Tyson & Brynn
After a couple years of pandemic delays and rescheduling we finally had the opportunity to celebrate these two in Qualicum Beach this fall. It was definitely worth the wait.
After a couple years of pandemic delays and rescheduling we finally had the opportunity to celebrate these two in Qualicum Beach this fall. It was definitely worth the wait.
Red Bull Canada
For as long as I’ve been shooting bikes, I’ve been shooting bikes with Darren. Going way back to the mid to late 90’s when I was shooting with a borrowed Olympus point and shoot at a set of dirt jumps tucked in behind a local golf course. While ‘normal’ folks were across a small irrigation ditch working on their handicaps, we were on the other side, near the tracks, stacking shovel loads of dirt into jumps and curating our own hook and slice of paradise
For as long as I’ve been shooting bikes, I’ve been shooting bikes with Darren. Going way back to the mid to late 90’s when I was shooting with a borrowed Olympus point and shoot at a set of dirt jumps tucked in behind a local golf course. While ‘normal’ folks were across a small irrigation ditch working on their handicaps, we were on the other side, near the tracks, stacking shovel loads of dirt into jumps and curating our own hook and slice of paradise.
Over the years the scale has changed a little. From borrowed cameras to flagship models, from hand shoveled dirt jumps to the some of the best Slopestyle courses in the world; machine built by an entire team. But in 2020 while much of the world was focused on managing a pandemic Darren and I got back to our roots, and spent some time stacking shots on a handbuilt trail right here in our own backyard.
Darren and Vancouver Island based filmmaker Rupert Walker were setting out to film a short film about the extent of Darrens trail network near his house. Trails that over the last 25 years have been built largely by Darren himself.
The movie centred around Darrens trail work and the incredible scenery of our local rainforests. The dedication, the countless hours, the often thankless sacrifices behind trail work. It was really the perfect project to be able to work on, and because we shot through the month of May we wound up getting some pretty perfect conditions.
As is the case anytime Darren and I work together it’s a fairly even mixture of high stress and high fun.
Watching your pal of nearly 30 years barrel down a trail towards a 20’ drop or crazy jump can be nerve wracking, especially when you’re watching it through a viewfinder holding your breath, waiting to snap a pic at the perfectly timed moment, but it’s always lots of laughs and sighs of relief as the day unfolds injury free.
If you’d like to have a look at Rupert final video you can check it our below.
Satellite Run
For those of you who don’t know my older brother Rich he’s super cool, I look up to him a lot and ever since I can remember he’s been passionate about restoring old cars. Like; super cool, fast as fuck, really old cars
For those of you who don’t know my older brother Rich he’s super cool, I look up to him a lot and ever since I can remember he’s been passionate about restoring old cars. Like; super cool, fast as fuck, really old cars. Every now and then the planets align and we get to do something really cool together, like this time; we took his Satellite for a Run.
A few weeks out of BC’s August long weekend, a harebrained scheme was hatched for an epic road trip through the bottom half of our environmentally diverse province…in a 1967 Plymouth Satellite. What could go wrong?! Surprisingly; not all that much.
The plan was pretty simple really. We were going to leave Chemainus on a Sunday morning, drive up through the Fraser Canyon and across to Lillooet where, the following morning we would meet up with our youngest - also very cool - brother and his girlfriend who would then follow us though the Duffy lake road to Whistler and back out to the Horseshoe Bay ferry home. A quick stop in Tsawwassen to grab some road trip supplies and it was off towards Hope to start the trip. Both Rich and I were surprised by just how well the car was running. It hadn’t been run much over the last few years on account of Rich and his family building a house on the island, the thought that the cob webs hadn't even been blown out yet had us both waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The car has been meticulously restored in very close to original fashion which allows Rich to have it insured as a collector car, with collector plates. It has a tried and true Chrysler 383 big-block 383 with a 4-speed manual transmission and sounds exactly how you’d want a muscle car to sound. Loud enough to rumble your seat, but just tame enough to not totally restrict the telling of awesome jokes…something Rich and I are experts at…as long as you’re asking us anyways. It scoffs at modern conveniences but you don’t miss them amidst the heavy dose of sounds, smells and nostalgia and overall it was actually a really comfortable ride. After a quick stop to check out the abandoned tunnel of the old highway near Hell’s Gate, it was into the canyon for a windy, twisting drive along the banks of the Thompson River…Oh, and it was FAST too! Very fast.
After blowing through Spences Bridge and not really giving it much thought at all we decided to change course, and go up as far as 100 Mile House to meet Dave & Carolyn there since it’d get us a little extra drive time and an extra night of hanging out with Dave who, we only see at best a handful of times per year. So it was on to Cache Creek for some gas, some food and a slightly unexpected detour.
We made great time into Cache Creek and got gas and some burgers and I txt’d Dave at 8:20pm saying ‘Yo! Just gassed up and got grub in Cache Creek. About an hour left so see you around then’. After observing some of the locals, apparently also gassed up, but on something totally different, we were off to find a spot to eat dinner and as you can see in the time lapse below we found a great lookout.
After eating some cold burgers and shooting the shit we pulled out of the lookout spot and headed up the road another 20 or so minutes…which is when I started to suspect something was off. With a flickering single bar of service I somehow locked us in on my mapping app and yup; we were about halfway down the Cache Creek - Kamloops connector, the opposite direction we should be. Idiots. We rolled back into Cache Creek about 9:20pm and I txt’d Dave, no doubt expecting us any minute, and said ‘Took a wrong turn, just got back to Cache, see you in an hour’. Haha. I swear this kind of stuff never happens to us.
We spent most of the hours drive into 100 Mile house chasing one of those weird Delica vans that was travelling at absolutely beyond a safe speed for such a tall drink of water, but the anticipation of seeing it cartwheel into the rhubarb kept us awake and laughing…or maybe we were just tired and getting delirious.
Lil brother Dave in all his glory! After a surprisingly refreshing sleep in what was a very clean and newly renovated motel we were back on the road and headed home. I didn’t shoot a lot on the trip home, well not many stills anyways. Sometimes it’s nice to not see life through my cameras viewfinder. The drive was awesome and the weather held up perfectly, we even had time to stop and film a burn out or two on a secluded piece of road near Pavillion Lake.
And after winding through the Duffy Lake road, and cruising through Whistler, realizing we had reserved the wrong ferry, getting stuck in some weird bottle neck of traffic near Squamish, we made it home without a single issue … car wise at least. It’s not often that Rich and I get to do things like this together. He has a family, I have a family, and most of the time we’d probably both rather bring our kids along to share these kinds of experiences. But every now and then it’s pretty rad to get out together, we drive, we talk, crack jokes, eat Twinkies, and just for a short while, I get to feel like a little brother again, in awe, that his cooler, older brother has allowed him to tag along for the adventure…and that’s pretty hard to beat.
Our Friend Jordie
Jordie Thomas Lunn
1983 - 2019
There’s only a few times in a persons lifetime that they meet someone like Jordie Thomas Lunn. I think I sort of knew that while he was with us, but I definitely recognize it more than ever now that he is gone.
I first met Jordie in the late 90’s, I had moved to the Parksville/Qualicum area and at that time there wasn’t a huge crew of people who were really, like REALLY, into riding bikes. Jords and I both fell into that category and when you did you were immediately buddies with anyone else who did.
As the years wore on we became great friends, he was wild, he was outside the box, he was as weird as he was funny and different and he didn’t care at all. I remember talking to him by txt one night before one of Claw’s events at Mt Washington, it was during a little lull in his bike career and we had planned to meet the next day to shoot some photos during practice. I can’t remember who they were for but Jords was fired up. Anyways, in our txt thread at some point he asked me ‘What colours should I wear?’ It’s not an odd question in our world because a riders outfit can cause them to either blend in to the surroundings, or, stick out like a sore thumb and ‘pop’. I replied with something generic that I figured would work and he hit me back with a “Haha. K Baxy I have just the right outfit’. The next day we met at the top of the course and in typical Jords fashion, he stuck out like a sore thumb alright! In red and black tiger striped pants with a t-shirt cut into a tank top. As you can imagine, not exactly every sponsors dream, but totally, perfectly, 100% Jordie.
The pic bounced around for a bit between some mountain bike magazines, all of which circling around publishing it. It never made it to print but it found some traction as Photo of The Day on Pinkbike. Something that Jords txt’d me about bright and early thinking it was hilarious. If you look into the comments of that photo online that day there was plenty of hate, I’m not going to regurgitate it but some of it was pretty rough. Most of it was aimed at Jords, his outfit, his trick, his position in the industry at that time. I ran into him not that long afterwards and commented how bummed I was that people were talking shit about him, but how proud I was of the picture. He shrugged it off and said that’s just how the comments sections are, and that people don’t get it. I know he was aware people didn’t get him, or maybe didn’t believe in him at times, or even didn’t like him because of how he was but he never for a minute let them dull his shine. Something that I’m so proud to have know of him.
Last month we gathered in Victoria, people from all over the world came in, to say goodbye to our friend Jordie. It was an incredible time catching up, sharing stories, and starting to heal as a group. It was the type of hangout that Jords would have loved, because that’s what he did, he loved life, and he loved his friends and he especially loved his family. It was therapeutic to have everyone in one place, minus one of course but I’d like to think he saw it all unfold; the tears, the jump jam, the laughs.
The world needs more Jordies, more caution thrown to the wind, more doing things because you like them and even if any and everyone else doesn’t, but you do. It’s been a few months now since he passed away. It wasn’t odd for us to go a few months without seeing each other, or even for us to go a few months without catching up. I guess life is just like that sometimes. But this is around the time when I would see him. I’d run into him somewhere, or we’d txt about something stupid. I miss him this time and I still feel really burned by this all. I was prepared for injured friends, I was prepared to hold my breath and watch them do scary shit. I wasn’t prepared for this and I can’t seem to shake this gutted feeling. I know as time wears on it will get easier, but I also know how much pain his family is in going into this holiday season and I wish for them that I could make it all better.
Jordies sponsors have all kicked down some parts to build up a Jordie dream bike and they’re raffling off tickets with the proceeds going to a foundation in Jordies name. The foundation will help kids get on bikes and learn new techniques on bikes, some Jordie held very near to his heart. If you can spare a few dollars follow the link below and pick up a ticket.
Thanks for everything Jords, I and so so so many other miss you like crazy. Rest easy buddy, I love you.
Thoughts, comments?
The Homelab Year in Review
What a year it’s been in local real estate. As always we’ve been busy busy at the lab, something that in our current market I can attest to nothing more than our constant and at times all encompassing grind.
When I started at The Homelab it took me a little while to come to terms with the fact that my career was switching gears. I’m not sure why, I guess maybe I thought that there was something lame about that. As in, if I had set out to be an action sports photographer, then changing that - before all goals were achieved - I guess sort of felt like giving up. But people change, times change, surroundings, circumstances, paths, they all change and the last three and a half years have seemed like a constant repositioning of my work.
It took us a while to hit our stride, not that that’s super surprising, it’s natural when getting things off the ground. At first I hated the images, they were sort of the real estate status quo: blended exposures, blue light out the windows, bright interiors shot with the lights on and as wide angle as we could manage. Though as time wore on we cut our own cloth, we built own our style and we created our own path. Now, we’re creating media that all three of us (Jamie, Jody and myself) can all really get behind.
So as my focus has shifted, I’ve been home more than ever, I have a solid foundation of work here that I like, so freelance projects aren’t as risky. New goals in action sports and beyond are being made and paths to achieve them created. After all of the worrying and posturing and resistance subsided a new normal has been formed and things are creatively, better than ever. I guess a part of me still thinks that my work is only interesting if it’s in that niche or genre the I started out in. Possibly a construct of the photo industry drilling into young photographers that they need to be one certain type of photographer and stay that course. Something that in itself I have always struggled to fit in to. I’ve always just wanted to create beautiful images, people, sports, fish, and now homes. The process has been a steep learning curve but it’s something that professionally has become so satisfying to create an images I really believe in.
What a year it’s been in local real estate. As always we’ve been busy busy at The Homelab, something that in our current market I can only really attest to our constant and at times, all encompassing grind. Between our team’s incredible staging skills and our new style of photographing the word is getting out, momentum is building, clients are seeking us out and our reputation is constantly growing.
As the year hits the middle of it’s final quarter and the real estate market has slowed, it’s nice to have the time to look back on the year and all of its great image creating opportunities. Theres some big things in the works with us for 2020 so keep an eye on our Homelab socials for all of the updates and images.
Homelab Real Estate
141 E 4th Avenue,
Qualicum Beach, BC, V9K 2C4.
Or online at:
Insta:
Thoughts, comments?
Pacific Board Culture Art Auction & Punk Show
November 9th marked the first of what will hopefully be a long standing annual tradition; their art auction and punk show. All of the art was donated and it was astounding how many local artists, businesses and residents poured their hearts Into making this event the success that it was
Pacific Board Culture is an amazing foundation. It’s basic concept is to get boards, be them skate, snow or surfboards into the hands of kids who otherwise couldn’t afford them or have access to them.
November 9th marked the first of what will hopefully be a long standing annual tradition; the Pacific Board Culture Art Auction & Punk Show. All of the art was donated and it was astounding how many local artists, businesses and residents poured their hearts Into making this event the success that it was. My family and the fine folks running PBC happen to be very close so I was able to spend an hour or two following my sons and theirs around the event while the ran the door, sold merchandise, got hair cuts and played with the finger boards.
One of the many cool aspects of the night was that Heavy D’s barbershop from Departure Bay in Nanaimo was fully set up and running off cuts by donation. They really hooked it up too, complete with all of the tools, proper lighting and a couple of dope vintage barber chairs. If you’re ever in need of a trim check these guys out, they’re super active on social media so follow along and support the people supporting our people.
Check their instagrams here
The evening also played host to a very cool milestone for our family. My wife had a piece in her first art auction. She painted it in the weeks leading up to the event and laboured back and forth between liking it and wanting to back out of the event. In the end we convinced her to stay the course and she did, and to only her surprise it sold for well over $100. Very proud moment.
Jerret and Anesa, 2/3’s of the driving force behind PBC. These two - among others as they would tell you immediately so as to not take the credit that they’re due - worked tirelessly to put this event on and to get this foundation off the ground. Now as a result kids in our community will benefit and have the ability to try something new, to foster their skills, and to learn a new passion. Thanks for all of the hard work guys.
Check out the Pacific Board Culture Instagram here
Or on the web
Thoughts, comments?