14-10-31

14-10-30

Torrential rain outside tonight but the Anza Club had the fire place turned on and hockey on the big screen and Phillips beer on special. Good night.

14-10-29

Going to shoot some film this weekend.

14-10-28

I've done dumber things. Not many, but a few. I'm going to test drive it this weekend and if the photos take I'll do a run of photos for this blog in medium format. It was relatively cheap, less than a quarter of what I spent on my last lens. He thought the light meter was broken. It wasn't. It makes a really satisfying sound when the monster mirror in it flips up and the shutter gives a really solid "click."

14-10-27

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14-10-25

Fall is here. So is the rain.

14-10-24

I've walked by this Brutalist high rise dozens of times. I've taken photos of it before too but I've never stepped foot in it. Today I did for the first time and it was a well thought out building that benefited from the luxuries of a pre-real estate boom Vancouver. The footprint of the building, for example, wasn't completely developed. There was public space and a promenade of sorts. With land being worth more than gold in this city that would never happen again. Maybe the public fore-court wasn't the most incredible architectural space possible it was still better than another Starbucks and McDonalds. The foyer was the same, spacious and afforded light from skylights that wouldn't be possible with a denser lot development.

The elevators were lined with real wood, not sawdust filled veneered panels. The walls were concrete, full of substance and weight, not ground up dust compacted and held together with paper and paint.

It felt invested in, this building. It felt good to be inside it. It felt good to walk up to it.

Inside the building I was afforded a view to the north from the 11th floor. I should have taken a photo but I didn't . What I noticed was a wall of glass and concrete that is downtown. It was nearly impossible to distinguish one building from another, they were all greenish and inoffensive and homogeneous. I've speculated before that so many movies are filmed in this city because it doesn't have anything iconic to give it away on the screen. I mean, yes, there's the pair of stadiums but it's pretty easy to find a camera angle where they are blocked out by another greenish glass block rising from the street.

I'm glad this building exists. I'm glad that there's so much concrete making up its structure that it's unlikely to be demolished any time soon. And I'm glad I finally stepped foot inside it today.

14-10-23

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14-10-21

This picture was taken with a FujiFilm X100S. It wasn't taken with a half frame camera.

14-10-20

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14-10-15

People were living in Oppenheimer Park until today. Some still are. It's hard to move this many people when they have nowhere to go. They found a man dead in his tent this morning. People die. Some consider the death a good reason to shut down the tent city. I think it's proof these people need good, affordable places to live and at the moment, this park is the best they can do. The death wasn't suspicious. It's unfair to speculate but I wonder if he might have lived if there was more social housing available to this demographic.

People don't generally choose to live in bad places. People generally live in the best conditions they can. They were living in the park because it was their best option.

14-10-14

New pads, rotors and calipers. Most of the work was done yesterday, and then the rain settled in. Bleeding the brakes and adjusting the parking brake had to wait until today but now it's done. It feels good to finish these little projects. So many of them linger on for days. Some for years. It makes the small victories seem especially huge.

14-10-13

It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow.

14-10-12

It was a blur. Deep fried turkey, and a baked ham, and steak tartare, and sweet potato pie, and so much more. Too much wine, too much food, and the people were amazing. The memories are blurry, as is the photograph, but that's kind of part of it. I have sharper photos from the day but this one sums it up the best.

14-10-11

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14-10-8

Parent teacher interviews tonight. Even now it's strange being in school after hours.

14-10-7

Full moon. Well, not until 5am, but that would be tomorrow's photo.

14-10-6

14-10-5

Oscar

14-10-4

I'm guilty of posting the odd photo of food, yes. It's cliche, yes. Eggs with tomatoes and feta, pan fried yams and potatoes, toast. Good way to start a day. But it's more about the magic in that lens I bought recently. Bokeh. And sharpness wide open.

14-10-3

"I'm thinking about getting some new socks. Fancy socks."

"No one notices socks."

"I beg to differ."

14-10-2

14-10-1