Quirky Vancouver, pt. 3

This one isn't so much of a quirk than it is a "WTF?! Did you for real just ask that?!" type of story. We were killing a few minutes in between eating a pre-supper meal and meeting up with friends to eat another meal (I'm a fatass!), so we walked into the John Fluevog store in Gastown. The store design is awesome, the shoes are funky, and even I found myself thinking I should buy some shoes. So I settle on a pair that isn't the typical wallet busting variety Fluevog's are known for (my wallet is NOT a fatass!), and go to pay.

Clerk: That'll be $155.68. On Visa? Insert the chip.
George: *inserts chip and begins punching in PIN*
Clerk: I need to enter you into the system, can I have your name?
George: I'm George.
Clerk: And are you from Vancouver?
George: No, from Calgary.
Clerk: *eyebrows furrow, and lips tighten as she stares at her keyboard for a few seconds, furiously computing something*... then defeated, sheepishly looks up and asks, "What province is that in?"
George: *facepalm*

Anyways, this should be the last of my 'Quirky Vancouver' stories for a while. Enjoy the photos - all taken around the Old Woodwards Building site in Vancouver's downtown eastside. Shot with the Kiev 88CM on Kodak Ektar 100.

Quirky Vancouver, pt. 2

On our way to the farmer's market, we left our hotel in downtown Vancouver on Saturday morning, and began walking to the Skytrain station. A man standing on the curb interrupted our powerwalk with a jovial, "Excuse me, can you spare some change so that I can buy some marijuana and smoke that marijuana?"

We are so accustomed to the seemingly fabricated stories of 'I need money to buy a bus ticket so that I can get to Saskatchewan to visit my dying aunt's 17 year old cat with three legs and an eyepatch' or similar tales of woe, that this was such a refreshing and honest line from a panhandler, I almost wanted to give him money... in the end though, we didn't, because buying and smoking marijuana should not be a priority in your life if you have to ask for money to get it. No judgement for what side of the weed debate you stand on, just saying if you're begging for it, you've got bigger problems to solve, dude.

Photos below: View from our hotel (24th floor of the Sheraton Wall Centre) taken with the D300 at night, and iPhone photos of the various fooding adventures we went on during our stay. We ate so much shellfish and other sea life, I'm pretty certain scientists will be worrying about a strange epidemic of anorexia amongst whales soon. Fear not, David Suzuki, they haven't contracted eating disorders, there's just no food left for them.

Quirky Vancouver

While pounding up the Grouse Grind in North Vancouver last weekend, my nose picked up a familiar scent that I had never smelled halfway up a mountain before. We were stopping for a quick water break, and sat down beside a lone hiker who was having her lunch. Except that lunch didn't come in the form of a sandwich, trail mix, granola bar, jerky or any other typical hiking type foods. Rather, she pulled out a set of chopsticks, a square rubbermaid lunch container, and began to chow down on a package of deliciously savoury smelling instant ramen. My mind was bewildered and couldn't comprehend the sight. On the one hand, I suddenly found myself craving instant noodles (I LOVE THEM!), while on the other, I thought it was the funniest thing to see a little Asian lady on a steep hiking trail halfway up a mountain, slurping a bowl of Ichiban noodles.

Anyways, more shots from that roll of Fuji Neopan 400 that I had developed in Vancouver. This batch includes fooding and drinking at three different places - a coffee and wine bar in Inglewood, a Laos/ Cambodian restaurant in Edmonton, and an Indian restaurant not far from my place.

Beautiful BC

Back from a short trip to Vancouver for Vania and Sean's wedding. I haven't had a chance to sort through the shots from their big event yet, but did catch a decent blue hour shot of the Vancouver Skyline (4 overlapping exposures, stitched in CS5). Taken from the Totem Poles area of Stanley Park, about an hour after sunset. Click to view it large and see more details.



More photos from our trip soon. Time for an ice cold shower to beat this heat.

-G

Procrastinatory Panoramic X-Rays

I have an interview in Vancouver tomorrow, so naturally rather than prepping for it, I'm screwing around with whatever interesting crap I can find around the house. We dug up a recent panoramic X-ray Anita had done as part of her TMJ diagnosis, and I scanned it for the heck of it. The film is huge, and my scanner doesn't do larger than medium format, so this is cropped significantly (I actually scanned it in batches and stitched them together).

Okay, I guess I should actually do some packing and prep work now. Wish me luck!
-G

Last 365 of my decade

I hadn't even realized it until several folks mentioned it on facebook. I turn 29 tomorrow (well, technically, today, since I took so long to compose this entry). It's my last 365 days that I can call myself a 20-something, before I hit that 3rd decade in life whereby one graduates to relaxed fit khakis and tucked in Ralph Lauren sweaters. Truly, I dread this date next year.

I don't know how best to cap off my 2009 in one post. So much stuff has happened this year that no one singular entry can even begin to do justice to it's epicness (which apparently isn't a word because blogger's built in spell check has it underlined in red - ironically, so is the word "blogger's"). Here's a short list that I just came up with off the top of my head of trips, new music, movies, books, cameras and other things that contributed to this epicness (still not a real word):

New York City/ Tokyo/ Kyoto/ Osaka/ Fugu Sashimi/ Hong Kong/ Seattle/ Vancouver/ Grouse Grind/ Nissin Instant Noodles/ Las Vegas/ Kings of Leon/ The Submarines/ Modest Mouse/ The Lovely Feathers/ Flight of the Conchords/ True Blood/ Pride and Prejudice and Zombies/ Factory Girls/ Lost on Planet China/ Postcards from Tomorrow Square/ ACAD/ SAIT/ Flickr/ Holga/ Diana Mini/ Voigtlander Vito II/ f/1.8/ Manual Focus/ Prime Lenses/ Toy Cameras/ Photowalks/ Globefish Sushi/ Mt. Indefatigable/ Double Exposures/ The Impossible Project reviving Polaroid film/ Converse Chuck Taylors/ I'm sure there's way more, but I'm still freaking bagged from Vegas, so I'll end it here.

I have a ton of new photos and other stuff to post, but just can't seem to decide where to start... so I'll leave them for next year. Wishing you a fun and safe New Year's party, and health, happiness, and prosperity in 2010.

-G

Parting is such sweet sorrow

An uncle, aunt, and four cousins flew home to Belgium tonight via Calgary airport. And while I barely had a weekend to spend with them, it was lots of fun, and I'm really sad to see them go. They say parting is such sweet sorrow, and it truly is. I used to think that crying in the airport was for sissies, but as I grow older I realize that the time that we have together is limited by all those little things that life throws at you, and I start to feel more emotional about my family. I wish there was some way that we could all live closer together so that seeing each other wouldn't involve passports, 'random' patdowns at security, 9 hour transatlantic flights, and all that other jazz that travelling involves.

Enough with the sappy, on with some snappy. As promised, a few photos from my last day in Vancouver, spent with our good friends Ray and Yasko (unfortunately, Yasko had to work). The feathery looking debris is some dead bird carcass we found along the seawall. The bokeh shots of the creepy cocoon things are from an art piece we saw on Granville Island that was inspired by silk worms. And aren't those asparagus cement trucks just rad?
























Photos of the Lee-Tang wedding to come perhaps... tomorrow? G'night folks.

Weapon of Choice

Poser, originally uploaded by iHeartDimSum.

I'm flying out to Vancouver tomorrow, and we're planning to drive down to Seattle for a couple days over the long weekend. I'm quite looking forward to this trip, as I haven't been to either city in a while. The only thing I hate about travelling is having to pick and choose your weaponry. Do I carry the D300, and a toy camera? Or how about a TLR? Will I use a tripod? Speedlight? How much film should I bring? If only I could lug it all with me... but alas, weight considerations trump, and I'm going with just the D300 and 17-55mm lens, a box of 120 and my Ricohflex TLR. It sounds ridiculous, but making that decision took me the last hour.

We've become so spoiled this year, literally travelling anywhere we want at will. If you count back to our honeymoon last October, we've done a month in Spain, 5 days in New York City, 3 weeks in Japan/ Hong Kong, and starting tomorrow 5 days in Vancouver/ Seattle. And then in November, we're undecided about where to go, but it's between Argentina, Chile, or Peru for 14 days. So many people sigh and snicker when they talk about married life. Me? Married life is treating me fantastic, and I couldn't ask for more.

Back in 5 days!
-G