Documenting The Streets Of Vancouver

Whenever I am in Downtown Vancouver and walk along the streets and alleys, there are days when I'm a bit lazy and don't bother taking the camera out of the bag. However, on most other days, when I push myself over the hump and instill in myself this desire to create, I grab the camera out of the bag and document as much as I can. Suddenly, my attitude changes and I get into this "mode" of searching for light, composition and subjects.

As I type this and upload the images, I've been thinking to myself "why bother with these images?" To preserve. To document. To tell stories through photographs and preserve that moment in time, which will never happen again. 

Ambleside and Crabs

At the end of the summer, my wife and I had an opportunity to go to Ambleside in West Vancouver one night. I think we just needed to get out of the house and get some fresh air so we packed the camera(s), started the car and drove out.

We arrived to find a few people catching crabs... fishing for crabs... crabbing... actually, I'm not really sure what the correct term is. They had steel traps, raw meat and were lifting out the traps with local dungeness crabs (and the occasional curious star fish).

Crabbing reminds me of old family summer getaways and trips to local lakes and beaches. I definitely would not mind trying it again but for now I'll just document it.

Food Cart Festival Vancouver

It was soaking wet and I was in summer slipper shoes. My feet were inexplicably wet. Yet, I kept on the trek with my wife and and continued on to our destination. You see, we were heading to the Vancouver Food Cart Festival located just off of False Creek and we were very eager that day but did not anticipate the rain.

A rainy day is not how you usually envision a Food Cart Festival. I tend to think of sunny hot summer days with the heat of the food accentuated by the heat of the sun. While the rain did drench our spirits a little bit, the food definitely picked them up and more than made up for the very wet trek. I have to say that Vancouver Food Cart food is pretty good stuff and well worth any wet trek. :) 

Mogu is my wife's favorite food cart. We love their fried chicken and sauce. It's so good!

Mogu Deep Fried Chicken. Minutes before it was gone.

Umbrellas were a requirement that day.

A couple of the hot sauces available for your Yolk's breakfast.

This is the pizza we ordered from Community Pizzeria. Despite the wetness of the weather, my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this. It was both crispy and soft in all the right places.

Ice cream sandwich on a wet summer's day? When it's this good, heck yeah!

In all honesty, I find Food Cart food a little on the pricey side. That being said, I really enjoy the uniqueness of the food that you get to eat. The items we tried that day were very good and would not mind paying for again. Maybe on a sunnier day, though :)

Suddenly... Dancing!

So I was with my wife and we were on our way to my haircut in Downtown Vancouver when we saw that Granville Street was closed off. 

Suddenly... Dancing!

I didn't get a chance to check out this whole routine and, for that matter, I was also behind them (their act was positioned to face the other way) but it was really cool to see them performing some cool dance moves while the person in the center chucked around the spinning top.

Right next to the old Sears building, a crowd of dancers were "busting a move" to some music placed by a live band in the white tented area. It was really awesome to see Vancouver so lively. We should do this more often!

OK, no dancing here. I was on a personal photography assignment for a friend's going-away party and snapped this. And yes, food in hand while doing it...
I saw the dog starting to walk out of the frame so let the camera blur it's movement in order to keep it in.

Walking My Usual Route

I spend quite a bit of time by Canada Place in Downtown. With the summer season here, the place is bustling with activity as cruise ships bring people into the city. This area is kind of a tourist hub where you can visit the Convention Center, visit Canada Place and jump onto a hop-on hop-off bus to explore the city.

It's also a place where people in the Downtown core can go to relax and take in the sea-breeze. If I don't have a camera with me, I'm usually relaxing and taking in the fresh air and will usually grab some lunch. With camera in-hand, I go into documentary mode ... sometime with lunch still in my other hand!

3 Images

I've been in the midst of a re-evaluation. This is a re-evaluation of self and my own work and may involve changes in the gear I use or maybe a slight change in mentality for my photography. Re-evaluation happens often for me and is partly due to me being critical of my own work and taking a good hard look at it and making sure it's what I want. I tend to think this is a good thing and it can sometimes result in experimentation to see if something else works or if what I'm working with is good as it is. Throughout this experimentation, I always ensure that what I'm doing and what I'm using conforms to my way of working (documentary) but it's always neat to try new things and see what works. Regardless, it's caused me to pause and think for a bit, hence the last few weeks of no new entries. Thanks for waiting.

Today, I just wanted to share 3 stories and tell you a little bit about them. Sometimes, we look at photographs for just a few seconds and then move on. It's this internet and media culture and 30 second commercials and youtube clips, I think :P I'm hoping that instead of just passing by these images, you'll sit and read the commentary behind them (short or as long as they may be) and enjoy them like a good, well-matured blue cheese... or wine. 

I was walking home from work and it was raining lightly. I recall having my camera pulled tight to me to avoid the rain. I saw the gentleman with his dog and then saw the corresponding other 3 fellows walking in the opposite direction. Just as they were moments from passing each other, I quickly raised my camera and took the photograph. In an instant, the moment was gone. 

I was visiting my parents with my wife and my Dad brought out his old stamp collection. Stamp collecting is a bit of a lost art, especially in this day and age of email and instant messaging negating the need for postage. There's something special and also very #tangible about seeing a collection of stamps. Connected with each stamp is a letter, form or... heck, even a bill. But it came from somewhere and had to go somewhere else. 
Needless to say, the array of stamps was quite amazing to see. Might be time to restart mailing out hand-printed letters :)

OK, not much to say here other than I caught my cat napping and quickly took a photograph. I think he was so sleepy that day that he didn't even bother to wake-up. 

The Never Ending Quest To Find My Voice... Results In a New Blog

For those of you who have followed me at my old blog at www.jonathandesmond.blogspot.com, thank you for your interest and your support. I started that blog in 2010 to really focus on my creative vision and sharpen my instinct for my photography. The result is almost 4 years of blogging and also slowly seeing my interest and passion turn to Documentary-Style Photography (and Documentary and Street Photography in general).

Just as I started my old blog, this is how I will start my new blog: This is the start of something NEW. I look forward to taking this photographic vision adventure with you folks along side me :)

-Jonathan Desmond-
Documentary Photographer