‘When you slow down and look around, everything is interesting’

‘I’d flown in on March 18 back from New York and I got home to Vancouver just as the Canadian government had put in an order to self-isolate at home for 14 days on arrival. They literally put that rule into effect as I was boarding the plane. These pictures are all from my home in Vancouver in British Columbia, which is where I’ve been isolating. 

‘I’ve lived in this area for more than 20 years. When I first discovered this place, I was just blown away. It’s rural in the sense that it’s a bit off the beaten track. I was stunned that such a place existed and that you could have a home in a place like this so close to the city. The house we live in now is my forever house, we’re never selling it.

‘I was a terrible artist, but I’ve always had a really creative – or artistic – side to me. In school, that side was normally judged by how well you could draw, rather than how well you could document. But photography is something instinctive for me. I always have a camera near me and I love shooting our home and my kids, as well as documentary-style photography. I actually did one photo show in Bangkok and Manila, where I had four hours in each city to document a trip, and had to edit and submit the pictures that day. They were then printed and in a show that evening. It was a really fun time. 

‘Herschel is all about helping people move around, but we’ve always tried to find inspiration in our own backyard. While it’s been a difficult year, it’s certainly helped me appreciate home – and being Canadian – more than ever.’

@lyndon

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‘I have two wonderfully beautiful daughters, and during this lockdown we were cooking on fire pits, making adventures – it was a good time to cherish with my girls. It was such a gift to slow down for a while. This is my youngest daughter, Olive, and it was taken on her 13th birthday, showing her running on the retaining wall on the edge of the water.’

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‘I live on the water and have two boats sitting at our dock, which I use pretty much every day. We have a little town about a five-minute boat ride away that we go to quite often – there’s a pretty famous doughnut shop there called Honey’s Donuts that we love. My brother and I also opened a little store there called Ahoy that sells Birkenstock, Patagonia and Herschel, of course. Taking the boat is definitely my preferred method of transportation.’

‘I do love where I live, first and foremost, but I’ve done little renovations during this time. This room was always mostly wood, but there were a couple of extra walls that I also wanted in wood, so that we’d be surrounded by Douglas fir – the one behind the pool table is one I put extra panelling on. This is a shoes-on kind of house, with lots of beautiful art and interesting details throughout. I appreciated every centimetre of it during lockdown – taking calls from the couch, sitting in beautiful chairs, and playing music and pool. It was a great place to isolate for months.’

‘This [above right] is from my library, with this rusted beam I use as a coffee table. The fact that we made clothing – especially fleece – during the pandemic turned out to be pretty good since so many people, myself included, have been living in sweatpants.’

‘We don’t get a lot of snow in Vancouver, so these snowy pictures are probably all from the same day at the beginning of the year, before we went into lockdown. This is at the end of my dock. It’s pretty special to have no boats disturbing the view. You can’t really frame it any better than this – the colour of the ocean, the beautiful fog in the background.’

‘Where I live is in the middle of a second-growth forest – about 100 years ago they logged it, and it was initially a logging road. After that was done, people started putting up cabins along the waterfront area. About 30 years ago, they paved the road and it became a little easier to access. This is a 5km forestry road and you have to drive through it to find the houses. It’s stunning. This is my commute to work, to my house and my running route – I run this road every morning.’