Notes from the road — the part of the work that happens before the house comes into view.
Most of my thinking happens between places.
Long roads through the Shuswap, the dips of the North Okanagan, the stretch of mountain shadow that follows you in the Columbia valley. There’s a rhythm to those drives — trees, water, a few small towns that flash by before you’ve even named them.
I forget sometimes that this is part of the job.
Not just the shooting, but the moving.
The shifting light, the changes in weather, the quiet that settles in the car when there’s nothing to do but watch the landscape change shape.
These drives give me time to reset before stepping into someone’s home.
They help me leave whatever was on my mind behind so I can see the space clearly.
That’s the real beginning of a shoot for me — not the front door, but the road that leads to it.