DITL Esquimalt and Peninsula
I thought I'd start the new year by posting my last Day in the Life of 2011, this time a combination of Esquimalt and Peninsula, which I did last summer. Shooting a DITL series is always fun. Doing one in Esquimalt is completely different from one in, say, Saanich, if only because of the size of the area you have to cover. And then you have the Saanich Peninsula with the airport, the BC Ferries terminal, and a big, big dairy farm.
Oh, and happy new year to all!
Victoria International Airport, Thursday July 14th, 2011. 20:12 - Jenny, Jared and 18 months old Roland Cook needed a snack before taking a flight to Ontario to visit family.
North Saanich, Thursday July 14th, 2011. 17:53 - Michael Holst, manager at Pendray Farms, tube feeds a 12 hour old calf, who earlier that day had escaped out into the field.
Esquimalt, Tuesday August 23rd, 2011. 17:45 - James Ferguson, produce clerk at Country Grocer, enjoys the sun during a short break from work.
Sidney, Thursday July 14th, 2011. 18:36 - Constable Vanessa Fields, of the Sidney / North Saanich RCMP, signs in to the laptop in one of the RCMP's vehicles.
Esquimalt, Tuesday August 23rd, 2011. 16:14 - Wayne Young, apprentice mechanic at Lyall Street Service Station, replaces a tire.
Esquimalt, Tuesday August 23rd, 2011. 15:52 - Bill McCabe tees off at the 10th hole on Gorge Vale Golf Course.
Swartz Bay, Thursday July 14th, 2011. 19:14 - David Burrowes was waiting at the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal for the ferry to Mayne Island, and was killing time by solving a crossword puzzle and watching baseball.
Esquimalt, Tuesday August 23rd, 2011. 20:37 - Yan Demeules was playing pool at Tudor House.
DITL Saanich
On June 21st I participated in photographing a day in the life of Saanich. For those of you who don't know, Saanich covers quite a bit of area, at least compared to Victoria, Oak Bay and Esquimalt. I drove from the Red Barn Market, on West Saanich Road, to Mt. Douglas to Cordova Bay to Camosun College's Interurban campus to Tillicum to the Commonwealth swimming pool - roughly. I took more than one and more than two detours from that route.
The photos were published on July 20th and you can leaf through the DITL issue on issuu.com.
15:57 - Todd Morrison, who works in the produce department at the Red Barn Market, was helping a pepper find its place before he topped up the mushroom boxes.
17:27 - Sebastian Pfnuer, Lisa Kouzmina and Michael Kelly check out the interpretive marker at the top of Mt. Douglas.
17:35 - Gordy Binning, field hockey player with the Victoria Junior Selects, stretches after running up Mt. Douglas.
17:54 - Chantelle Ohs and Nick Aktarian were relaxing on Cordova Bay beach on Tuesday afternoon.
18:43 - Ann Collins works out the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence (PISE).
19:38 - Lex Delbouis buttered some popcorn for a customer at the SilverCity Victoria Cinemas on Tuesday evening.
20:00 - Helen Salmon untangles a Clematis which had taken a Flowering Currant in a stranglehold in her garden.
21:28 - Ross Paterson took some flips off one the diving boards at Commonwealth Place on Tuesday night.
DITL Oak Bay
In the past month or so I've participated three times in photographing a day in the life of different communities on Vancouver Island. The first batch of photos, taken on June 14th, was published in the Oak Bay News last Wednesday, which makes it okay for me to post some of them here. I did a similar thing last fall in Esquimalt, going from midnight until 7 am, but this time I went from around 4 pm until 10 pm at night. Much better.
Preparation for one of these is good exercise. My photo editor gave me a brief description of what types of shots he wanted from me, and approximately where in town he wanted me to shoot. The rest was pretty much up to me. I sent him a list of ideas, he OK'd them and made some suggestions as to what else I might add, and then I started making phone calls. Most places were fine with me coming in to shoot, others were not, and that's just how it goes.
All in all it was a fun afternoon. It was definitely different from the shoot in Esquimalt (which was fun too), because now most people were still awake when I was shooting, as you can see.
16:30 - John McIntosh sits between two boats at Oak Bay Marina, making an eye-splice for his anchor rode.
17:11 - Ben Stone, tennis instructor at Oak Bay Recreation Centre, waits for a return shot from a student he is working with (not shown) at Carnarvon Park.
17:57 - Yudi Zhang, 5, checks out a large stack of books from the Oak Bay library just before closing time.
18:25 - Jazzercise class leader Brenda Richardson puts a group of women and men through their paces ath Henderson Recreation Centre.
18:53 - Andrew Hunter, all-rounder for the Sticky Wicket cricket team, gets ready to enter a game at Windsor Park.
20:53 - Daryl Lundy, Oak Bay Fire Department mechanic and firefighter, conducts an annual checkup on one of the department's trucks.
Two front page photos
Last weekend I took a Saturday shift for Black Press. It was a relatively easy shift, although I did have to drive between opposite corners of town for the day's assignments.
Of course I went places I would never have gone otherwise, such as a high school graduation at UVic and to Saanich Municipal Hall where an ethnobotanist was given the highest honour a resident of Saanich can get.
On Monday I received an email from my photo editor, Don Denton, who informed me that I would have the front page photo for both the Saanich News and Victoria News on Wednesday. Two front pages in one day, from one Saturday shift? I couldn't ask for more.
The one in Victoria News is of City of Victoria's parks environmental technician Fred Hook, as a part of a story about herons nesting in Beacon Hill Park. My attempts at getting a photo of him and a heron or two were futile, and I couldn't really keep Fred from his work for too long. I tried, though. And then I stayed for a while after he left, hoping to catch some heron photos, but that didn't work out either.
Front page of Victoria News, June 22, 2011.
The cover of Saanich News was probably a bit more surprising, because it was not part of a cover story. I had gone to Vancouver Island Technology Park to photograph the Victoria Canary Derby, a soapbox race to raise money for the B.C. Cancer agency. There I discovered a man getting ready to drive down the hill in a beautifully decorated racer; Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard. Him being there was apparently a secret to the guests until moments before he drove down the hill. I just got lucky being in the right spot when he was getting into the racer and adjusting his helmet before being pushed off.
Front page of Saanich News, June 22, 2011.
Victoria Marathon
Last year I ran the 8K run at the Victoria Marathon, and after a lengthy running hiatus last winter and spring I wanted to do it again this year. Unfortunately I wasn't able to run myself into the shape I wanted to be in, but instead another opportunity presented itself; Don Denton, the photo editor at Black Press, contacted me and offered me the chance to photograph the marathon.
I went for one last run to see if I was ready to participate in the 8K or not, and subsequently decided to take the work instead. A great experience? Yes. Was I done when I was done? Pretty much. Lugging two camera bodies and a heavy backpack (which I tried to keep as light as possible) around for five or six hours - even running from the start line, over the Legislature lawn, to catch the runners going past the Empress hotel - left the bottom of my feet swollen and sore. But it was worth it.
Three of the following images (and one more which isn't here) found their way to the pages of most or all of the Black Press papers in Greater Victoria.
Half marathon runners going past the Empress hotel.
Dr. Corey Renaud stretches before the marathon. No, this is not a Photoshop disaster.
Almost every marathon runner in the front row was on the clock when the race started.
James Lander, Philip Samoei, Gilbert Kiptoo and Bernard Onsare got the early lead in the full marathon.
A young woman was overcome by fatigue less than 200 metres from the half marathon finish line and was taken care of by the medical crew.
Half-marathon runner, whose full name I couldn't find, needed a breather after the race.
Anna Russell receives a medal after finishing the half marathon.
Catrin Jones was the surprise(d) winner of the women's full marathon.
Jeff Thompson won the wheelchair marathon.
And then two photos of newlyweds at the finish line:
Michelle Morris and Oliver Hohertz got married on marathon day and then walked across the finish line a few minutes ahead of the first marathon runners.
Newlyweds Oliver Hohertz and Michelle Morris were interviewed by media after they walked across the finish line at the Victoria Marathon.