Ripe for the Picking

Blueberry fields have popped up everywhere in South Delta over the last several years: during the summer months you can drive down almost any country road near Ladner and you’re sure to see a local farm stand selling fruit.

Just as the blueberry bushes have become a regular feature of the local landscape, so too have the dozens of labourers who tend to the plants and pick the fruit throughout the summer. For many years I’ve admired the men and women who work the fields on those long hot summer days.

One day a friend mentioned how he would love to photograph the blueberry pickers, and I thought what a great way to celebrate the hardworking people who produce Ladner’s blueberries. I wondered if their hands looked weathered; how they protected their faces from the sun; and whether their backs were sore after being out in the fields all day.

My dad often spoke of the little boy (now grown up) selling berries with his grandfather at Bancy Farms each year, and his comments prompted me to start buying my own berries there approximately eight years ago. I felt that they would be the perfect farm to approach for this project. Thank you to the Bancy family for allowing me to capture these images.