Here are a series of infrared images from the Derelict Textures series. Abandoned, rusty machines, trucks and cars captured in true IR with a D-40x converted by LifePixel to capture IR wavelength light only. It takes a while to get the knack of shooting IR images. You have to re-think lighting, background, white balance, shutter speed and textures. These are some of the first images that I took with the newly converted camera ( I bought it for the purpose of converting to IR )..I would set-up the camera differently now...knowing what I have learned since.
Before we begin...here are a few images from the property that these first few subjects were sitting on. A truly magnificent 60 acres of land that edged up to the Georgia Straight. At the time that the photos were done, the property had just recently been vacated by the elderly long time residents. The old house is barely visible in one of the photos...a small beach house on stilts with a kings view is at the oceans edge. The main house was torched by the local fire department for a practice exercise. This put more eyeballs on the property and the dozens of old trucks, machines and artifacts...a lot of the most interesting stuff was taken away by various people after that.
Gorgeous rocky beach at the foot of the Sterloff property 60 acres
Looking south towards the Thormandby islands...a tidal swimming pool
With my back to the ocean...looking up the trail towards the house ( partially hidden ) summer house on stilts on the right.
Looking west...Texada Island in the background
Beachhouse/summer house at the oceans edge
Up the trail from the ocean towards the back of the property where all the machines and trucks are parked. 60 acres of west coast paradise.
Back in different times, these big station wagons with the fake wood trim were pretty much the status symbols of the day.
I think the old lifeboat was meant to be a planter....to dress the place up a bit.
The owners must have had a special passion for "woody" station wagons
I'm pretty sure that this is a home built log skidder...the radiator says "Euclid"...but I think the whole thing was stitched together from something else for the purpose of pulling logs out of the bush.
The radiator of the log skidder
Log skidder front end...the old motor is missing a few parts...
Log skidder front hood...shot from above
Close-up of the log skidder cowling and wind screen...although I don't think that this thing went fast enough for wind to be an issue.
I'm always curious about the last day that old dead cars and trucks ran...just before the last breakdown...running out of money and luck...no more spark...no more life in them..
Log loader parked out in the swampy/wet area of the property...that will likely be the last soldier standing...because it's to big and heavy to move....unless someone cuts it up for scrap.
I wonder if whoever built this...ever made a buck with it?...or was it someones dream that didn't pan out. I would have loved to see and hear it run...probably a snorting, noisy, smoke belching monster.
There are quite a few photos to go along with the stories. Most of the images are taken with old point and shoot film cameras, from Brownies to disposables. A few more are the work of low end digital, but still point it, and push the button. No photographic knowledge what so ever. I'll give you the brief view of how one thing led to the next in pictures. The start was when an old man asked me to look at a blasting job in the Wood Bay area. The work that he wanted done wasn't feasible for all kinds of reasons. He invited me to come to another part of his acreage to have a look at something he thought might be interesting to me. And there on the lower side of the property was this great collection of abandoned machinery and trucks. The old fella had been landscaping around his favorites to keep them accessible. If he didn't do that, the forest would have grown in and swallowed the rusty old gear. I approached several photographer friends to come out and photograph the site for me, to capture the beauty of the setting, with the green forest around the derelict iron.Despite being offered money, no one wanted to come and do the job. One guy was adamant that I do it myself. Having no camera skills and no high end camera, that seemed like a bit of a reach. Frustration led me to start researching cameras and reading up on the language of photography. In six months I was ready to make the leap. Lucky for me, my wife at the time persuaded me to by the very best camera that I could possibly afford at the time. I think that she had a sense that this was going to be special.
So this low resolution digital photo with a cheap camera turned in to the work below with the help of a Nikon DSLR, and lots of experimentation
One of the trucks on the Sterloff propertyBelieved to be a 1946 or so Kenworth
I'm told that the one on the left could be a 1944 Pete camera work is coming along nicely by now
Looking for new angles and lighting
The twins shot from down low on a perfect weather day
Different angle , different day
Same property, old station wagon rear tail light, learning how to capture the small details and textures
The developing skills with a camera transferred well to my work situation on the Sea to Sky job. I started off with a "work" camera, being afraid of taking my good camera out into the worst elements possible, dirt and rock dust. I took work photos to document the process or to record events or incidents. It took a while for the guys to get used to a camera on site, but after a while it was just another tool. These next few photos are from a two mega-pixel still/video camera ( low resolution )
Sea to Sky project above Horseshoe Bay, 385 Cat hoe digging out a blast on Cut 7, Wayne Tyson in the machine
Two Ranger rock drills at the very beginning of the project in the Eagle Bluffs area, just above where the protesters were
Cut 14, at the north end of our section.Just before Ansell Place. Working above the Squamish Highway , placing blast mats, Mike Trufanenko, driller /blaster guiding the hoe operator
Stripping off the Cut 4 backside, this turned into a 110 ft rock cut. This is the Northwest side of the cut, Eagleridge parking lot is over the rise
Ranger 800 rock drill and Cat hoe drill on the South East side of Cut 4
Hoe drill at the highest point of Cut 4. I used to pack my camera around in a small "Pelican" case to protect it from the bumps and drops of the construction world
As the highway job progressed and got more challenging and complex, I decided to try using aerial photography from a helicopter for planning purposes and to literally get the bird's eye view. My friend Robin MacGregor was both an excellent pilot and a photographer. He knew how to fly and position the helicopter to get the best images. The first flight, I had to pay for myself, to prove to the company that this was going to be worth the expense. When I got back on the ground, I went to Mountain Colors in North Van to get huge enlargements of the important pics. The highly detailed 30" prints, pretty much blew management out of the water. From then on, every two weeks or so, Robin and I would fly out and document the job from Squamish back to West Van. I'll tell you some more helicopter and Robin stories anther time. Here are some teasers, with more to come in the future. After the first few flights, I started using the Nikon DSLR, and learning to shoot with it from a moving helicopter in all kinds of conditions.
Eagleridge area and Cut 4 and 5, Upper Levels Highway down to ferry terminal
This was another contractor on the highway, working in the creek ( with a permit ) they didn't think it was very funny when we circled overhead several times taking pictures. I gave them copies later after stringing them along for a bit.
The big ugly and super challenging Cut 9, working day and night 100 meters above the Squamish highway
Different view of Cut 9. There is a great story of this day that I'll tell you later, this was one of my best days ever.
Getting picked up on the work site and flying around taking pictures was very cool
Living on 1st and Chesterfield in North Vancouver led to walkabouts that generated some great shots. Some of the best ones I took in the wee hours of summer morning before work, using very slow shutter speeds. Here are a few samples
The view out the back of my N.Van Kiewit apartment, computer enhanced
North Van waterfront at the old boatyard before the new development started
Walkway at N.Van waterfront looking towards Seaspan drydocks
Double long exposure shots laid over top of each other just for fun , corner of Esplanade and Lonsdale, shot at 5 a.m.
More North Vancouver waterfront at the foot of Lonsdale, pre-development
Here's a little present until I get back with more of the story......
