Bridge

A few days ago I was lucky enough to be invited to join a friend on a Harbour Air flight to one of the Gulf Islands for a weekend away. On our way out of the city I took a few shots with my iPhone, including this one as we approached the Lions Gate Bridge. Behind the bridge is Prospect Point, and below it the seawall. Bottom right corner of the photo is the Beaver aircraft's port side pontoon (the floats the sea plane lands on, on the water's surface) and bottom left corner of the photos is one of the struts from the centre of the wing to the body of the plane. It was a gorgeous day, and a relaxing weekend away, but it's good to be back!

Post title from this song by Amon Tobin.

Cityscape

Another shot from the deck of the Lazee Gal. Not the most perfectly framed picture I've ever taken, but a boat bobbing on the water doesn't give you the most steady tripod to work with! In the picture: foreground is a Harbour Air sea plane taxiing for takeoff, middle is The Vancouver Convention Centre (including, on the right, Line of Work). The unusual light standards surround Jack Poole Plaza and you can just see the top of the permanently installed Olympic Cauldron peeking out. On the left is Douglas Coupland's Digital Orca installation. In the background is the Marine Building, one of Vancouver's most elegant highrises and a rare example of Art Deco architecture.

Post title from this song by Lush Life.

Brush With Life

This interesting piece of public art is located off the seawall near David Lam Park, not far from this photo. The floats at water level cause the angle of the top part to change with the tides, as well as rotate back and forth with winds, currents, and boat wakes. Sensors on the piece transmit information to www.brushdelux.com. It's called Brush With Illumination, and is by Buster Simpson.

A couple of boats from the small ferries that serve False Creek can be seen in the background.

Post title from this song by Litterbug.

This is one of two posts I'll be publishing today, in order to catch up from the several days I missed.

Contrail

More black and white, more seawall, more Coal Harbour. This is taken looking straight up a concrete lamp standard close to Cardero's, a restaurant on the seawall at the foot of Cardero Street.

Black Crow

A few days ago I was cycling around the Stanley Park section of the seawall and came across the recently rebuilt pedestrian access to the Brockton Point lighthouse.The lighthouse was built in 1914, replacing the original one that had been in operation at this site since 1890. It served as navigational aid until as recently as 2005, when it was determined that it was no longer needed. Just as I pointed my lens at it, a crow landed on the drainage pipe to have a drink of what was left from the recent rain.


Post title from this Joni Mitchell song.

Gimme Shelter

On the edge of David Lam Park on the seawall are four of these concrete and glass creations. They look like a cross between a tree and an oversized patio umbrella. I'm not sure if they're meant to be public art, actual shelter from the elements, or some combination of the two, but I liked the geometric feel as I pointed my camera up through them to the sky.

Post title, of course, from the iconic Rolling Stones song.

Blue

There's been an excess of black and white photos here lately. I can't help it, I'm enamoured of the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. But to balance things a little, today I thought I'd share a photo that, between water, sky, and glass highrises, is mostly blue in tone. This shot was taken this morning from near Hallelujah Point in Stanley Park, looks across Coal Harbour at the downtown core, features the five sails of Vancouver's skyline, and a look at the Convention Centre and its green roof (where I took this photo).

Post title from this song by Joni Mitchell.

Pillow Talk

It's been a while since I posted a Biennale piece. This one is called Pillows, by Liu Jianhua of China. It's located in Harbour Green Park as well - not far from this and this. The sight of oversized white fiberglass pillows strewn across the lawn is definitely incongruous - I suppose that's the point of the piece!

Post title from this song by Sylvia.

Metropolis

Something about the lighting fixtures in and around Harbour Green Park in Coal Harbour reminds me of the film Metropolis. It's the "future meets 1920's" look, I think, combined with the fact that they're surrounded by such sleek glass towers.


Post title from this song by Kraftwerk.

Bring on the Dancing Horses

Yesterday was a holiday in Canada: Victoria Day, where we celebrate the legendary British Queen's birthday. I've never attended, or for that matter even heard of, official Victoria Day ceremonies or events; for most of us it's merely the first long weekend of summery weather. It rained most of the weekend here in Vancouver except for yesterday afternoon. I took the break in the weather as a sign that I should walk to English Bay and take in some beach time. It seems a couple of officers and their steeds from the Vancouver Police Mounted Squad based in nearby Stanley Park did the same!


Post title from this song by Echo & the Bunnymen.

Line of Work

Another shot of Coal Harbour and the "green roof" of the Vancouver Convention Centre. This graceful wood and metal installation by Jill Anholt is called Line of Work, a tribute to the workers that build British Columbia.

In the background you can see a float plane about to take off from the nearby seaplane base.

Post title from this song by QGMR.

Let the Drummer Kick

Came across these remarkable young men a couple of days ago while cycling past the Bath House at English Bay. I was up on the street level, heard the live music, and couldn't resist hopping off my bike, walking down to the beach, and stopping to listen to them for a few minutes. I didn't get the name of the group, which pains me, as they are phenomenal musicians. In addition to the marimbas they're playing in the foreground here, there were also a half dozen other percussion instruments, including congas, a djembe, and other small drums I'm not hip enough to recognize. They were playing West African and Cuban beats, and were gathering quite a crowd. Their musicianship was outstanding; periodically they would all switch places and play each instrument in turn, without ever losing the rhythm, interrupting the song, or changing the amazing energy they were putting out into the warm Friday afternoon.

I hope I get to see them again - then I can update this page with their name/links to their work. If anyone knows who they are, please let me know in the comments. This kind of talent should be recognized!

***UPDATED***
Thanks to Harriet, I now know that this group is called Kutapira. All hail the twitter hive mind!

Post title from this song by Citizen Cope.

Memorial

At Sunset Beach West on English Bay, at the foot of Broughton Street in the West End, nestled in unobtrusively among the trees and landscaping, is a 20 metre long steel and concrete memorial to those who have died of AIDS. It's adjacent to the seawall, not far from where I took this photo and this photo. I've bicycled past it dozens of times. Today I noticed these flowers lovingly placed by someone's name, and I had to stop and photograph them.

The structure is made up of 20 steel panels joined together, with names of individuals who lost their lives to AIDS cut into the metal. Across the top of the panels are the following words from the poem To W.P. by George Santayana:

With you a part of me hath passed away;
For in the peopled forest of my mind
A tree made leafless by this wintry wind
Shall never don again its green array.
Chapel and fireside, country road and bay,
Have something of their friendliness resigned;
Another, if I would, I could not find,
And I am grown much older in a day.
But yet I treasure in my memory
Your gift of charity, your mellow ease,
And the dear honour of your amity;
For these once mine, my life is rich with these.
And I scarce know which part may greater be,--
What I keep of you, or you rob of me.

 The last panel has on its bottom left, a quote from Dr. Peter, a well-known Vancouver physician and AIDS activist who himself succumbed to the disease in 1992. It says simply, "But the energy that is me will not be lost."

Post title from this song by Explosions in the Sky.

Washing the Windows of My Mind

I never stopped to wonder how the maintenance crews of glass buildings in Vancouver keep all those windows clean - until a few days ago. As I was walking near the Vancouver Convention Centre, I saw this crane on the sidewalk. There's something so futuristic science-fictionish about the way it's perched there, spider-like. I wouldn't want to get in its way in an apocalyptic "Rise of the Machines" type scenario!

The older building in behind all the modern glass is the Hotel Vancouver, one of the grande dames of the downtown core.

Post title from this song by Dana Wilson.

Life by the Drop

Just around the corner from yesterday's shot is this public art work, called "The Drop". Created by Inges Idee, a group of four artists from Germany and Sweden. As I biked along the seawall and came around the corner, suddenly there it was, 20 metres high, bright blue, and elegant in its simplicity. It was unveiled last September, yet somehow I knew nothing about it - again I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I'm learning about my own neighbourhood and the city at large just by setting out each day to find photos for this blog!

Title post from this Stevie Ray Vaughan song.

Bicycle

In which I continue to document the ever-expanding network of cycling routes in Vancouver. As the weather gets nicer, I'm spending even more time on my bicycle. So it pleases me immensely that Vancouver City Council yesterday voted unanimously to allocate budget and resources to improving and expanding Vancouver's existing 400 km of cycling lanes and paths. I took this picture on a newer section of the seawall. On the right is the new Vancouver Convention Centre building, which opened last year. Straight ahead is the Vancouver Convention Centre's older building, the iconic five sails, which was built to serve as Canada's Pavilion during the 1986 Vancouver World's Fair, and has been used since, and continues to be used as a convention centre in the heart of downtown.

Title post from this song by The Watchmen.

Ready For Takeoff

Float planes take off from and land in Coal Harbour every few minutes from sunrise to sunset every day. Pictured is the sea plane base; there are at least a couple of  small airlines that cater to people wanting to fly from downtown Vancouver to downtown Victoria, or other cities on Vancouver Island. I took the photo standing on a walkway built into the "living roof" of the new Vancouver Convention Centre. Behind the seaplane base is the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, Stanley Park, and in the distance, the homes of West Vancouver steadily marching up the slopes of the North Shore mountains.

Post title from this song by Christoph Spendel Group featuring Annie Whitehead.

Running to Stand Still

On the Stanley Park section of the seawall yesterday, I came across this statue honouring Harry Winston Gerome, an accomplished Canadian track and field athlete who grew up in North Vancouver. I've walked or biked past it many times but never stopped to look. I always assumed it was a statue of Roger Bannister, commemorating the "Miracle Mile" race in 1954 in which Bannister won against the only other man (at that time) to have run the mile in less than four minutes. Again, this project of posting a photo a day has increased my curiosity and knowledge about my own city. I love it!

Across Coal Harbour in the background you can see downtown Vancouver, including the Vancouver Convention Centre, the Marine Building, and one of the five sails of Canada Place.

Post title from this U2 song.

Ceramic Forms

Another Vancouver Biennale piece, called "Ceramic Forms" by Yee Soo-Kyung of Korea. On the placard describing the installation it says, "This young artist transforms traditional Korean objects and concepts into new contemporary forms by recycling fragments from the works of master Korean ceramicists." Taken next to the sea wall, close to this statue, and looking the opposite direction from this shot of Coal Harbour (but on a different day).

Marina

Coal Harbour, from the seawall, not far from this sculpture. This marina contains private yachts, boats for hire, and right in the centre, a couple of small houseboats. Not to be confused with these houseboats! Behind and just to the left of the houseboats is the new Vancouver Convention Centre, and you can just see two of the five large white sails of Canada Place - an iconic part of downtown Vancouver's skyline.

Post title from this song by the Travelling Gypsies.