I was recently contacted by BC Hydro to do some photos at the local mill. For those of you outside my local area, the Catalyst Pulp and Paper Mill in Crofton is the largest employer in the Cowichan Valley. The energy manager, Edinson (Ed) Mahecha has brought the facility in line with ISO 50,001 certification, and BC Hydro wanted to recognize this effort. This means better energy management and efficiency. This is a good thing, since this mill uses more electricity than any other business on Vancouver Island!
For me, this was an exciting assignment. I had never been on the mill site before and once there, I was amazed by the scale of the operation!
I met with Ed for a few minutes before setting up to take photos. I wanted to get an idea of what gear I was going to be able to carry with me as this is a potentially hazardous work site. Lots of big equipment (even their own train and railway!) and things to look out for. So I went back to my van and packed light. Really light! I grabbed one camera, two lenses, two speedlites, and some spare batteries, and that was it! I really had to make it easy to move from location, to location quickly and without disrupting the work of others around me.
The resulting photos are a mix of ambient light, in some cases natural outdoor light, and in other cases fluorescent, incandescent, or whatever they were, mixed with my speedlites.
This shot gives you and idea of the size of the site. And this is just about one half of the site as seen in the photo! And this was one of the reasons I packed light. It was a six story climb up to the viewing deck...
This room was super loud! The sound of two, 14,000 horsepower electrical engines powering the pulp pulverisers.
This is one of the control rooms I got to take a look at. There's a lot happening in the mill for these guys to keep an eye on!
If you ever have the opportunity to go on a tour of the mill, I highly suggest you do it!
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