He was a Skater Boy

I spent last weekend in Toronto at the NPAC conference learning and listening from photography experts Peter Bregg, March Blinch, Ryan Jackson,  Ben Lowy, Ric Ernst, Stacey Kranitz, Paul Colangelo, David Carson,  Graeme Roy, Moe Doiron, Tim McKenna, Chris Hellgren,  Melissa Renwick, Amber Bracken, Corinne Perkins  Marta Iwanek as well as others who I know by photographs but have not yet met.

One of the things I learned from Chris Hellgren, four years after Maclean photo editor Andrew Tolson asked me to photograph it was what West Coast light is.  I learned the colours and layers of a West Coast sky are different than an East Coast sky and some are better at recognizing it than others. John Lehmann is one of those photographers as Ben Nelms kept referring to West Coast light and John Lehmann sky.

Growing up my entire life on Vancouver Island makes me oblivious to a few things one being the uniqueness of the area. Having a better idea of what others see when they look at photographs from my home town gives me a better sense of some of the geographical  elements I take for granted.

The skate park in Sidney, British Columbia is located beside to the highway but will soon be relocated to the other end of town next to the ocean. Some of the residents are not to thrilled with the move but I think it will be great and I’m excited about the photo possibilities of a skateboard park with the Pacific Ocean and West Coast light for a background.