this post is for people visiting via www.tree-planter.com

Hey Guys. Here are some things I have written regarding planting or being a planter. I also strongly encourage you to follow me on twitter and on tumblr.

Also, you guys should become a fan of Franz Otto Ultimate Highballer on facebook.

1. Blog of Two Seasons Planting
"my favorite blog ever" - a planter
-there was a lot of drama the first year including a stasher witch hunt + me being fired (almost twice)
(best of: the yossef stashing saga 1, 2, 3, 4 ; love story ; my crew ; cam's greed crew ; someone else gets fired)

2. Do It With Joy Review
-budget-ass documentary film made in 1976 about Dirk Brinkman + his camp
-I think I am going to try to get the filmmaker to let me upload it
*Update: Do It With Joy has been uploaded, to view the film become a fan of Franz Otto Ultimate HIghballer on facebook...

3. Summarization of Article on Planters from "Forestalk" magazine, 1984
-what I learned re: the genesis of the labor force

4. Sarah Anne Johnson
-"the only incidence of representation of 'tree planting' in a high art, sophisticated, international context" (link)

Sarah Anne Johnson

Sarah Anne Johnson was a Yale photography grad student at around the time, I think, that Yale's photography school was 'incredibly well regarded.' Not that Yale is no longer strong, but I feel like there was a photography thing that was happening in the art world around that time that was very Yale-driven.

*I don't feel qualified to talk about photography*

Seems like there was a Jeff Wall type thing going on, a "constructed," "photographs are like paintings" thing, and then a Wolfgang Tillmans thing, which was something else, a messier thing, not as concerned with what is inside the frame and how to manipulate that.

I think Sarah bridged those two things, the Jeff Wall thing and the Wolfgang Tillmans thing, in a way, with her Yale thesis project. She built dioramas of situations she recalled from her experiences as a tree planter in Northern Manitoba and mixed them with actual documentary style photos from planting. The show was hung in a less traditional manner, with some photos bigger than others, and some on top of the others.


The show received a positive review from the New York Times. Later the photographs were purchased by the Guggenheim.

This success, to my mind, is the only occurrence of representation of 'tree planting' in a high art, sophisticated, international context.

NOW

Sarah's success and her story allow me to think about the interpretation of 'tree planting'; how the art world responded to 'tree planting'.

I feel like one of the primary concerns of my film will be "finding a marketable film," or "finding a marketable way of representing 'tree planting' to people who do not know anything about tree planting."

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I recently went to Sarah's new show with my camera. It had been listed on Jerry Saltz's "fall shows he is looking forward to" list, and I figured I would go there and try to talk to Sarah and her gallerist about tree planting.

I think things are really coming together for the film. I am continually pushing myself into situations that make me incredibly uncomfortable, and it feels really good.

I will be travelling to Vancouver, Prince George and Oregon in October.

Do It With Joy

Do it With Joy, made in 1976, is a film about tree planting.

The subjects / planters are 'colorful' and 'interesting'- people pursuing an alternative lifestyle and who have, in the narrator's words, "found a new solution to work."

I have watched the film enough times to be familiar with all of the people in the camp. They seem pretty cool. I would like to hang-out with any of these people, even today. I think we have shared a meaningful formative experience that we could talk about.

In the documentary, they talk, sit around, eat, cook, joke, flirt, play the guitar, plant trees, 'screw around,' push trucks out of mud, and complain a little bit.

There is a scene where they organize a soccer game against a nearby Nisga'a tribe and are beaten 15-0.

My favorite scene is when they build a sweat lodge out of a plastic tarp and everybody climbs in there all naked. Then they run out of the sweat lodge and jump off of a dock into the water. I feel like that scene captures something of the beauty, and freedom of 'the experience,' in a way that makes me think of Ryan McGinley photographs.

The cook is a mime, and walks tightrope.

A musician talks about living a schizophrenic life, being an artist in the city and leaving the city for the bush for three months at a time.

The assistant cook, and cutest girl in camp, talks about planting dreams and then says flattering things to the camera about Dirk Brinkman. In the special features menu of the DVD we learn that she marries Dirk, and becomes a politician. I thought this was interesting because it seems like in most camps I have been in the cutest girl 'gets with' the highest available authority figure. It's darwinistic like that.


The "crew" was two people (shown in picture, smoking, on the inside of the DVD case). They shoot on 16mm, and sometimes it looks shitty because of solar flares, water on the lens, or them using the end of the reel as it spools out, but these 'touches' I feel, do nothing to detract from the overall portrait.

The 30 up section on the special features is 'of particular interest' to me. Somebody finds all of the characters 30 years later and sees how they are doing. Most of them seem okay, or still struggling with whatever they've been struggling with all along. One woman kind of loses it. Another guy gets a little weird. The musician ends up in a successful band making some money. A bunch of planting couples are still together, including Dirk and Joyce Murrray (MLA).

It made me feel good about being a planter. I think it enabled me to see myself from further outside of myself, in a way, and helped me to understand my current career anxiety within a larger context - an entire history of people who did this job. I felt better, in a way, more resigned.

I am surprised it is not more widely known in the planting world. Seems like it should be more of a classic.

*I have uploaded "Do It With Joy" (shorter version) to Franz Otto Ultimate Highballer's facebook page, please become a fan to view

Dirk Brinkman

1. Dirk Brinkman owns the biggest planting company in Canada. Brinkman and Associates Reforestation.

2. Dirk Brinkman was one of the original private contractors to 'let' work from the ministry of forests.

3. Dirk Brinkman started planting in 1970, and was probably one of the first vagabond / hippie planters, but also a great leader / managerial type.

4. Dirk Brinkman is partly responsible for the design of the modern tree planting bag.

5. Dirk Brinkman experimented with labor organization, and is part-author of the way tree planting is currently practiced. The contemporary system of peice work, remote worksites, and people getting their own peices of land (as opposed to planting in lines) is based upon his experiences.

6. Dirk Brinkman could be considered "The Architect" of the "Highballer Era."

I met him for lunch on Burrard street Cactus club to talk about my Franz Otto Film. He ordered a salad and there was prosciutto in the bottom, so he sent it back, saying he did not eat meat. He told me he was on break from meeting lawyers, discussing a settlement for a native tribe. His current work is global and political - he is negotiating or inventing standards for a carbon offset market in reforestation across the world. This means making sure that the carbon offsets that are sold are 'actually' helping the environment.

I was very impressed with Dirk Brinkman.

He sold me this film (clip shown in video above at, a doc about a planting crew produced in 1976 by Orca Productions. Do it With Joy.

It was made by this guy, Nicholas Kendall. I will blog about Do it With Joy more later.

History of Tree Planting Labor Force

I found this when I was doing some research today.

Lots of them were still using Polaski like things. This was just when the D-Handle revolution was beginning.



I am a planter and have planted 4 years - through college, through an MA, and through moving to New York. I am making a film about Franz Otto, the legendary tree planter.


They Interview a guy named Pete Robson who had worked in reforestation since 1964. Are these Fitness babes?


haha above "flatulence reforestation."

"On the first planting projects I was involved in we used inmate labor, After that we hired whomever we could. we hired locals, hired off the reserves, got men off of Main and Hastings in Vancouver. We paid by the hour and few had much interest or much skill in it. Needless to say our production was low."



"By 1967 we decided to try letting a contract. We were not impressed with the results of the first one, but the next year we let a contract to two hippies - complete with beflowered volkswagen van. They camped under plastic and planted faster than we had ever seen."



'These two hippies were to revolutionize tree planting in the province.'

'They let the way for a new breed of planters, people pursuing what was once called "alternative lifestyles."'



'One big time contractor has a degree in religion. Another is a dropout nuclear energy engineer from the atomic energy commission of Canada. There are homesteaders. teachers, artists, craftspeople, lots of carpenters, and at least one potato farmer. '

'Tony Berniaz, mountaineer, world traveller and now gentleman farmer, has probably planted a million trees; he used to be a PhD chemist.'



'Holly Arntzen, a Vancouver musician, liked to wake up camp every morning with the golden sounds of Handel and Vivaldi played on her French Horn.'



'Clay Perry, legislative director of the IWA in Vancouver explains, "Because of the strategic importance of silviculture to the future of the industry, it has to [should] be organized in a rational way and give people a rational lifestyle. It is just not rational for BC to rely on 'counterculture' people for such important strategic work."'



'Dirk Brinkman, founder Brinkman reforestation, responds: "not only is it a logistical necessity to use tent camps and to move all over BC and Alberta doing short term contracts in remote places, it's also a part of our lifestyle."'

Article ends with planters finishing up a contract and drinking beer.

'I am going to rent a truck today and go way out into the bush to find another older planter named Guy who sleeps on the block and climb's ice in competition.

First day with Franz

I have met Franz Otto and crew.

Shot some footage of him planting. He is a great planter.

A lot of things happened.

Tomorrow I am going to try to meet Guy LaSalle on the cut block where he is sleeping.

Virtual Clearcut is interesting.
The tone, I would say, is aggressive.


Here is a picture (I love) from the Bowron clearcut (1990). Biggest clear cut ever - visible from space. Jumping off point (kind of) for the book.

Uwe

I shot some stuff of a guy names Uwe who worked at the nursery. He was like 50 and had a dog named lady. He toured me around the places where they grew the trees. I kept aking him questions and he would answer them and start walking away as I finished. I could tell he was uncomfortable to be on the camera. Not sure if it is usable.

Bought this book at the PG bookstore.


Meeting Franz tonight.

Driving to Quesnel to meet Franz

Matt Bock, my foreman who lives in Prince George, has agreed to lend me his 92 Toyoto Previa to drive up to Quesnel today, where I plan to Meet Franz for the first time, provided I will have the van in Prince George by Monday.

This saves me around 150$ in rental fees (I had a a truck booked with enterprise).

I am a little bit nervous to meet Franz - mostly nervous that he will not be likeable or will wear awful t-shirts or something like that. Worried that he will not be interesting at all.

I don't know where I am going with any of this, and I plan on telling him as much. I am drawn to his legend. That he has done pretty much all there is to do in this little world we have, and has achieved the highest stature of any tree planter.

Still, he is effected by decisions made by morons in cities who have never even stepped on cut blocks, thus 'in the bigger context,' he is a small fish. I am interested in his motivations, his will, his work ethic, his story; but I don't know if there will be a good film.

This is kind of a journey form, a quest thing, but I don't want the film to be "here I am Mr. Filmmaker on his quest to meet the legend."

I like POV films when they are not about the filmmaker him/herself.

I shot some stuff of Fred and Cass (who are on my crew) on the last shift there. Fred hurt his neck trying to jerk his head away from some mosquitoes and Cass was throwing up in her land. I found them at the cache. Fred was holding his head all weird and walking in circles and Cass was laying down under the tarp. It was pretty funny / usable.

I want to come back for burn season and shoot Cam Stewart burning slash piles. Those images would have an epic, gulf war kind of vibe.

Update

1. I have been filming very little. I find it difficult to 'plant lots of trees to earn money for the film' and 'film other people planting trees' simultaneously.

2. I have 8 more days of planting.

3. My wide angle lens adapter arrived and looks good.

4. On the 19th I will travel to Quesnel to meet Franz Otto, legendary tree planter. I will shoot him for three days, probably just planting trees.

5. I have planned out shots.

6. Should I buy wireless lavalier mics?

7. If this doesn't 'work out' or 'amount to anything' how depressing will the gear look on my floor in a corner of our little apartment in New York when I walk out the door to my retail job?

I spoke to Franz Otto on the telephone

learned some things about him, like he has four children, still plants and supervises, sometimes takes his daughters out to plant with him (they are in elementary school), loves tree planting, etc.

I am going to visit him and shoot footage of him planting trees.

I thought I would be able to whip out my camera and shoot at odd moments

And the film would reflect a lack of planning, a spontaneity.

But if I carry my camera all of the time I run a high risk of fucking it up. So I am afraid to have it all the time.

Moreover, if I schedule things, and shoot them, I am shirking my responsibilities as a planter. My boss will not be happy.

Is this doomed?

I don't know. I think it will have to change. I am now thinking a lot about Franz Otto.

I thought it could be like participatory observation documentary, but that would require an even smaller camera - a coolpix or something.

Hoping to interview Patrick (aka. "Cheese") the other crew boss at some point today to ask him about Franz, etc. Hoping to explore wow planters give meaning to their work and lives. Planters being people who don't quite cut it in "society," maybe. Think that is interesting.

Cheese is funny, besides.

Franz Otto: "Yes, the legend is true"

I want to find Franz Otto so i can make a short about him in the spirit of Werner Herzog's films. Here is the only photo I can find of Franz.

He seems like "the guy" as far as tree planting goes. There are german people beside me. I am at a small cafe in 100 Mile House called the Chartreuse Moose.

Read about Franz

Posted on this message board looking for Franz.

Things I've Shot So far

1:30 interiors of a small plane
2:00 interiors and exteriors of a run down motel room (where I am staying)
35:00 a safety meeting where my boss talked about bears, injuries, other stuff
15:00 the owner of the motel talking about his life, how he hates tree planters, how he is moving to asia, while standing in front of and stoking a small fire behind the motel

I guess I am shooting "24P" because it just kinda happened

I saw Hunger and thought it was __________

Originally I thought it would be enough to shoot a bunch of scenes of planting out of order, snippets, like Paul Chan's videos "Baghdad in No Particular Order," and "Now Promise Now Threat." These scenes would look a lot like the stuff on my viddyou page. The idea was that it would accomplish the following within the narrative:

1. Expose the process whereby the money for the film was earned by showing the filmmaker embedded in a work environment.

2. Provide new images to people who have no idea what tree planting is and who might be interested

3. Lull people a little bit into the rhythyms of work, underscoring themes of work, how watching a film can be thought of as work

I particularly like work that addresses the conditions of its own existence, or the process of it's own creation - I like BARR or Andrew Kuo.

I couldn't buy a camera without going planting, and that seemed a good starting point for a film in my head.

Now I am thinking that there should be a loose momentum to the planting parts. Instead of trying to capture a "reality" I would stage a "realistic" narrative.

I have ideas for scenes that would not require too much from the actors - but I am not sure of the willingness of my collaborators. I suppose time will tell. The finished film still seems out of focus to me.

This is both good and bad.

Bought a Camera

Went and saw the Z7U and thought it was huge. Way too big.

I bought a new HVR V1U with a wide angle lens and a rain poncho thing. Cost me 4200.

Feel kinda good about it. It is smaller, which i think is good, but will still produce nice videos, I think.

$4200

I am going to try to make a film.
Here is the blog.
Here is the idea

Wrote Jill Godmilow

Sent her some ideas / a manifesto type thing.

I am hoping she will write back to me and tell me if I am misguided or if I am being stupid.

The Economist / Shit Show / Will

Every week another Economist comes. I pull it out of my tiny mailbox and walk it up my stairs with some other bills and catalogues. When I get inside I see the other Economist, the one from last week, sitting on the kitchen table with a functional looking cover. The Economist covers are obvious and unimaginative. I usually have not read much from it, and I feel guilty putting it into the recycling. We don't have a proper bin. We just put our paper into a paper shopping bag and put it downstairs. I think people just end up putting it with the garbage, out onto the street, and into a landfill, but we feel like we are doing a little bit better. There doesn't seem to be very much initiative being taken in city hall with regards to recycling. If I have read an article or more from the old Economist I feel slightly less guilty about throwing it away. Sometimes I save the special reports, but I rarely read those either. I do not find them entertaining or interesting. I find that they have a psychic effect akin to pummeling. Every week it shows up baring bad news from places I have never even thought about before. My dad gives me the subscription for Christmas. I do not think that the Economist is an objective source of news; it is a comprehensive and rigorous source of news. Most times I resent it. Other times I feel like I should be more aware: I should save them for future reference. The Economist calls itself a newspaper, so they are letting me off the hook. Newspapers are meant to be thrown away, or kept under microfiche at the library. The Economist has a circulation of 1.3 million - I wonder how many of those copies are recycled; how many are stored; how many end up in landfills.

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There was a British guy I knew who was planting trees with me. One day we were on a block that was like, a grass field puntuated by patches of full-grown spruce trees. There were no stumps, hardly.

You could get lost in this block. People cover a lot of ground on each bag out. You would plant trees and then finish your bags and look around you and have no idea where you were. It hailed like a motherfucker that day.

The hail was the size of gobstoppers. This British guy had on short sleeves. I ducked under a tarp and smoked cigarettes (this is when I smoked). I watched this British guy, who had no idea where I was, planting trees in the hail. He would say, 'you are such a pussy Will, you are such a pussy Will.' Then he would run out from the trees into the hail to plant trees. I could hear the hail hitting his skin from 20 meters away. He would break down in pain and then run back under a tree to take cover.

He would sit there breathing heavily for a while, looking down. I couldn't tell if he was crying, but I heard him whimper. 'You're such a pussy Will,' over and over, all by himself. It was cold, too: I could see his breath. He ran back into the land, whimpering. 'OWWWWW' he said.

I called out after a while: 'WILL.' and he scampered over to where I was. He was incredibly relieved that I was not out in the hail, that it would be okay for him not to be out there in physical and emotional agony.

The Economist is to me as the hail is to Will.

We froze for the rest of the day in a downpour, under that tree. We were supposed to be working, but it wasn't worth it. We weren't strong enough to take it. My cigarettes became waterlogged. Everything became waterlogged. We were hiding under a tarp when the helicopter picked us up at the end of the day. Our boss yelled at us for not finishing our work. We were wasting money from the heli-budget to go back to it the next day.

We got back to camp at around nine pm. that night and the dry tent, the place where people dry their clothes, was a pile of smoldering ash.

I learned that somebody had put their sleeping bag too close to the heater/dryer, and that it had ignited.

Will had all of his stuff in there. He lost all of his shit. His socks, his underwear. All of his shit.

Dude had a look of total disbelief.

His tent was burned, his sleeping bag was burned. He had to sleep with another dude. He worked though.

He looked like a ghost for the next week. I imagine this is what war vets who've seen combat look like.

He reached a point where he felt like things could not possibly get any worse - and in that context they really couldn't. He kept doing his job. It wasn't heroic or anything. He just couldn't really do anything else. He was trapped in the camp.

And in this respect people started to look up to him a little. People thought it was crappy for themselves - and it was. That contract was brutal: it rained all the time, nobody was making any money, and the days were like 15 hours long. But they looked over at Will...

He didn't need to complain. He was the physical embodiment of complaint. You looked at him with his pale face, borrowed clothes, covered in filth, and you couldn't help but smile. He never really said anything, and became a kind of emotional leader.

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Dear Will. People probably don't ask you about stuff like that, and you are a humble person who would not want to make a big production out of your trials.

Still: I want you to know that I will remember that night you lost your shit.