08-12-29

I don't like this one but I think it's more because there's something really intriguing about the animated neon scissors that I just can't capture in a still image.

08-12-28

I haven't taken a photograph like this in a long time. It seemed to suite Calgary when I lived there as it was such a flat place and the man made landscape seemed to rise in futility against the expansiveness of the prairie sky. In Vancouver the natural landscape itself does the dwarfing so it's rare to find visual opportunities where the man made seems lost in an expansiveness of space. There is no expansive space in this city. Strangely enough, though it's not a densely developed city, Vancouver makes many newcomers feel claustrophobic. It's true, there are few directions for one to go in. It's like a crowded room with only one door out and that door is always on the far side of the room.

It's been unusually cold in Vancouver with a substantial amount of snow on the ground these days which makes it feel a lot like Calgary did in the winter and so I've taken a photograph like the ones I've taken that I associate with Calgary.

08-12-27

The weather hasn't been particularly conducive to venturing out with a camera to take photographs. I caught this one on my way home. Like yesterday's image of a glass of coffee this one isn't necessarily a good photograph but it's something that caught my eye.

08-12-26

Not a very exciting photograph but it was a pretty amazing coffee and it was about all I wanted out of a freezing cold day where it seemed like it would never stop snowing.

08-12-25

A little girl sharing tea from her Christmas day tea set with her favourite cat which, we recently discovered, is blind. I wonder if the cat would rather not be a part of these rituals but since she can't see them coming to avoid them she had better get used to them.

08-12-24

This is a full colour photograph. It hasn't snowed like this in Vancouver for something like 15 years. It's an amazing sight though I admit I thought I had left this weather behind in Calgary. The city was at a stand still, many major roads and a lot of transit shut down. A good pair of winter boots was the best way to get anywhere.

08-12-23

Christmas is coming.

08-12-22

Snow. No really, and lots of it. I thought this was a part of life I wouldn't have to face ever again being in Vancouver. I mean, I understand there will be snow here. I might even like it a bit here and there, but it sure wreaks havoc with getting around on bike. I guess I kind of like that too except for the big lumps of tire grabbing ice hidden under the slush as you ride your bike along Broadway. Oh yeah, and everyone in Vancouver drives with summer tires. I don't blame them, snow tires for a week of snow once every five years seems a bit absurd but it sure makes for a whole slew of bad driving situations when the snow does show up. But it's been nice, this reminder that it is winter, and I like it now for now, but I'll be honest, I'm waiting for the rain to come back and wash away the snow so I can get my cross bike out again and see how much mud I can cover it with. If that doesn't happen until after Christmas I'm okay with that but if it takes much longer I might start getting antsy.

08-12-21

There's a tailor on Broadway Ave. east of Main Street where I've noticed he'll put on display at the end of each day whatever project it is he's been working on. There's a crude light set up and the blinds get partially drawn to hide the actual work space but the partially completed project is always there in the window with a light on it. There was a time when I dreamed of having a small shop with a bike welding facility in the back, not really a retail shop in front but some commercial base where I could put the most recent projects in the window, completed or otherwise which is why I find this image so appealing.

I like that whoever this tailor is he is proud of his work and the daily presentation of what he's been up to that day is heartwarming, the careful placement under an improvised light shows his pride in what he does. Not enough people care about what they do anymore but I will always slow down a bit when I'm riding my bike home along Broadway and see what's in the window.

08-12-20

You see this written in books sometimes: "this page intentionally left blank" which kind of betrays the logic of what has been written. I have a book I borrowed and never gave back (and if I could find the person I borrowed the book from I would gladly return it to her, really) and the title of the book is "There are two errors in the the title of this book." Of course the first error is that the word "the" is printed twice. There is no second error in the title of the book so the actual title of the book is the second error. The problem is with the title of the book being the second error there becomes two errors and then the title immediately becomes correct so there is no longer a second error. But if there is no second error then the title is wrong.... you get the picture.

Anyway, the 08-12-19 entry discusses why there is no picture here. I would have written "this entry intentionally left blank" but by writing that statement it would no longer be blank and I wouldn't want to confuse any philosophers out there.

08-12-19

I've been thinking lately that I need to miss a day, I need to make sure I'm not taking pictures for this project because I feel the pressure to take pictures. I know I've done the year before and there were times in there that I felt there was a pressure to take a photograph when I sometimes just didn't feel like it. And there's been that feeling lately too, that I don't want to necessarily feel obligated to take a picture. It's kind of like when you get a new car, that first scratch is always the hardest and you'll hear stories about some guy who gets his new car and the first thing he does is purposely scratches it just to get it over with. I've done that with bikes, beautiful handmade bikes with perfect paint, they are such delicate things when they are in perfect condition but that betrays the spirit of what a bicycle is. I don't mean you should abuse these things but if you don't at the very least use them like they were intended then what's the use in having them? So that's what I want to do here, miss a day now so that it's not such a big deal if I do in the future. Get the idea of being not perfect out of the way now so it's just plain easier to keep moving forward with this.

Not taking a picture; that's how I felt this morning and then I looked out the window and saw the sun coming up like I do so many mornings and I took a picture. I also happened to look back at the first 365 days I did this and found that on this day in 2007 I had done pretty much exactly the same thing. So even though I started out today with the idea that I wouldn't take a photograph the very first thing I did was take a photograph.

08-12-18

simulacrum, what a wonderful word.

08-12-17

We're in a deep freeze in Vancouver with highs of minus five or so and lows into the negative teens. It's uncommon but not unusual I suppose. There's been snow on the ground for a few days now. I don't suspect many of the houses are designed for this kind of weather and despite where I live now being a relatively new building it gets cold here. There's no control of the thermostat, many conveniences of houses made of paper go wonky after a while and so has our furnace which is now turned on and off via an alligator clip on the side of the furnace itself which is buried in a basement suite separate from the part of the house I live in so to make things tolerable we have gas fireplaces which work surprisingly well.

But there I was with my camera in hand trying to get warm by the fire when I took this picture. Like I've said before, this blog isn't necessarily about "photography" but about pictures of things that catch my eye and there's nothing as universally hypnotic as flames.

08-12-16

08-12-15

More landscapes.

08-12-14

A rare daylight photo. With it getting dark at half past four and the shortest day of the year yet to come it can be a challenge to find the time during the day to take a photograph.

08-12-13

08-12-12

08-12-11

08-12-10

Italmanubri has been making stems and handlebars for bicycles for a long long time now. This past summer they announced they would be closing their doors as they could no longer be competitive in today's market. They made some of the most beautiful bike parts available. This is the last of the forged stems they continued to make right up until calling it quits. They didn't disappear because they were making outdated or antiquated bike parts, they also made some of the lightest and most advanced carbon fiber and magnesium bars and stems available today. I believe the ITM "THE STEM" that they produced five or six years ago is still the lightest stem ever available for a bicycle. But this one, the forged one, it's beautiful enough to want to get a bike to go with it.

08-12-9

08-12-8

I actually took 29 pictures today. This is one of them.

08-12-7

08-12-6

Looks easy, doesn't it?

08-12-5

08-12-4

When he bought the steel toed boots it was less about protecting his toes specifically and more about creating a barrier between himself and the rest of the world.

08-12-3

It's almost like aliens were landing across the street to pick up some sushi from The Sushi Bar. But really, it's just the sun making a rare appearance in December. The last time I lived in Vancouver there were a record number of sunny days through the winter. I suspect this year we may break that record, there have been a surprising number of days where the sky is blue and I am thankful that my windows face south and there isn't a six story condo across the street.

08-12-2

It was a late night doing paperwork. And then I looked over in the corner at the pile of discarded paper in a pile. I filled in a questionnaire tonight about what being a "green" company meant and then there was this pile of paper being tossed. Of course within that there's this natural beauty that results simply as an aside to what's happening in a context. It's a reduction of elements, an abstraction of months of work, an artifact of a going concern. It's proof. It will be swept away or discarded, I mean, it can't sit delicately in a pile at the bottom of the stairs for too long, and that's fine. "Proof" seems to always be temporary.

I think I'll take a picture of my boots tomorrow.

08-12-1

I took this photo with my "good" camera and I think it's inspired me to drop the point and shoot and just use the good camera. The little one has its spots for sure, but it usually leaves me grinding my teeth when looking at the full resolution images.

This is 6th Ave in Vancouver. Its trees are twisted and covered in a type of green that 5th and 7th Ave trees aren't. I would like to know the story behind that one day.

08-11-30

It's amazing how concrete can soar so lightly and elegantly through the air.

08-11-29

The problem with propping up a camera on rocks and pebbles on the ground is it's difficult to get the horizon horizontal. But it's also nice that in the heart of a city with something like a million people you can walk along an entire edge of the waterfront and hardly see a soul. Not far from this part of the walk they are building the Olympic Village which is supposed to house up to 36000 people in a couple of years which, as someone who comes from a town of 6000, blows my mind. I don't know if introducing that many people to the waterfront will affect how it feels to walk along it at night. My experience is that people mostly buy access to a lifestyle but rarely live it so those that can afford those housing units will likely stay comfortably warm watching their big screen televisions rather than venture out into cold misty nights to walk along the water. At least I hope so.

08-11-28

08-11-27

My new favourite beer. Well, not really, but the Red Racer has a handsome label, not many could argue that one.

08-11-26

This made me smile more than I care to admit. It kind of did again when I looked at the picture tonight.

08-11-25

I did warn that these pictures would be more about snapshots and less about photography, right? Dinner tonight was scrambled free range eggs with this incredible salsa whose first ingredient is jalapeno peppers, fried honey ham, and some pretty decent seven grain toast. Oh yeah, and a pretty tasty cream ale from Phillips called Slipstream whose name and label reference the phenomenon of drafting while riding bikes.

08-11-24

08-11-23

08-11-22

I had drinks with my good friend Johann this evening. Those little tumblers with green vines screened on them are just about the perfect thing to drink wine out of. Shit was good.

08-11-21

The crow.

From WikiAnswer:

Crows are sometimes considered to symbolize an omen. They can be good or bad depending on the context they are being used in and what culture is talking about them. Since they are in the same family as the raven they are often associated with death and darkness.

Another Perspective

Crow is seen by some Native Americans as the left-handed guardian and keeper of the sacred law. While others interpret it as ancient wisdom, and magic. In a tea cup crow is read as ill health. As a child I learned an old English rhyme about crows from my grandmother, it went something like this: One is for bad news, two is for mirth. Three is a wedding, four for a birth. Five is for riches, six is a thief, Seven a journey, eight is for grief. Nine is a secret, ten is for sorrow, Eleven is love and twelve is joy on the morrow.

I'm not sure where my affinity for crows comes from. Native North American tradition suggests animals for each month of the year, much like the more traditional Zodiac signs, and it would seem I'm born in the month of the crow which, until about five minutes ago when I Googled it, I had no idea about and I certainly didn't know that when I took this photograph this morning.

Crow/Raven: Sep 22 – Oct 22
Highly enthusiastic, and a natural entrepreneur, the Crow is quite a charmer. But he/she doesn't have to work at being charming – it comes easily. Everyone recognizes the Crow's easy energy, and everyone turns to the Crow for his/her ideas and opinions. This is because the Crow is both idealistic and diplomatic and is quite ingenious. In nurturing environments this Native American animal symbol is easy-going, can be romantic, and soft-spoken. Further, the crow can be quite patient, and intuitive in relationships. Left to his/her own devices, the Crow can be demanding, inconsistent, vindictive, and abrasive.

But this morning as I went down the street in search of milk for my breakfast cereal the crows were awakening, repopulating the city after spending the night in their murder.

It's interesting to note that the term "murder" is more often referenced in poetry than in science in relation to crows, or so it has been suggested.

What's interesting about this photo is how the eyes of some of the crows are eerily lit up.

And I just happen to be listening to: The Constantines - Young Lions "Make your love too wild for words. Stumbling thru the city with the ordinary birds."

It's in the details.

08-11-20

08-11-19

It's so monumental. And from this angle it seems to stand alone in a barren landscape but it's a block off of one of Vancouver's busiest thoroughfares. Somewhere deep down inside I suppose I'm still an architect.

08-11-18

Mixed feelings about this one. It is beautiful but in celebration of something so tragic. If I remember the story correctly, and I'm sure I'm not, an underage unlicensed kid "borrowed" hid parents' car and ran a red light and killed a pedestrian at this intersection. The flowers are so starkly beautiful in contrast to their seedy environment. There's something about these monuments that I find so intriguing.

08-11-17

08-11-16

I've never thought myself to be that much of a landscape photographer which is probably fine because most are probably thinking this isn't much of a landscape photograph. But while it's -1 and snowing in Calgary I managed to load a bunch of camera crap into a bag and ride a cross bike over to the North Shore in 13 degree weather to be greeted by an incredible moss covered landscape. It felt good to get muddy again and I'm realizing I don't ride a bike purely for pleasure enough anymore though once I was on The Shore I was wishing for a good pair of hiking boots, a tripod, three more hours of free time, and one less bike to haul around. Perhaps next time I'll lock the bike to a tree and throw a pair of hiking boots into my bag and spend more time figuring out just how to capture scenery in pictures.

08-11-15

It's really simple, really simple.

08-11-14

I've changed the subtitle of this blog from "this is where I was" to "it's in the details." The first run of this blog, the first year, was about exploring photography as a medium to convey ideas, emotions, thought. There are vast differences between "pictures", "photography", and "art." I might have been exploring ideas more closely related to art during the first 365 days. These later entries are less about that. What I'm doing now is more about documenting the little things I see each day that make me happy, like a tied spoke on a bicycle wheel, or a particular shade of orange against a particular shade of blue. There are still questions of composition, exposure, etc so these are more "photographs" than "pictures" but they are farther from "art" than I might usually attempt.

I'm still not promising to be here every day but the day that I don't see something really beautiful would be a sad day.

It's in the details.

08-11-13

It was sunny this morning, beautifully so. It made me wish I could call in sick to work. It made it hard to fight my daughter into her trailer to drop her at daycare, it would have been so much more fun to head over to Trout Lake to pet the dogs in the park.

08-11-12

08-11-11

The first run through this it would seem a lot of the time I was searching for a picture as the clock ticked closer to midnight. This time I've been posting the photograph for that day quite often by the afternoon of that day. I guess that means it's been long enough of a break from this, or the project has changed shape enough that it's easier or something.

08-11-10

Blue skies today.

08-11-9

There's a quality to the light in these images on the cover page of this web page that I would like to capture. A soft, cool, comfortable light.