YVR is the designation for Vancouver International Airport. Thousands of these florescent lights hang at odd angles throughout the airport. On this morning before a flight home I caught the attention of the cleaning staff as they looked at me and wondered what the heck I was taking a picture of.
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Saturday Morning
I snapped this corridor on a Saturday when it was relatively quiet. On weekends cities take on a different atmosphere and the opportunity to notice simple things such as this corridor. The simplicity and reflections caught my attention.
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Empty Mountain Cafe
As I was here on a Monday afternoon, the Chalet cafeteria was closed. I was waiting for the sunset so I ducked inside as I thought the wood beams and neatly stacked chairs kind of interesting. I quickly setup my tripod before anybody noticed but just then a kitchen staff walked right by me without even taking notice. Either they thought I belonged there or they get a lot of folks with cameras and I was just one in a long line. Nonetheless I got the shot and didn’t get kicked out, chalk one up for the good guys.
Lions Gate At Dawn
This bridge connects the city of Vancouver with the city of North Vancouver. I’ve taken dozens of photos of this bridge but on about my third trip I realized that you could walk across it. On this morning it was just before dawn and not much traffic, it felt a little erie to be the only person on such a large structure. However, as night gave way to day there was a little surprise. Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of steal started to make a sound I can only describe as a moan. I was a little unnerved and decided to finish up the shoot and walk back to land. Upon reflection I surmise it was the light causing normal stresses which happened to be audible. Lets just say it was an experience I’ll not soon forget.
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Switching Yard
This is a rail yard in Vancouver that’s adjacent to a busy commercial port. I happened to be walking over a bridge and thought it interesting, however when I looked at the surrounding buildings I could almost imagine I’d been transported back in time to another era. When I was young we had tracks in our back yard. For a while after moving away I had a hard time falling sleep because there was no sound, it was too quiet. I wonder if the folks living in these buildings go to sleep with the rumbling of the trains. In an odd way, it’s quite soothing.
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Casa Monica Stairwell
On the first day of my stay at this hotel I was sitting in the lobby and noticed the whole staff walk across the lobby and through a door into what appeared another room. It seemed apparent they were heading into a staff meeting. As I sat there I saw several people walk in and out of the meeting. From the amount of people I guessed it was an important meeting. Curiosity got the best of me and as I headed to the elevator I took a quick peak inside. In fact it was a stairwell which the afternoon shift was using to get to their assigned floors. I may not be the sharpest tack in the drawer, but at least I’m easily amused. This is the stairwell at the Casa Monica hotel in St. Augustine, Florida.
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Civic Architecture 2.0
North Vancouver city hall and civic center are designed with a minimalist theme that evokes the modern designs of someplace in Scandinavia. To get here I crossed the Vancouver Harbour in a ferry and trekked up the hill for about a kilometer or so. Turning around I had a panoramic view of Vancouver across the bay and jagged rocky peaks at my back, it’s hard to imagine a more scenic location in a cosmopolitain setting. These are my impressions of the architecture at the North Vancouver city hall.
Halfway There
These are the stairs half way to the top of an operating lighthouse in St. Augustine, Florida. As I rested for this shot, it seemed strange to me that with all the satellite positioning, underwater sonar and autopilot systems we have available, relics such as this still exist. I would have assumed that a lighthouse was obsolete in the day of iPhone navigation. I mentioned this to the ranger at the top of the 219 stairs and he reminded me that a few weeks ago not far from this spot a modern cruise ship had lost all power and was drifting. He also mentioned that not all fishing boats operating near here are outfitted with modern equipment and the lighthouse serves as a vital aid. Seems technology is not always as reliable and trustworthy as we’d like to believe and a few “relics” like this might just be a good Plan B. I guess there’s no app for that in the iPhone store.
Court of Appeals
I received a jury summons yesterday for the exact same day I have a ticket to fly out of the country. I wonder if the judge will excuse me, or will I end up having to excuse myself from the boarding line. On the same day, there was a news item about a man suing his ex-fiance for her $48,000 engagement ring. I found my self turning the merits of that case over in my mind. (What that says about me we’ll save for another day.) Seems there’s a difference of opinion depending on whether your a man or a woman. All of this made it seem appropriate I should post this picture of the Court of Appeals…, or not.
Front Entrance
The photographer in me is always looking for something just a little out of the ordinary. Such was the case when I walked past this condo. Now, before I go on understand that I’m from Florida and this was in Canada, at it’s March. That said, I was dressed in polar fleece and a Gortex shell and wishing I had a pair of gloves. So what caught my eye as I passed this building was that the front door was wide open. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised, as the temperature had risen to a balmy 44f/6c and the natives where walking around in shorts.
