2011 WEEK 44: Gastown

I found myself walking across town to a meeting on Alexander Street this week and so brought my camera along with me.

Beginning on the East side of Gastown and running one block north alongside Hastings Street, Alexander  Street is in one of the oldest areas of Vancouver. Did you know the term "Skid Row" originated in Vancouver in this part of town? The name comes from the roads made of logs which were used to "skid" timber from the nearby forests. Over time the term was used to describe the logging camps and mills along the Pacific Coast and then as a derogatory term for the low income neighborhoods that built up around these areas.

My meeting was at 611 Alexander Street - an awesome space filled with design studios, new media offices and agencies. Kicking myself now because I neglected to take a picture of it! 611 Alexander was once the American Can Company. For more about the history of the area check out this blog by local Historian James Johnstone.

I have a lot of memories of Alexander Street since it was one of the locations used in my first short film The Fare. The Ironworks building at the corner of Main Street and Alexander is now an art studio and the rear parking lot beneath the overpass functioned as the lot for the fictional taxi cab company in the film. Now it's an urban garden... Weird.

From atop the overpass at the end of Main Street there are some great views of the city.

These aren't the views of the city we usually see on postcards but I kind of like it better - old and new cramming together for space.

Focus on foreground... Too abstract?

Focus on background... Better?

On my way back I stopped briefly by Blood Alley and Gaelor's Mews (love those names). This is such a great area but with the rain starting I wasn't able to take many pictures. This ended up being my favourite...

There are so many things to snap pictures of in this part of town you could literally spend a day within a 3 block radius and still barely scratch the surface.

No visit to Gastown would be complete without an image of the world famous steam clock. I wonder how many millions of photos have been taken of this tourist hot spot?

On a completely unrelated note, I had to share one last picture with you. The below creature (I think it's a hornet) has been perched on the back of a chair, freezing his socks off in our backyard for the last 3 days. It's still alive but is not moving very much. Maybe hibernating? Either way, I'm glad he's no longer flying around since he's close to an inch long...

Until next time folks.

2011 WEEK 39 Pt. 2: Second Period

I received more visits to the blog after Part 1 of this weeks blog than ever before! So it's just as well I have more pictures to share from the Canucks vs Oilers pre-season game I attended on Saturday night.

At the beginning of the 2nd Period the score was 1-0 Canucks. Roberto Luongo looked calm, cool and collected in net.

And it was just as well since he was certainly challenged by the Oilers, facing several Edmonton powerplays and several breakaways.

Here's a nice blocker save... See that black thing sticking out of Lou's blocker? Yes, that's the puck. I got lucky on that one...

WARNING: CAMERA GEEK STUFF TO FOLLOW!

This was my first time shooting a professional sport close-up. There are a number of challenges too. Firstly, many sports arenas have strict policies when it comes to non-pros bringing their semi-pro gear into the building. In the case of Rogers Arena DSLR cameras are allowed providing the lens on the camera is less than 6" in length and/or the focal length of the lens is less than 70mm. All of these pictures in this weeks entries were captured with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 a.k.a. "The Nifty Fifty".

And it needed to be pretty nifty. Shooting a fast moving sport like hockey means a fast shutter speed otherwise movements are blurred. This then means a wider aperture causing less depth-of-field. It also meant a higher ISO to give me a fighting chance of getting any kind of an exposure and some room to work with focusing.

Auto-Focus was not an option with any of these pictures since the glass kept confusing it so every single one of these pictures was taken completely manual. I found I got better (i.e. more usable pictures!) the longer the game went on.

All of these pictures were captured with a shutter speed of 1000 and with ISO set to either 640 or 800. Aperture was set to f/2.8 throughout.

In my opinion, some of the best pictures in this series are those that freeze dynamic action but even these pictures end up lacking when there is no sign of the puck. The picture feels like it's missing a certain amount of context.

Which is why this next one works on multiple levels - It showcases dynamic movement, the crush of bodies in the crease that is so much a part of the game, the goaltender fighting to keep sight of the puck and... making the big save when it counts...

This next one shows great movement but sadly no puck. Maybe I should have cheated and photoshopped it in flying towards the lens. I love the expressions and degree of effort on the players' faces.

Something the Canucks have been criticized for in the past is a supposed "lack of grit". This years' team sees the addition of a couple of new players who look like they'll be bringing some great muscle to the fourth line alongside Maxim Lapierre who was once again mixing it up at Saturday nights game.

This scrum resulted from a hit that Edmonton took issue to. I love how everyone is just standing casually watching as Lapierre slams a fist into Theo Peckham's chin amid a mess of thrown down sticks and gloves!

Thanks Maxim for dragging the fight a little closer to where I was seated so I could get a close-up.

Just another day at the rink. "So how's the wife?"

Off to the sin-bin for Lapierre.

Despite Luongo making some great saves, the score was tied at the end of the 2nd.

Final round of pictures from the 3rd Period tomorrow. Until then, thanks for visiting!

2011 WEEK 39: Canucks vs Oilers

Where has this year gone? It seems like just yesterday that the city was in the midst of play-off fever (and I was blogging about it here). It seems like only yesterday that thousands were crowding the streets, waving flags, cheering, yelling, looting, lighting fires- No, let's not go there. There's been more than enough debate on that subject!

What better symbol of hope and determination than these new sculptures of Terry Fox?

So here we are again. A new season of hockey. New hopes. New dreams of going all the way to the end and hoisting the cup. This past Saturday night was the final game of Pre-Season with the Vancouver Canucks taking on the Edmonton Oilers.

Pre-Season is all about experimenting for the team. New players. New line combinations and a testing ground for discovering new chemistry between players. For the first time fans got a close look at what will in all likelihood be the opening night roster on October 6th when the new season officially kicks off against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For me, I got an extra special close look because thanks to the awesomeness of eBay I scored a ticket for Row 2 for less than the price of dinner and a movie!

No, not a home goal just the pre-game warm-up...

Warm-up over, it was time to get patriotic and sing "Oh Canada".

Experiencing the game this close is entirely different than sitting anywhere else in the stadium and a world away from watching it on TV.

One gains a whole new appreciation for the game and the talent of the players. It's fast, really fast. The players are a lot, lot bigger and every time the puck slams into the glass with a deafening CRACK! it's hard not to flinch.

Someone who rarely flinches is Kevin Bieksa (known as "Juice") seen above talking smack to Oilers goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin after receiving a whack to the legs from a goalie stick.

Khabibulin was a large factor in the Canucks loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in their 2009 Stanley Cup campaign where he earned the moniker of "The Bulin Wall".

Thankfully the Canucks found holes in the wall on Saturday night. The above image was snapped as the Canucks scored their first goal off of a point shot from Dan Hamuis that was tipped in by Cody Hodgson. A millisecond earlier and I would have caught the puck flying through the air - you can see from the expressions on the players faces that they're all still looking to see where the puck is.

I'll talk more about the shooting of these pictures, the challenges involved and what I learned from it over the coming days.  Overall I'm really surprised and happy with what I captured especially since I was shooting through the glass the entire time.

Here's new Canuck addition Marco Sturm battling hard.

The enemy gathers to plan their next attack...

Here's one of my favorites from the First Period...

I'm not sure why team Captain, Henrik Sedin, was grimacing like this but it would make a great picture for a caption contest. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comment box!

Lots more hockey action to come over the next few days so come back soon.

Until then, I hope you've enjoyed the First Period!