Buddy

Here is Buddy on our walk yesterday. The way he was walking reminded me of John Travolta in
"Saturday Night Fever" and when I started humming the theme it just seemed to work. So there he is Buddy "Stayin' Alive" Brons.

Tuesday Nighters

Every Tuesday night, Escape Velocity Cycling Club puts on criterium racing at UBC and has done so since the early 1980's. There is nothing finer than watching (or photographing) these races on a warm summer evening. The racing is competitive, yet fun and a place for new riders to hone their skills on a challenging course.

Hostas

Just a photo today. No words. These are lovely hostas in our front yard.

Well, I'm sitting in front of my computer waiting for another meeting to start and thought "I haven't updated my blog in about a month and a half"! That is far too long. So here is a quick installment before work gets in the way again.

This weekend we went camping at Birch Bay State Park. We haven't camped there on the May long weekend for many, many years....so it was nice to go there again on that particular weekend. I rode down on Saturday to maintain my training for the Ride to Conquer Cancer and then rode back on Monday. Add to that a short ride on Sunday and it was a 200 km. weekend.

The weather wasn't that great but it did get better as the weekend progressed. It rained while we were visiting Glenn and Ann which was a good time for it to rain since we were in their trailer. We played a "Planet Earth" interactive game similar to Trivial Pursuit except it was based on the DVD series "Planet Earth". A little lame but still fun....for awhile. Sunday we went for a nice leisurely bike ride along the bay, had coffee and then relaxed at the campsite. Made "Bronwyn's Pasta" and realized the following day that we'd forgotten to put in the tomato paste part of the recipe. We couldn't figure out why the consistency was different from when we make it at home.
That evening Glenn, Ann and Natalie came over and we sat around the fire until quite late. It was a nice, relatively warm evening with a full moon. I shot this photo just as the Kumpulas were driving up to come visit. I'm glad I stayed at the beach to shoot this. It's the only shot I'm happy with from the weekend.

Monday it became sunny and I enjoyed a nice ride home. Next up.....5 week hiatus!

The Boys of Spring

For the past month or so, I've been going out into the Fraser Valley (Fort Langley, Abbotsford, Aldergrove) to photograph the dEVo Spring Series. This is a series of races organized by dEVo and helps fund their trips to events in Washington State and the Interior. All dEVo riders must volunteer for at least three races but members of the "parent" club, Escape Velocity, also volunteer. This is a candid moment before the team starts their race in Aldergrove on an unusually sunny March day.

Dog Day Afternoon

Frankie enjoying the sun on a lovely Sunday afternoon. I was testing a piece of camera gear when I saw her sprawled out on the pavement, so I got real close with my wide-angle lens and got this. There is some flare from the sun hitting the lens but I think it makes a nice affect.

The Flame

I got up before 6:00 am. early this week as I was determined to get a good shot of the Olympic "cauldron" before returning to work. I arrived about 6:30, still dark and there were already about fifteen other photographers there. I thought it would be best to shoot it just at sunrise which I did (see above) I realized afterwards, as I was looking at these shots on the computer, that I may have misjudged the timing. Although the light is nice, the flame exposure is all washed out and I think that during the daylight hours (maybe overcast) will give the best results. So I guess I'll try again sometime before the Para Olympic games are over.















On my way home I came across this tree at Kits Beach just by the pool. I had to stop and take a shot of this too. Note the frost on the ground. A fellow walked by me who said that he lives across the street and has watched this tree for thirty years and never has it bloomed in February. He thought the last week in March was the usual time to see these blossoms.

Vectorial Elevations

Vectorial Elevation is an interactive artwork that allows the public to transform the sky over Vancouver. Using a three-dimensional interface, this web site lets you design huge light sculptures by directing 20 robotic searchlights located around English Bay. A web page is made for each participant with photos of their design from four cameras located around the city.

Vectorial Elevation by Raphael Lozano-Hemmer
20 robotic lights

www.vectorialvancouver.net/home.html
English Bay
Vancouver, British Columbia

The Torch

A huge crowd lined both sides of West 41st Avenue at Dunbar and all along the route to witness the Torch relay. It was quite amazing. Lot's of Canadian flags, mitts and even dogs dressed in Canadian colours. The torch travelled west to the Musqeum Band office then over to UBC and finally into downtown at David Lam Park.

Harry Jerome and Sunrise

I decided that since it was going to be clear this morning, I would arise well before the sun came up and see if I could photograph the Olympic rings on the barge at sunrise. Up at 6:00 am. and at Stanley Park by 7. The lights on the rings were off! Oh well, I remember being impressed by someone else's shots of the Harry Jerome statue so I backtracked and set up. I shot several variations but like this one the best. It was damn cold too, only 2 Celsuis so my fingers were like frozen baby carrots.

Some people that I've shown the photos, have liked this one better (see below).















What do you think?

The Olympic opening ceremonies are this Friday and there is a steady ramping up of traffic, media and tourists. Bob Costas from NBC network has fallen in love with Vancouver and the weather ( he says) so at least we are getting some good publicity for the future.

Grocery Shopping and Sunsets

I had just come out of Stong's and saw this beautiful light to the south. I thought "Damn, I should have had the camera in the car" but when you're on your way to Stong's you don't always think about the camera. You think about dinner food for growing teenage boys. I threw the groceries in the car (there was no fruit) and raced home at 15 km/hour behind everyone else that was shopping. I put the groceries away in record time and this time grabbed the camera and headed out to the closest place I thought I would see the sunset. That would be Marine Drive Lookout. It's the place we like to go and rest when we're riding, where even in January it's warm when the sun's out.

I was about ten minutes too late. That beauty light that I'd seen was mostly gone, but heck I had the camera so I shot a few frames and figured "I could fix it in post" as they say in the film biz. Well they're right. I ran it through a couple of programs, tweaked it a little here and there and came up with an acceptable image. I hate going out with the camera and coming back with nothing. I'd gone out last night to shoot a new building at UBC but I was about two hours two late for that one. I thought it would photograph well at night but I was wrong. I'll try that one again sometime at twilight. That's the shot just below.

Fundraising for the Ride to Conquer Cancer has been going very well. With cash donations that I'm picking up on Tuesday, I should be around $2100 and that's from only about a dozen donors and I still have four months left....lot's of time for other people to donate. Now at least I'm motivated to ride my bike when I can and it will probably help motivate me to commute to work more often.

The 2010 Winter Olympics are one week away with the opening ceremonies on Friday February 12th. Yikes! Parking restrictions are in effect all over but it won't get really crazy until tourists start arriving next week, then watch out. I hope to go to Holland House in Richmond at Minoru Ice Rink. It sounds like that would be really good time there, lot's of beer and herring.

Red

On Sunday I wandered around Canada Place and Coal Harbour seawall looking to photograph a new public art piece adjacent to the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre. I became increasingly frustrated by chain link fencing surrounding the Convention Centre and seawall in preparation for the Olympics. It seems every venue that will be used during the Olympics has multiple layers of security beginning with chain link fencing (occasionally topped with razor wire).

So as is sometimes the case when one is looking for a photograph that can't be taken, another one appears. What luck! I really like the colour red and the way these benches were arranged. They sit adjacent to the new Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel at the north foot of Burrard Street. I shot a couple of frames and then it started raining so I was lucky with this shot.

Spring has sprung! Really?

I came across these on West 23rd Avenue yesterday. Snowdrops and crocusses are coming out everywhere, as are Japanese Cherry blossoms. But, it's only January 24th and I'm sure there is still some winter weather to come.

The Olympic Rings

One of the most popular photography venues these days is the seawall adjacent to Brockton Point Lighthouse in Stanley Park. From there one can see the Olympic rings that are mounted on a barge moored in Coal Harbour. Behind that are the "sails" of Canada Place lit up with the Olympic colours. The new Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre is just to the right of the coloured sails. The rings on the barge change colours on a timer and apparently the five colours don't come around to often so I was fortunate to be there at the right time. Immediately after this shot, they turned white and remained so for as long as I was there. It just didn't have the same impact as the coloured version.

Vancouver has been going through a unseasonably warm period lately (the meteorologists called it a moderate El Nino.) Cypress Mountain, where the freestyle skiing and snowboarding will take place, has virtually no natural snow on the lower mountain and contingency plans are now in place to helicopter and truck snow in from the higher slopes. Wow!



This was shot from the seawall near Brockton Oval in Stanley Park and shows Canada Place and the skyline of Coal Harbour. The very bright white object in the water is the Chevron gas barge used for refuelling boats and floatplanes.

The Birds!

Went for a stroll along the False Creek seawall (where you go Nordic Walking) during a brief respite from the rain on Sunday. It continues to be quite mild, so apart from the rain, it has been very comfortable here. On Saturday I rode 49K out to Richmond and back on a glorious sunny day, but was quite tired when I arrived back home.

Today it's back to weatherproofing the house, but I hope to get out for a short ride this afternoon.

Still no word on work, but hopefully Lily is working to rectify that situation.

As for the photo; this process requires 3 exposures taken in quick succession and are then merged in the computer. During these exposures a flock of seagulls (not the band) flew through each of the 3 exposures so they appear in different ways in the final merged image. Some people might remove them in Photoshop. I left them in because I kind of the like the ghostly effect.

Like the title says...

No stories, just a photo today.

If you're interested in the technical information, this photo was made with 3 different exposures, merged in Photomatix and then post-processed in Photoshop and Lightroom.

Rain, Rain go away.....

The photo is deceiving. This is not the weather we are having in Vancouver right now. It has been raining steadily since last night and has deposited about 50mm of rain so far with more to come. On the positive side, Vancouver had the warmest temperature in Canada yesterday (Sunday) at 11 Celsius.

Life at home has returned to a normal routine. I am in the midst of weatherproofing the house so we can qualify for a government grant. When that project is done I will tackle the bike room in hopes of making it a more workable space. Mundane, I know.

I'm continuing my riding regime of 3 times a week and have accumulated 135 km so far this month. I think my goal of 400 km for January is attainable.

The photo above was taken during our cold snap in December at Acadia Beach, which is at western-most point of Jericho Beach. It was damn cold but worth it, I think.

My First Blog

Well, this is my first entry in my new (actually only) blog, that will hopefully keep Adena up to date with the goings on in my life. I hope to post photos of life in Vancouver and of the things that we are doing here. I might even post a purdy picture once in awhile. So, if you any suggestions please feel free to comment.
Glad to hear you made it to your destination. Hopefully you'll get some sleep soon so that you can get on with the business of vacation.

I am posting a photo of Grayland Beach to start this blog, but expect some Vancouver photos soon.