Harley Haskett Photography – Favorite Five
Posted by Prashant - 19/04/09 at 01:04:59 pm
portrait by Nuno Oliveira
Harley Haskett is a name familiar to some. He’s a behind-the-scenes worker in the Canadian BMX industry, making all sorts of things happen with and is responsible for much of Ten Pack East. He’s gotten the new Ten Pack Distribution site up and running, updates the site, and handles much of the team stuff and blog. Harley was out this way in Ottawa last summer for the Ten Pack Am Contest at CP, and after that was stoked on Ottawa, especially the quarry. He’s an avid photographer with a unique and candid style, so I asked him to send through five of his favorite photos, and he chose a specific theme for them. Click the link below to check them out, and hear what Harley has to say.
As you know I’ve really taken to film over the last while and pretty much only shoot film these days with my trusty Yashica T3. I’ve always been into documentary style photography and stuff that’s really candid and true, that’s the sort of thing I’m really trying to go for these days, getting tips from friends of mine and trying to constantly learn. After I got back from Mexico a bit ago and had all my film developed, I finally decided I wanted to send you a series of my five favourites from my trip. I’m incredibly inspired every time I’m in Mexico and kind of wanted to show exactly how beautiful that country, and specifically the village I frequent (Sayulita), really is. All of the photos were shot with a Yashica T3 camera using various Kodak films.
- Harley Haskett
Flock of birds – Flocks of pelicans can always be seen passing over the beaches in Sayulita. I once heard these flocks referred to as the ‘Mexican Airforce’ by some locals. I love the way you can see the movement in the flock, like a wave of sound moving in unison.
Wooden statue – The casa I stayed at was an amazing piece of traditional Spanish architecture and had a lot of great features. On the outside wall were two displays featuring these intricately carved wooden statues of saints. I’m not sure what saint this is, I believe it’s Saint Francis, either way, the detail in the carving was amazing.
Local Painter – This man sits under this gazebo almost everyday with his paintings for sale, always working on something new. I sat and talked with him and was able to watch him work for a while. Some of his pieces, all of which are beautiful portrayls of the village, are huge and all are exploding with colour. This is one of the things I love about the country, there is no fear when it comes to the use of colour.
Church Roof – Religion has always been an odd institution to me. However, it plays an important role in the lives of most of the locals in the village and seems so much more innocent, beautiful, and natural than the religion I’ve come to know. This chapel is a magnificent old building that is located directly beside the town square.
Letter N – One morning we went for a long walk to see the construction of some new casas and ventured out to this lookout point. The entire village was on display from where we were. My friend found this piece of lettering and set it on a tree stump near the construction site and I snapped this photo. I really love the colours and focus of this one and when I see the N I think of the word ‘natura’ which is obviously ‘nature’ in
You can check out more of Harley’s photos over on his flickr site
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This is awesome, sick pictures
Comment by Jeremy — April 19, 2009 #
Harley,
Great pictures! I go to that area of Mexico regularly as well and have some of the same observations. We usually stay in Rincon de Guayabitos which is about 30 minutes away from Sayulita. My wife, son Revelin (6yrs), and I, also put backpacks on, get on a bus and go stay in a surf shack in San Blas for a few days (http://www.stonerssurfcamp.com/).
I too am always inspired, particularly by the village people at the bottom of the economic scale. What you see isn’t always what you get but they live with such joy, happiness and strong family values you can’t help but admire them. I see their use of color as an extension of this. Why be boring?
We have been talking about it for a while but this may be the year we go spend an extended winter there.
Cheers,
Roland
Comment by Roland — April 20, 2009 #