2005 Banff Mountain Photography Competition
Special Mention
Andrew Querner: “The Existence”
“Tree planting in the modern sense arrived in British Columbia in the early 1970s. The new school of planting introduced the notion of paying for piecework (instead of paying by the hour) and adopted the use of bags on a belt (instead of a bucket) to carry the trees. Thirty years later, tree planters continue to use the same techniques. In the spring of 2003, while working for a northern-B.C.-based planting company, I made this picture of Wes Martin on a cut block near Burns Lake. He had just taken off his planting bags after a 10-hour day. The stains of the belt and straps remain behind, perhaps symbolic of the aches and pains he will take back to camp that evening.”
Andrew Querner, 31, was born and raised on the southwest coast of British Columbia. He has been a freelance photographer for the past three years, during which time he has photographed climbers for magazines and international ad campaigns. Today, Querner continues to photograph adventure climbing, most recently an iceberg-climbing expedition off the coast of Labrador, while pursuing personal documentary projects closer to home. He lives in Canmore, Alberta, Canada.