Casey Bennett hails from deep inside the boreal forest of British Columbia – the lonely desperado of the four provinces that make up Western Canada. The Rocky Mountains act as a natural barrier between the boreal forest and the prairies, this was an issue of distance overcome by pickaxe and dynamite early in the 20th century. At times, B.C.’s differing geography poses more than a symbolic rift with the Prairie Provinces, there is a fundamental difference, a roughness dissimilar to that found in the Canadian Prairies. And although the light intensity of this forested area the same, it is by no measure the land of the eternal sky.

I came to find his work on Instagram and have come to consider him the photographic ambassador for the interior of British Columbia. A semi-rural Canadian flaneur, Bennett explores his community through the relentless practice of the art of walking and photographing. After two dedicated years of walking, he knows the space better than most longterm residents but continues to rediscover it through differing seasons, light variances and atmospheric moods. This is the rediscovering of place that all location-determined photographers benefit from embracing. Bennett shows us the hints of community and life through the built landscape that is a common theme in the work of Western Canadian photographers. This probably stems from our understanding of space and distance.

Casey Bennett is an urban landscape / fine art photographer currently based in south-central British Columbia, Canada. His clean photography of urban and semi-urban spaces is about exploration of places where architecture, landscape and the built environment intersect and a human presence can be felt around the corner. His work is also about transience, and ideas of change being brought in our surroundings and environment.

I have been observing and making photographs of my home Williams Lake, BC over the course of 2 years now since returning after living on the west coast. The name Hub City refers to Williams Lake as the central location that sits in the junction of Highway 97 and Highway 20, leading major routes to cities like Kamloops (south), Bella Coola (west) and Prince George (north). This series is a study of a place, society, environment, and how these notions can influence us as individuals. I spend most of my free time roaming with my camera making photographs. I am able to explore visually a place as the locals would experience. There is the prospect for insight into the community and its individuals who have shaped a region and created the character of a place. The environment is loaded with evidence from the past that is now layered with subtle manifestations about the inevitable future.