this is a story about entitlement it's about how we take things for granted and
about the impermanence of beautiful things and beautiful places that we
assume will always be there as landscape photographers it's easy to allow
ourselves to believe that powerful places of rock and stone are somehow
impervious to the ravages of time but don't be fooled my friends for
permanence is merely a facade we've come to Jack point right here in
our very own home town of Nanaimo and the plan is to get into those sea caves
that you might just be able to see in the background there so I've either
timed this brilliantly or really badly because the tide is creeping in and I've
been in there before when it was high tide I got in but I almost had to swim
out so I really hope we can get in and get our shots and not get soaked I think
I have a better chance of swimming out why is that? Your cardio might just....be bad.
I've only got a swim 80 feet oh can you
believe the cheeky smack talk from Cayden already unbelievable. anyway I didn't
need to scout for long as I knew exactly where I needed to be for my ideal shot
so this is what we've come here for Jack point is all about these gorgeous
sandstone rocks and that the water creates and the probably the wind
creates these amazing sea caves but I love these patterns that you see and
you'll see these closer towards the water's edge it's so interesting and
fascinating to look at these bizarre shapes and they'll make some really
interesting foreground especially for a wide-angle lens
so we're hoping that the clouds light up give us some nice light I think we've
got a bit lucky with the tide because it seems to have slowed a little bit it's
not getting much higher fingers crossed that we get that light I'll get inside
one of these caves and try to fill the frame with these amazing shapes and
hopefully catch some nice light.
Oooo, look at this business...
Having the physique of an asthmatic silverback gorilla does have its benefits but at this point I'm
almost asphyxiating myself simply by holding a prolonged crouch now that's
elegance once I got inside the cave I quickly discovered some bad news things
had changed so annoying and not for the better
well I'm not a very happy Fototipper right now this caves that you see I've
shot this many times before and it's almost a guaranteed epic shot if you get
some good light and if you're even luckier and you get good light and the
tide coming in, you're gonna get an epic shot but this is the problem this tree that's
fallen down recently I'm guessing probably in the December storm that we
had which made a right mess of Vancouver Island and I didn't bring a chainsaw I'm
not in fact I'm not even sure I'm allowed to bring a chainsaw and just clean
the top of this off but this was gonna be my guaranteed epic shot especially
with what looks to be good light and perfect tidal conditions but not gonna
happen now in fact the only thing I can do now before I go look for a new shot
is eat chocolate. Gavin what are you gonna do now that your shots wrecked well I
mean all I can do really is wait for some light and maybe find another shot
but in the meantime just to cheer myself up with some chocolate this this is a TWIRL
these come from England and even though I live in Canada I get my chocolate
imported great expense because there's nothing quite like British chocolate you
should totally try one of these I really think I should
hmm I highly recommend it I think I would enjoy one maybe you would you'd
love it you should try one there I really think
I should. You should.
yeah that's what you get for being a right cheeky bugger eh! Now the twirl
definitely helped to lift my spirits enough that I felt inspired to take on
the challenge of finding a new composition this was a harsh reminder
though that mother nature is always tinkering with that landscape and we
can't rely on the belief that it's always gonna be there so I encourage you
to get out there and get your shots because you never know when it's gonna
be too late right against all odds I think I might have
found my shot so you see this lovely shape this kind of like a window in the
rock looking through to that nice little bit of light that's going off in the
distance well I figured if I get my camera vertical flip it vertical and
shoot super wide and get very very close to that to magnify it this is kind of
like a nice foreground object so I have to focus stack it but this is the beauty
of a super wide angle lenses you can magnify that make it look huge and
create this gorgeous little window frame so I'll show you what I've framed up
okay so this is what I was thinking about something like this but now that I
look at it a little bit longer I kind of I'm kind of struggling with the
background there so forget it look a little bit higher you get a little bit
more water but then that little piece of peninsula stooping into the rock on the
side if I get lower well then you know you've got that pyramid ship rock spike
it up into that piece of land I'd like them separated I can move back a bit
like that but it's it's kind of odd hmm I have to rethink this and go for
something different okay Plan C right okay so I tried that out I put the
camera on the tripod it didn't quite work out I studied the composition a
little bit more closely and things didn't quite line up but in the process
of getting the tripod in there I did determine that I'm gonna have to grovel
and borrow Caydens Gorillapod because I did see a nice horizontal shot that's a
brilliant idea that's what I was gonna do I know that's why I brought it
yeah I'd love to they're great love to try that I brought mine all the way from
home to use it yeah you should really try one sometime yeah probably should
yeah yeah don't forget to bring your stuff next time yeah I'll get my coat
Ahh you knew that CayCay was gonna lend me that Gorillapod and this is the shot that I
managed to capture I was able to transform that tiny little 10 inch
window into what looks like a huge rock column just by getting super close to it
and these are the hypnotic sandstone patterns I was talking about and I just
find them to be so mesmerizing it almost looks like coral which when you think
about it really makes total sense and I also love the ribbons of color that you
see deep inside the rock it can reminds me of the many colors of
rock that you see in places like the Valley of Fire down in Nevada or even
Moab in Utah now this is a little time-lapse clip that I created about
seven years ago when I was setting up for this shot and of course this is that
very first cave that I showed you which is now unshootable because of that fallen
tree and this brings me back to the entire point of this video this is a
shot that I made many years ago at Punchbowl Falls in Oregon and not only
is this place now reported to be completely destroyed but it's also
inaccessible and if you told me that on the day that I shot this image I
probably wouldn't have believed you but I might have been inspired to shoot a
lot more frames and perhaps worry less about how cold and uncomfortable I was
and worry a little bit more about capturing those magic moments that might
never happen ever again let me give you another example of Mother Nature doing
her thing this is a shot of Rialto beach down in
Washington State and it's actually a composite the Milky Way was added in
afterwards and here is the original version and the lovely sea snack that
you see there with the tree growing out of the top well that has now collapsed
here's another location that is now inaccessible this is Elowah falls down
in Oregon and I took this a couple of years before the big fire that happened
and even back then I had to rig up some climbing ropes because the trail had
collapsed due to a major landslide just down the road from there
is Oneonta Gorge and I created this shot several years ago and even though
it's a fairly dangerous location to reach at certain times of the year I
would never have believed that it would get destroyed and then closed down to
the public I always thought that I had more time to enjoy it
lastly this is a shot I took of the Peter Iredale shipwreck in Astoria
aptly named 'Sands of Time' and while this still stands it's quite obviously not
gonna last much longer so if you've been thinking of visiting some iconic
locations well there's no time like the present
did you get a shot well I got an okay shot he was it was fairly good but it
just wasn't quite... wasn't quite as good as the comp I had in mind
yeah but I'm chering myself up with a nice bit of twirl all the way from
England is it good I highly recommend it you
definitely definitely try one of these. I think it would make this Fototrip fail
slightly less bad for me more palatable yeah this is very palatable yeah well
back to the car I guess yeah I guess I've got one for you really wow I'm
surprised but if you've got a better shot than me can I just put that in my
video and pretend it was mine?
No!
I'll have that back then!