When local cinematographer Cameron Sylvester was in high school, a computer-generated career aptitude test directed him toward work as a vending machine repairman.
Debunking the ideas that a career path has to be determined early or follow a traditional trajectory is behind Sylvester's most recent project, Against The Grain: A Guide to Nonconformity, a web series set to air in the spring.
"Growing up, there was this almost overwhelming pressure to decide very early on in life what you are going to do," said Sylvester, who is a new dad to a seven-month-old daughter. "You don't have to know what you want to do at a young age… It is something that comes from experience and time and from exposure to the world around and following your interests and passions. It is OK to go in a direction that perhaps other people choose not to."
Following a path that others aren't as keen on doesn't mean it is the wrong path, he added.
Though many in Squamish have chosen so-called "alternative" careers, in other places the daily grind in an office cubicle is a more common routine, said Sylvester. The web series aims to show that there are other ways of living life.
"In creating this series, we wanted to give those people a little bit of a taste and an idea of what that [unique] life looked like," Sylvester said.
The series features three B.C men who have found success following a unique path: adventure photographer Mason Mashon, trail builder Brian Finestone, and visual artist Anders Petersen.
Each has carved out a unique career or a career they approach in a unique way. Mashon, for example, is a successful photographer with Cree heritage who builds and lives in teepees.
"He's found a unique way to take a piece of his ancestry and a piece of his culture and apply it to what he is doing now," Sylvester said.
Sylvester is the co-creator, co-director, editor and cinematographer of the series that will be available in March on Telus Optik TV On Demand and on storyhive.com.
The team is two-thirds of the way through shooting the piece. Last weekend they were out shooting fly-fishing scenes in Squamish.
"I think there were 89 millimetres of participation that came down," he said, with a laugh.
The project received a $10,000 grant from Storyhive to produce the series pilot.
Sylvester and his team will now compete for an additional $50,000 to bring their full web series to life. Fans of the concept and pilot can vote and select one finalist from each province. The top two winners will also receive career training, mentorship and distribution opportunities. Voting opens February 2018.
Find out more about the series at www.storyhive.com/project/show/id/2870.
