Ok so Steve and I been living the tourist life here on the west coast all summer. I laugh at this… but it’s true! We figure that since we’ve done many of the typical tourist attractions, we should add the Vancouver Aquarium to the list of those “complete”.

Located on the north-east side of Stanley Park, the aquarium houses many of the oceans giant creatures, up close and personal. I’d have to say my favourite being the dolphins show that the three extremely intelligent creatures put on for the visitors (last image).

The city is a great challenge to photograph. Many of us are used to our local surroundings, and often we overlook the pure beauty around us. Last week I stopped to take the time to really look, and managed to capture the following bits of the city and its people in daily action. Having the opportunity to document such a lovely city is one of the many perks about living in Vancouver. There are no shortage of shapes, shadows and colours around me.

Last week, I had the opportunity to photograph beautiful Olga, a mother-to-be, as she experiences one of the most memorable times in her life; her first pregnancy. At just over 8-months into her term, Olga is excited to welcome the birth of her baby girl into this world in just three weeks.

For this particular session, I was looking to take the natural beauty of a woman who’s ready to bring new life into the world and place her into an organic setting. Olga and I decided a local beach would be a perfect place for the photo-shoot.

After a long hike around the Stanley Park Seawall, we decided to take a high resolution panorama looking north in Vancouver by the Lions Gate Bridge from Prospect Point. The photo is a joint effort by Steve and myself. The original contains 15 photos at 21 megapixels each stitched together to create the final composition.

To see the high-resolution, full-size version of the image, please click here.

Yesterday, Steve and I decided to challenge ourselves to the Grouse Grind climb in North Vancouver. Having never done this climb, we were well aware of what we were getting ourselves into. The 2800 foot vertical climb was more challenging than we had anticipated, especially since we decided to both carry heavy backpacks up the trail full of camera gear!

Once at the top, the struggles were well worth the effort as the views were breath-taking and the sense of accomplishment was high. Tired and sweaty, we vowed to replace every calorie that we just burnt with an amazing plate of nachos and beer!

Thank you for your patience over the past month! Steve and I have been busy relocating to the beautiful western province of British Columbia and have settled into our condo in downtown Vancouver.

Below, I’ve posted a before and after shot of our living room and kitchen area. As you can tell, a bit of pre-planning and organization really brought our place together in the end. 

Stay tuned to many new posts of our adventures in this beautiful new city.

Fan mail is a lovely thing, especially when “I am truly inspired by your art.” is the subject line. I was so pleased last week when a graphic design student named Asha Mody from the San Diego City College contacted me directly. Originally from India, Asha loved the styling of my mehndi-inspired patterned illustration.

After explaining to me that she was going to show my work to her art class, she asked for basic instruction on the steps involved in completing some of my past organic art pieces. In particular, she loved the following work, and decided to try our her own luck with the style using the techniques I had taught her. I have posted my original work first, followed by her inspired work below. Check out her graphic and web design here.

Have you ever noticed how a child’s short attention span gives way to amazing persistence when the task is something she really wants; for example, learning to walk, tying a shoe, whistling a tune, batting a ball? And when the child falters at any of these tasks, the adults respond with encouragement, patience and applause for the effort.

The other day, the Dominican Sisters – Grand Rapids approached me interested in using a drawing that I did back in 2001 of a young girl learning to tie her shoe in their newsletter on persistence. This drawing appears in their May 2010 newsletter, available both in online and printed format.

This past weekend, it seemed that thousands of Torontonians flooded into High Park to catch a glimpse of the cherry blossom trees in full bloom… and I was one of them! Despite the cold and windy weather we endured on Saturday, by Sunday every tree in the park was flowering. In 1959, the Japanese ambassador to Canada gave Toronto the gift of 2000 Japanese “Somei-Yoshino Sakura” trees. The trees were planted in appreciation of Toronto accepting re-located Japanese-Canadians following World War II. Throughout the years many more have been planted in this 400-acre-park, and today they can be found all along west pathway and on the hillside overlooking Grenardier Pond.

And who could endure such a gorgeous walk without washing it all down with a pitcher of cold beer? Thank you Creemore Springs for brewing up such a creamy brew!

This evening, I spent some time cleaning and sorting through my 2009 image collection when I came across this photograph. I know what you’re thinking… hasn’t every photographer out there shot a version of their shadow in the sunlight? Yup! It’s time for me to join the party and add to that collection! I shot this image last October while out with my dog, Lincoln, attached to my hip. He makes an ideal companion and a perfect model for testing out technique.