What were the challenges involved in travelling across the country to document the railways/ports/etc?
Mostly it was a real pleasure and a privilege to be able to make these photographs. The challenges -weather, early mornings, feeling conspicuous with my big odd camera in front of strangers- were not unique to this work. I suppose the most difficult aspect of this work had to do with making relevant “Contemporary Art” photographs from two extremely hackneyed tropes. Railways and sunsets at the seaside are both great motifs, but photos of each get generated more or less continuously. The challenge was making pictures with autonomy and their own integrity.

Has this project changed the way you look at the Canadian connection to transportation systems? If so, how?
It has. This work, and subsequent projects about China’s high-speed rail expansion and how Europe works, have made me increasingly skeptical about the conventional wisdom that a functioning rail or hybrid system couldn’t work for us because of large distances, low population density, etc. I think it’s more a matter of the attitudes we hold and what we as a society decide to value. Canada will spend $45.8 billion on fighter jets over the next few decades. In 2013-14 we spent $24 million promoting the tar sands abroad and $16.5 million to tell ourselves about them. We could support a transportation system that functions as a conduit towards all sorts of economic and social enterprises. Other countries do. In Switzerland rather than running fleets of school buses that are separate from other transportation schemes, students simply ride regular transit so that even lightly used rural areas are serviced twice a day. We could be a lot more thoughtful in deciding how to get around.

What’s next for you? Any other upcoming projects you’re excited about?
Well, By Rail and By Sea was released this year by Black Dog Publishing. It’s my first book so I’m excited about that. The work I’m doing these days looks at the moveable borders Alps nations devised in response to glacial melting and watershed drift. It’s such an elegant idea, plus the locations are stunning. I’m pretty excited about this project too. Stephen Bulger Gallery will show Frontière, Frontiera, Grenze in 2016.

The exhibit runs from April 29–June 28 at the Ryerson Image Centre in Toronto, Ontario.