BARRHEAD - It has become an annual tradition.
Every spring for about the last dozen years, Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS) portrait photography students have gone on a pilgrimage, usually alternating between Vancouver, B.C. and New York City.
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, in 2020 and 2021, they were forced to cancel the trip.
And for a while, it looked like the 2022 photography excursion might be on the chopping block as well.
However, earlier in the year, Pembina Hills School Division trustees gave their blessing to embark on the trip, and 11 BCHS portrait photography students, along with Com-Tech teacher Bruce Tyrrell and parent chaperone Collette Weeks, winged their way to Vancouver for a six-day (May 17-23) photography journey.
"Ours was the first trip that Pembina Hills allowed out of the province," he said.
Students pay for the trip through the sale of photography photo packages.
Unlike other schools that hire professional photographers to take the standard graduation photo in a mass one or two-day event, the portrait photography class takes grad photos during multiple sessions throughout the year. About half of the funds raised go towards the annual trip, while the other goes towards subsidizing the purchase of equipment for the Com-Tech program.
"Because of COVID, it wasn't quite the same as previous photography trips," Tyrrell said.
Previously, as part of the trips, Tyrrell organized photo sessions with professional photographers and models. However, due to the uncertainty of the pandemic, he did not want to go the effort to organize studio time with a photographer and have to cancel it at the last moment.
"Two years ago, at the start of the pandemic, I had to cancel the sessions with all the photographers and models, and I was worried about potentially having to do that again," he said.
Instead, Tyrrell, a Vancouver native who is still quite familiar with the city, led the students on a series of night shoots (including one where students tried their hand at light painting) and location shoots.
The Barrhead Leader interviewed Tyrrell and several students about the trip on June 6.
Some of the locations include English Bay, the Seawall, the world's longest, uninterrupted waterfront path, Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium.
"We got a lot of cool pictures at the aquarium," student Matthew Foster-Rose said.
For the most part, the students used Canon Rebel T7s, a budget DSLR with the standard 18-55mm kit zoom lens.
But Tyrrell noted that despite the relatively simple equipment, the students were able to do some pretty amazing work, despite shooting in some challenging lighting situations, like inside the aquarium.
One of the group's favourite locations of the trip was to North Vancouver's Lynn Canyon Park Ecological Centre, where they went on a little "hike or stroll" as student photographer Emma Weeks characterized it.
Lynn Cannon is one of the city's oldest parks, opening in 1912 and features 617 acres of old-growth forest.
"(The hike was like) climbing up a mountain, Mathew almost did not make it back," Colten Kliparchuk added. "We crossed a lot of bridges (including the world-famous Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge 50 meters above the canyon), went to this beautiful waterfall, and there were trees everywhere. Some of them quite huge," Mathew said.
Although photography was the focus of the trip, the students were able to experience other things the city offered.
One of Karla de Waal's favourites was the food.
Following a trip to Granville Island, a public market, they went for a group meal at a Greek restaurant near their hotel.
"I still dream about that meal," she said.
The students also raved about the meals they had in Chinatown.
Week’s favourite restaurant was Chef Ron.
"If you go to Vancouver, you have to go there, it was just amazing," she said.
Occasionally, things did not always go as planned. On the trip, each student took turns acting as a tour guide, planning the itinerary, including how to get there using city transit. Except for the occasional missed stop, things went well.
One of the exceptions was on their last day, as they waited to board the Skytrain to go back to the airport.
"Like good Canadians, they all got into a line waiting to get on to the train," Tyrrell said. "I tried to pull some of them to another door, but they weren't fast enough, and the doors closed on five students speeding away."
They also experienced what big city homelessness and drug issues look like first-hand as they encroached on East Vancouver, Canada's poorest electoral district, specifically East Hastings.
"It was a really sketchy area, and although you always be aware of your surroundings, it was especially important there," de Waal said. "I know there is a drug and homeless problem in Barrhead, it is nothing compared to what we saw in that part of Vancouver."
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
