Tokyo-X-Vario: Sitting and Waiting at 50mm

Leica X-VARIO @ 50mm equiv. 1/500th sec F/5.1 @ ISO 1600, manual focus. RAW file, converted & cropped in CS5 and Photoscape.

I love it when I find a great background to use as the foundation of my image. It's like my canvas. Once I find it, I test focus, exposure, and then I just sit and wait for the right moment to come my way. It's like fishing in a way I guess... I'm fishing for people...you never know what you'll get. 

Tokyo-X-Vario: More Night Shots with Leica

X-Vario at 28mm equiv. 1/30th sec F/3.5 @ ISO 800. Manual focus and exposure

Retail Store Ideas that are Too Specialized?

I'm walking around in one of the most rapidly developing areas of downtown Vancouver, the DTES. This spot is traditionally the poorest neighbourhood of Vancouver (actually, it's the poorest in all of Canada), but many new businesses have opened up here to much success. Many food joints such as Acme Cafe, Save on Meats, and Cartems have successfully maintained a good balance with the neighbourhood, as well attracting new people who would usually not venture into this part of town.

When I saw the above "coming soon" business, I thought to myself, I don't see it doing well here. Poor neighbourhood, not a lot of money, and a very specialized group of people who shop for lingerie, and on top of that, plus size men only. I was also wondering what the window display would look like. Would it be tasteful, or just plain tacky? Where would they get plus-size men's mannequins? I checked up on it a few months later, scared to see what would be on display, and this is what I saw....

iPod Poster on an iBoard on Granville St

Walking up Granville Street in Vancouver, i noticed the new public iBoards, or information- advertising boards all along the sidewalk. What do i see? An iPod advertising on the iBoard. As i was taking the picture in the pouring rain, people were wondering what was so amusing... seriously?!? You don't get it? iBoard? iPod? iRonic? Ok, it's not ironic. iNcorrect. iT's a CoiNciDence!

Dream Job= Shift.Urban Cargo Delivery

A few posts back I spoke with Aaron at Whole Foods who was wearing a Charlie Noble Global Delivery hoodie. I thought it was a real company deliverying food on bikes, but it wasn't...although the hoodie was cool. Yesterday I was walking through Gastown and look what was driving past me: Urban Cargo Delivery. What do they do? They deliver Bites on Bikes!!

Old Building Infested by Moss-Like Posters

Have you noticed the moment a building is abandoned or ready for demolition, advertising posters immediately appear? In nature, moss, fungus, mold signifies of an abandoned or neglected building or structure.  In the city however, advertisers appear to move quicker and is a better indicator of a building not in use (you can see the moss slowly trying to catch up by working its way along the bottom and along the trim...) These old buildings are used as frames for  these glitzy new posters, breathing new life and function to these soon-to-be discarded structures. It is this juxtaposition that captures my attention...

Kitsilano Public Notice Board Gone Wild!!

 
In theory, the design of this public notice board is very functional: it's 4 sided, and each side is double-sided. However, since it's outdoor and public, I assume nobody monitors or needs permission to post. You can see the results. Madness!! You can't really read or find anything in this chaos. In some spots, it looks like the bottom posting has 6 others postings overlapping and/or on top of it!! Standing in front of it, I was overwhelmed...nothing stood out... it's amusing to look at, and makes for a great photograph, but if I had something to post, I wouldn't post it here!!

Beat Street Records and Poetry

As I walked past Beat Street Records in Vancouver, I noticed a quote, or a short poem, or something: All that was, will always have been, somehow never again. I wasn't sure what it meant, but it messed up my mind for a moment, just like when you watch Inception for the first time, trying to figure out the layers of the dreams. What was, might be, but won't? Where am I in this thought? After researching, I found out who the artist was behind this poem. His name is Raymond Boisjoly, and he's a visual and text based artist. If art is suppose to make us linger, to inspire, to imagine, or even to confuse, I guess Mr.Boisjoly has succeeded. I saw it, I thought about it, I researched it, and now I'm sharing it!

I decided to include a blurry bike rider just to add a dimension of movement and time.... all that is, will always be, but only for a moment, and then he's gone!!

Vancouver's Crow Highway Mural Revisited

A few months back I took some pictures of the Crow Highway Mural but I was unable to get a good clear shot due to cars parked right in front of it. This time, when I saw the lot empty, I jumped out of my bus excitedly to get a worthy image. Although the parking lot was empty, the gate was closed , so I took two images: one from the sidewalk and one through the fence straight on. It's a beautiful old building, and the history behind the mural and the building is quite interesting too (follow this link). Too bad it's so far back from the street view, and too bad there's a parking lot right in front of it...

Where's Waldo...and the ATM?

As I walked through the poorest neighbourhood in Canada, I ran into many ATMs in the oddest places. Some were easy to miss, but none more than this one. The posters surrounding the ATM caught my eye at first, and only as I walked closer to investigate did I notice the ATM buried in the middle. Like any business, isn't the point of an ATM to be as visible as possible?

Number 5 is Alive and Speaking Street Talk

I was walking along the border of Chinatown, DTES and Gastown, and noticed this funny homage to Short Circuit's Number 5 robot. "Sup fu?". Funny. I think this is an entrance into a night club.  I wonder if they play "Who's Johnny?" or "Come and Follow Me" for the closing number?

Pekin Chop Suey House in Chinatown

I was walking through Vancouver's Chinatown district and I noticed a faded sign on the side of a building. It reads: Pekin Chop Suey House. It sounds very 1950's American-Chinese, and so it should, as this was the old location of a Chinese restaurant many years ago. The lower half was rebuilt and the core was redone with concrete, leaving the top outer shell original. You can see in the distance the entrance-way into Chinatown from the West side on W.Pender, and the far left corner is just a part of the world's thinnest building.  The sun was just going down behind the downtown buildings, and so the lighting was just right for a westward picture.......

Jinglish Sign at Guitar Shop in Osaka

I guess you can sort of figure out what they're trying to say. The reflection of the street behind me sort of works within the black of the sign, while I was able to hide myself in the red of the guitar.....making so cool image of the camera-main......

My Cards Are Moo Cards! Moo.com

Every time I hand out my business cards, people get excited. They like the unique size and shape, the thickness of the paper, and the variety of covers I have available. The MiniCards are from a company called Moo.com. From what I can remember, you can choose up to 100 different covers for your cards; your own images, or choose from their wide selection. In fact, all the images on my Minicards are from my blog. If you want to stand out and be different, get Moo Cards!!

(P.S. I'm not getting paid to promote Moo.com. I just love their products and want to share!)

Guerrilla Marketing on Bikes in Japan

Walking in the Umeda district of Osaka, I noticed a group of cyclists all dressed in uniform and obviously advertising something. It easily caught my attention, as it did everyone else, hence a successful guerrilla marketing concept: a bike parade!! It says "Children 110 Yen" (approx $1.45USD) so I assume it's some sort of entrance price for an amusement park or something like that? 


None of them looked happy riding their bikes though, but it was a bit of a warm day. Or perhaps it was the basket in the front? If I got paid to ride around in circles all day, I would be happy!! In fact, I'd be ringing my bell too!! Imagine each bell had a different tone, and they were playing a tune while riding around? Now that would have been cool! Ride on Osaka!!

Fast Food Faster: Express Self Ordering?

I walked into my new neighbourhood A&W and noticed they only had a single-cashier set-up and I thought that was odd for a fast food joint. Then I noticed the 'Self Order' kiosk. I didn't realize that minimum wage was too expense for these places to operate, thus replacing humans with robots!! Self check-out at grocery stores, self-pump at gas stations, and now self-ordering at fast food joints. What's next? 

My guess is that in the future movie theaters, airports, dry-cleaning, department stores and even restaurants (computerized self-seating and self ordering) will all be run by machines and computers. We can go all day without coming into contact with other humans in the future. Don't worry, we'll all have smart phones and tablet computers to keep us company instead. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Very Clean & Translucent Fiat 500 Ad

I enjoy creative advertising.  This one isn't spectacular, but it was really clean, and since it was on glass, you get double the exposure for the same price!!  Look at these other really creative bus stop ads.  I like the last one by 3M with the stacks of money!!

SLR Top Panel LCD Screen Door Sign

When I worked in the sign industry, most people's outside door sign was pretty basic: store name, hours of operation, phone number and e-mail address. When I saw Hans Sipma's door sign, I was blown away! Why didn't I ever think of that?!? Very cool Hans! 10 bonus points! And it's the old school SLR top panel I think, as more and more manufacturer's are getting rid of the top panel LCD, a residual from the old film days when nothing was shown on the back panel (that's where the film went). Check out his website too (click on his name above). Cool pics.....

Drink Water Week Advertised on a Toilet?

I posted this on Twitter a week ago but decided not to post on my blog, but now I change my mind! Bike to Work Week, yes. Butt Out Week, yes. Mental Health Awareness Week, yes. But Drinking Water Week? Isn't this just common sense? And how about not just a week, but for the rest of our lives!!  Drink water people!! I also thought it ironic that the advertising for Drinking Water Week was on the side of a public toilet.... leaves a bad taste in your mouth, no?

Green Adidas Gorilla Billboard

Have you seen this billboard around town yet? The green gorilla behind the dude doesn't make a lot of sense, but the green really makes the image pop. I found the Adidas commercial on  Youtube, and I'm even more confused. He goes from a basketball court to a nightclub, and besides the gorilla, there's a blue eagle, a red dragon and a pink poodle? Anyway,  there really isn't a lot of green on the shoe to begin with......ok, I'll stop analyzing it. It is what it is, it's a shoe!! Obviously it worked. I took a picture of it, researched it, watched their commercial, went to their website, and now I'm posting it on my blog. Adolf Dassler (get it, Adi-Dass), you're a smart man!!