Qualicum Falls- Turquoise Liquids.

Impressive cascades of water are part of Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park.  The water is an incredible ice blue.  It is a narrow rocky gorge in a lovely forest setting.  There is also picnic facilities and lake swimming though Geordie and I just hiked around on the very easy trail.  I really like the tree bridges that the fallen logs make. You can't walk across but still very pretty.

You have to be careful though.  These are NOT for swimming or boating.  There is the rare, odd fatality the most recent one in August of 2013.  So don't be stupid.  It amazes me how people ignore the warning signs. Often it looks stable near the edge but sometimes the forest floor including roots, moss and dirt grow over the rocky edges.  It looks solid but really is a spongy mat that will not hold any weight. You can see it over growing on the other side of it.

The park is on Vancouver Island between Nanaimo and Port Alberni.  It's just before Cathedral Grove going West towards Tofino. It's just a few kilometres of the main highway and worth a stop for a leg stretch, picnic or day trip.  Good place to run dogs or children I would think as the park is over 400 hectares.  Still can't get over the colour of the water.

Survival of the Fishiest- the Quatse River Salmon Hatchery.

Back in hmmm July Geordie and I went to the Quatse Salmon Stewardship Centre. I really wanted to go and educate myself as I thought it was important to know about Southern and Northern Resident Orcas main food source.  As a prairie girl I didn't know a huge amount but I certainly expanded my brain and experiences with my visit.  The place was deserted when we got there which turned out to be alright because we got a private escorted tour and when I mentioned I worked on a whale watching boat they took us for the V.I.P. behind the scenes look.

Cute little baby coho.  They are really curious when young but lose this as they get older and larger.  They follow your finger and in the wild if you dip into the streams where they are hiding they will come up and nibble and peck at your fingers and toes.  I got to even feed them! 

Outside there are big tanks that pump in natural water from the nearby Quatse River so the little baby fish can be exposed to the diseases, parasites and unfortunately pollution that is out there.  One tank had a fungus that had gotten in from the river and was experiencing a higher rate of die off but its all part of getting their immune systems strong. Survival of the fishiest. I love the photo below. I had the idea of sticking our GoPro in one of the tanks and the staff let us do it. Thoroughly recommend a visit if you are in the Telegraph Cove/ Port McNeil/ Port Hardy area.

So Long Visual Effects!

 Many of you have heard about this for the past 18+ months, but for those of you that don't already know, I am attempting the often dreamed of but rarely executed Plan B of Visual Effects.... going back to school and trying to learn something else to pay the bills while hoping its a step up. My good friend Jason Booth made a demotivational poster much like the one below in 2005 during Superman Returns which was widely accepted as one of the most toxic and badly managed vfx productions of its time.

 Jason moved on to other things not long after but many of us have stuck it out for years. I moved to Vancouver and worked in a bunch of shops, every time thinking that the next one would be the one that had things under control and didn't crush you with overtime and mismanagement. I have since likened it to the scenario of complaining that all the male crackheads you've had as room mates keep stealing your stuff and hopefully living with a female crackhead will solve the problem.

The issue is not the gender, its the fact that you're dealing with a bunch of crackheads.

Beyond the long hours and the unstable working routine, the average compositor workstation no longer appeals to me and seems to get darker by the year. The picture below is without exaggeration what most companies are like these days. Staring into a bright monitor in a black windowless room for 9-14 hours a day. Blech.

Not that VFX was all bad. I met some great friends, learned a lot of cool computer tricks and have my name attached to dozens of movies with varying levels of watchability, but its time for me to have a change. It was a fun job in my 20s, a frustrating job in my 30s and not something I want to entertain in my 50s. All the very best to my many friends that continue to stick it out in the dog-eat-dog business, you're doing great work. It just needs to be 3% less cyan and feel a little less janky... and its cut.... ;)