Summer wages

Photo Randy Vanderveen near BlueBerry Mountain, Alberta 2014-08-05 A freshly planted seedling remains behind Andrei Toma as he moves to the next spot. Planters will get paid a fee per tree and if soil or terrain conditions are difficult (i.e. very rocky or hard or a steep hill side), they will receive a premium per tree to compensate for the fact they will probably plant fewer trees than in more favourable conditions. I had the opportunity early last week to go with my friend Brett Henkel of Little Smokey Forestry Services Ltd. to document tree planters working.

Here are a few photos from the day.  One photo story will be running in the Peace Country Sun Aug. 15 and I hope another publication will be running a second different photo story in the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading.

 Photo Randy Vanderveen near BlueBerry Mountain, Alberta 2014-08-05 Dylan McMahon heads out with a loaded a bag of seedlings after treeing up. Even on a relatively easy cut block, it is clearly evident that just getting from point A to point B can add to the physical work out planters get as dead fall and slash areas provide a seemingly never-ending obstacle course to contend with. Photo Randy Vanderveen near BlueBerry Mountain, Alberta 2014-08-05 Marta Pawluk, a veteran planter with Little Smokey Forestry Services Ltd., plants pine seedlings. The job is a physically gruelling one as planters work in all kinds of weather and rough terrain. While this area was relatively flat there was still plenty of slash and dead fall for planters to have to work through. Photo Randy Vanderveen near BlueBerry Mountain, Alberta 2014-08-05 Marta Pawlik trees up at cache site after emptying her bag. Smart planters will work so they aren't carrying a fully loaded bag too far to begin planting nor are walking back to tree caches for long distances empty as they get paid for each tree they plant. Photo Randy Vanderveen near BlueBerry Mountain, Alberta 2014-08-05 Freshly loaded seedlings in a planter's bag which will be strapped on and accessed continuously.Photo Randy Vanderveen near BlueBerry Mountain, Alberta 2014-08-05 Remy Lamotte, one of the 2014 rookie planters, straps on his bag after treeing up and heads out to plant. Maintaining a good ratio of veteran planters to new comers is important.Photo Randy Vanderveen near BlueBerry Mountain, Alberta 2014-08-05 Mandy Cummings, a tree planter with Little Smokey Forestry Services Ltd. walks toward the landing zone for a helicopter which will ferry her and crew members out to a cut block where she will plant between 3,000 and 4,000 trees before returning back to camp. Tree planting is almost a rite of passage for university and college students looking for summer wages that will help cover their tuition.Photo Randy Vanderveen near BlueBerry Mountain, Alberta 2014-08-05 A helicopter with tree planters takes flight above slings filled with seedlings that will also have to be ferried out to cut blocks. While this site required an air lift other sites the planters will tackle over the course of the summer will be driven to in crew trucks or ATVs. Photo Randy Vanderveen near BlueBerry Mountain, Alberta 2014-08-05 Misty, a heeler, appears to want to get in on some of the action, carrying a stick past a sling filled with boxes of seedlings being loaded by Little Smokey Forestry Services Ltd. staff. Photo Randy Vanderveen near BlueBerry Mountain, Alberta 2014-08-05 Ed Smith holds a map showing the cut blocks that need to be planted. The cluster of lines on the top left of the map (facing reader) shows the rapid elevation drop from the boundary of one block into the Peace River Valley. Photo Randy Vanderveen near BlueBerry Mountain, Alberta 2014-08-05 Marta Pawluk, a veteran, plants a pine seedling. The blue ribbon behind her is dropped near where each seedling is planted. The flagging ribbon allows a quality control inspector to check her work but more importantly in green areas allows Pawluk to see where she has already planted so she and her fellow planters don't miss or double plant any areas. Photo Randy Vanderveen near BlueBerry Mountain, Alberta 2014-08-05 Dust from the rotor wash of a helicopter flies up as Morgan Schmidt hooks up a sling filled with seedlings to be cached in a cut block which will be planted. Each of the 25 boxes in the sling contain 360 lodgepole pine to be planted for Canfor.

Summer sampling

Photo Randy Vanderveen Valhalla, Alberta 2014-07-24 The pink and purple fireweed blooms stand out in stark contrast to the bright yellow and green of a nearby canola crop.

A quick look at some recent work. Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie, AB 2014-07-22 A race horse is taken through its morning exercise by a trainer Tuesday. The horses, which get exercised each morning, are part of the race season at Evergreen Park through July and August.Photo Randy Vanderveen Concrete is jack hammered away in the old Grande Bingo Hall as McLaurin Baptist Church works on changing it over to the congregation's new home. Photo Randy Vanderveen Spirit River, Alberta 2014-07-30 A farmer collects swathed forage crops for silage in a field southwest of Spirit River.Photo Randy Vanderveen Spirit River, Alberta 2014-07-30 A swather cuts down a field for silage southwest of Spirit River. The weather has been co-operative for those harvesting forage crops and hay, although spotty thunderstorms did rain on some hay in the Peace.Photo Randy Vanderveen Teepee Creek, Alberta 2014-07-30 A swathed forage crop is loaded into a truck to be taken to a nearby pit near Teepee Creek. Extreme variations in moisture levels throughout the Peace Country is resulting in crop conditions changing depending on the locale.

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Earlier in July I attended a Pictures with Purpose Workshop in Oregon. There are some thoughts by Yolanda Li, my teammate and fellow student, and myself here. David LaBelle, who organized and leads the workshop, has put up the introduction to the story we covered on his blog Bridges and Angels which will have more to come in the future.

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In case you missed it, both this site and my web page have a different look. I hope you like the changes. The new web site should load faster on to mobile devices.

A purpose -full week

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Forest Grove, Oregon David LaBelle, Pictures with Purpose leader and director of the Photojournalism Department at Kent State University, showed a love for people and photography every day of the workshop.

Last week I had the opportunity to do something I have wanted to do for a number of years — take part in the Pictures with Purpose Workshop. It proved to be different than I first expected but it was an experience I  will remember the rest of my life.

I spent a week with David LaBelle, the instructor, and Yolanda Li, a fellow student, working on compassionate story-telling  (watch for the result in the coming weeks). But photography was probably the smallest portion of what I learned.

David demonstrated a love and interest in people, who he easily puts at ease, a robust passion for photography and story telling and a genuine faith in Christ that is demonstrated every day. He also has a contagious sense of humour.

I also learned from Yolanda what a servant's heart is all about as she demonstrated her faith, love and humility by seeing people's needs and helping meet them.

My biggest reward for a week filled with learning in a humbling and at times emotionally draining workshop was the friends I made from those met during my week in Forest Grove, Oregon, and especially the friendship with Dave and Yolanda.

Here are  some photos from my time there (outside of the main project) as mentioned earlier a collaborative photo/story package will be up in several weeks and I will keep you posted as to where you can find it.

Photo Randy Vanderveen Forest Grove, Oregon David LaBelle

 Photo Randy Vanderveen Forest Grove, Oregon Yolanda LiPhoto Randy Vanderveen Forest Grove, Oregon The elusive Ohio Big Foot (David LaBelle) darts across the road in Oregon. Sometimes you just have to have fun like recreating the traditional sasquatch photo. Forest Grove, Oregon 14-07-08 Randy Vanderveen Dave LaBelle (right) poses with a worker at the Forest Grove post office. David's ability to put people at ease is something I found incredible.

Jefferson, Oregon 14-07-09 Randy Vanderveen Bill Stam, founder of the All Nations Native American War Memorial, pauses quietly as he leans on a walking staff he used to walk the Oregon Trail of Tears.

 Photo Randy Vanderveen Forest Grove, Oregon 2014-07-12 A young lady patiently waits to make her grand entry into her quinceañera, (Fifteenth birthday) at a banquet facility in downtown Forest Grove.

Photo Randy Vanderveen Forest Grove, Oregon 2014-07-12 A little boy cautiously checks out a dark side-room in a Mexican restaurant in Forest Grove. Below A second version of the same photo in black and white.

Recent Work and Remembrance

Here is some recent work.Photo Randy Vanderveen Debolt, Alberta 3/19/2014 Pussy willows are beginning to show themselves along the rural roads throughout the South Peace as spring arrived with a cold whimper in the Peace Country.

 Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie, Alberta 2014-03-24 A bald eagle spreads its wings as it takes off from its perch on a poplar tree and heads out across a clear blue early spring sky in the South Peace.

Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie, Alberta 2014-03-24 Deer gather for a morning feed in a field southwest of Grande Prairie. Farmers across the Prairies lose a portion of their crops and feed each year to wildlife and an Alberta survey is trying to determine a dollar value on those losses.Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie, Alberta 2014-03-25 A rail spike sits above grade on a section of railway west of Grande Prairie. Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie, Alberta 3/19/2014 A hot air balloon pilot lifts and lowers his aircraft for practice in the Grande Prairie sky as Prairie Sunrise Towers and the city are seen in the background. The hot air balloon season is just around the corner as mornings and evenings become milder.

•••Photo Randy Vanderveen The 1994 Genocide memorial for the Kinazi Sector in southern Rwanda. Hundreds of genocide memorials are set up across the nation with a national one in Kigali.

On a more serious and darker note, April marks the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide.

The country has seen a lot of healing and forgiving over the past two decades but unfortunately the rest of the world doesn't seem to have learned any lessons.

Currently there are a number of countries that are on the threshold of genocide experiencing mass murders because of religion or ethnic backgrounds including South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

One would have thought that the expression "Never Again" would mean NEVER but we as humans never learn.

Keep Rwanda and her people in your prayers this month as they remember and try to continue to heal from this nightmare in the nation's history. Pray that the other nations on the verge of genocide would stand down and their citizens would instead stand up for their relatives, neighbours and friends being persecuted and killed.

 Photo Randy Vanderveen A memorial plaque outside the Rwandan National Genocide Memorial in Kigali .

Winter retreat

Photo Randy Vanderveen LaGlace, Alberta 3/11/2014 A foal sticks close to mom in a field east of LaGlace where several dozen horses were feeding on hay. The horse appeared to be the youngest of all the animals gathered in the pasture.After a long hard winter, it appears that winter is finally retreating in the Peace Country and that spring may have sprung — although I am sure Old Man Winter will have one or two kicks before retiring.

Here are a few photos shot recently which look forward to spring's arrival. The change of seasons provides plenty of opportunities for a photographer to hone his or her skills.

Photo Randy Vanderveen LaGlace, Alberta 2/27/2014 A late bison calf, born Halloween, stays close to the more mature animals on the Black Velvet Buffalo Farm northwest of LaGlace. Usually calves are born in May but despite its late start this youngster has managed to handle a hard winter.Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie Alberta 3/4/2014 Todd Wagner, of Troyer Enterprises Ltd., is reflected in a hubcap as he fires off a burst of water from his wand to prevent it from freezing up as he prepares to wash a piece of bale handling equipment in preparation for last week's Peace Country Ag Classic at Evergreen Park. Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie Alberta 3/4/2014 Todd Wagner, of Troyer Enterprises Ltd., almost disappears in a cloud of steam as he and co-worker Daryl English (not pictured) wash a piece of bale handling equipment in preparation for last week's Peace Country Ag Classic at Evergreen Park.