A Nocturnal Guide to Vernon BC

EDIT- April 2009 – My photography has come a long way since I did these images.  I’ve since posted a blog with more (and IMO superior) images based on the same premise.  Do enjoy this post, but please also check out the new one.  Thanks.

Over the past few months I have embarked on a night time Vernon photo project. The purpose was to document a side of my home town that few people see or pay much attention to. This project was/has been a personal one, as I have grown up here, and spent much time wandering these streets alone and with friends in good times and bad ones.  Some are more personal than others, being places I have concrete and extensive memories of, while others I remember simply passing by.  In going back to many of these scenes, I’ve purposefully endeavoured to shoot at night without any people, as that is how I remember these places most distinctly.  It’s possible that these shots will hold no interest for those without a personal connection to the town they are in.  I hope, however, that they hold merit as compelling photos either way.

Brewery at Night redux

This is the Okanagan Spring (now Sleeman, or Sapporo or something) brewery that looms omnipresent over much of downtown Vernon, helped by the fact that it emits a foul odor of rancid tomato soup most of the time. But is sure picturesque at night!  I shot a very similar picture at dusk here, about two years ago, and thought it merited a re-do.

Darkland

I don;t really know what Briteland is, though I think it has something to do with gardening supplies.  It lurks in an out of the way alley behind an elementary school.  A creepy alley.  After I shot this I skateboarded down the alley, followed by a gust of wind and swirl of leaves around me.  It was an odd and exhilirating moment…

Ominous Shed

I didn’t even know this was here until I shot it during my last week in Vernon.  It is in alley that is creepy as all hell, kind of behind the RCMP, but not really.  It was all but abandoned.

Polson Skatepark at night

Ahh the Polson skatepark.  This place holds a lot of memories, many of them not involving skateboarding.  This place is straight up ghetto now, even more so than when I patronized it.  That said, one of my favorite memories is shovelling the snow off of it so that Sean and I could skate in the dead of the Okanagan winter.  While many would take the opportunity to go up to Silver Star and snowboard, Dan, Sean and I endeavoured to find winter skate spots.  Skateboarding on full winter gear, including gloves, scarves, toques and jackets really makes one appreciate spring, summer and fall.

Sketchy downtown storage shed

This is one of my favorite buldings in Vernon.  I envision being the scene of some sort of stereotypical drug bust.  A bunch of sketchy people unloading bags full of crack out of the back of a van maybe.

Alley Holga Redux

I originally shot this on digital, and even devoted a blog to the comparison.  This os one of my favorites.  I used to live in the building in the background.  This area used to be the most dodgy in town,that is until the police claimed they had “cleaned up downtown”, when in fact all they did was move homeless people about five blocks from here.

Anarchy (Edge of Suburbia 1)

Becker “park”, where this was taken, is five hills of sparse trees, bushes and scrubland.  It has been set on fire a couple times, and is a favorite haunt of some local homeless people, as it is right in the middle of town.  It gets tremendously hot in the summer, and though I am a fairly fit person, I swear I have nearly died of dehydration trying to use it as a shortcut.  I have seen ninjas in the bushes.

Edge of Suburbia 4

This right downtown, about a block from Becker park.  I don’t know what it’s story is, except that it is a boarded up and abandoned small house or shed.  There is a porch on the other side where I have seen people braving the cold night.  I have heard that there was a house in the empty lot next to it that burned down.  I am suprised I never drank here.

The ladder

Edge of Suburbia 9

At this point I’m realizing that I mostly take pictures of sketchy places that most people would be afraid to visit in the middle of the night.  Maybe it’s because I lived here all my life and got bored of them during the day, I don’t know.  Anyway, this is the park between the RCMP and the library.  Despite it’s proximity to law enforcement, it is indeed sketchy.  On the other side of the library, prostitutes ply their trade in the unofficial “red light district”, although I think this may have changed since the cleanup alluded to in Alley Holga Redux, above.  The bushes under that tree look like a great place to sleep.

the way it is

Behind Welk-mart, where they apparently keep all their shelves.  I think this area used to be “chinatown”, as it is now there is the very sketchy looking Chinese “dartcoon club”(complete with tinfoiled windows and fogged glass) and a Chinese food restaurant.

what are we trees?

I love to see trees growing up, through and out of concrete.  Given time, that cement will be nothing but dust, and that tree will be monsterous and or will have spread hundreds of offspring through the area, thus reclaiming it for mother nature.  I bet that bush there would help too.  This shot is all about the juxtaposition: tree:downtown alley.  Sure they have trees on main street, but they are fenced in and planned for.  This is a guerilla tree, rising up from the shackles of civilization.

chair And fence

I shot this picture, I heard rustling.  There is a semi enclosed and abandoned porch and storefront to the right of this shot.  People sleep there.  It makes sense as it is sheltered.  Ironically, this was where an actual homeless shelter was to be built.  Upon learning this, some people set up a “tent city” (the use of that term is a joke) in the parking lot.  Upon learning that actual homeless people actually wanted to use what was to be an actual homeless shelter, the property owner withdrew from the plan, thus ensuring no homeless shelter.  Go Vernon.

Blues

A scene from my walk home from work.  Pretty colours eh?  This is why I love night photography, as until the exposure is done, you really don’t know what you’re going to get.  Colours are deep and unexpected.

Kallake road

On the way to Coldstream.  I remember having bottles thrown at me and my friends walking home from shows out here.

Over the tracks (hobo)

This is shot from a railway underpass, looking in the general direction of Coldstream.  The wall down to the right has a lot of very interesting graffiti.  The tunnel and underneath and the park past the wall both house homeless people, as do many places in town.  Affordable housing? What we need is more housing for the rich, and we are getting it through multiple developments such as The Rise, Outback (yes, outback) and “Turtle Mountain Estates”, that have the bonus effect of destroying non-human habitat and giving the nouveu oil rich a place to buy a second home.

light in the Trees

This is Polson Park.  Another popular haunt for tourists during the day and homeless people at night.  It is a very nice park, and a huge expanse of land in the middle of the city.  There has been talk of running a highway through it.

(I should mention that my ulterior motive is to provide a counterpoint to the mad tourism and development rush that Vernon has embraced.  With some captions, I have posited my opinion on social issues affecting the Okanagan.  My hope is that along with with the typical  tourist sites found when one googles “Vernon BC”, this page will be found as well, providing a counterpoint to the images of sunny beaches, vibrant strip malls and Silver Star Mountain)