Because I’m a lazy ass

I’m posting a picture instead of writing an actual blog post. Hope everyone had an excellent Christmas and is enjoy the time off. Will write a real post later.

Vancouver Photo Marathon – recap

This past Saturday was the first annual 12×12 Vancouver Photo Marathon. This type of photo marathon has been around for a while now but somehow it has never been organized in Vancouver until now. Thanks to the event organizers such as Morten Rand-Hendriksen, John Biehler, Benjamin Luk, and few other such event became a reality on Saturday. The idea seems simple at first, each participate takes 12 shots with 12 different themes in 12 hours but when you examine deeper it’s a lot more challenging. First participants must use a film camera. The 12 themes are drawn at random at top of each hour. Finally the themes must be taken in order. Since I didn’t have anything planned for this past weekend I decided to try out the marathon and I’m glad I did. The marathon was challenging both mentally and physically. I borrowed my mom’s Canon SLR for this event. Not having used this particular camera before it made the picture taking process a little bit more difficult. It’s certainly different taking pictures with a film camera since there’s no LCD at the back to review the image and no histogram to look at. You only get one shot and one shot only. If you screw up, too bad.

8 AM Sat morning

Drawing for a theme (Loud was drawn)

As mentioned, the 12 themes were drawn at top the hour. Apparently there were a total of 76 themes in the little secret box. The 12 (well more like 11) that got drawn were:

8am: My Entry Number (mine was 30)
9am: High Hope
10am: Nosy
11am: Blank
12pm: Loud
1pm: Wild Goose Chase
2pm: Wild Things
3pm: Tie
4pm: Perform
5pm: Flash
6pm: Nickel & Dime
7pm: Panhandle

John & Ben, two geeks hard at work

For me the most challenging one was “Wild Goose Chase.” My idea was to have a parking enforcing officer giving out a ticket while the owner of the car chaseing after the officer. Unfortunately that idea didn’t come forth so I ended up with a picture that I wasn’t too proud of. When the theme “Loud” was drawn picture of a climber screaming while trying to reach the next hand hold came into my mind. Too bad this was winter so nobody was climbing outside. I thought about setting up the shot in a climbing gym but there was not enough time to find friends to set up such shot. The 2nd idea was having girls wearing high heels walking in a furniture store and take a picture of the high heels and tile floor. Once again I couldn’t find anything.

The toughest part, I found, was the need to shoot the themes in order. Throughout the day I often walked around having to shoot 2 themes. Often I would walk by something that was perfect for the previous theme but I already took the required picture. Or finding something great for the 2nd theme but couldn’t take the picture because I was missing my 1st scene.

Overall the marathon was a huge success. The event was sold out with 60 eager photographers participating. I had a lot of fun and it was great meeting some fellow photographers and talk about photography. I can’t wait to see my pictures (still getting developed). It was a really neat idea and I can’t wait to participate in next year’s marathon! Kudos to the organizers and good luck to the judges with judging over 700 pictures!

When gift exchange goes wrong…

Last Thursday a bunch of us gathered at Man5ion for Christmas dinner potluck and white elephant gift exchange. Everyone brought a dish so needless to say there were a lot of mains and desserts going around. It was great chatting with friends and seeing people that I haven’t seen in a while. The best part of the night, of course, was the gift exchange. Basically everyone draw a number and pick a wrapped gift in order. If the gift is good the next person can steal the gift. The first gift was two cases of beers so that was quickly stolen by the next person, and then stolen again by Colin who was #3 on the list. Since a gift could only get stolen twice Colin was the lucky one that ended up with the tasty beers.

We all laughed pretty hard when we saw some of the gifts being opened… such the KY jelly and the romance novels Mike received, or the bath time fun banana Evan received and then got stolen by Stu. What a fun night.

I hate myself

On Monday Vancouver Photo Workshops (VPW) held a Digital SLR Learn & Try Workshop where the good folks at Beau Photo came in with both Nikon and Canon camera gear and allowed the workshop participants to try out different toys. Needless to say I was quite excited to try out the more expensive camera and lenses.

I had the chance to shoot with Canon’s top of the line 1DsIII camera ($8400 brand new) and 5DII ($2500 brand new) as well as some of the professional lenses such as the tilt shift 17 mm ($2700 brand new) and 24 mm ($2400 brand new). My favourite combo though was shooting different models with the 5DII and the 85 F1.2LII ($2200 brand new). I was quite impressed with how the pictures turned out. I also managed to try the 5DII with my own lens (24-70 F2.8L) and was very happy with the results.

When I switched back to my XSi I could totally feel a difference between my camera and the 5DII. Lesson learned? Don’t play with expensive camera toys cuz I’ll want to buy stuff I clearly can’t afford.

When everything clicked

For the past 3 years end of November/early December always meant a backcountry skiing trip to VOC’s own Brew Hut. This year was no different.

Originally I was getting a ride from Sam but last minute plan change meant I got a ride from Colin in his sweet modified 4runner instead. After a quick breakfast at Timmy’s in Squamish we headed off to the Chance Creek forest service road (FSR). Getting a ride in Colin’s truck meant we could drive up pretty far, eliminating the need to skin up the long boring logging road. About half way up the logging road we ran into a stuck RV that needed to be rescued. Having recently just installed a winch on his truck, Colin was more than willing to help the poor fellow. Apparently this fellow just decided to drive up the logging road in the middle of the winter and was stuck for over a day. Pretty idiotic if you were to ask me. Anyway after about 45 minutes we finally got his RV out and continued driving toward the trail head.

Rigging it up

Winch in action

If you could drive the whole logging road people usually just leave their cars at the R220 branch, about 1 km away from the trail head to avoid driving up the final steep sketchy section. When we got there I told Colin to park but he decided to drive up the steep road. I wasn’t complaining. We ended up parking pretty much right next to the logging road and began faffing around. We broke out the stove, made some tea, then decided to all take the important pre-trip dump in the woods.

Ignacio, Colin & Nick

Whistler is that way

After about 40 mins of faffing we finally started skinning shortly after 10 AM. Due to the recent rain fall and the sudden temperature drop, the trail was extremely icy. Nick, Colin, Ignacio, and I were all slipping all over the place, even when the hills were not all that steep. We took it pretty easy and took quite a few breaks in between. When we finally got to the alpine we were greeted by an incredible view. The past 4 times I’ve been to Brew Hut it was either dark or completely whiteout when I reached to the alpine. So I was quite grateful for the incredible view.

Only 5.5 km to the hut! Yea for not having to skin up the 10 km logging road!

Lunch time, life is good

The lone skier

Nick and Colin made it to the hut around 2:30 while Ignacio and I made it just after 3 pm. Brew Hut sits on a col so it sees a good share of wind. Skinning up the last hundred meter or so was extremely icy. I have never seen anything like it. After we got to the hut we sat around, shared good laughs, and enjoyed the gorgeous view. I was happy, everything just clicked, life was good. Just before sunset the wind picked up and it became extremely windy. A few times I almost got blew off my feet! The rest of the group had to skin up the long boring logging road so they got in the hut much later than us. Some made it sooner, some made it much later. Everyone arrived safe and sound although a few were obviously very tired after the whole ordeal.

Me in front of Mt. Fee, I was hiding in the backside this past summer

Mt. Garibaldi in the background

Tricouni and beautiful sunset

It was bitterly cold and windy outside so everyone tried to stay inside the hut and avoided from going outside. Lisa and Jul were extremely glad they didn’t have to sleep in a tent. The 15 of us had delicious dinners, shared lots chocolates, and of course lots alcohols. Around 9:30 people began retiring to the sleeping bag.

Since the snowpack was utterly utterly crap, we all decided to sleep in. I was planning to get up early to take some sun rise pictures but that didn’t happen. We all basically got up, ate breakfast, then started skiing out. It was still quite windy in the morning and the wind packed ice made skiing extremely difficult. Once we got to the forest section I took off my skis and proceeded to boot pack (i.e. walking with skis strapped on your backpack) the last 3.5 km. It was definitely a good idea as there were parts so icy I almost slipped and fell walking in telemark ski boots.

Colin and Nick managed to ski the entire way down without taking their skis off. Ignacio and I boot packed and arrived to the car around noon. It only took us about 2.5 hours to get down from the hut, not too bad. The drive back was quite uneventful other than getting stuck in the traffic by the Santa parade in downtown Vancouver and of course some douchebags in a Hummer. But that’s a story for another time…

Dreaming for snow

The rain from last week and the sun from this week certainly isn’t helping for snow packs. Sun baked rain crest? Let’s hope not.

Hopefully skiing this weekend will be like this…

Oh my god my eyes

For those that don’t know, Movember is s a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for men’s health. Like last year bunch of us decided to grow a stache and have a party at end of the month. The guys at the Man5ion were generous enough to let us use their place this year. Like their house warming party, the Movember party was one wicked one. Don’t believe me? Check out the pictures!

The guys at the Man5ion

Line & Frances sporting some awesome staches

Me getting some accessories

Somehow my brand new rechargeable batteries ran out during the night so I wasn’t able to use my Canon 580EXII. Since the 17-40L I have is quite a big lens, camera pop up flash would produce a very harsh shadow at the bottom half of the picture. So I gave up on the picture taking part pretty quickly.

Get your kids away from this guy!

Originally I planned to go to Red Heather with bunch people for a day of skiing the next morning. The plan was to get picked up at 6:10 AM Sat morning. I meant to leave the party around midnight but I started dancing with this girl and one thing led to another I didn’t end up leaving till 2 AM and got back home around 3 AM. Having less than 2.5 hours of sleep I ended up bailing on the trip and spent the entire Sat recovering from the party.

Today bunch of us went to Zoa Peak by Coquihalla highway summit for a day of wet skiing. It rain the entire day. We managed to get above the freezing level for a few hours to see some snow instead of rain but the freezing level ended up raising higher and higher throughout the day. The skiing was very good but everyone ended up pretty wet. Thank god it was only a day trip. Shockingly I left my camera in the car knowing it would be a wet day. I think I made a good choice. We then had a huge dinner at this the all you can eat fish & chips place in Hope. Mmm greasilicious.

Crazy weekend

Wow talk about an exhausting weekend!

Friday night was spent at Lee & Kelly’s no pants house warming party. Let’s just say there were some very interesting costumes at the party. The VOC’ers at the party were certainly more “open” when it came to costumes (or rather the lack of) compare to Kelly’s architecture friends. Knowing that I had to drive to Whistler Sat morning I intended to leave earlier than usual. That didn’t happen as I ended up going to bed at 1 AM.

The lovely hosts

Somehow I woke up at 5:20 AM on Saturday morning without too much problem. After picking up Lee, Evan, and Greta we were off to Whistler. Lee had less than 2 hours of sleep due to excessive partying so he basically passed out the whole car ride. Luckily the coffee from Timmy’s and loud music certainly helped me staying awake. We skied a few runs before meeting up to the other car group of 5. The entire day I kept hearing people commenting on these “goofy” telemark turns. The skiing was wicked, so much pow and of course lots face plants on my part. For a few runs I was having so much fun I was singing “Pow pow pow pow pow” down the entire run. People must thought I was nuts or something. To get the most of the day we skipped lunch (well ate lunch while waiting at the lift), and ended the day with like 9 or 10 runs. Needless to say my quads were burning like fire by the end of the day.

Evan sporting his “moose”stache

After getting back in town from Whistler and having a shower I then headed off to 2 parties – Lorraine’s birthday & house warming party and Mitch’s birthday party. It was funny meeting some of Loraine’s friends again. Apparently I was remembered as Lorraine’s roommate that stole her vodka at a house party many moons ago. I couldn’t remember a thing from that party. Oops. I arrived at Mitch’s birthday party in Yaletown Brewpub finding him already pretty wasted. The 151 shot I gave him certainly put him over the limit as he ran to the bathroom immediately afterward. I admit, I can be quite evil sometimes.

Today was spent recovering from my lack of sleep. My quads were basically non-functional the entire day. Walking up and down stairs and getting up from chairs was a real choir. My skis were in very bad shape from last year’s action so I ended up spending a bit of time ptexing and waxing the skis. I won’t say they are as good as new but certainly looking better than earlier today.

Before, lots deep scratches

After putting on Ptex

Final product, Ptexed and waxed. Can still see some scratches but better than before.

Finally an update

I know I know, I haven’t been exactly the best blogger out there. The last few nights I often find myself amazed how fast time passed by… one minute I look up it’s 8 pm then the next minute I look up it’s already 11 pm and it’s bedtime already.

-With the rainy weather we’re having lately in Vancouver I haven’t been taking any pictures. This is rather disappointing considering I have all these new toys but I can’t really play with them. I have all these ideas in my head but mother nature just isn’t cooperating. Boo. I did, however, finish going through a portrait shoot I did with a friend of mine about 3.5 weeks ago. I’m pretty pleased with the outcome. Getting better with portraits…I think? Hopefully once weather’s better I can find some willing volunteers to take some more edgy shots.

-Decided to tune my skis tonight. Boy there are some major scratches at the bottom of my skis. Need to get a ptex candle, some wax and fix up the skis myself one of these days. Luckily with the amount of snow we’re getting I don’t think I’ll damage the base further until maybe spring time. Still not quite sure what’s going on this weekend yet. I have couple party invites for Sat night, I would like to go to both but I also want to head out and ski. Backcountry condition looks a bit concerning, if I go skiing I’ll probably end up going to a resort. We’ll see. It’s Thurs and it’s still too early to decide weekend plans.

-The head boss is in town from CA this week so tonight my work team headed out for drinks & dinner. My “head boss” changed from person A to person B back in May or so. He is based in California but visits Vancouver occasionally. This was our first social outing with the head boss and it was nice to get to know him on a personal level. I was pretty impressed that he knew everyone’s name on my team. Not bad considering there are about 150 ppl underneath him. (My team is only about 15 ppl).

-Unfortunately not much update on the dating front (as if this is a shock). There have been a few interests from parties/events but never went anywhere. Let’s just say online dating is really frustrating. To a certain extend it’s almost like window shopping. Some girls seem to be so high of themselves. It’s quite annoying when you put in the time to think and write a non generic message and the girl simply reads it and deletes it right after. Wow gee thanks a lot. Then there are ones that you message back and forth for a bit, make some connections, then they either stop responding all of a sudden, decide that they don’t want to meet up (seriously? Then why are you on there in the first place?), or all of a sudden “not interested in dating anymore” yet you continue seeing them appearing on the dating site. Serious WTF? What the heck is with Vancouver dating scene? At this point of my age it’s so stupid to be playing head games. Really what’s the point?

Baker yet again

Went to Mt. Baker again today for some wicked skiing action. This time, however, was resort skiing. After about 5 hours of skiing my quads were burning from all the telemark turns. Funny to say this but the burning felt so satisfying! Still can’t believe it’s only November and there’s already this much snow already!

Love it!

From Wed, completely stuck in fresh pow (Photo: Rich)