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<\/a>McLean uses various photo techniques in JR<\/i>, including infrared, which allows him to capture artistic moments in time that would otherwise be undetectable to the human eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat relates directly to the film stock that I\u2019m using,\u201d he says. \u201cInfrared actually doesn\u2019t pick up on the normal wavelength of life. When it was initially developed, it was developed for scientific and medical application.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLean says that BC Hydro has made the area very difficult to get to, so he drives as far as he can and then starts hiking in. He starts early in the morning, walking in with his tripod and camera\u2014around 40 pounds worth of equipment\u2014to start shooting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made a series of photographs from the dam site, and there was also some really interesting stuff on the way to the dams; there were shooting ranges. These are represented in the photographs [with] burnt-out mattresses and shell casings. It just became really rich, photographically, to look at that landscape and the way that people engage with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLean says that the point of JR<\/i> is not to make a judgement call; rather, it\u2019s just to document what is happening in that region.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that I\u2019m in any way disparaging or trying to make a negative comment about different types of ways that people recreate in that landscape,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s not really the point at all. It\u2019s just really intriguing for me to learn more about the place and the way that people engage with the landscape, and I\u2019m doing the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although McLean\u2019s engagement fuels his creative process, he says a sense of weariness\u2014a feel of living off borrowed time\u2014is present in the finished works.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an appreciation for the ruggedness and the beauty of that place,\u201d he says, \u201cbut there\u2019s a certain element of danger in it, just with the knowledge that that dam is 100 years old. You get up close to it and the concrete is crumbling.\u201d<\/p>\n