The Best of 2011 Part III

October began with me scoring front row tickets to a Vancouver Canucks pre-season game against the Edmonton Oilers and the pictures that resulted led to (in terms of numbers) my most popular blog yet. According to my tracking software, I received 1500+ page views - and that was just within the first 2hrs of posting!

TIME magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2011 was The Protester and October marked the beginning of the Vancouver "Occupy" movement. Given the events that followed the Canucks loss in Game 7, I'm sure the officer below had a busy year when it came to crowd control...

Week 42 brought with it a trip to the Westham Island pumpkin farm.

The result of my pumpkin carving certainly isn't up there in terms of great pictures from 2011 but as creative endeavors go I had to include it because I'm still proud of what I came up with!

Week 43 brought with it a trip to the PNE's "Fright Nights" exhibition. I had a frustrating night as far as picture taking went and mostly failed to meet my high expectations (if only I'd brought a small tripod!) but this one turned out great and wins the award for "Most Macabre Shot of the Year"!

One of my regrets of 2011 was not taking my camera everywhere I went. There were so many missed shots. However, in November while on my way to a meeting across town I did have the foresight to pack my gear and ended up with some nice images in and around historic Gastown. This one turned out to be my favourite...

Despite the freezing cold temperatures of Week 45, I wrapped up and had one last foray into long exposure night photography downtown. This image from the corner of Burrard and Nelson ended up being my personal favourite.

With the Fall there often comes some stunning sunsets and armed with what turned out to be one of my best performing lenses of the year, the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 wide angle zoom (had to get some geek material in here!) Week 46 ended up being hugely successful.

Inukshuks and Canadian Geese - talk about being a true Canadian eh?!

As 2011 came to a close, terrible weather and massive work commitments curtailed my photo-taking adventures to a large extent. Testing out a lens I picked up dirt cheap from a pawn shop I was happy with how this one at Vanier Park from Week 48 turned out...

And in another test (the newly acquired Tamron 90mm Macro lens), this one turned out okay considering the low light.

Sticking with lovable pets, Max, the Powell River Goldendoodle made a return and won the award in the 2011 "Awww!" category!

Perhaps its fitting that I close this retrospective photo blog look back through 2011 with this image...

All in all, 2011 was a big, crazy, unwieldy year in many ways. A lot of transition for me personally and professionally. Through the tougher times, along with my awesome circle of close friends (you know who you are!) my trusty Canon 60D and this blog helped me stay creatively inspired.

Though the sun has set on this particular journey, others await! There may be fewer photo blog posts to come in 2012 but I'll still be out there doing my thing - Stretching the muscles of my creative side is hugely important to my physical, mental and emotional health.

Thank you for letting me share my pictures with you over the last 12 months, for giving me hugely appreciated feedback and for continuing to encourage my endeavors. Stay tuned for what's to come next and as always...

Until next time folks!

2011 WEEK 43: Happy Halloween!

Every year for a couple of weeks at the end of October, the PNE opens its gates to thousands of thrill seekers, ghoul hunters and those willing to have the crap scared out of them at "Fright Nights".

There are a number of Haunted Houses set up, each with their own spine chilling theme and almost all of the rides are open for business. Bright lights, fast moving objects, smoke in the air and macabre creatures wandering through the crowds... I thought this would be an excellent opportunity for some pictures but for the most part, it ended up being an exercise in disappointment.

I was hoping to get some cool streaking light effects but it was not to be. In hindsight, I should have brought along a tripod or at least a monopod to try some long exposure shots and avoid blur.

The greatest challenge were the extremes of exposure. The light was constantly changing and wherever one looked there was a random, bright, flashing light somewhere. Expose for the bright light and everything else in the frame was banished to a dark, shadowy void - Expose for the less bright subject matter and the bright spots burned out like supernovas. There really was no middle ground of exposure.

With each swing of the ride above there was a loud rising and falling scream! I like the atmosphere of a fair ground but have never been a fan of spinning rides. Add to that the fact that I'm 6'4" and many rides end up crushing my spine and I'm pretty much left with the Ferris Wheel...

If there's one thing I hate, its evil clowns so we stayed away from this doorway to doom.

No scraps for this guy at the Mini-Donut concession...

This is what fate befalls those customers who don't pay...

Nothing says Parental Guidance required like a demon baby eating human organs...

The below pictures were all part of an exhibit titled Hell's Kitchen. The consistency of lighting and the fact that the subjects weren't spinning around at a dizzying speed helped make these my favourites of the night.

Mmm... Fresh meat! Apparently it tastes like chicken...

Love this one. So much going on in this little scene. I especially like the foreground amputated leg hanging from the chain...

Happy Halloween folks!

Until next time...