I was surprised how close the owls were to the trail (and tons of people) and we were able to see at least 8 in just our field of view…with many more further out. There was even a barn owl hunting nearby but I wasn’t able to get any good shots of him.

No shortage of photographers doing the same thing I was, except with much better (or at least more expensive) gear:

This is what $12 million gets you…the estate overlooking the owls and the bay:

I also managed to capture one of my favorite sunsets yet:

View the full photo set on Flickr.

If you want to check out the owls for yourself, head out towards Ladner via Hwy 99. Turn left onto Ladner Trunk Road and then right at 72nd Street (follow the signs to Boundary Bay Airport). Stay on 72nd until the end of the road and park where ever you can (likely along 72nd but there are a few parking spaces at the very end). There is a trail you should stay on that gives you plenty of viewing of owls. Don’t disturb the owls by getting too close…there are lots of signs saying as such.

It was a good place to try out the new zoom lens (a 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR) I recently picked up. I normally wouldn’t consider this kind of lens since it breaks my lens purchase rule of nothing slower than f2.8 but I’ve been doing more and more outdoor photography lately and the price was just too good to pass up.

Here’s some of my favourite photos from the visit:

Not the best photo since it was shot through glass, but I think it was funny that he was licking his lips as he approached me and then turned around and peed directly on the window in front of us…

View the full set of photos on Flickr.

A highlight this year was the surprise from the Vancouver Fire Department who had a couple of their guys repel down the exterior of the hotel, with toys in tow:

The dramatic sunrise lighting and venting steam only added to the spectacle!

Sophie Louie from Global TV looks on as the firemen repel from above.

At the end of the morning, over 12 tonnes of toys had been donated! That should make for a lot of happy kids come Christmas morning!

Thanks to Rishad at the Pan Pacific Hotel for inviting me along…it was a great event to get up early for.

View all my photos from the morning on Flickr and see the full wrapup on the Pan Pacific’s blog.

A quick day trip to Seattle met with great weather as my girlfriend and I took in the Underground Tour of Seattle. It’s been on my list of things to do in Seattle for as long as I’ve lived on the West Coast and just never got around to it.

Meeting up in Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle, we started off with a brief bit of history at the tour’s base of operations and museum. We then headed out into the square and proceeded through the streets and into nondescript doorways and passages which lead us to stairwells that took us to the underground.

I don’t want to give away anything but the tour focuses on the parts of Seattle history that have been ‘swept under the rug’ and tells a fantastic tale of the city’s early days. It reminded me a lot of the Sins of City Tour in Vancouver…it’s amazing how many cities are built by some very colorful characters.

Our guide, Teri-Lyn was outstanding and she really made the tour come alive. It truly is a unique tour that I highly recommend checking out. I love the fact that so much is hiding behind and below those hidden stairwells and doorways throughout Pioneer Square.

Then, once back in Canada, I headed down to Vanier Park on Saturday for the Winter Wander. It was basically a $5 open house to all the attractions at Vanier Park. I’m a little ashamed to admit that I’d never been inside the Maritime Museum so it seemed like the perfect time to change that. I then proceeded to climb all over the St. Roch with my camera in hand.

After passing a little yarn bomb between venues,

we headed to the Museum of Vancouver and the Neon Vancouver | Ugly Vancouver exhibit which I had been wanting to check out.

Also couldn’t resist checking out the Smilin’ Buddha sign in the permanent exhibit side of the museum either.

A couple of great photo walk days for sure. Check out all the photos from the Seattle Underground Tour and the Winter Wander on Flickr.

It was held at the Chan Centre out at UBC which is a stunning place to witness any kind of event or performance. In this case, a thousand people came out for the day to listen to speakers from all different backgrounds and disciplines.

I was initially reluctant to attend a conference where you have to apply to go (I missed the previous two installments due to being out of town). What if I wasn’t worthy enough? In the end I decided to apply and just be myself not caring if I didn’t end up being accepted. I had expected a more daunting application but it wasn’t much more than a registration form with a few extra questions about myself.

Turned out I had nothing to worry about as I got my invite a few weeks later.

After a lively discussion on Twitter with @TEDxVancouver about this process, I agreed that there is a problem with many people signing up for conferences but either don’t really want to be there or aren’t willing to make the most of it. The application process forces people to make an extra effort to show that they want to be there and to be open to the ideas presented. I like that concept, especially when dealing with an increasingly bigger audience that wants to attend events like these – being the first in line to buy a ticket doesn’t necessarily make for a good attendee. I’m still not a fan of this process, as it was presented at least and organizers seemed to want to find a better way to do this that doesn’t come across as elitist as many people have labeled the application process.

A bit of a disclosure: while my application was accepted to attend TEDxVancouver, I was later asked if I wanted to attend and take photos under a (free) media pass, which I ultimately did. I contemplated simply attending (without my camera) as a paid attendee but decided I wanted the option to take photos of the event since I like to do that anyway and it’s rare to have camera access in a venue like the Chan Centre. I would have gladly paid the paltry $80 admission for the value that I got from the event.

Tickets went on sale just a week before the conference was scheduled to happen. I saw on Twitter that as the day got closer, people were able to extend ticket invites to their friends. I thought that was a little strange and possibly suggested that not all those that applied and had been accepted chose to buy tickets and organizers were trying to fill seats at the last minute. It kind of cheapened the whole application process in my mind. I have no idea how widespread this was. Having helped to organize conferences myself, I know how hard it can be to get everything right in the days leading up to the conference – especially with one this scale. Knowing that the TEDx organizers are all volunteers (and it’s a non-profit) helped me understand the difficulties they are under as well to produce a solid conference.

This was definitely a solid conference…and possibly one of the best ones I’ve attended in Vancouver.

One challenge with a conference like this is having the right speakers. The schedule wasn’t finalized until the very last minute and I honestly didn’t care who was speaking. I was going on the premise that TED (and TEDx) is famous for bringing together an amazing assortment of speakers from all walks of life to help inspire the attendees. I wasn’t even sure I needed to be inspired but I went in with an open mind.

As the day unfolded, I found the speakers that took the stage were incredibly engaging. One nice thing about the TEDx format is that you have a short amount of time to get your story out. There is no Q&A, which usually bores me to death (that’s what the hallways & after party is for). Just give your talk and move on to the next one. It made the day go fast, with little time to get bored if the topic wasn’t compelling. Instead of being exhausted at the end of the day, I found it energized me…which is usually the intent of any conference, but rarely the result in my experience. My mind was racing when I finally went to bed that night…still processing all that had been said in the talks, and the great conversations I had with many people during breaks.

I’ll let you decide for yourself if the speakers were as engaging to you as I found them to be as you’ll be able to (eventually) watch them on the TEDxTalks site…assuming you didn’t attend in person.

Interspersed throughout the day were a number of videos from TED.com featuring people discussing topics that were somewhat related to the upcoming in person talks. I quite liked this format and while it’s apparently mandated by the TED folks, it makes sense that it’s a good way to spread those ideas around beyond your own city limits. In particular, I found Marcin Jakubowski’s talk about open source ecology and his ‘global village construction set’ facinating. It really hit home thanks to my recent experiences building 3d printers.

One thing is for sure, I got a lot more out of TEDx than I expected to and will be thinking about the talks that occurred for a long time to come.

If you were reluctant to apply like I initially was, I encourage you to let it go and apply to attend next year’s event…or any TEDx event for that matter. I think there are at least 3 different ones happening this month in and around Vancouver alone: TEDxCapU (already over), TEDxSFU (Nov 26) and the Vancouver edition I attended.

A few nights before halloween, I figured it was time to carve up a pumpkin down at my local indoor shooting range:

and practice for the upcoming zombie apocalypse with a 9mm and shotgun.

Of course, this was all preparation for me to shoot real zombies, however instead of with a 9mm handgun, I used my DSLR to cover the annual Thrill the World Vancouver event. They set a new record for the number of zombies simultaneously dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller – 434! They also raised over $4400 for the food bank.

This year’s event was at night which presented some photographic challenges but that’s what giant LED light boxes are for.

You can view my full set of photos from the event on Flickr.

At the end of September I visited Fairmont Hot Springs, BC. and did a couple of guest blog posts over at Miss604.com. Easily the highlight for me was the hidden natural hot springs waterfall:

and I used my GoPro to capture the salmon run that was happening underneath my kayak while on a sightseeing tour:

I also got up close and personal with a bear cub on the resort grounds:

I had actually just finished in the spa and was following the bear cub around in my robe and flip flops. The momma bear wasn’t in the area…we saw her the next day and she was as big as a VW beetle.

Speaking of furry animals, I also got a new kitten recently. A female orange tabby that I’ve named Pixel:

She’s adorable…and is growing up quickly. She’s a Mac fan too!

And lastly, this year I’ve decided to throw my face into the ring (?) and participate in Movember. I’m actually going to grow my facial hair, even though I can just print a mustache on my 3D printer:

I’ve lost a number of people I care about recently to cancer and figured it was time to endure a month of awkward looks with a creepy janitor-esque mustache. Although I may try and do a fu man chu if my follicles play along. If you’d like to donate, please visit my Movember page. I thank you in advance for your support.

In no particular order:

1. Lomokino & Lomoscope (~$100, Lomography)
   I love the concept of this retro film movie making camera from Lomography that uses 35mm film stock to shot about 60 seconds of footage. Sure you can probably fake it with half a dozen iPhone apps but that’s not nearly as fun. Get the bundle as it comes with a projector as well.
   
   
2. Star Wars peppermill ($20, Think Geek)
   
   Think Geek has some of the coolest stuff that you won’t find anywhere else…and this R2D2 peppermill is one of those things. I recently got this for my birthday from my girlfriend and can confirm that Droids DO in fact make the best pepper.
   
   
3. Arduino! ($30-$100, multiple places)
   
   As regular readers here know, I’m a big fan of Arduino microprocessors and there are no shortage of fun projects and kits to check out, regardless of age or skill level. It’s also the brains of my 3D printers. SparkFun has a great starter kit, as does Solarbotics who also has a couple awesome robot platforms to put those microcontrollers to work. Adafruit also has some great kits and lots of other fun stuff. In Vancouver, you can get Arduinos from Lee’s Electronics on Main Street and they also have the SparkFun kits
   
   
4. A 3D Printer – ($500 and up)
   
   A little higher up the $ scale but I definitely know a few people that would love to unwrap a 3D printer. I’ve written extensively about my experiences with 3D printers. This is a kit from Mixshop in Toronto that is only missing the plastic printed parts which can be bought from ebay for around $75 (I also print/sell them). Definitely for those geeks that like to build things from kits and aren’t afraid of a little soldering. Of course you can also go the route I went and get a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic which is a bit easier to build with a higher price tag ($1,324) or you can spend a little more and get it fully assembled ($1,624). Not sure if MakerBot can deliver to Canada with their lead time + customs but the previous links are for Canadian reseller that has them in stock.
   
   
5. The F-Stop Watch ($35, PhotoJoJo)
   
   This is a pretty slick and inexpensive watch for any photographer. PhotoJoJo has lots of other great stuff for the photo geek.
   
   
   
6. Xshot Extendable Hand Held Monopod (~$25, multiple)
   
   I bought one of these a few years ago and they now have a newer version that is even more compact. I primarily use it with my GoPro to help me get above or below the action. It works with just about any kind of compact still or video camera, you know, when you’re ziplining through the trees in Whistler. Great for taking self portraits as well. I got mine at London Drugs but I can’t find it on their site but it’s definitely in stores. Photojojo also has them.
   
   
7. Gift Cards – (various)
   
   Don’t be afraid to give a gift card to a geek…if you know they have a favorite place to shop for their stuff, they’ll appreciate a gift card more than you trying to guess what they may need.

Happy shopping!

Here’s some of my favorite photos from the two day festival of outdoor concerts.

Day One

Emily Haines and James Shaw of Metric did an acoustic set:

a view from the busy photo pit:

then Vancouver’s own Hey Ocean did a great set on the main stage:

I don’t think anyone in the photo pit liked the camera crane:

The John Butler Trio was up next:

many of the instruments had GoPro cameras rigged up to give an interesting view of the musicians which I really liked

The highlight for me was definitely Girl Talk who closed the evening:

Day Two
Sunday had an earlier start and seemingly more bands. First up was Vancouver’s The Zolas:

Metric’s full set followed:

Weezer:

and then Major Lazer closed out the festival. Diplo and crew put on an amazing finale:

Unfortunately, the onboard mic on my DSLR couldn’t quite keep up with the wall of bass hitting it but here’s a little clip:

It was a pretty epic weekend of music, friends and lots of sunshine. Here’s a slideshow of all the photos I posted to Flickr from the weekend:

Also be sure to check out Rebecca’s coverage of the festival which I contributed to.

Since I had a guaranteed seat on a stable grandstand, I decided to bring my camera and tripod and shoot some photos. I’ve never been happy with my photos of the fireworks but it’s usually because I can’t be bothered to try different settings once it’s all setup…not to mention the ‘randomness’ of the fireworks display and trying to capture just the right shot.

So, I decided to package up all my photos taken during the evening, about 550 of them, into a time-lapse where you can view the entire display in about 40 seconds:

Enjoy!

Here’s a few of my favourite shots followed by an embedded slideshow of all the photos I posted in Flickr.