To Be Someone Else

We've all wondered it before, what it would be like, if just for a minute to be someone else,
not to say we are not happy with who we are, it's more the voyeur that I think
exists in all of us, the curious child wanting to know always just a little more. In the world we live in all of us use our clothing and adornments to express ourselves and separate ourselves from the other, not always so successfully. Take a minute to try something different in your life, part your hair on the other side, wear a hat you've never worn, speak a language you've never spoken, perhaps you will find yourself acting like someone else, if just for a minute.

Car Free Day on Commercial Drive at Boulevard Skateshop

The best part of Car Free Day in Vancouver is the crowd, any gathering of more than 10 people turns into a protest/love in/skate session/freakfest, so I decided to head over to Commercial Drive last weekend, eat some BBQ and shoot photos, here are some pictures I made during the afternoon.

Skateboard madness:
Kevin Kelly the proprietor of Boulevard Skate Shop on Commercial Drive made his contribution to Car Free Day by putting up a ledge and blast ramp so that anyone with wheels underneath them(some without) could perform tricks and just generally cause a little chaos during the day. It never ceases to amaze that the bravest spectators are usually those holding a small child or fragile objects in hand, the seemed to feel like they must be as close to "the action" as possible, if anything you get some spectacular close calls.

Free Life Center at Lifetime Collective

This last Friday I had the pleasure of meeting the two guys behind The Free Life Center
at the Lifetime headquarters, Mark Warren Jacques and Seth Neefus . Mark and Seth
made their 3rd stop in Vancouver on a West Coast tour where in each new location they
are putting together an art shack that houses Mark and Seth's art work but also serves as
an intimate space for a musical performance.

Reid Stewart of Lifetime Clothing/Collective hosted Mark and Seth's "art shack" on the roof top deck at Lifetime headquarters, we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day and a calm warm evening where Vancouver band Adelaide performed in open air in the "backyard" of Free Life Center shack, and Mark and Seth finished the evening off performing by candle light inside the art shack.

For more information on the Free Life Center visit www.freelifecenter.com

Here are some photos I took just after it was constructed the night before the show and some photos from the evening of.

 the shack

No Sun City

The weather:
Living on the West Coast of Canada we are all more than accustomed to the bad
weather, each winter we all curse the rain, and you can see the toll it takes on
everyone mentally and physically. The fact is that we aren't even sure that we'll have
the sun we all crave come summer as we've been known to have a couple weeks of
good weather then back to the drizzle and dark. These images capture for me the
feeling of this weather, and the effect it has on us all.

Portraits for Lifetime Clothing/Collective

Portraits taken at the various ateliers of Lifetime Collective collaborators from left to right;
Elise Beneteau: clothing designer, Tyler Lepore: owner of Super Champion, bicycle shop,
Ken Diamond: leather goods creator and Sophie Alden: of Lisbeth Jewellery.
The portraits are traditionally posed, and are taken

Chateau Miranda. Une etude. Noir et Blanc 2008

This is a collection of never viewed photographs taken in the Spring of 2008 at the Chateau Miranda in Belgium. These photos represent my first encounter with shooting abandoned spaces and was the launching point of my love and fascination with photography. I have chosen to "develop" the images in B&W for two reasons; to draw attention to the lines and textures found in the space; to remove the emotional element presented by color in images.

Caribou at The Rickshaw in Vancouver

Last Saturday May 29th myself and a hell of a lot of other good people went to the Caribou concert at The Rickshaw in Vancouver. Having seen them one other time a couple years ago
when they where touring on the Andorra album(which was brilliant), I knew this show would be one to not miss.

Here are some images I managed to squeeze in during the show.