Category: B&W

World Toy Camera Day 2010

World Toy Camera Day happens once a year and it’s always a good excuse to take out my holga. This year it fell on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend which Boris and I celebrated with friends and family on Bowen Island.

World Toy Camera Day 2010: Forest Path

I love this spot which is just off the Kilarney Lake trail heading towards the meadow. There is a short bridge that crosses the river and it’s a wonderful spot on a sunny day to see the surrounding trees and sky above reflected in the stillness of the water.

World Toy Camera Day 2010: By the River

World Toy Camera Day 2010: Miller's Landing, Bowen Island

This was the first time in a year I’ve taken photos with my holga. It felt really good to be shooting film again.

Snow walker

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There was something magical about yesterday’s snowy weather. I felt like a kid again as I walked up my street to catch a bus to work. I was warm, cozy, and happy all bundled up in my many layers and I wasn’t bothered at all about having to slog through the wet snow. It reminded me of winters in Ontario, of those days when the snow is thick on the ground but the texture is dry and fluffy, the sky is clear and the temperature is surprisingly warm. I walked outside a lot yesterday, part of the way to work and all the way home later in the evening. There were a lot of other people doing the same but maybe not for the pleasure of it like I was.

Good Things from Yesterday:
– Getting fresh air and exercise
– Helping put together an excellent Christmas luncheon for Hop Studios
– Goofing around outside helping to clean off Travis and Susie’s car
– Feeling over-sugared from eating Susie’s excellent homemade caramel (it’s so good, yet so bad for you.)

Christmas baking and a Few Good Things

The window at Brioche

It is Sunday afternoon and I’ve decided to take a break from the frenzy of Christmas baking I’ve been up to for the last few hours. I haven’t done baking for Christmas in a few years and I am trying all new recipes. I started with a batch of candied orange peels, then onto chocolate almond bark, with a finale of chocolate truffles. I am waiting for each batch of yummies to cool and set, but otherwise I am done. Overall these were really easy things to make though the citrus peels were the most labour intensive, requiring multiple reboils in hot water to soften and remove the pith. I may do a second batch of these and do a better job with pith removal because they make the taste more sour than sweet.

Good Things from the Weekend:
1. Getting set up with a new cell phone (and plan) that is about one thousand times more advanced than the one I’ve had for almost five years.
2. Baking chocolate chip banana bread
3. Making and sharing Saturday brunch with friends
4. Having a recovered Boris back to the land of the living
5. Getting out for a walk on a rainy but lovely Friday night

Contemplation

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self portrait, pinhole camera

Taken with a pinhole camera, while sitting in the window of Brioche on West Cordova Street in Vancouver. They have really yummy soup, and very delicious looking desserts I have yet to try.

Yesterday evening I went on one of my favorite Vancouver walks with a friend. When the water is at low tide, it’s possible to walk along the beach all the way from Kitsilano to Jericho. It is really peaceful down there, with wonderful views of the city and the North Shore. Try it sometime.

Somewhere on the way to somewhere else

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Somewhere on the way to somewhere else

Taken with a pinhole camera.

Ten good things:
1. Taking the whole weekend off.
2. Unexpected invitations to a very yummy brunch with nice people.
3. A whole three days of glorious sunshine.
4. Finally buying my very own copy of “The Iron Giant”.
5. A mini road trip out of town with the help of a loner car from Ariane.
6. Watching osprey, ducks, and hummingbirds fly.
7. Seeing garter (or is it garder?) snakes in the wild for the first time in ages. (My sister had one as a pet when we were kids.)
8. The weather being warm enough to take out my parasol, wear flip flops, and eat popsicles.
9. Shopping with Mandy in unexpected places.
10. Shooting what I hope will turn out to be a kick ass roll of film.

Bowen Island pinhole shots

Bowen island, Miller's landing
Bowen Island, Miller’s Landing

Ghost on the rocks
Ghost on the rocks. Bowen Island, Miller’s Landing.

I am really happy with the shots from my little cardboard pinhole camera, taken on Bowen Island over the weekend. I hadn’t used it in almost a year because I wasn’t really sure if I liked the thing, until now that is. I will keep shooting landscape photos for now, and perhaps more portraits as well.

Kirsti has a few of the light painting photos of me up on flickr. I really love this one.

The wonder and the beauty

The wonder and the beauty

Taken near Porteau Cove, BC.

A few days ago I was looking through a set of shots taken with a pinhole camera back in the spring of 2007, and rediscovered this shot. I’m not sure why I didn’t scan and upload this at the time, but I absolutely love it now.