Tripping at Panorama and Mt. Mackenzie

I went on a road trip just before Christmas to see Daniel's first FIS race held at Panorama Resort near Invermere, B.C. I also met up with my brother Barry and wife Fran from Calgary to ski Mt. Mackenzie at Revelstoke. It's a mountain with great potential and lots of vertical. As the temperature was hovering around -30 C at both areas we had to watch out for frostbite. It was the same at Panorama a day later and the GS race on the 20th was postponed a day. We both had boys in the races with Barry and Fran supporting Philip and myself, Daniel. Daniel managed a best result of 29th in the Slalom (out of 132 and I think he should be ok with that as his first race in the bigger leagues.

My congratulations to Gordon Bagan, Race Chair of the BC Miele Cup and the entire Race Organizing Committee (ROC) on pulling off a great event under very cold conditions. It has been awhile since I was at Panorama and the scenery still struck me as breathtaking or maybe it was the altitude! Here are some snaps.

Peak 2 Peak at 20 Below

We rode on the newest, longest, highest, quietest ski lift on the planet.
Here are some snaps taken last weekend.

Alpine Canada Annual Fundraiser

The venue this year was in Yaletown, Vancouver at 2 neighbors, Yaletown Brewhouse and Milestones. Please see the photos for an idea of what it was like.

Native Art

A while ago I had a photo session with the well known native artist, Norman Tait and family.
I was able to get permission to photograph his Grandfather's (Oyea) totem, which he restored, at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. I highly recommend a visit there soon.

Nice View!

Sometimes in the course of a building project I find myself in forbidden places. It's kind of hard on the camera gear, climbing up a construction crane but once on top it's a great view. There I met Gary the crane operator who really likes his job. Thanks, Gary.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Biking

As we could not make it to the Rich Juryn bike trail
dedication day recently, we thought we would go out there today. Rolled into the parking lot and got out of the Jeep to ask a hiker where the Rich Juryn trail was. Through force of habit locked the doors with my remote. Walked over 100 feet to the trail map and was studying it when "honk ... honk ... honk!" pierced the serene air. Tried to ignore it as I thought, "This will be over when some alarm resets in a minute or so!" Then I realized it was my Jeep as Clare tried to open the door without me deactivating the alarm. Fumbled around for the remote and not having deactivated it much before, proceeded to press the wrong button a few times. There were two or three other parties around. In a moment of utter frustration I muttered ##@!*$%# which seemed to set off the teens and the Dad parked next to us to the same *##$%@# as the sister shut the door on her older brother's arm. Clare in the meantime is glaring at me. OK, I shouted to all within earshot ... "I am so sorry ... let's everyone enjoy this great day."

A woman got out of the same car as the hiker was at and I looked over ... Cindy! ... "Hi Bob", she says with a familiar look. It was Brian, Cindy and their new baby girl, Chloe. "I am sooo terribly embarrassed and sorry ... blah, blah, blah!" I pleaded. Brian says "Forget it." Cindy, was on the CFMI Rock 101 Ski Team with Rich, Jill, and us back in the really great party days. Cindy and Brian just got married last winter. We had to talk for quite a few minutes before heading off on our bikes. Turned out to be a great day although we will have to bike the Rich Juryn trail another day!

My Answer to a Photo Question Asked in 2004

"My personal opinion is that digital is the way to go if your style requires that you take lots of photos such as at family reunions, sports events, etc.

Also it is very easy to show and share the photos you take, digitally. For
example some of the ones you saw, can be put to CD or emailed to a lab and printed to 8 x 10 size. Also with digital you can try out new techniques, angles, composition, etc. and all the expenses incurred are not actually film related. You do have to lay out some money initially and if you are a pro it seems that there is always something to upgrade to. Digital cameras are not as trusty as my old mechanical ones and seem to last around 3 years for me. Film still has a nicer look in print, to it as digital has a video look to it. Most people cannot see the difference unless side by side comparisons are done. If I was still using film it is doubtful that I would have shot as many images at the track meet (say 300+/-). Conservatively speaking when I use B & W film, it costs me $1.50 at least, every time I press the shutter, good decisive moment shot or not. A digital photo job is not any cheaper for my clients, it's just that the costs are transferred to other areas, but they do get more bang for their buck."

"However if you contemplate a scenic view intensely and know what kind of
result you want then film (transparencies) are still viable. Other factors
to consider are...what system is your old camera? If it is Nikon then the
lenses are still usable on a newer Nikon digital. I use Canon and have to
have the newer lenses. There are other niggling factors about digital
imaging that will surface if you get involved in it, but on the whole it is
very acceptable to me anyways. I shoot Commercially, 80% digital and the
other 20% is say 4 x 5 film and 2 1/4 and 35 mm B & W film for fine
portraiture presentations and artful stuff."

"So my advice is to keep the 35 mm film camera for B & W stuff and backup and
invest say $2500 to $3000 for a digital slr and zoom lenses if you have that
budget or just buy a Canon Powershot Pro1 for $1000.00 (or a lesser cheaper
model) and a couple of 512 mb flash cards and use it for snap photos and
volume. You do have to take care of them remember, as they are computers.
That is the thing that really bugs me in this disposable era, as I am a
slave to the military/industrial complex and it's self propagating
existence. Eve Arnold once said, "The tool in Photography is not the camera,
but the Photographer" or something like that so if you love taking pictures
then use whatever camera you have and use it a lot (my comments)."

Regards,

Robert

Interesting Aerials of Home

VAG

We have a new Chair of the Vancouver Art Gallery, David Aisenstat (Lt.); Kathleen Bartels, Director; George Killy, Outgoing Chair.

Cruise and Flying Fish Fotos

We are back from the S.S. Millennium. Great time and now time to diet!
Going to the Vancouver Art Gallery for a session tomorrow ... click!

Cruise Ship Wall Photo

We are going on a short cruise from Vancouver to Seattle. This is a photo of the same ship (Millennium) we will be boarding in an hour. The actual photo is about 2 feet x 7 feet in size. I took it last month from the Capilano 100 building.

Objets d'art

I was pleased that the VAG (Vancouver Art Gallery) had me take some shots at the closing of one of their biggest exhibitions ever, the Monet to Dali exhibit. Here are some snaps.