partly due to our inability to shoot anything the day prior, but also because the strap on my camera backpack was broken, making it very difficult to carry.  I was in such a funk that I elected not to try to carry my camera down to the bridge.  Any shots of this magnificent structure that make it into the Apparitions project will have to be Arturo's.

Most of the highway traffic heading to Vancouver now uses the Coquihalla Highway.  This is more direct and faster than the old winding Trans Canada.  But the old highway through the Fraser Canyon is much more interesting and scenic.  Many of the small towns along the way are slowly dying and there were lots of boarded up old businesses.  This area is well worth a return trip at some point to more seriously document these places.  The wind was rather cold and blustery and we simply didn't have time to explore everything that we could have.

We did stop and photograph in a few places along the way.  Chris stopped at a small town convenience store and picked up a lottery ticket for Connie.  Sadly when she scratched it after our return, it was not a winner.

We photographed an old hotel, and an old church on Native property before eventually rolling in to Kamloops in the evening.  We stayed at the same hotel we had stayed at two weeks prior when our journey began.  We had dinner at a nearby pub and then turned in fairly early.

Lower Mainland - Return to Riverview

There was so much to see at the Riverview Hospital site that we decided to return on October 29th.  We spent the entire day there exploring and photographing.

The buildings on site, primarily the oldest one, the West Lawn Building, have been featured in a number of horror movies over the years.  Being a weekend, and just a couple of days before Halloween, there were quite a few people out at the site.  Some were dressed up in horror costumes and photographing in front of the buildings.  One even had her pets dressed up in costumes and was photographing them for an Instagram page.  There were a number of other photographers around mostly shooting digital.  One rather unfriendly guy was shooting medium format film.

Chris' grandfather was admitted to the hospital in the late 1960's for treatment.  He was there for about two years and died there in 1969.  We managed to locate his grave in the cemetery.

It was a great day with beautiful weather and I managed to take a lot of photographs.  I'm sure I will come back with some great negatives from this location.

Later that evening my sister-in-law and brother-in-law came to the condo for a visit, and we went out to dinner together.  Natalia and Dan live just across the border in Point Roberts, Washington.  Sadly Arturo forgot his passport, so we were not able to go down and visit them.  But they didn't mind the short drive up to Surrey to come and see us, and we had a great visit.  I just saw Natalia last summer when Martina was visiting from Austria.  But I have not seen Dan since before Covid, so it was nice to get together again.

Over to the Lower Mainland

We rented a Condo in Surrey for four nights, starting on October 27th.  That was the evening we arrived, after coming across from Nanaimo on the Duke Point Ferry.

On Saturday October 28th we set out exploring.  I had to fill the truck with Diesel fuel at that point and got absolutely ripped off at $2.12 per litre.  I think I must have just been unlucky and pulled into the most expensive station in the lower mainland, as everywhere else it was slightly less.  Someone told me that BC stands for "Bring Cash" and that certainly seemed to be the case.

We started our explorations be heading up to the Industrial area along the Fraser River, not far from the Vancouver Airport.  There were a number of interesting locations, but access to them was virtually impossible.  At one location we beat our way down through the Blackberry brambles to the edge of the river.  I managed to get a little ripped up by the thorns, and Chris brought out a little souvenir that got stuck in his tuque.  We never did do any shooting in the area.

Chris suggested that we go and check out IOCO.  This stands for Imperial Oil Company and this was a company town affiliated with a refinery.  At the time it was built the town was in a remote area at the northeast corner of Burrard Inlet.  Now all of the lower mainland cities are built right up beside it.  It appears as though the refinery is still operating in some form, but the townsite is abandoned.  There is not a lot left.... just an old grocery store, a community hall, a school and a few houses and the grid of the streets.  All are locked up, boarded up and fenced.  We managed to take a couple of photographs here.  

The shot that I took of some leaves on the steps of an old house was somewhat of an adventure.  I had to back my truck right up to the fence so that I could stand on the endgate and be high enough to see through my view camera.  I had my tripod extended all the way up, and even blocked up a little on some rocks and a log, in order to just see over the fence.  The shot worked out OK, but the camera was very unstable and I was concerned about knocking it over.  I did the best I could, but under better circumstances I think I could have composed a little more artistically.

After that shot Chris suggested that we head over to the Riverview Hospital site.  This is an expansive, sprawling site on a hillside near Coquitlam.  It was once the site of the Provincial Mental Hospital.  There are a few newer buildings at the north end of the site that are still used for addictions and mental health treatment.  But most of the rest of the site is abandoned.  The grounds are maintained and a city bus route runs through the middle of the site.  But the buildings, and there are well over a dozen of them, are all secured and locked up, with some fenced.  Security patrols the site and they seem to be content to let people wander around, as long as they stay out of the buildings and behind the fences.

The site included several treatment facilities, its own power plant, a firehall, maintenance buildings, administrative, recreational and educational buildings, a garden and a cemetery.  We explored and photographed here for the rest of the afternoon until the light began to fade.

That evening our friend Rueben dropped by the condo for a visit.  Rueben used to live in Red Deer and now lives in Langley.  He is the videographer that we worked with to put together the Forgotten Prairie short documentary several years ago.  Since I am featured in that film I thought I would include a shameless plug...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb-r8ZLUcGQ