I live in a neighbourhood zoned “light-industrial,” which includes a number of manufacturing plans, industrial laundries, clothing manufacturers, art studios and wonderful back alleys that remind me of Japan. Sometimes, early in the morning, I walk through the neighbourhood and take photos of things that, yes, I have taken before. This is usually a way of relating to the area, a social interaction with a building, rose bush or electric wires which have all become part of my home.
The Coquitlam River is just 30 minutes from my house. On one side of the river re the mountains, and on the other is a large bog. Most of the area is flat, but small pathways of dirt criss-cross the bog, until finally it meets the cranberry fields were everything becomes uniform. Looking out from behind the brush it doesn’t seem possible there could be any order out there.
Summer has ended, even in the window. Slowly the artificial lights, which are more yellow and red, seem to be the predominant colour. Some plants dies away, no matter how much light we give them. Other seem to stop for the next three months and just wait things out. Some plants seem to be unaffected. Lately I am looking more and more towards small images to take here in the studio.
There is a wire fence in the forest, I suppose it is to keep you away from the edge of the river, and away from the protected areas of the forest. Here the light barely comes through. Still, things grow, sometimes smaller and slower than you would expect. But they grow.
The light shines through the plastic greenhouses and seems so unreal. Late summer and the plants have stopped paying attention to the gardener’s instructions and gone where they will. As they make this last effort at growth at the same time they begin to falter and die. The colours change and the snails and other small creatures begin to make their way through them. A smell start to permeate the garden from edge to edge.Green turns to yellow.
The gardeners are just starting to clear out the gardens, some are packing their tools and collecting the sticks, strings, ropes and plastic covers hey used during the summer growth. Things will soon change completely.
