Vancouver 2010

Last week I was able to find a cheap flight out to Vancouver and decided to head out for three days.

I knew that I wouldn't be able to see any of the events, and that most of the highlights that would remain in my memory would be free events that I would stumble upon.

The first thing that I found was that spring had come to Vancouver while Calgary and so much of Canada was still in the grip of winter. Flowers were everywhere, and the grass was green. The temperature was warm and the sun shone everyday. I know that this is not typical Vancouver weather but it was such a nice surprise coming from frost and snow everyday for the past month.

As for the Olympics... the city was putting on a hell of a show.

There were posters on buildings, flags on construction sites, and the whole downtown core was full of Olympic spirit. But if you had enough and wanted to escape, all you had to do was walk a few blocks out of the downtown core and all of a sudden you wouldn't think anything special was going on.

There was a small amount of anti-Olympic spirit going on, as demonstrated by this poster, but overall everyone was having a good time.

Steven Colbert was there doing his show The Colbert Report from Vancouver. He was very cool and attracted about 4000 people to see his show live.

Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans were there putting on a free show my first night, which makes it twice now that I have seen them without paying. They had the crowd dancing and singing, and as it was a dry event, there was no fighting, and all the kids in the audience were able to have a really fun time.

While I was cycling around Stanley Park, I bumped into two Russian athletes who had recently won gold and silver in Biathlon and Cross-Country skiing. To see medals at the Canadian Mint there is a four hour wait, while I was able to see real medals just inches from my face.

A new artist has erected a group of bronze statues at the west end of Stanley Park. Really cool faces and everyone was enjoying having their picture taken with them.

It was a great time in Vancouver and if you can get out there, don't hesitate.

Olympic Fever

I'm going to the Olympics! Sadly not as a photographer for a newspaper or magazine, but just cuz. Lucky for me, my brother lives out there and his sofa hasn't been rented out. So... see you back here next Saturday and hopefully I'll have some great Olympic moments captured even if I am not going to a single event!

My last year

Ever since my dad passed away in 2009, I've become fascinated with genealogy. After the funeral, I took his photo album and started to scan all his old photos so that I could share his collection with the rest of the family. I looked at his album and figured I could scan them within a few months.

However, after telling my aunt Karina my idea, she allowed me to add her bags of photos to the mix and told me to scan them all, and so began a year-long project that has been therapeutic and interesting at the same time.

This group shot in the garden was taken around 1918 and holds the faces of people I am related to but never got the chance to meet. My grandmother sits in the front row in a white sweater, looking young and pretty, while my great-grandfather and great-grandmother also pose in the photograph.

After my dad's photos were done, my step-dad asked to have his photos scanned and re-touched so that he too could share his photos with his friends and family. This picture of him in 1936 is a good example of what you are up against when you scan a 70-year-old photo. Time has made the photo yellow, and scratches and other bits of dust and dirt appear on the scan in great detail.

So... Photoshop to the rescue! First I cropped the photo, adjusted the angle, color corrected the photo, de-saturated the image, and then zoomed into the photo to about 400% and removed all the dust and scratches with the clone tool.

Each photo took me around 30 mins to clean up. If I was lucky, I could be in and out in 5 mins if there wasn't much dust, or if it was a big crowd shot where dust marks weren't noticeable. Each day I would try to find time to do about seven photos. Slowly, I got through them all.

In the end, I discovered great photos such as this one of my uncle Andrew in 1964 in Italy. He was 26 in this photo which blows my mind that my uncle was younger than I am now! I look at this photo with the great outfit, the shoes, the coca-cola boxes, and I can't wait to talk to him about this time in his life. I wish I had had this photo with me when I was in England in November!

The strangest bit of doing this project has been seeing the family resemblance in all the photos. My dad is seen here sitting front row centre. In 1996, my nephew Damir was born and when I saw this photo I couldn't believe how much they look alike. I can't wait to start my genealogy search and to trace back as far as I can the lines of my family tree.

The cure for the winter blues..

I have never put much faith in disorders for some reason. I tend to think that people who claim Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) are simply looking for a day off from work where they can catch up on laundry or watch movies while lazing on the sofa.

But recently I have seen changes in my own personality. I haven't picked up my camera in a week!! That's eons of time in a photographer's world. I asked myself what the problem was, what's keeping me from my passion?

I came to the realization that January in Calgary, Alberta is a dreary time for me, as I don't ski or partake in any outdoor activities. I am a "hot and humid" kind of guy I guess. (Although in all honesty, I have to admit that hot and humid makes me sleepy, so I can't win.)

Thankfully I have friends like Anna and Cai, who were able to pull me out of my hibernation and into the real world again. Anna organized a day trip to a senior centre where we would take pictures and talk to seniors for a school project that she is involved in. I was brought in as the photographer and I had a great day because of it. So,... thanks Anna.

We set up a little photo booth area where seniors could come and sit for a quick impromptu photo session. Meeting these people was a treat for me as they all had great personalities and amazing stories. I really hope that they enjoyed having strangers in their midst and that they like the end results. I think the photos speak for themselves and show that they had a good time. Nothing like meeting new people to brighten up your day.