During the catastrophic 2026 British Columbia wildfires, an August state of emergency was declared as hundreds of thousands of hectares burned, sending dense smoke across distant skies. Shorter blue wavelengths of light were filtered by these atmospheric particulates, allowing only the resilient orange rays to pass through. By working in the filtered sunlight on those amber cast days, each image required long exposure times resulting in a wider range of mid-tones.

The native plants in this series were grown from seed within 50 feet of my home. While gathering seeds for next season, I gently bend the plant onto sun-sensitive paper. The images reflect the conditions of each plant’s specific growing place including wind, moisture, soil, insects, and obstructed sunlight. A bath of warm rainwater and leaves from the plant or its neighbour eliminates the usual Prussian Blue, echoing the altered tones of the sky.