2561 miles- 3 days and 3 hours

i blame this on maps.google.com when typed in starting point and destination, clicked on satellite map and watched that blue line snake through the northern u.s. head as far east as it could go, i knew that i wanted to drive. not in the drive i fantasized about last year – the meander through québec through labrador entering the island via the northern peninsula, this year it is more practical. i want to get there, i want as much time as possible in rocky harbour and i want to spend as much time after the wedding as possible so this year flying would be the best option. this year, though, isn’t the minimalist trips of years past – an overnight bag and a courier bag to fit in the over head compartment of the plane -this year it is an expedition.

despite the princely sum of $800u.s. before taxes that the greatest art school since the beginning of recorded time (u.s news and world report) i am in dire need of funds to pull this off. or to put it another way i need to slice my budget any way i can. driving will cut down on the cost of a 45 day car rental even the relatively inexpensive one that i would get from t.j., the shipping and taxes that i would have to pay on the things shipped. i could carry more things.

all in all even though the cost of getting there would be about the same, i would save roughly $2000u.s.

the drive also would also permanently etch distance of the province. flying is a nuisance and one does get impatient after a while but the position of the rock to the rest of north america is still a theoretical isolation like time being 30 minutes off kilter. i know how happy i feel when i finally see the outline of the island in the dark. i can recite at will the distances between st. john’s and dublin, mention, greenland and iceland as being closer than chicago but it is all recitation. i am glad to see the island from the plane but it isn’t like i have become antsy due to time passed, a couple of chapters have been read, a film and news programme has been shown, i have two chances at tea.

how will it feel to go almost two days and not hit canada? when that finally happens realising that i still have a time zone to cross on the mainland and cape breton before reaching the ferry at north sydney. how much radio can i listen to?

do i take the short or long sea route to the rock the short meaning the snaking transcanada to st. john’s but being able to drop things off at rocky harbour – i have some film here – or the north sydney argentia route making the final leg a cake walk.

after going one way how much effort will it take to do the reverse trip when i have to return?

i want to do the drive as a homage to the final drive the brothers take from alberta in alastair mccloud’s no great mischief – only being from below the 49th – i’ll have to take it further – breezing through cape breton where the novel ends and robert frank’s place and still having a day’s travel in front of me. i really want an anticipation of landfall after being at sea for hours. i would like to document the trip but most of all i would like to arrive there fully knowing that i didn’t forget anything and didn’t have to leave anything behind.

panorama placentia nl

panorama placentia nl,
originally uploaded by molequinho.

a long tense moment

so an e-mail from jim saying that the film has arrived exactly a month after i ordered it from freestyle. he won’t tell me the duties and taxes charged, if there is any, but does mention that the exterior box is in bad shape.

playing e-mail tag – i was at school – i ask on the film boxes themselves. all 30 are fine but 6 have their seals broken.

“customs? terrorists?”

panic. has the film been exposed how can i tell from more than 2000 miles away? what i don’t need is to arrive and find that i am six boxes short and on top of that have to await their arrival from the states. think of the five i have at home. plan my strategy when i arrive. use those boxes first to see if they are fine. if not order immediately from freestyle hoping that they will arrive before i leave and run out. my serenity is shattered.

e-mail back asking jim if all the seals are broken, if so open one box and see if the interior bag is sealed.

while i await his reply, i phone freestyle to let them know and make sure that they know that i am 2000 miles from the package and i won’t see it until mid july so if there is a problem, they will be forewarned. the person on the other end assures me that he has noted my concern and if there is a problem, it will be rectified.

jim emails back to say that the interior bags are still sealed and he will place them in his basement where it is cool.

linger nagging doubt the debt piling up from this grand experiment is manageable right now but if i have to buy more film or even place my fate in the hands of the u.s postal system and canada post i know that am doomed. when i had this order shipped to wordplay the order taker wasn’t sure of the postal abbreviation for newfoundland and labrador.

this came when i had arrived at the realisation that this endeavour will be a one off project. thinking back on last summer, i realised that i had the perfect manner of working - medium format and a lot of film, it allowed me a great deal of mobility.

thought back to the little hike in bell island where i left the car unlocked and a hasselblad in full view as i went traipsing off to see a mini bird sanctuary or the walk up the tolt of butter pot park.

remember the irish loop trip when i saw the hogs in trepassey and the kids in st. vincent’s and wondered if that will be possible this time - of course not.

the working method this time will be slower and more deliberate. the slowness won’t be a problem as the near constant state of rush that i have been in for the last eight months will be out of my system, i look forward to having plenty of time to do what i need. days seem longer and less frantic – well once i find a place to act as a west coast duke of duckworth.

more deliberate will be the problem, my tendency is to make quite a few photographs subtly reframing the image then looking at the proofs to determine the best formal arrangement. i seem to be incapable of doing this while looking through the camera. there either seems to be too many things that i miss or i cannot decide whether i want that pole to line up with this clothes line or that building façade.

i don’t need anything to crack my resolve right now. while the film is there, there is still a chance to change my mind and play it safe.

i am continuing with the grand experiment in working and my fostering of slow photography. i want to see if i am correct about my preferred working method. i want to see how my mobility is effected, i do want to complete everything while on the residency, i want to make book and i don’t want to be trapped in a darkroom with the ocean and the park right there – i don’t care how late at night it is. late night in pouch is a favourite time the sound of the waves mixed with the lights of the few cars ascending and descending the main road. i am looking forward to the gulf of st. lawrence equivalent.