12x12: July

Liang, napping at Jericho Beach.




Neverland tea shop on Broadway.

Haney Wharf, ft. one of the most beautiful sunsets of the summer.

A heron fishing in the Fraser.

the Fraser // the Billy Miner pub
These were all taken with Kodak Elite Chrome slide film, my first time using it. Pretty pleased with the results.

28/52

Liang & I went out to Jericho Beach. She let me drive her car, which, being an automatic, felt a bit like driving a go-kart after learning on Jeff's standard. We had beer & food at the sailing club before heading down to the water. It was still a little cold for swimming, but we had a relaxing afternoon in the shade on the sand, and then stopped for iced tea on the way home. A few more from this day, all with slide film, can be viewed here.

12x12: January

My aim is to shoot 24 film exposures per month, and share the best twelve of them. Here are January's, though they were all taken on the 31st, when I went to the Sunshine Coast to visit Amanda. Click on any of the photos to view larger.

On the ferry.


Amanda's yard in Roberts Creek.

I don't know if this is true for the other cabins on the property as well, but the tub & shower at Amanda's are outside. For most of the year, solar panels heat the water for the shower, but in the winter there's not enough energy so there is no hot water running out of the tap. She keeps a pot of water on top of the fire for washing dishes, and in the winter warms her bath using the fire pit below it (the tub is built into a slab of rock, and two large rocks can be moved to cover the opening to keep the heat of the fire in). We heated the bathtub while we cooked & ate dinner (using the fire to roast some vegetables wrapped in foil), and put our towels to warm on top of the stove. I also discovered I'm actually pretty good at chopping firewood! I admit I was apprehensive about the idea of having an outdoor bath in the winter, but sitting in the warm tub out under the stars with a cool glass of beer was actually fantastic.




Various spots in Sechelt, where we went for groceries. The buses don't run very often, so while we waited I filled my coat pockets with nice rocks at the beach and we watched the sun set.

18 August 13

The pier in Ocean Beach. I wandered around the storefronts and beaches a bit in the morning, taking photos with my film SLR. In the afternoon we drove into Balboa Park to go to a museum or two (we ended up only having time/funds for the Natural History Museum), and do some admiring of the gardens & architecture.
Few more photos from this day here.

15 August 13

Alice and I were super early for our flight, but the flight itself was not too bad. Also it's been awhile since I've flown out of Vancouver and I forgot how nice it is. They have a dispenser at the water fountain just for filling your water bottle with delicious tap water! Mom & Jimm picked us up at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, and unfortunately we got stuck in rush hour traffic so it over two hours to get back to San Diego.

We went down to the water and had a gleeful time watching the dogs play on the beach, and afterwards we were joined by Maddie & Michael, and went to a fantastic sushi/tapas bar called The Joint.
Couple more photos from this day here.

20 July 13

Jeff and I went on an afternoon hike in Belcarra, up from the main picnic area to Jug Island Beach at the top of the park, on Indian Arm. We had plans to hang out at White Pine and go for a swim afterwards, but by the time we finished our hike we were way too hungry. We hit up an Irish pub for wings & sandwiches before heading home to shower off the sweat and watch The Wire.
Couple more photos from this day here.

10 February 13

Jeff and I went to Pacific Rim National Park and hiked around a bunch of different places — Shorepine Bog, Florencia Bay, Schooner Cove, and Long Beach. Each was beautiful in a different way, and although I'd been to some of the places on a school trip in 2000, it was interesting to see them again through my adult eyes. The photo above was taken on Long Beach at sunset; the tide was low and there were plenty of surfers around.

Later on we tried and failed miserably to have dinner in Tofino; with the long weekend everything decent we stopped at was fully booked, way too expensive, or had over an hour wait. Eventually we went to the Black Rock pub which was in a nice resort hidden away in Ucluelet, and although the food was really good and I liked the lounge, our server apparently hated us because the service was terrible. And it was just us, too — she was super attentive to everyone else. Oh well.
You can view a bunch more photos from this day here.

28 October 12

Jeff and I had brunch at the hotel, and stopped by the campsite to say goodbye on our way home. The rain had stopped and the day was quite lovely; we spent a little while on the beach before hitting the road for good. After getting back to the city I went with Steph to Tamara's, and Val joined us to watch Beetlejuice and drink bourbon and eat chili.
couple more from this day here.

08 July 12

Sarah and I went to Wreck Beach to meet up with Laryssa & Amanda & co., and after a lovely time swimming and eating snacks and socializing, we headed home to shower and change before Joel's birthday celebration at the Biltmore. Every time I go to Kitty Nights, I wonder why I don't go more often...

29 February 12

Morning at the beach, afternoon shopping, evening drinks, and French dinner.

25 February 12

Mom and I spent most of the afternoon on the beach, after spending almost the whole morning sleeping. We both got patchy, awkward sunburns from spots we missed with the sunscreen. In the evening we had dinner at Toro Salao, a tapas place in Old San Juan. Afterwards we walked up to this bar called Pizza e Birra (you guessed it, Pizza & Beer) and had a few drinks on their patio before taking the sketchiest cab ride ever back to the hotel. We went back to the bar almost every night (the host recognized us and kept giving us the same table) because the drinks were cheap and the patio was lovely, and it was a nice mixture of tourists and locals.

06 October 11

This was actually taken the following day, but all the rest of the shots I took that day are portraits and it feels wrong to share them together.

02 August 11

A small bag of shell fragments I picked up at Third Beach on Sunday when we were there. I got pretty into it and the only reason I stopped was because my bag was full and I had nowhere else to store them. I have an idea for a project, but judging by how much time it took to get what's in this tiny bag, I'm going to need a lot of weed in order to gather up enough for what I have in mind.

01 August 11

After making epic breakfast (complete with sangria), Amanda, Laryssa & I met up with Luke and rode our bikes to Wreck Beach (well, Luke road to the beach, the rest of us locked up at Alma and took the bus). We sat listening to the Rolling Stones, drinking beer and eating blueberries & leftover chili until we were hot enough to go in the water; it was cold but lovely. Eventually we conquered the stairs and biked home. Upon my arrival I was incredibly hungry and in desperate need of a shower — signs of a weekend well-spent.

23 July 11

A basically perfect day, beginning with hearty diner breakfast followed by fruit wine at Elephant Island, and five or six other wineries thereafter. Bistro lunch. Lounging and swimming in the lake. Driving to Okanagan Falls for ice cream at Tickleberry's. Dinner at the pub. Reading in bed.

02 July 11

In the afternoon Jeff and I went to Third Beach for Angelique & Ben's going-away party. It was a lovely day... up until we arrived at the beach and it began to cloud over. We stayed talking and eating freshly-picked salmonberries for an hour or two, and then I went to Maple Ridge for Alice's birthday party. It was a kegger and although I didn't intend to, I got pretty drunk. My camera got passed around a lot, so of the photos that are actually interesting and/or in focus, I'm really not sure who took them. Alice did four kegstands because she's amazing. Covered in mosquito bites, I took a taxi back to my parents' place around 2am and passed out in Alice's bed, as she had already called it a night on a futon at the party. She showed up around 1:30 the following afternoon with a Big Mac meal and said she felt fine. What a champ.

18 May 11

We stopped at this danger beach so Jeff could chase waves and I could pick up rocks. We stopped again to play in the water in Crescent City, and spent the night in Newport. Had dinner at a really nice waterfront bistro that was kind enough to put the hockey game on for us.

15 August 10

I spent the afternoon at Wreck Beach with the roommates and also Jen Hardwick, who is visiting from Ontario for the summer. It was extremely hot but the water was lovely. The coast guard showed up for some reason. Afterwards we went to Enigma for burgers and mojitos, because a day at the beach always leaves you hungry and exhausted.

14 August 10

I went to Spanish Banks with Tams, Val, and Sean, and Zoey (Sean and Val's dog). It is the only beach in Vancouver (I think) where you can have dogs off-leash, so it is basically awesome for anyone who likes the beach and also likes playing with puppies. Tamara and I both pretty much wanted to steal this lady's beautiful great Dane.

17 April 10

This is the beach at the hotel. I spent this day recovering from my horrific adventures in the bathroom the night before, and then we flew home in the late afternoon. I drank water and ginger ale on the plane, and at 11:30pm when we finally got back to Maple Ridge, I ate half a Subway sandwich. Around quarter to one Jeff picked me up from my parents' place, where I was passed out on the couch. My appetite didn't return completely until Monday, and all Sunday I felt terribly weak and exhausted. BE CAREFUL EATING SEAFOOD, YOU GUYS.