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Apparently some people like wandering onto mudflats when the tide is out. It’s not a good idea. Here’s the story and photos I filed for The Tri-City News of rescue training on the mudflats of Port Moody Inlet by the Port Moody Fire Department.

It took just three steps for Rob Suzukovich to become hopelessly, and helplessly, stuck in the mudflats at the eastern end of Port Moody Inlet.
Fortunately, he’s a Port Moody fire captain who was taking part in a training exercise Thursday to give the city’s firefighters some practice extricating people who’ve wandered off the shoreline and into the heavy muck at low tide.
Port Moody fire chief Ron Coulson said that happens about twice a year.
He said the easy access to the flats from nearby trails, and the proximity of lots of residents and visitors to the city who may not be aware of the dangers of the mudflats make it imperative his crews keep their skills fresh.
He said the mudflats can be deceiving because when the tide is low they look no different than a soggy beach. But the mud is heavy with organic material and so saturated with water it creates an instant vacuum when unwary visitors step into it. That’s when the trouble starts.
“The harder you work to get out, you just sink deeper,” said Coulson of the process called liquefaction.
He said anyone who gets stuck in the ooze should stay calm until help arrives.
That help includes firefighters equipped with special plastic overshoes they strap onto their boots that allows them to walk on top of the muddy surface. They’ll also carry a spare pair of the overshoes for their victim, as well as a spinal board to provide a solid surface once that victim is extricated.
A high-power water pressure gun attached to 1.25-inch hoseline allows the firefighters to blast muck away from the victims legs, replacing it with water so they can be pulled out easier.
Suzokovich said the suction was immediate and overpowering.
“It’s very deceiving,” he said.
Coulson said visitors need to respect the signs warning them to stay off the mudflats at low tide.
“They don’t realize the danger,” he said. “And if the tide comes in, it can quickly turn tragic.”

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Wearing special overshoes that allow them to walk on the mud, Port Moody firefighters Darren Penner and Jason Webster head out to rescue their trapped colleague.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS After hiking across the mudflat in their special overshoes, Port Moody firefighters Darren Penner and Jason Webster arrive at their stuck colleague, Rob Suzukovich.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Port Moody firefighters use a high-pressure spray gun to loosen the mud around their “victim” so he can be pulled to a spinal board to strap on special overshoes that will allow him to walk back to firmer terrain.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Muddy but otherwise unhurt, Ron Suzukovich heads for solid ground after serving as the “victim” in a training exercise to help Port Moody firefighters rescue people trapped in the mudflats at the eastern end of Port Moody Inlet.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS The designated “victim” for the exercise, Port Moody fire captain Ron Suzukovich, walks toward his doom in the mudflats off the Old Mill site on the north shore of Port Moody Inlet. Fire chief Ron Coulson says the easy access to the flats from shoreline trails and the proximity of many residents means his crews usually get called out twice a year to pluck people from the heavy muck.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Port Moody firefighters strap on special plastic overshoes that allow them to walk on the surface of the mudflats to rescue people stuck in the muck.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS It’s a dirty job getting people out of the mudflats if they become stuck.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS A Port Moody firefighter deploys a 1.25-inch hose attached to a high-pressure spray gun that can be used to loosen the mud around a victim trapped in the mudflats at the eastern end of Port Moody Inlet.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Wearing special overshoes that allow them to walk on the mud, Port Moody firefighters Darren Penner and Jason Webster head out to rescue their trapped colleague.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Port Moody fire caption Rob Suzukovich gets some help back on his feet from his “rescuers,” firefighters Darren Penner and Jason Webster, during a training exercise to extricate people trapped in the mudflats at the east end of Port Moody Inlet.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Port Moody fire chief Ron Coulson says his department can expect to rescue a couple of people a year who don’t heed the warning signs and get stuck in the mudflats at the eastern end of Port Moody Inlet.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Wearing special overshoes that allow them to walk on the mud, Port Moody firefighters Darren Penner and Jason Webster head out to rescue their trapped colleague.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Firefighters wearing backpacks containing specialized equipment walk towards the mudflats at the eastern end of Port Moody Inlet to practise rescuing a colleague who’s been sucked into the thick, heavy muck at low tide. Port Moody fire chief Ron Coulson says the easy access to the flats from nearby trails makes them alluring to visitors who may not know what they’re getting themselves into.

Photographing a championship game at any level is like covering a 90-minute trailer leading up to the fleeting feature. It’s all about the “jubo.”
With so much at stake in a winner-take-all finale, the action is bound to be intense. So is the emotion.
Capturing the former is a given. Shooting the latter is usually the product of intuition, positioning and having the players turn your way.
At the BC High School AAA senior girls soccer championship on Friday, the local team I was there to cover dominated the run of player over a younger, upstart underdog. But they couldn’t score.
The match went into overtime, scoreless.
I knew I had some good action in the camera, so with a few minutes left before the match would go to penalty kicks, I moved from my usual position behind the end touch line to a spot along the sideline near midfield.
One goal by either team would be decisive, releasing a season’s worth of emotion, on the pitch as well as the bench, and being on the sideline near the team benches put me in a better position to capture that. (Plus I wouldn’t have to walk as far if the match went to a penalty kick shootout, which usually happens at one end of the field or the other.)
And sure enough, when a player from the team I was covering squeaked a shot through the legs of the opposing goalkeeper in the last two minutes of the second overtime half, she turned back towards her teammates running towards her, all their faces alight with joy, excitement and exultation. The despairing opponent in the background was just a lucky coincidence.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Centennial Centaurs forward Sophia Ferreira wins a header from Fleetwood Park Dragons’ Mackenzie Fox.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Centennial Centaurs midfielder Danae Robillard clashes with Fleetwood Park Dragons defender Sarah Tortora.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Centennial Centaurs forward Sophia Ferreira, centre, is hugged by teammates after she scored the winning goal in their 1-0 win over the Fleetwood Park Dragons in Friday’s BC High School AAA senior girls soccer championship at the University of British Columbia’s Thunderbird Stadium.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Centennial Centaurs forward Raegan Mackenzie works her way around Fleetwood Park Dragons defender Priya Uppal late in the second overtime half of their BC High School AAA senior girls soccer championship, Friday at the University of British Columbia’s Thunderbird Stadium. Centennial won the match, 1-0.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Centennial Centaurs forward Sophia Ferreira wins a header from Fleetwood Park Dragons’ Mackenzie Fox.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Centennial Centaurs goalkeeper Kelsey Eckert and Matisse Jones embrace as they celebrate their team’s dramatic 1-0 overtime win over Fleetwood Park secondary school in the BC High School AAA senior girls soccer championship, Friday at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Centennial Centaurs’ Jessa Vance battles Fleetwood Park Dragons’ Sarah Tortora for control of a header.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Players on Centennial’s bench react as time winds down in their 1-0 overtime win over Fleetwood Park secondary school at the BC High School AAA senior girls soccer championship, Friday at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Centennial Centaurs forward Sophia Ferreira celebrates her overtime game-winning goal as Fleetwood Park Dragons defender Jenieva Musico protests in disbelief in Friday’s BC High School AAA senior girls soccer championship at the Univeristy of British Columbia’s Thunderbird Stadium.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Centennial Centaurs midfielder Danae Robillard clashes with Fleetwood Park Dragons defender Sarah Tortora.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Centennial Centaurs forward Sophia Ferreira is knocked off the ball by Fleetwood Park Dragons defender Parveen Braich.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Centennial Centaurs forward Jessica Carravatta tries to gain an advantage of Fleetwood Park Dragons defender Niki Virk.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Fleetwood Park Dragons’ Christa Wright wins a corner kick in the first half of their BC High School AAA senior girls soccer championship against the Centennial Centaurs, Friday at the Unversity of British Columbia’s Thunderbird Stadium.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Centennial Centaurs midfielder Danae Robillard works her way around Fleetwood Park Dragons defender Harjot Uppal.

Sometimes I can’t help myself. Here’s a poetic twist on my weekly report of our road hockey activities.

Two players, both alike in their enmity,
On cold, blustery concrete, where we lay our scene,
From feeble defence to a new cast sniper,
Where big rebounds and bad bounces make the score uneven.
From forth the rivalry of these two foes
A pair of players take divergent paths
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their departures bury their teams’ strife
The fearful path of their one-day rivalry,
And the continuous scoring of more goals than one would care for,
Nor the other deserved,
Which, but for Joker’s rage, could not prevent,
Is now the one hour’s battle of our court
To which if teammates with resolve attend
What here shall miss, their toil strives to amend,
In time for the Stanley Stick
Just four weeks hence.
A glooming peace this morning with it brings;
The score, for sorrow, will not show its digits:
Go hence, to regroup and resolve to better defend;
Some shall backcheck, and some will float
For never was a story of more goals
Than this of Joker, and his nemesis, Pistol.

I recently spent an hour or so hanging out at one of our local craft breweries. But I didn’t get drunk. Didn’t even sip a sample. Instead, I photographed their all-hands effort to can two new beers they developed collaboratively with the company doing the canning.

Collaborative creations between competing brewers are nothing new in Metro Vancouver burgeoning craft beer industry. But a joint effort between a brewery and a canner that packages their beer is something special.

So much so, Adam Crandall of Moody Ales in Port Moody and Matt Leslie of West Coast Canning, decided to team up for two beers, with partial proceeds from sales of four-packs of their collaboration going to KidSport Tri-Cities.

Crandall and Leslie decided the onset of the sometimes unpredictable spring weather needed its own beverages that would appeal when the sun is out and when the clouds roll in and rain starts to fall — both of which can happen within the hour.

“We see it all the time,” Moody Ales co-founder Dan Helmer said. “It’s a beautiful day and our patio is packed, it starts raining and no one moves. They just put their jackets on and keep drinking.”

Shorts Weather is a hoppy India session ale with a citrusy punch for when it’s warm, while Still Raining is a dark lager with aromas of chocolate and coffee for when the gloom descends.

On Monday, West Coast Canning brought two of its portable canning lines to the Murray Street brewery to package the new beers.

“We’ve never done something like this before,” Leslie said.

The Mixed Weather four-packs — with two cans of each beer — ship to private liquor stores around the province on March 26.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Bob Maguire, of West Coast Canning, makes adjustments to one of two portable canning lines brought in to Moody Ales on Monday to package the new beers collaboratively created by the brewery and canner.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Four-packs of Shorts Weather ISA and Staill Raining dark lager are ready for shipping at Moody Ales on Monday.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Dan Webster, of Moody Ales, organizes cans of the brewery’s new Shorts Weather ISA and Still Raining dark lager that collarobated to create with West Coast Canning. Partial proceeds from sales of four-packs of the new beers go to support KidSports Tri-Cities.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Cans of Shorts Weather ISA, one of two new beers brewed by Moody Ales in collaboration with West Coast Canning, are filled on a portable canning machine on Monday.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS It’s all hands on deck in a team effort to can and sort two new beers that have been collaboratively created by Moody Ales and West Coast Canning to help raise money for Kidsport Tri-Cities.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Pallets of Moody Ales’ new collaboration beers, created in collaboration with West Coast Canning, are loaded onto pallets for shipment.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Bob Maguire lines up cans for loading into the canning line.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Ali Makin sorts cans at the end of one of two portable canning lines set up Monday at Moody Ales to package the brewery’s new collaboration beer with West Coast Canning.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Bob Maguire ducks under the canning line.

MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Matt Leslie pulls filled cans off the end of one of two portable canning lines running at Moody Ales on Monday to package their new collaboration beers with West Coast Canning that will help raise money for KidSports Tri-Cities.

When the NewsLeader closed two years ago, I thought I was done. Over the course of 31 years in community journalism, I’d told some good stories, met countless interesting people, had opportunities to document some pretty cool events and moments.
After six months of decompressing and riding my bike, I stepped to the “other side,” creating digital content for a local realtor. It was a chance to use my skills in a different venue, bringing value to a new audience.
The gig lasted 11 months.
No sooner had it ended when an opportunity to return to community journalism presented itself. It took all of one day to realize I still had stories to tell, I thrive in the buzz of a newsroom, I crave the variety and the challenge of weaving something from nothing, putting it out to the world and then doing it all over again.
I went in with no illusions about the precariousness of our industry and the security of my gig. Every time we hear of a paper closing or another cutting further, my blood runs a little cold. A phone call from head office and a closed door meeting could send me back to my Plan B in a heartbeat.
But for as long as it lasts, I’m glad to be back doing what I do best, telling stories with my camera and with words, digging out little nuggets from around town that might surprise or delight our readers, driving from assignment to assignment with one eye out for that elusive wild art that might give the editor another option for front page or plug a hole on page 15.
It’s where I belong. It’s what I love.

Of course, my return to newspapers means another chance to mine my year’s work for some of my favourite photos. In days of yore, I filled an entire edition of the Burnaby and New West NewsLeaders, along with commentary about how a particular photo came to pass, or what I liked about it. I spend more time in the office these days, working the phones, writing stories; the body of work isn’t as deep as I’d like it, but it’s getting there.

When I entered Darya Ahmadi’s Port Coquitlam studio to talk about her passion project, I didn’t realize the stylish decor was constructed of disguised exercise balls. I tried to compose the photo to emphasize their unique shape and the monochrome surroundings.

I tend to shoot tight, but sometimes it’s nice to step back and take advantage of lines and light.

The 60 minutes or so of action from any championship sporting event are just a prelude for the shot that really matters.

How could you not want to do a story about a ninja gym? The rest is just using the environment at hand and light.

The challenge presented was getting a photo about a new walking soccer league, but walking isn’t the most dynamic activity to photograph; so with Nancy Sinatra’s song “These Boots Are Made For Walking” in my head, I lay on the ground and used the sole’s of my subject’s soccer boots to do the storytelling for me.

Fall light is beautiful. The kid looking back at his competitors is just a happy accident because I orinally lined up this photo to take advantage of the backlight through the trees and spectators along the cross-country course in Mundy Park.

Normally I scan right past photos with unexpected and unexplained random people in the background. But the surprised look on the sideline spectator’s face just adds to this shot of an interception.

Driving back to the office, I saw the light shimmering through fall leaves at Town Centre Park. The key is finding a spot with a dark, distant background so the colourful leaves really pop. And then waiting for some kind of human activity to happen.

Determination is all in the eyes, and this young junior Mountie was certainly keen on navigating the police tape challenge.

Track and field meets are a smorgasborg of photographic opportunities. And when those meets are at dusk, there’s a chance to get arty.

Combining lunch and a photo op is pretty much a journalist’s dream. And seeing as one of the aspects of Port Moody’s Ribfest is waiting in line, my challenge was making that queueing look interesting.

A rainstorm and backlight can turn a routine shot of football action into something epic.

Political debates aren’t exactly a photographic goldmine. But once they’re over and the candidates can relax, that’s when moments can happen.

Oops. You have to be prepared for anything — even things that go wrong as when these senior throwers managed to hurl a hammer high into the protective screen.

If only athletes knew the faces they make.

Netball you say? All my career I’ve wanted to do a netball story just so I could do this photo, cliché as it may be.

Even in a driving deluge, Jenna Buglioni was able to juggle the field hockey ball around her opponents. It took me two days to dry out after shooting this game.

Trampoline is a tough sport to shoot. It’s very vertical and often practised in gyms with terrible lighting and busy backgrounds. So when presented with a need to photograph a tramplinist for a profile story, the last thing I wanted to do was have her jump. But the gym still had terrible light and busy backgrounds. So pop in a couple of flashes, including one underneath the trampoline to give it some visual pop, and we’re good to go.

Most sports photography is done with long telephoto lenses, but sometimes it’s nice to throw on wide-angle glass and try to create a story-telling image in one frame. This has all the elements of the Jerome Classic, a beautiful summer night, full grandstands, dramatic location and athletic competition.

I’d like to say i completely planned this photo from the PoCo Grand Prix, but the truth is it was a lucky frame I had no idea I had until I downloaded the memory card.

The curved lines of the cruiser bike in the foreground make a perfect frame for the toil going on in the background.

It’s all about the faces.

The story of Andrew Teel and his adopted family started with a hug. So of course that’s what I needed to capture in a photo. That we were able to recapture that moment in the very classroom where it first happened made it part of the story as well.

A report of a suspicious package in the parking lot at Coquitlam Station was certainly puzzling, so all I had to do was wait for the cop in the foreground to scratch his head at the right time.

Fog inversions can be fun. Finding a viewpoint that offers a high enough vantage as well as some visual reference in the foreground can mean a lot of driving and pulling the car over to see if a spot works.

Another chance to get arty at the Jerome Classic.