When I was in Whistler during Crankworx, I met Katherine Short at a picnic table in front of the lift. She took most of the bench up and I sat on the edge to eat my pizza. She said she didn't see me. Right. I ended up taking the lift up with her and her dad. Later, I showed her my shots of her from the Garbanzo race that day and she invited me to come shoot on the Sunshine Coast with Kristen Smart. I had to make it happen.

One morning, I left Whistler on a Greyhound bus for a two hour ride to Horseshoe Bay. Then, I took a ferry across the water to the peninsula where I'd get on a public transit bus. I got off the ferry and asked where the bus to Sechelt arrives. Two different people laughed at me before I realized it's pronounced Sea-chelt, not Se-chelt. I got on the right bus and about an hour later, asked the driver if we were at the main terminal in town (it looked more like a regular bus stop) . He said it was and that it was the last stop. I was in the right place. I looked around for Katherine without knowing what car to look for and I soon saw some girl waving at me. It was Katherine with another random photographer that she had met on the ferry a few days before. He was James Looker, a photographer with a background in shooting mostly portraits that had recently started shooting more sports.

We got in her red Ranger and were off to her house. During the drive, I learned that we were camping on an island that night. Good thing I brought two backpacks of camera stuff and a few clothes. Luckily, her mom was really nice and let me borrow a blanket to sleep on. Kristen Smart, Jamie Biluk and Nick Dent were going meet us at the house. Two other random new friends of Katherine's came along, Ben Shaw and Adam Gambell.

I brought my camera with my do-it-all 30mm Sigma lens, my really wide Sigma 10-20mm lens, beer, board shorts, a towel, a blanket and a change of clothes in my small backpack down to a dock where we waited for a water taxi to pick us up. After a short ride, we got out on the shore of Thormanby island. I was shocked at how warm the water was. I thought being so far north, it would be freezing, but it seemed warmer than Santa Barbara. Is it the currents? That evening, we went swimming and had a camp fire with hot dogs. It was such fun night after traveling all day and shooting most days in Whistler prior.

When I woke up in a blanket, in the sand, I was kind of hungover, but I was on the Sunshine Coast. There's worse ways to start a trip at a new place. We went for a morning swim, then took the water taxi back and had an awesome breakfast at her house before we went shooting the rest of the day. My new business cards have a shot of Kristen from that day. We shot a bunch the next few days as well, before I went back to whistler for 2 days ...well, attempted to (but that's another story). It was probably the best time I've had in BC, especially with new, random friends. Huge thanks to Katherine's parents, Jill and Laurie for everything!

Check out the rest of the shots in the gallery -
11.08.19 - Thormanby Island