Friday, January 29, 2010

Four

I love you, sugar.


Photo courtesy of winFRESH w/ my Rebel. Editing courtesy of stv.

Press play while you stare at the photo above. I swear, you can almost feel the soft warmth of the Cuban sunset. Or hear the gentle crash of the waves on the white sand. Or smell the sweet Caribbean air. I close my eyes and I'm there...and so are you.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Chinatown Fire

As most of you have heard, there was a major fire in a Chinatown resturaunt yesterday. The fire started before dawn and carried on for most of the day, causing the closure of Center St. Nearly 150 citizens were displaced due to poor air quality in the area and were not allowed back home until today. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the blaze. When I first heard about the fire on the news, I hoped that my favorite Chinese resturaunts, Ho Won and U & Me, were not reduced to ashes. The building that went down was actually directly beside U & Me; close call, because where would I go for my drunken after hour dim sum binge? After my evening class last night, I went down to Chinatown to check out the scene.









Monday, January 25, 2010

Chloe's 23rd Birthday

C-Woww turned 23 on the 15th of December! She's such a big girl now! Normally, she is too bummed about exams or lazy to do anything for her birthday, but this year she celebrated her birthday a good 4 times! Once, she jointed it with Win at Lounge Burger for dinner, then she celebrated with her fam, then she celebrated with me and her fam on her birthday day, and finally she celebrated once again with her friends. If that doesn't make up for the lost years, I don't know what will! These are photos taken at her 4th and final birthday celebration, a chill, laid back night at what will probably be the last time her friends will be invited to her house. You'll see why. There are a lot of handsome portraits of the boys and girls here; enjoy!











Hmmm, what does he seem so embarrassed about?


He should be ashamed...










Good capture dub, I'm obsessed with this photo of Chloe.






Thanks for coming out! hope you guys had fun, because you're never invited back ever again! Just kidding, maybe...


Click the jump to check out more in the photo stream

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

2010 Olympic Torch Relay: Part II

Starting from the plaza at around 7am, the torch made it's way north west through the city towards the University of Calgary campus. Fortunately for me, I couldnt sleep anyways, so I made my way to the Olympic Oval to take some more pictures of the relay!

I got the the U at around 8:30 and I could alreaady hear the P.A. systems and helicopters above, so I knew it was close. The event was not nearly as busy as the event at the Plaza, but there was still a good crowd at the Oval. I made my way down to ice level and got a good spot along the padded barriers on one of the curves. Even though I was using my dad's 24-105mm f/4 lens, I had immediate lens envy when I saw some of the zoom lenses that the pros were shooting with, however, the wider angle of my lens made for some cool shots. Anyways, the event was pretty cool and I got really close to the torch again and got to take some cool shots. There was also a hottie on the speed skating team, so that didn't hurt too much. Enjoy!







































Click the jump to check out more in the photo stream

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

2010 Olympic Torch Relay: Part I

When Calgary held the Olympics in 1988, I was only 4 years old and was not fortunate enough to partake in the Olympic torch relay. Actually, the only memory that I have about the '88 Calgary Olympics is a drive around downtown with my mom and dad in our old grey Dodge Ram Van. I remember being strapped into the car seat and staring at the flame atop the Calgary Tower in amazement. Last night, the torch made it's way back to Calgary after a 22 year absence and I finally got my chance to participate in the excitement!

And it actually was really exciting! After checking out the route map online I figured a good spot to check out the torch along its route would be on 17th ave. by the Mount Royal shopping block. People were lined up along the busy street as far as the eye could see and everyone was buzzing in anticipation to see the torch pass by. As we stood waiting, a Vancouver 2010 bus stopped directly in front of us. To our surprise, a tall, slender, blonde girl dressed in all white stepped off the bus carrying a unlit torch in hand. What a great coincidence that the torch is to be passed directly in front of where we were standing! The girl's name was Emily and she was kinda cute and good spirited even though her arm was in a sling; poor gal. Soon after, the torch arrived in hand of an older gentleman named Bill, or maybe Bob. The guy looked like he was 70 and could beat me in a foot race! The crowd was going nuts! And just like that, the torch was passed and gone in what seemed like the snap of a finger.














Once we calmed ourselves down with two hits of Valium each, we started our walk to the Olympic Plaza to catch the lighting of the cauldron. We took our sweet time, walking under the moonlight, expecting the torch to take a while. Once we got to 9th ave., a stage of the torch route, we were seeing the rolling police traffic stops arriving. To our surprise, the torch was only 5 blocks back! We had to get a move on if we wanted to beat the torch to the plaza, so we started to run along 9th and Stephen ave. from 5th st. to McLeod tr. Am I the only one who appreciates the irony? We got to the plaza in time and found it to be packed. Supposedly, 20,000 Calgarians filled the plaza last night, which was great to see. Citizens of Calgary rarely get behind anything other then the Stampede or the Flames. As the torch approached, the cheering got louder. Car horns were honking, tambourines were jingling and voices were cheering! The torch approached the stage and as the barer lit the cauldron, the crowd erupted and was greeted with a short firework show. It was a pretty great event that I am proud to have experienced.












After the spectacle we headed back to the cars, but not without taking a few more pictures of the crowd and beautiful street scene down Stephen Avenue.




















Click the jump to check out more in the photo stream