thompsound blog

change...

2012-02-13T14:51:00.007+10:00

...can be hard.

I know it's been a while; although to be honest, even with all thats been happening, I haven't felt like updating the blog.

Time to catch-up on the last 4 months.

I received an offer to work in a different department (Mo-Cap head-rigs) on a new mega-film after wrapping up on GG, so I booked a flight to brisbane for christmas and left my car/stuff in sydney.

the film lost its funding due to an “escalating” budget. meaning i'd fly to brisbane, see the family, and then fly back to sydney, pack up my life, and drive home...

True to form, Gatsby finished up right before christmas (in interesting circumstances), with a promise of pick-ups in the new year.

I also came to the realisation, that while I enjoy assisting in the collection of sound on dramatic feature sets, it's not something that I want to continue to do for the rest of my professional life.

I'll still Boom Op if offered the chance, but it's also time for a change.

Since I've always enjoyed photography and originally went to film school to become a cam op; I've decided to focus on learning how to Operate a Steadicam.

It combines the physical challenges of boom operating, with the creative framing of photography, and is still in the trio-of-fun (cam/focus/boom) that can give you a nifty natural high if done well (synchronised movements with the actors etc)

step 1 – figure out how to learn.

lets face it, I could be really crap at the skills required. Need to try it out and see how compatible it is
There're a few local courses (usually 2 or 3 days), or I could fly to LA and take a 5-day workshop learning from some of the best in the world... yup – that sounds like fun.

Step 2 – baby steps

buy any available books, and read/research online.

Step 3 – practice

before taking the next available course (late march), I thought it would make sense to buy a “cheap” rig to practice with. If it was of sufficient quality, I could eventually use it to help pay-off the costs...

so I arranged to meet an operator in Melbourne, who was selling a small rig.

Having never worn one before, it was a pretty risky (and expensive) proposition. Still, a flight to melbourne is very cheap compared to taking a workshop or buying a new rig, and discovering that I don't love it to death...

From the 1st second that I strapped on the vest and flew a camera; I knew it's going to be a life-long obsession. If only you could have seen the smile on my face.

Immediately bought the Steadicam Flyer LE, and flew home to brisbane that afternoon.

I've been exploring/testing/practicing every day since...

Other stuff...
SBAC
I'm back at the Story Bridge as a Climb Leader. It's amazing how easy it's been to slide back into professional tour-guiding, and I still get a kick out of the view.

Selling Kelly
Kelly-The-Corolla has served her purpose, and as a cheap-yet-reliable car she's perfect. However I yearn for a slightly larger and newer (dare I say prettier) vehicle, and have found myself another Forester.

Time for some photos

These were taken before the end of last year, and should have gone up then. However I've already explained that I was feeling lazy and am only getting around to it now....

Photo at the head of the post is my view of the "three sisters" in the blue mountains - should give you a rough idea why the film still needs some pick-ups on location...

walking round sydney = random photos

...then look left; and look to the right again.

buildings

skater-kids

skater kids 2

Sydney's botanical gardens

Watsons Bay

lunch

on-set power distribution...

labelling the radio transmitters so my boom op knows the batteries are good to go - procedures are good

Sound mixer working in the SFX-fog

corner stairs in Fox studios stage 2

crew play a lunch-time game of soccer in the 'pit'

my guess... bored camera assistants

insert-set

looking at stage 7

flying home for the holidays

flying north from sydney

waiting at the melbourne airport - pre-steadicam obsession

my "new" old rig

Tri-annual WTF = actual signeage in IKEA...

well that's what happens when I don't post for a few months - it gets all scatter-brained and waffly.

hope everyone's having an awesome time finishing up GG in sydney (and I truly hope that the weather clears-up)

see y'all in a bit, exciting things to come in the next few months...

Cheers,

Ian

one day...

2011-10-09T19:43:00.004+10:00

...off

last weekend was a long one (public holiday), shortened by an hour (daylight savings)

I managed to see a few photographic galleries, get the laundry done, buy some books, have a few lunches, buy some new work sneakers (salomon speed-cross 2's), and go on a film-watching binge...

- Cave of Forgotten Dreams (in 3D) - about the recently (1994) discovered caves with 35,000 yr old cave paintings = awesome

- Project Nim = about the extraordinary life of a chimpanzee named Nim (raised in a family as you would a human child in the 70's...)

- the matrix

- the matrix revisited (doco on the making of the first)

- the matrix reloaded

- the matrix revolutions

it was then, back to work for the week, finishing some amazing party scenes which will floor audiences in another year...

work extended into saturday (to compensate for the monday holiday), and at one stage it looked as though we'd be working 'till sunday! (slipping call-times due to overtime = great paypacket, but NO life)

This (short) weekend, I: got the washing done, went for a walk, and sat on top of some cliffs reading; taking the occasional photo.

to be honest - I miss 2 days off, but a cliff-top reading-session is exactly what I needed to recharge, for another week of sound assisting.

The rocky-top of the south Bondi Cliffs... an excellent viewpoint of the whole bondi beach/cove/bay/thingy

view when I arrived... oooooh ominous!

view later - sun's out = yay...

random sea-kayaker

looking north at the point

he's still going

the walk from Bondi - Tamarama is quite nice - and VERY heavily trod by the masses. *very interesting people watching from my little vantage point - they travel in "waves", of varying intensities (exercisers/marathon-trainers/tourists/kids/lovers/families/etc), it's pretty cool to see.

a view of the natural bath at Bondi (aka icebergs)

what better way to pass the time than read a book on the psychology of learning behaviours, in ski instructing! (seriously?!) it's a little dry, but worth it, as I've been on a little bit of a brain kick recently (how the mind learns/neuroplasticity/addiction/chemical-interactions of caffein-alcohol/etc.)

quickly followed by some Steve Martin autobiographical reflections on his stand-up career... my amazon account is getting hammered right now...

funny thing - I love the feeling of sand on bare-feet, but hate the way it gets EVERYWHERE... sandstone = a pleasant substitute... tactile sensory input; thy name is foot.

I'd like to see some census data on the percentage of Bondi Residents that hail from ye-olde-england - guessing it's a little skewed in the "massively disproportionate" category

Well, it's back to work tomorrow morning for week 6/17(ish) - we've finished with the massive crowd scenes, and it's back to the heavy drama segments... hopefully there'll be less PA cabling, and more 2nd booming.

till next time, enjoy your free-time.

Travelling south; part 3 of...

2011-09-25T13:51:00.013+10:00

...3

so the last month has seen the end of my immediate travels, and the continuation of my career in location sound for film.

Things are good on-set, and it's feeling like a little 'Australia' reunion with so many crew returning for another serving of Baz.

Obviously there'll be no photos from the set; but I will say this... anyone who was questioning the decision to film in 3D – will be absolutely shocked to see how well it suits both the story and director. (every day I am floored by how awesome the shots are looking, in conjunction with the sets and costumes... it all serves to amplify the emotions of the characters)

photos from the past month

driving to sydney...

tunnel

lens flares rock...

under the harbour

My new baby...
I was always curious about the recording features of the zaxcom transmitters (one of the main reasons I bought a TRX900LT), and dismayed when they didn't release an updated plug-on that featured 48v phantom and the recording capabilities... or did they? Turns out that for a brief period, they did.
Meet my new TRX 700 plug-on transmitter.
I say new; even though it's a 2nd hand purchase on consignment from trew audio canada (*thanks for the ultra fast shipping guys).
Super clean wireless booming with built in recording on a micro SD card now possible... just not with an older CMC5 Schoeps pre-amp; thankfully I've got a CMC6 so it's all good :)

one of these two, is my current 'tool-of-the-trade': the other, not so much - guess which is which

alleyway down in the rocks area of sydney – with cool creeper vines on the buildings

awesome end of touristy-day walks down at circular quay

My new wheels, yay – cycling to work

My rear tire after 6 hrs – boo flat tires suck.

walking home after getting my tire fixed; purchasing a couple of new inner-tubes, a pump and a patch-kit...

big steps in centennial park

mini-forest in centennial

olde-time-cannon in centennial

a giant inflatable Smurf... (as seen on the way to watching the best doco of the year: Senna)

what the giant inflatable smurf looked like the next morning when I returned to get a nice photo for my cousins daughter...

stage 7 (centre) as seen from the showgrounds of the fox entertainment quarter

my bike tire at the FSA professional entrance

funky statue in the parklands out front of the Sydney Football stadium

Random lens-flare-iphone-sunset-shot on the way to collecting my laundry last week...

Aside from Senna (which is such a good story that I'm shocked it hasn't been destroyed by hollywood yet.), I've also been out to see "Pina" a 3D film by Wim Wenders - about a dance choreographer from Germany (quite good) and The Lion King (also in 3D) which was really good (even if the 3D conversion was a little weird at times).

well, it's currently 14 degrees and raining... perfect sunday afternoon for reading...

catch you all later.

P.S. the title photo is from a walk down to Bondi Beach during some kind of kite festival...

Heading south-west, part 2 of...

2011-08-23T09:14:00.015+10:00

...three...ish.

picking up where we left off; I'm back in Vancouver.

thursday = packing, and sorting out my life...

friday = dropping off my sound gear and ski-boots at the local TNT for shipping, purchasing a new carry-on bag, and more packing

saturday = nice brunch with the gang, more packing, organising car-storage/etc and one last hike up deep cove.

I didn't do the "run" as I'm way-out-of-shape, and had my camera with me.

Photos

pre-dawn on my last canadian morning for a while.

looking up on the Baden Powel trail *(on the way to grey rock)

It's also known as the deep cove hike...

...a nice 40 min walk... (or 16 minute run if you're up to the challenge)

...there's plenty of awesome forrest to look at...

...and it can certainly get quite atmospheric at times...

Lots of stairs, and even a few wooden bridges...

...many made by local volunteers.

The path isn't always level, with quite a few exposed tree roots.

occasionally, the sun breaks through...

...which makes for an awesome lens flare

end of the trail = the grey rock

view of the inlet

looking back at deep cove

boats

tree at the top

It was time to head home for a quick shower, then off to the airport...

pretty flowers in the back-yard

27 deg, perfect summer weather eh?

final sunset in Vancouver

looking back at the north shore mountains

freeway overpass

last light

YVR

I was expecting to be hit with a few excess and overweight baggage charges.
On the flight from australia, I was allowed 2 bags of 25kg each; however, in the past 4 months, Air Canada changed their rules, and international flights are only supposed to allow one 23Kg bag!

For some reason the kind lady behind the counter allowed me to check a 25.9kg bag, a 10.9kg bag, and even my boom poles without penalty. Woo hoo.

random people wait at the terminal

my last view of vancouver - the departure lounge

view from my seat

departing

arriving sydney

during the flight I watched
- "the greatest movie ever sold" (morgan spurlock doco on product placement = most meta movie ever!)
- "the high cost of living" (reasonable molodrama with Zach Braff)
- "happythankyoumoreplease" (Ted from how I met your mother, writes directs and stars... in a halfway decent romantic drama with likeable lead characters, a weird premise, and a weak ending.)

there was also plenty of time to nap (90% of the flight was in darkness), and read...

random qantas jet

another one...

taxi-ing out of sydney

wing-tip somewhere along the east coast of australia

near the border QLD/NSW

well, I'm back in OZ - and things are...ok

it's currently rainy and blowing a gale in brisbane...

my phone has been re-connected with the same number it's always been in Australia = 0414 468 413

time to un-pack, sort, and re-pack for the next 4+1/2 months...

heading west: part 1 of...

2011-08-19T10:53:00.006+10:00

...umm... a few?

at least I know it's going to be a multi-part journey.

Yesterday started in Halifax; I said my goodbyes, and handed over to the boom op who's nice enough to take over Mr D's last 2 weeks.

packed up my apartment, took one last look at the Atlantic, and caught a lift to the airport.

checked in, and paid the excess baggage (subtly reduced = my boom poles are now "sporting goods")

attempted to pass through security.

uh oh - there's a BIG line...

...You need to stand on a pressure-pad, henceforth known as the randomiser3000(TM). which is hooked-up to a flashing arrow. Left = normal screening, Right = "selective" screening, and a full body scan

guess which one I got?

no real issues; aside from the removal of my belt causing my jeans to spontaneously fall to the floor...

while my whole body is getting a healthy dose of vitamin X, my gear is also being X-rayed, and the water flask had some liquid in it = BAD!

not allowed to drink or dispose of it in the security area; so I need to exit, dump the liquid, and re-line-up... no worries, I'll play ball... ok where's my boarding pass gone?

Why, it's mysteriously disappeared from under my wallet in the plastic scanning tray (I normally hold on to it for this exact reason).

did I mention that my flight is supposed to be boarding now?

we discover the boarding pass sitting under someone else's bag, and I'm escorted out (wasn't even allowed to carry my own bag...)

Drink the liquid and line up for...

...Round 2

Randomiser3000(TM). tells me to go and line up with the ridiculously large group that's building up at the regular screening point...

remove the belt again...

empty the bag again...

Hold onto the boarding pass this time, along with my jeans (and my modesty).

scramble to get the belt on, re-pack my bag, and race to the gate...

..."sorry sir, we haven't started boarding yet, please wait over there"

umm, ok - cool.

flight boards; I sit next to some nice people and cycle between: having a chat, reading, taking photos, and sleeping my way to Toronto.

get off one plane, buy some banana bread, and get back onto another.

This time, my row-mates aren't in a chatty mood, so it's: reading, taking photos, sleeping, and listening to music for the remaining 5 hrs to Vancouver.

disembark and wait with the other 160 passengers for our baggage to arrive...

1/2 hr goes by, still waiting...

almost an hour...

other flights have come and gone by now...

finally... now I just have to wait for my "sporting gear"... which isn't too far behind.

Taxi home, and accidentally set-off the alarm (Forgot the correct ending to the code)

panic...

re-enter the code and wait for the alarm company to check just what the heck is going on.

flatmate/landlord arrive home, and hasn't heard from the alarm co.; so we get to chatting over some pasta.

my car arrives. The irish girls have been nice enough to baby-sit the Golf for a bit; so I drop them home, and am pleased to discover that even though it's now 0330 halifax-time, I'm not instinctively pulling to the wrong side of the road...

Figures; just as I'm fully comfortable with my driving here... I'm going back to Australia...

Photos

Lauren and Zan show-off correct transmitter placement during my last day on D.

(in my defence, she's sitting on a couch for the entire scene, and instead of frigging around with thigh-straps/waist belts, was going to place the transmitter somewhere out of the way. This is just somewhere to store it while hangin' around off-set)

B-cam dino-head

my window in seat 4F

...the grid... (flying over the northern US)

Wind Farm

I'm guessing it's in the US (Nuclear plants in Canada?)

coming in for a landing...

Toronto (and that damned CN tower walk I never managed to take...)

another angle on "the centre of the universe"

pretty clouds

I'm guessing these are the mountains on the border of Alberta and British Columbia... as one side was flat as a pancake, and the other was, shall we say... majestic

more pretty clouds

another jet-liner flies by

now these look more like it... BC mountains

I'm home...

lining up YVR

landing

waiting

ok... enough procrastinating. Time to continue the pack...

I still need to ship my sound gear back to Oz, and sort out exactly what I can leave in storage...

see y'all soon

D week 6...

2011-08-15T01:14:00.006+10:00

...in pics

my home for the past 6+1/2 weeks

inside

view of someones "sun lounge"

detail. I wonder if they ever use it?

tunnel of light - high-school location

walk-n-talk-fill-light

library books

ummm, what now?

micro-words...

...in the bio lab...

...with the microscopes...

...to magnify my sides...

art-dept set dressing

ok, so I was lazily growing a beard... it annoyed me, so I shaved the sides... and then I decided to go pirate for a day... the crew seemed to enjoy it.

boxing-ring set

Kino "Fathead" 80

ladder-cam = radio mics...

from the archives...

can't remember if I ever posted this shot of a skiier on mt seymour in april 2011

Mid-week moon for the week.

I'm flying back to Vancouver to pack on Wednesday. Departing Vancouver on Saturday. Arriving in Brisbane on Monday (22nd August)

Ian

D week 5...

2011-08-08T01:15:00.010+10:00

...has been... survived?

ok... it's getting tough to keep up the whole rhyming-title-thing

another week down, and a couple of days off for recovery...

on to some photos.

Since the weather was nice last sunday, I went for a walk

interesting angles

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (haven't been there yet - still planning to though)

pretty scaffolding

pretty-lens-flare

another shot of the lil'tug theodore

people on the pier

detail

sailing

the bridge

water-police checking things out

looking up

ed's ramp (who is ed?)

pretty leaf-lens-flare

meta-sign

cool angles

pretty rusty-lock

shadows

reflections

demolition (favorite of the week)

1801

canadian navy

officers

jet-skiin'

lots-o-boats

random sailor

lighthouse/boat

Natal-Day Fireworks...

morning-fog

so... last week we had a globe titled "doun-undah" this week it's a rubbish-bin called dean...

boom

slates

classics

grapefruit=pamplemousse

ram

balloons

finishing up with a shot of the mid-week-moon

well, that's it for the moment. catch you all later.

D week 4...

2011-07-31T02:18:00.008+10:00

...is no more.

another week of boomin-goodness is over, and due to some kind of provincial holiday; we get a long weekend.

this week was a short-block (4-days/one ep). Next week is a change of schedule *(tuesday-sat) and the start of another block (2 episodes) with the first director.

Photos

filming dance-floor bar-scenes at one of the (many) local universities

Christianity, Pastafarianism, Darwinism... it seems most faiths are covered out here in Halifax.

the current directors' last name is similar-but-different; and art department usually pick crew-names for any advertising.

more ladder-boomin in the staff-room-set.

A-cam 1st AC

Sound mixer shows his true feelings about the current 5-page scene (with 5 cast, one boom, and wide/tight coverage)

b-cam hits roll 150 (we've recently moved from 32Gb CF cards to 128Gb SSD hard-drives, so I guess the roll-changes will be less frequent from now on)

class-room globe

art-department inspirational quotes, senior-classroom set

our first "grip-forrest". The results were very pretty.

title of this photo = "doun-undahh" (in honour of the ridiculous "aussie" accent I'm frequently taunted with by one of our cast...)

walking to work on Friday (1st truly pretty morning in a long time)

still walking to work ('twas only 18mins, but I really was enjoying the weather)

camera team in the gym...

...filming an 18mm wide, and a simultaneous 110mm 2-shot... I'm on a 12-step ladder attempting perspective on the wide angle...

Friday night fog...

...is still pretty.

It's presently raining (1400 on saturday); but as I'm in need of fresh coffee beans, an expedition is about to be mounted...

hopefully it'll clear-up on Sunday and I'll be able to take a few more photos...

see ya.

D week 3...

2011-07-24T07:13:00.003+10:00

...is finished with glee... and we're now free... to relax for a few days

photos

Sunday last week was quite pleasant - so I headed off to the local "historical site" = Citadel Hill

It's an old military site (at the top of the local hill in Halifax), which I can only imagine was a fortress of some kind...

it's currently open as a tourist attraction, with a whole bunch of staff in full costume...

looking down from the perimeter-wall

munitions store in the perimeter-wall (right next to the cannon placements)

stairs

one of the cannons on display (though many have deteriorated in the past 200+yrs)

wood-storage

old-timey-cart

looking-up

birds

more birdies

massive flagpoles (can be seen from almost anywhere down town)

staff demonstrating a rifle firing

cool lamp

awesome rigging (support for the massive flagpole)

detail

cartridge storage...

line-em-up... shoot em down...

empty gunpowder kegs...

flag+door

tunnel through the perimeter wall

exterior wall

another tunnel between perimeter and external walls

inside the exterior wall

tall-ship in the harbour

...and some sailboats

the clock at cidadel hill.

people love their rooftop parties out east...

artist on the hill

Monday-Friday we continued to shoot episodes 104/105

RED-sensor

2 x booms, 6 x wires, 10 x tracks, 3 pages, 2 cameras... TV is fun.
how Zan managed to make it all work, I'll never know... I just swing a stick and try to give him as much of the dialog as possible...

B-cam

B-cam 1st AC tape-measure-fun

back at the local high school.

Extremely exciting news.
I'm heading back to Australia...
Anyone know of some reasonably-priced accommodation near Fox Studios in Sydney? (paddington/centennial park/Bondi-Junction)
I'll be in town from the end of August, until around christmas

see y'all soon

Ian

D week 2...

2011-07-17T03:24:00.006+10:00

...is through

In the past, I've spoken of the 4 stages of transient work-places. (ski-flield training/film-shoots/etc).

our second week moved the crew from forming, into storming...

mid-week we finished our first two episodes, and started the next two with a new director...(who works in an entirely different style), so by Friday, we'd had to re-establish our way of working...

I think we're finally into the performing stage.

for those of you who have no idea what I'm referring to... never fear, it's all a bunch of psychobabble anyway. (there's a blog post from June 2007 that touches on the theory)

due to the rapidly-increasing technical difficulties of the shoot, resulting in a rapidly-increasing strain on my body - this weekend shall be devoted to rest, recovery, and sleep...

photo-time

sweet mini

I'm guessing there're a few pastafarians in town...

the harbour hopper - drives/boats it's way around halifax

bubbles being blown into the street

hmmmm... i don't think it'll ride too well

new day

back on the ladder

view

a few BG performers were passing between the backlights and the trans-lite (giant photo-mural that is placed outside of the set-windows, to make it look like we're on location... when the people block the light - it looks weird)

where to stand?

B-camera gets creative.

okey dokey, have a great week folks.

Ian

P.S.
thanks for all the emails and comments - I truly appreciated them

D week one...

2011-07-10T09:40:00.006+10:00

...is done

First week in Halifax is finished.

everything seems to have been sorted, and is settling into a nice happy routine.

lets jump straight into the photos.

a quick photo of the approach into Toronto during my flight last week (thought the flight path was a little strange - and it was a very rough landing...)

Pre-shoot sushi with my sound recordist and his girl

Morning-fog... day 1 forecast rain, so the call-sheet was flipped at the last second - day two started foggy, progressed into some exteriors in mega-sun - and finished with a few interiors (I got burnt...)

Camo-Camera on day 2 Exteriors

local High-School is kindly providing some locations for us

and the local Curling club is our "studio" space

flame-broiled light...

Zans Sound cart

quite old for a sport that most australians have never heard of...

Int. Studio - Translight outside the windows

cool glass statue set-dressing just happened to line-up with the curling marks on the floor - giving it red-eyes

"Boom-Time"

Weekly WTF - set-dressing elephant desk-toy

A-Camera, re-labeled FRed

Sound Recordist Zan, relaxes between set-ups.

I've gotta say, filming out here is an absolute pleasure. The crews are polite, fast and light-hearted. The scripts are funny (mostly awkward/quirky, which I like) and it's a joy to go into work each morning.

we're on a TV schedule (not soap-opera speed, thankfully); so anywhere from 4+6/8 to 7+6/8 pages a day.

the first few days on location were interesting with 9ft ceilings, and 14-16ft long pole shots (to get over/around student desks) it certainly gave my arms a good work-out; I was shaking pretty hard... 3 days in; I'm a wreck... 5 days in; things are looking good.

It always takes some time to get the old boomin' arms back, and I'm happy to report that after the first week, I'm 90% there...

This weekend is devoted to relaxation - perhaps another film... (transformers was certainly pretty, but a bit of a laugh in the end... at least it sounded cool)

see y'all next week.

Ian

P.S. a few of you have enquired what show I'm swinging, I can't really tell you too much (as always), but a little googling came up with the following... Mr D.

heading...

2011-07-03T07:07:00.011+10:00

...east.

Last friday I was offered a job swinging boom on a 1/2hr comedy series for the CBC (canadian version of the ABC). Even though it's taking me away from a great summer in Vancouver; it does promise an interesting summer in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Since I've never made it past Toronto before; it didn't take too much convincing to sign-me up.

There wasn't much time to pack my life, so a fair bit of stuff is still in my room in North Van; along with my car...

Photos from the trip.

I didn't realise that orcas came in pink... awesome, I'll take two.

flying east from Toronto

After 6 hrs of flight, and 10 hrs of travel (I love timezones); the last thing I wanted to do was go exploring... and it was actually getting dark (at 2100 instead of the usual 2130) so I demolished a quick slice of pizza; a glass of raspberry wine, and had an early night.

The next day started slow... (it's 4 hrs earlier here, so I was up at 1000); and being Canada-Day, nothing was open.

Hmmm... need coffee... find coffee; go for a walk.

taking a little stroll along the water-front, there were a lot of ships...

...and boats (like theodore the tug-boat)

I have a serious problem. For some reason, whenever I get to a new city; I forget to eat... it's 1700, and all I've had is a coffee... Time to put something in the belly.

when in rome... eat romans? when in Halifax... eat fish+chips.

lunch with a view...

...and competition. Surprisingly the seagulls are a lot less aggressive than I'm used to back home.

theodore the tug-boat again.

sun setting behind the big cable-bridge, connecting Halifax and Dartmouth.

Sunset.

view down from my 9th-floor balcony.

view from my accommodation = looking at the Atlantic (behind the big cranes on the right...)

It's quite fun when the fog rolls-in. I still can't believe that I'm actually here looking at the Atlantic. (yesterday morning I was peeking a look at the pacific...)

Today was spent setting up my life for the next 9-weeks... computer-monitor/food/drink/hand-weights/coffee-grinder... y'know, the essentials.

I think tonight will be the perfect time to watch some giant F*cking robots, fighting (#3). aka Massive summer movie #1

see ya.

time for a...

2011-06-27T15:13:00.007+10:00

...change?

Stories of the last week and a half

* Flat-mate Tom left.

* I continued to not work...

* I also continued to run up the local mountain-track (deep cove), steadily improving my times.

* I finally saw another film at the theatre - thought 'tree of life' would at least be interesting... sadly, it wasn't.

* it started to rain again

* I got fairly depressed

* I watched a lot of TV on my computer - a season of 'Game of Thrones', and the whole 'studio 60 on the sunset strip'
- add this to: the Star wars prequels (utterly horrible, they really don't age well!), Liar liar, Paperback hero, Paul, A few good Men
- and in the weeks before: the fountain, the emperors new groove, 9 seasons of Red Dwarf, 2 seasons of Sports night, and of course, Tron Legacy - you can see how I've been spending my insomniactic-nights.

* I was offered a couple of films in Brisbane... and strongly considered returning...

...'till friday morning. Within 2 hrs - my life was given a sharp-poke for the better.

I'm not going to Jinx it by giving any details just yet - but I should be able to tell you more this-time next week.

If all goes well, I'll be in another time-zone, and on another coast; doing what I came here to do :)

let's just skip to the photos, eh?

first-up: Rainy-hike to Lynn-peak with a new friend Lindsay.

Just love this shot - don't really know why, but it certainly captures the atmosphere of the weather...

Lindsay looks up at the path

more atmospherics

rain+trails=mud-puddles

I do love the terrain over here - it's steep, yet gentle (kinda springy in places)

the "view" on our saturday rain-hike...

wooohoooo, we hit the snow-line.

moody-creek

2nd batch of photos.

Testing out my new camera (bought a D7000 today), by hiking up the local Mt Seymour on a path to "dog" mountain *(huh)

planning the route via an awesome web-site with very-well-laid-out-details...

solo-hike = self-portraits

this hike was 99% in the snow (I say snow - but it's more like spring melt/slush; with potential leg-snapping holes punching through to creek-beds)

as difficult as it was to hike in - it was also fun (slush-sliding on the way down) - I did however learn my lesson, pack the bloody gaiters next-time - water-proof boots aren't water-proof when snow gets in via your socks...

yup - the bridge is passable... just.

going up

...and I've reached the top.

looking back at the western end of the city

pretty-view

to the east, Mt Baker (washington state, USA)

Mossy-rocks at the top

looking homeward (2nd narrows bridge is always an easy landmark)

Love the clouds here

not exactly an effective wind-farm (I think it's some tourist attraction viewing platform thingy - hoping that the turbine makes it carbon neutral?)

city-view

I'm guessing this is the centre of the "peak"

exposed tree-roots

pretty-creek

pretty-reflections

moss-tree-snow...

made it out, and by the looks of it there's still 2m of base in some places...

chairlifts are so sad when they're not being lifted...

yes... it's a mystery-chair

warning - Bears - do-not-feed-them!

So how is the new toy; and why did I finally decide to up-grade?

Back in January, I purchased a D3100 for the 12-day mega-ski-sightseeing-trip

It's shockingly light, and made some AMAZING photos - but there are a few issues.

1 - it doesn't exposure bracket.

that's about it.

I've been getting into HDR photography, and although a single shot RAW can be processed pretty well (check-out my photos from the last few months), it's certainly better to use multiple exposures.

The D3100 is very good for a beginner, and highly capable as a travel camera (glad I wasn't lugging around a bigger one in europe); but I've had my eye on the D7000 since it came out, and felt it was time.

after a few minutes use - I can tell that it's a perfect fit for me.

Very fast, intuitive controls (much closer to my old D50, which I loved), exceptional picture quality, and it even Auto-focuses my ultra-wide lens (which the D3100 sadly wouldn't).

sure - it's a little heavier, and larger... but I'm truly happy (and the shutter-sound... it's bliss)

anyone want a near-new D3100 body with 2 batteries? $350+shipping. (currently retails for around $500 with one batt)

ok. that about wraps it up for the moment.

see y'all later.

Ian

Libya, Egypt, Iraq...

2011-06-17T03:16:00.011+10:00

...Vancouver!?!...WTF

over a hockey game? (reports of the instigators coming from out of town specifically to start something - doesn't change the fact that a whole bunch of locals decided to join-in)

those who stayed "to document" - once the police asked you to leave, you should have gone. The entire area was under surveillance, and all the extra bodies were just getting in the way.

it sucks that the Canucks lost (and i understand they didn't play so great in the game), still... sad day for all

photos from the day.

heading downtown

woo-hoo, go canucks!

nice costumes

canada place crowd

wooo hoooo flags

more fans

big screen

3rd goal... not going so well

unhappy kali

go team canada!?

party balloons

watching intently

photo-opportunities

more flags

go-canucks-go

even more flags...

I'm guessing this is the least interesting shot he got during the evenings events...

fans aren't happy... at least they're not aggressive

they finally shut-down the road (after busses had troubles getting through...)

game over - heading home

drunken idiot kids start a few fights at the seabus station... vibe is tense... glad I'm heading over the inlet...

ummm... what is that?

happy Kali - de-celebratory drinks at Raglans on the north shore

ummmm, what is going on down there?

well... bugger

Weekly WTF

more dark smoke

another view from the north-shore

enough of the sadness - happy/pretty sunset-shot of the lonsdale quay sign.

full-moon, no excuse

get home - turn on the news

ok...? I don't think he was there to watch the hockey!

riot-police out in force

why? why? why?

really?

just... go... home...

part of the problem; get out of town so the police can re-gain control.

Weekly WTF #2 - several cars?

it's been more than 3 hrs...

Well done to all the emergency-services. Thanks for keeping people safe, sorry that you had to do it.

That's all I'm going to say on the matter.

'till next time

Ian

there's a moose...

2011-06-10T05:30:00.006+10:00

...at the top.

we'll get to that in a moment;

first-up is a re-cap of the week that was.

more wedding bands... (actually managed to work enough to cover two months of rent, yay!?)

successful applications to both IA 891 and ACFC west (now officially on permittee status.)

hiking up at deep cove

saturday hike to "the chief" (a week earlier than I'd originally thought)

canucks smash boston in the first two games of the stanley cup finals... (*more on that in a bit too)

photos

first up is a shot of deep-cove (I've mentioned it before - an awesome little bay less than 15min from my home, which has a nifty 20min hike/run up to a rock that looks back on the cove) you can just make out the rock on the left-hand side of the photo above all the boats in the distance.

group shot of the hikers...

now fast-forward 6 days, and we're heading up to squamish for an early-mid-morning hike up the chief.

view from 2/3rds up the 1st peak.

almost at the top - time for some photo-posing

some random people enjoying a snack

say cheese... and hang your legs over the edge please!

hero-lifting by a stranger over on peak 2

pretty-view of the inlet

looking back to the SE (sea to sky highway)

Jumping

Jumping#2

Jumping#3

hmmmm, there's something a little different about this landscape, whatever could it be?

Squirrel!!!!!!!
(very-tame, and amazingly fast)

Weekly WTF = aforementioned moose... during the upward hike, every person we passed (who was on the way down), was telling us to "look out for the moose at the top" are they joking? could there actually be "a moose" at the top of the 2nd largest granite rock in the world???

turns out it was just some healthy PR for the BC parks and wildlife service (photo-opportunities = yay!) poor little jerry, having to lug the suit up there...

self-portrait at the top

heading down...

now; on to the canucks.

after winning the first two games (if not by a large margin, certainly through a bit of old-school dominance of play) - they CRUMBLED in game 3 to lose 8-1, and in game 4 losing 4-0...

the town is almost inconsolable... and nervously awaiting game 5 at home tomorrow night.

Go Nucks GO!?!?!?

it's been...

2011-05-30T01:15:00.023+10:00

...a while

I know - sorry?

some of the stuff that's been going on over here since last posting:

- FINALLY took the B.C. Film/TV orientation course [and passed :)]

- I caught a cold, and spent a few days regretting life, the universe and everything

- speaking of, I re-read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series (as I seem to, around this time every year)

- applied to ACFC west (one of the unions) and met with the sound dept rep from IA 891 (fantastic conversation about the industry) which has led to my application for that union as well.

- I bought Aperture (photo editing program), and had some "issues" installing it correctly (macs are meant to be EASY right?). While "fixing" the issue, I upgraded my RAM to 8Gb and bought a new 2Tb external HDD - happy birthday to me!

- the sun started to come out more often, and I took to skating around the "seawall" of stanley park, logging 2 laps in around an hour.

- still no film work to speak of; and since I don't have an unlimited supply of money - I've been assisting my land-lord, as he sets-up a new brand of Wedding Rings from his jewellers wholesale office downtown. it involves a LOT of counting/labelling (hundreds of rings, and a multitude of metals), and is fairly mind-numbing repetitive work; but hey, it's what I excel at (finding precision in the mind-numbing repetitive stuff)

-stumbled across another film-set, meeting the team on "rags" (kids telemovie); who were doing it tough in the downtown area.

- Last weekend, my room-mate and some of his friends headed out East to the Okanagan (Wine country), for a few days touring around, etc. I tagged along, and discovered that I like wine (if it's sweet and made from fruit, instead of grapes).

Photo-time

fair warning - it's a big'un...

Driving East

Farm-land-stuff

awesome view

town that we stayed in - penticton

massive bike show in town that weekend - fantastic bikes, interesting people, arm-wrestling competitions on the back of a truck

on top of the hill with the sign... technically we were staying at a YHA (hostel)

pretty-view

Room-mate Tom, taking some photos

another angle on the view

boats on the lake

Julia and Emma Jump

another pretty view

seaplanes

ok, so apparently there's a monster in the lake named Ogopogo (much like the loch-ness-moster in scotland), the locals sacrifice their young to prevent any godzilla style rampages

pretty downtown okanagan

wineries are fun?!

tasting is fun

mission hill winery (not open for tasting when we arrived, but amazing location)

Julia checks out the bell, as alison looks on

nice door-handle

sunday morning joggers

Julia enjoys the sun

we almost hit the last one as they LEPT across the highway

see - the locals even collect the ogopogo droppings as souvenirs

Weekly WTF - spied on the journey home

love the layering

BEAR!!!!!! it caused many cars to pull off the highway as the tourists (us included), raced to take photos. He was a little groggy, and looked hungry.

going home over the lions-gate

my haul from the weekend... 3 fruit wines, 1 desert, and a sweet white...

Last week the Vancouver Canucks won the western conference finals of the NHL, beating the San Jose Sharks in a nail-biting final game (tie-ing in the last 14 seconds of regulation time - forcing overtime, which led into double-overtime).

They now move into the final series of the stanley cup palyoffs for the first time in 17 years - this time against Boston.

It's going to be fun - and it all starts on wednesday.

Watching the final game of western conf, finals downtown at canada place with Tom (current room-mate), and Kali (ex-room-mate of Toms from where we're living now)

This weekend, my Roommate had a "groupon" ticket to take a flying tour based north in Squamish - turns out that it was a quasi-lesson (where they let you hold the controls for a bit), and since the two rear seats are available, the price was extremely reasonable.

Photo-time.

takeoff...

Kali and I in the back seats

Tom in the pilot seat

Pilot-pete in the co-pilot seat

receiving instructions on a banking turn to the left

look out below

pretty-view along the sea-to-sky

another angle

so the plan was to fly down Howe-sound, circle over downtown! and loop back over north vancouver *flying over our house...

Ships in the harbour

angle on Kitsilano (near where I was living in 2001), in-fact I'm 80% sure the little beach I used to visit is right in front of the green-patch mid-lower-photo

English Bay, west Van, and downtown

My favorite photo of the past 3 weeks - looking east past downtown

Vancouver public library centre shot - with the still-being-renovated BC place stadium far right

looking South East towards Burnaby? Richmond? true appreciation for the grid-system of roads

sitting pretty in the back

Kali looking for the ultra-mansions she works on (landscaping and gardening maintenance)

looking down on deep cove, before swinging over north vancouver

Home = head UP on the road to the left of the thompsound tag - smack bang middle of the 1st corner on the left; that's us in the white-walled, angled-grey roof.

The 2nd Narrows bridge and interchange off Hwy #1 and mt seymour parkway - for those TRON LEGACY fans out there, look on the lower side of the photo, right between the two bridges - that's where the lead characters "home" (shipping containers) was built

Heading home (can just see the Lions gate bridge on the nose of the plane)

Industrial North Shore Vancouver

hero-shot #2 of Vancouver

horseshoe bay

ferry-terminal at horseshoe bay

Tom taking us home

detail on the control-gagues

hikers on top of "the chief" (2nd largest Granite ROCK in the world apparently) - it's in Squamish, and I'll be climbing/hiking sometime on the weekend of the 11th June...

lining up the landing.

Now's a good time to point out that the flight was unusual... Tom had a little flying experience (farm stuff from alberta when he was a kid), and Pete seemed confident enough to let him fly for around 90% of our journey. He took over when a police helicopter passed us, and looked after the landing, but allowed Tom to: fly downtown, take off (everything but the pedals), and even try a few weightless manoeuvres... (my stomach is still trying to recover).

All in all, Tom did great; we were safe, and got to fly over the city at an altitude of around 2000ft.

after the "weightless manoeuvres" I was glad to have only eaten a bagel and coffee for breakfast, before flying. Post flying though - it was lunch-time, love the yam-fries

stopping in at a secluded cove, on the way home - to skip stones and take some photos

boats out in the sun - next challenge?

So that's about it for the moment - promise I'll try to update a little more regularly; if for no other reason, than to keep the number of photos per post down a bit.
see ya

Ian

sunrise...

2011-05-04T10:05:00.007+10:00

...2011-05-03

1st year in a LONG time that I've been living on the West Coast of a land-mass, and consequently unable to watch the sun rise over the ocean...

driving down-town

thought fate was messing with me this morning when I found a nice spot on the eastern tip of stanley park, pre-dawn light all around... and the clouds moved in.

Try to kill some time by shooting some mountain shots, and a pair of Seals surface to investigate what the lone-human is doing at this time of day... They're too quick for my unsteady-hand, and the only shots I get are blurry... after faffing about with some shots of the ever-brightening sky - I decided to switch lenses and walk a little closer to the city.

Just as I'm walking away, the clouds make a hole, and the sun peaks through

I'm on an ultra-wide lens, and miss the best of it swapping to my tele...

ok, no worries, I'll move a little further down and set up for some city shots.

it starts to rain...

not heavy enough to discourage me though... I'm here till the sun pokes it's little head out... again.

The Seaplanes must have been waiting for noise-regulations, because smack-bang on 0705am the first one has finished taxi-ing and takes off.

They're flying in a close arc to where I'm set-up; nice...

another one takes off

and another...

and another...

eventually get bored with shooting the same scene over and over (every plane is following the same path...) and start packing up to head home and caffeinate/eat pancakes...

I had a hunch that when fully committed to leaving - the sun would burst through

and I was right.

dump the tripod and hand-hold some shots of the remaining seaplanes rising over the freighter ships in sillhouette.

the rain returns, and I'm satisfied with my morning.

What else did I get up to today?

- I made the pancakes = yum

- ordered some in-line skates
exact same model I bought in sydney (2008) for $450 is now worth $250 CAD (only slightly more than shipping my old set from Australia, and when factoring in the hassle of customs/duties/etc, certainly better value)

- watched new episodes of How I Met Your Mother, and Castle (yay for unlimited cable internet)

- spent most of the day however, trying to organise photos, and sort out random program related failures (damn you APP store, why didn't you download Aperture 3 correctly)

off to do some grocery shopping before settling in to watch the canucks again.

remainder of the photos.

photo of the set-up

view-finder-view

Random stuff

- Time for me to ask the ultimate question again, Life the universe and everything (I know the answer is 42, but what is THE question?)

- This will probably sound lame, but I'm really enjoying the feeling of using your right hand to change gears while driving (it's just weird enough to make me strive to improve/perfect)

- in the past few days I've seen: a raccoon, 3 squirrels, and a Bald Eagle (well I saw the bald eagle a few weeks ago, but hadn't figured out how to link it into a blog.)

- it's strange just how many different forms of communication currently exist, I've received emails, facebook posts, skype calls, skype messages, text messages and even regular phone calls. Right now it wouldn't shock me if a half-dead pigeon arrived at my doorstep with a telegram... even though most of you are half a world away, it almost feels like I'm just down the street, and it's certainly appreciated.

Big...

2011-05-03T12:35:00.011+10:00

...walk!

time for more photographic goodies from the lens in north vancouver.

since we last spoke (read/wrote):

- I've visited another few sets *(thanks to Kevin and Eliah on "Sanctuary", and Eric and Greg on "a mile in his shoes" with a super-special thanks to Eric for finding the end-cap to the small panamic boom-pole I purchased from him last month, which led to the set-visit)

- went to the movies and saw Hanna (interesting) and Rio (in 3D!!! which was ok)

- Skiing at Mt Cypress on the last day of their season (it was snowing pretty heavily, so I didn't pull-out the camera)

- got a chance to use my BC drivers license when pulled over by a local police officer - he was quite nice, and we had a good chat for 20 mins or so about hiking, black-bears, the film-industry, and general differences between Australia and Canada *I think he stopped me out of sheer boredom because it was around midnight, and only 4 degrees; but he was very happy to stand at my door and talk (either way; it was nice not having to resort to the Passport/QLD drivers license, and explain local address etc...)

- I've been watching ALLOT of Hockey - it's currently round 2 of the playoffs, so the number of games has gone down (no longer 2 every-day, mostly one per day) but it's probably the best time to be not working...

- Went to the pub with one of the room-mates to watch UFC (cage-fighting mixed martial-arts). It's exceedingly violent - yet strangely enticing...

- the owner of the house is on a fairly long overseas trip, and one of my room-mates moved back east for the summer school break, so the house is pretty empty.

- on Sunday, I went out to brunch with my remaining room-mate and a bunch of his friends. they continued on to the Granville markets, and I tagged along, before heading off on a photographic journey.

Starting at the markets, I wandered for 27+ kms around "english bay" and "stanley park", over the "lionsgate bridge", and across "north vancouver" to end up at home.

It took around 9 hrs...

photos

rain on my car-windshield upon arrival at mt cypress for the last day of their skiing season

remnants of the olympic stuff from last year (cypress was one of the many venues)

another shot of the lions gate (comparison to the lead-shot from last post)

Canuck-pucks, at the granville markets (mini-cake on a stick with the local hockey teams logo on them)

at least if it sinks the band can play-on

pretty-shot of false creek (*more of a bay than a creek - hence the name?)

the Burrard street bridge, with boats in front, and city/mountains in the back

pretty-flowers out front of the museum of vancouver

weekly WTF (sculpture at entrance to the macmillan space centre)

letter-box

pretty-pretty (sunset beach in english bay)

looking west

English bay

weekly WTF #2 = where did I leave my shoe?

awesome tree on top of a building (I've been told that David Suzuki lives here when on the west coast, hence the tree)

tip of the beach

windsurfer on the bay

Looking at the photos, you'd think it was windy and cold (actually quite warm = 15deg)

photo labelled as second-beach. It's actually Third-beach (sorry for the confusion)

Siwash rock

Mountains to the north

looking back at the "rock"

2nd favorite photo from the expedition

another angle on the ubiquitous traffic-carrier

Sea-plane #10903 for the day.

that's not a boat... This is a boat! or is it?

alternate angle on a boat (when does a boat become a ship? and then a freighter...)

looking back at the city from right under the bridge

time to head up and over the bridge, so I could continue my walk home

into the park, and up the trails I go...

Stanley has a bunch of MASSIVE trees

as you can see, they're really quite thick in the trunk...

top, and look-out at "prospect point"

another sunset-shot looking west

favorite shot = looking down on the seawall bike track (where I was walking a half hour earlier)

Seaplane #140909234

...it's a bridge (cable type prevents climbing sadly...)

golden sunset boats

another angle on the seawall

city-view through the bridge

detail

random processing plant on the north shore

Whistler is still open for winter business until the end of may (well, technically it's Blackcomb Mountain, as whistler mountain has already shut, but you get the general gist)

so apparently the views are this way...

...it got progressively darker, and less pretty as I headed in a straight-line east (to the north of the coastal industrial areas - which should be quite photogenic at night... another time then.)

I packed the camera away...

...till I saw this massive coal-scooper-thingy, loading from the massive piles of coal in the second narrows industrial area.

thought I'd treat myself this afternoon with some early birthday-pancakes

HDR photo re-release of another church in Vienna.

ok that's it for the moment.

it's currently 2220 on the 2nd May, which means that it's 1520 on the 3rd of may in Australia.

Sunrise photos soon (once I've slept, and the earth spins around a bit to reveal a sunrise here; so I can actually take them...)

see ya

warming...

2011-04-24T09:35:00.006+10:00

...up (well, sort-of)

Spring has sprung; there's more sky than cloud, and the hours of light are going up. (doesn't get dark till almost 2130)

it's still pretty chilly at night (less than 5 deg), and the maximums aren't going any higher than 14, but it's getting there.

1st photo is of the lionsgate bridge; from a lookout, halfway up Cypress Mountain

looking at UBC (western tip of lower-mainland) and the freighters hangin' around.

driving back down the hill

pretty train-tracks...

another angle on the bridge

Bonus shot = I recently purchased a copy of "photomatix-lite" and am looking at taking more HDR photos. each post will have a re-processed shot from earlier in the year

Church in Vienna

Panorama park in Deep Cove *a little further down the road from the Mt Seymour turnoff

'tis pretty

a view of the rock I'll be hiking to...

...well, that was quick - nice view

alternate view

looking back at deep cove

HDR of the trail

Birdy

awesome letterbox.

well that's about it for the moment

Special Thanks to Chris, Rob and Emil (sound team from Underworld 4) for letting me hang out last monday. and super special thanks to Paul Barry (AD from wolverine) who set it up.

more set-visits and sight-seeing this week; as I'd go mad sitting around waiting for the orientation course on the 7th/8th May.

another...

2011-04-17T11:28:00.007+10:00

...week

not too much happened.

- it rained. (and briefly snowed when the temp dropped a little on thursday)

- Booked the next available Film and TV Orientation course (on 7th/8th May at Capilano University)
I know it seems strange that someone who's been working in Film for a decade might need to take an orientation course; but it includes the WHMIS (OHS) certification, and hey - it's the rules...

- the playoffs started (NHL), and vancouver has been doing pretty well.

- I've sent out a whole bunch of emails to try and organise some set-visits, and say hi to all the local sound teams
First one is on monday, with more to come

- bought a new wind-proof jacket (at the local factory outlet store); as the temperature is still hovering around 9-12 deg (depending on the sun) during the day, and 2-5 at night.

- sorted out my camera-case-attachment-stuff (it now clips onto the shoulder-straps of my backpack/s keeping the camera nice and handy)

Friday was sunny, so after dropping my flat-mate at the ferry, I quickly went home to collect my camera and go for a walk.
I was looking to get a different angle of the city, and hoping the sun would stick around for a while.

in the 20mins it took me to get ready - the sun disappeared, and the clouds returned.

Beginning of the dog-walk down to the water-front

moss, moss, moss, moss

I like that they felt it necessary to translate for the dogs (but is it in the correct dialect?)

Bridies...

as you can see the area is pretty industrial...

from the wharf area (end of the walk)

looking back up north at the mountains

looking down on the city from upper-upper-lonsdale avenue

hate the name - don't mind the walk

the creek; where I had to wash some dog-crap from my boot (I thought people would have paid attention to the signs - I mean it's even in Dog-speak!)

zoomy-rock-shot

bridge over the creek

more moss - this time on a tree

weekly WTF - under-ground drain-cover?

the saga comes to a temporary close (what's the bet that re-gaining a QLD drivers License is a complete cluster-frack)

finishing with a shot of my new $30 desk. (from the local "canadian tire" store - they're like a canadaian walmart/k-mart)

under...

2011-04-09T17:15:00.008+10:00

...20

Friday = You know that you're in for a good day when peering out the window reveals frost on the roof of your car

Let's back-up a little bit, to Wednesday; for gear collection, and customs stuff...

well that was easy.

With my sound equipment safely in the country; there's one last thing I needed to sort out before seriously looking for work: the collection of my skis.

those of you who were unfortunate enough to be anywhere near me at the end of last year; know in great detail the saga of: 'my-skis-are-in-canada' while 'I'm-planning-to-go-to-austria'.

in the end, perhaps this wasn't such a bad thing.

Vancouver has had an amazing winter, and is currently experiencing an amazing spring (skiing season).

after organising a little meet-up to collect my skis, I decided to head up the nearest mountain for an afternoon-slide.

turns out the nearest mountain is under 20 minutes away (17+1/2 to be exact)...

driving up the mountain road (3 mins from my current accommodation)

the "base" of a lift at Mount Seymour

all the chairs appear to be fixed doubles.

very good advice

ahhhhhh, they still fit - the edges are a little rusty (not a metaphor - there's actual RUST on the tails...) but they still work.

Skiers ski, Snowboarders jump...

...or sit

'tis very pretty

this is why I travelled halfway around the globe

Mt Baker - in the United States of America...

looking out to sea

groomers groomin'

pretty, pretty

sparkly-snow...

looking back at the seabus terminal on the lower mainland. (from the last post)

looking at East-Vancouver/Burnaby

the 2nd Narrows Bridge (Hwy 1 East - my only practical link to the lower-mainland. it is the life-line, unless I travel 1/2 hr west onto the Lions Gate)

Vancouver city

boats and the Lions Gate Bridge leading into Stanley Park

pretty, pretty, pretty

It was around 10deg when I started skiing at 1700. By the time I took this photo (1830) it was 4 deg. When I left (1930), it was around 2-3deg.

crow

Canadian version of camping...

driving down the "hill"

from the carpark on Mount Seymour down the hill = 14mins. from the bottom of the hill to my accommodation = under 3 mins.

tomorrow is the weekend = time to get out and about. (more likely it'll rain, and I'll be sore from the jogging/weights/skiing)

See ya

week one...

2011-04-06T16:09:00.011+10:00

...is done

I've been in the country for exactly one week - and had several tasks that "needed" to be accomplished in that time.

first up = find somewhere to live

I've already recounted the agonizing decision choosing between two perfectly good places (different styles/costs)

so here's a shot from the window of my current bedroom

thermometer outside the kitchen shows that it's still pretty cold in Vancouver (well, cold for someone from brisbane)

Next on the list of things to do - buy a car.

Last post, I mentioned a trip to Vancouver island in search of a 2nd hand car.

well, I missed the scheduled ferry (0900) due to traffic... So re-scheduled for the next ferry (1100). Thankfully, I was still picked-up at the terminal by the car dealership (Saunders Subaru).

pictured above = 0900 ferry departing without me (well I'm guessing that's what it looked like - if I was actually there, I'd be on it)

the 1100 ferry to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island (not leaving without me)

1st car test driven

"the rabbit" - a 2003 VW Golf CL (base model).
less than 88,000kms on the clock
5 spd manual
5 door
2L, 4cyl
no-frills (seriously - it's non-power windows, no central locking, no AIR CONDITIONING!... and drives like a dream, I LOVE the VW gearing/clutch)

I also test-drove a Honda CRV (1998), a 2001 Forester (with 220,000kms), a ford focus from 2002, and... a 2011 Imprezza.

but I kept coming back to the rabbit; it just fit.

knock the price down a little (quotes-without-tax suck) = done

drive the 2011 imprezza to the bank to get a cheque (and another cheque for my rent/deposit)

swing by a lawyer on the way back, to notarise a copy of my drivers' license (see past entry about THAT drama)

organise the insurance (and registration) - get a pretty big shock re: cost...

drive back on the last ferry.

swap cars at the long-term parking (take the rental back to my overnight accom.)

return the rental the next morning, and catch a lift... to the bus terminal... to get to the ferry... to pick up the rabbit... (which ate the fly...oh-my!)

shuttle driver from Denmark says I have to try the buffet at the casino...

Haven't had any proper food in Canada yet (it's all been fast-food so far)

example of my culinary delights up to this point in canada

he wasn't kidding - for the price of a burger and fries, I got a substantially better meal...

Pick up the car and head back through some traffic (1 hr trip = 2+1/2)

Next on the list was a phone-plan for the iphone (not essential; but beneficial - especially for the ability to search and map my way around town)

Still being blocked on all fronts by the lack of canadian photographic ID.

I was HOPING that the Faxed, notarised copy of my drivers license; got through to the QLD dept of transport - so they would authorise the release of a transcript of my license history - which could be faxed-back to the North-vancouver branch of the ICBC drivers licensing office in time for our Friday - so I could finally swap my Australian license for a local photographic ID...

...but no.

complicating matters is the fact that QLD dept transport can't give me the phone number of anyone who's actually NEAR the fax machine so I can confirm that they've actually received my FAX. (which is "most definitely" the fax number they've told me on two separate occasions - and NOT the one listed on their web-site... which is INCORRECT!!!)

"calm-blue-ocean... calm-blue-ocean"

Breakthrough on Sunday...

After moving into the new place, I drive to the local Mall, to get some lunch; and buy a computer monitor (to match the small-computer from mid-last-year, which packed into my carry-on luggage)

Thought i'd give it one last shot at hooking up the phone.

Try prepaid with the same company that I'm already connected to.

In-fact, all I need to do is get a new SIM card *(oops they gave it to me for free), and purchase a data pack for $25/month - boom - we're in business.

Pick up a cheap and nasty monitor, get some lunch, go home, sleep.

Monday

One of the wacky things about buying a car out of town, is that it may not be fully compliant with ALL of the local laws and registration requirements.

I was made aware of this AFTER I agreed to buy the car (whilst getting the insurance sorted), and managed to get a retrospective discount from the dealer if any repairs were needed.

Either way - schedule the car for a service, etc before getting the "air-care" test done.

Next available booking is tuesday.

I'll need gumboots for any potential jobs, as it's still raining in Vancouver (well Duh - it's VANCOUVER!)

Pick up a set, along with some burts bees lip balm (originally miss-typed as lip-blam... awesome)

Burn-away the arvo watching Sucker Punch at the local megaplex... (not bad - even if the story is a little thin - Snyder is still a visual genius)

Tuesday

dropping the rabbit in for a service/wheel-alignment/air-car-prep/anything else?

rather than sit in a dealership all day - I head down to the ferry and shoot across to the city for some walking/food/whatever

interior of the vancouver seabus terminal

out of work boom operators have a tough time applying their unique skill-sets to the real-world; this guy scored big-time...

TNT vancouver office calls = my sound gear has arrived.

I just have to visit the local Customs branch (located 2 blocks from the TNT warehouse), and explain all the particulars about my shipment (why?where?how?why?how-much?etc) before they'll release it to me.

ahhh the vancouver public library...

...perfect place to catch up on some cinefex mags (note the covers of some vancouver-shot films)

back at the harbour for some lunch

north-bound seabus

detail

canada place (convention centre?)

big-blue-thing

need boat-fuel?

another angle on the revolving restaurant (from last years adventures)

view of North vancouver city

Ships in the harbour

window washers must have fun in this town - it's always raining...

on the north-shore again - looking back at the city

detail

So the lovely people at North Vancouver VW were kind enough to: service my car, fix the exhaust, drive the car to the nearest AIR CARE facility (it passed), flush the manual transmission and brake fluid, align the steering, and wash (WTF!) the car - all for a 'reasonable' price... (all things considered; purchase-price+tax+rego+insurance+repairs = exactly my budget for a car in Canada - good thing I didn't actually look at something more expensive eh?)

drop-by a local registration agent to update the aircare details, and buy a couple of things at walmart.

If you ever try to buy a single pair of socks, you're out of luck buddy - it's 6 pair for $7 (or 10 for $11)

I also picked up a copy of TRON LEGACY (hands-down, BEST sound-track to a film from 2010), shame I don't have a blu-ray player over here...

I do, however, have a little die-cast light-cycle *with spinning wheels

One final surprise

the day before I left Australia; a Canadian sound recordist posted that he was looking to sell a short (documentary-length) aluminium boom pole.

I've been looking for one of these for quite sometime.

I took this as a sign; paid up, and asked if he wouldn't mind hanging onto it until I found a place to live.

long story short, it shipped yesterday - and arrived today.

woohoo - now I just need to take the "film and television orientation course incorporating the WHIMIS certificate", before applying to the local union (IA891) - sadly the next course/s run on the 7th/8th of MAY!

perhaps I can swing a few non-union jobs before then, to get back in the groove...

'til next-time

Sometimes the things you would think are the easiest...

2011-03-31T12:06:00.016+10:00

...are actually the hardest.

Tuesday morning - 0420 Check in bags at the Qantas counter (1+1/2 hrs earlier than needed), sit and chill - reading at the departure gate.

Fly to sydney; Thankfully I DON'T need to collect my bags (would have been a nightmare)

Transfer airport terminals.

Check-in, painless

Customs, easy

security check...

empty the carry-on (desktop/laptop/SLR+2 lenses/p+s camera/kindle/toothpaste/shoes/belt... oh no – forget to empty the water bottle... thankfully I can keep my place in line while tipping the contents into a water fountain.

Re-pack the carry-on.

Calmly walk to the gate. There's a one hour wait.

idly look at souveniers, and decide that my old akubra knock-off has run it's course (it's smelly, slightly too small, and the head-band is uncomfortable.)

Buy a new thin-kangaroo-leather hat which is ultra comfy and fairly cheap ($50 instead of $180 for an akubra)

Fly to Vancouver – not much sleep, lots of turbulance

Watch
“score: a hockey musical” (think the Canadian equivilent of Bran Nue Dae - but with hockey... and much, much worse – off-key and flat singing in a musical with olivia newton john!?! – really?... c'mon!)
“william shakespeares romeo + juliet” (american title) in 4:3 – it holds up really well.
Glenn Owen Dodds (yay) a short film I recorded around 2 yrs ago in QLD...

More turbulance (breakfast serving suspended when it gets REALLY rough)

Land at 0735 Tuesday 29th March in Vancouver (or, 1 hour after I left Brisbane?!?)

Wait in line at customs for a while – then breeze through on the work visa (yay)

collect the rental car (off-site, bus-ride) and drive to the Grouse Inn for my one week's temporary accommodation.

Meet potential room-mate at 1300

skip lunch and investigate phone plans for the iphone.

Can't get a phone plan without an address (obviously)

therefore, first piece of the puzzle is to find a place to live.

look at some cars

more enquiries re: rooms and cars, then dinner and sleep at 2200

Wednesday
more investigation re: car purchase – make the decision to head down to Victoria (vancouver island) on thursday for a look 'round = ferry-ride (1+1/2 hrs each way), and some public transport...

another room-mate interview – this time it's in a more remote location but much cheaper and in nicer condition.

Agonise over the choice...

lunch, consult a friend who's at one of the ski resorts (they're in the same time-zone, yay)

coffee, pondering... flip a coin and go with the newer room option (v.close to mountain trails, and hiking stuff, plus it's a nice place)

call first potential room-mate to give the “bad” news

try to sign up for a phone plan (now that I have an address)

After waiting for 2+hrs (in 2 different stores), turns out I can't get a plan unless I have a photographic ID from the canadian Govt.

No worries; I need to get a local Drivers License if spending more than 90 days driving in B.C. Something I was going to do anyway.

Rush to the license department before closing time to swap licenses. (need to surrender my QLD license)

Problems start now....

Last year I was concerned that my QLD license might expire while overseas – so I made the “smart” decision to renew it, and put 5 yrs on it's validity...

ROAD BLOCKS

1 - By surrendering my QLD license - I lose out on the payment for those extra years. no biggie, but it's $50 I'll never get back.

2 - My current QLD license (the one I renewed last year) only shows validity from when it was renewed (not from when I started driving) – the local BC license dept needs PROOF that I've been on an open license for longer than 2 yrs... or... I could sit the learner knowledge tests in canada and become a learner driver, then sit the driving exam, to become provisional license holder again (not an option I'm afraid)

3 - Call Qld dept Transport: To release my Traffic history information, I need to prove I'm me by:
-making a photo-copy of both sides of my current license, and having this notorised by the local equivilent of a Justice of the Peace
-print-out and fill-out the release of information forms from the transport dept website.
-mail both the signed license photocopy, and the forms, along with a bank cheque for $18.65AUD to the dept of transport...or fax above documents. If:
-someone in Australia can go in person to pay $18.65AUD via cash/direct debit/creditcard into my dept transport Account – because I'm not allowed to transefer/direct-debit/credit-card (even as the accout holder, or from my australian accounts!!!)
If all this checks out, then
-the qld department transport will email me the forms (which aparently the BC dept won't accept) or mail me the document, but not fax it - because they've had issues in the past, faxing documents to canada – which annoyingly enough is what the BC dept wants)

confused yet... because I'm just a little over it right now.

Can't own a vehicle or get a phone plan without a local license, can't get a local license without dicking around with multiple forms and payments from the other side of the world...

at least I've got somewhere to live...

Photos

New Hat

Departing Brisbane

flight AC034 from Sydney

loading up

detail of engine

Parking lot at the vancouver airport waiting for the shuttle to pick up my rental car

Updates

- My sister called on an unrelated matter and offered to put some funds in my QLD transport account.

- Car dealer from my proposed car-search on vancouver island tomorrow, called to re-confirm, and when presented the above problems, went on a little search of his own. He found out that i'm ok to buy and transfer registration on my australian passport and QLD drivers license.

I'll still need the local License in 85 days time, and since it's useful for the phone plans, I may as well get it all done before looking for work....

oh...

2011-03-28T13:02:00.008+10:00

...Canada...

I'm moving there today...

this is not a joke; I've shipped some sound gear - packed my life, and am heading to the airport for a 0635 flight from Brisbane.

of course due to some time-zone/date-line shenanigans I land one hour later in Vancouver.

Australian Phone has an outgoing announcement, and I won't be checking messages, so please don't leave any...

Canadian Cell Phone (+1) 604 727 9690 is active, and ready to take your calls.

email/skype/facebook all stay the same, so for the moment please use these to contact me.

expect photos pretty regularly, as I'm taking various image-making devices, and will try to share as much as I can.

I'm still available for long-form jobs in Australia, depending on budget and length. Best way to find out is to contact me.

sadly I didn't get to sell the forester before departing, so it's still for sale; if you know of anyone looking for an awesome wagon in the $15,000 range - check it out on carpoint com au, and get them to email me.

thanks for being my home for over 30 yrs Australia; I'll see you again. (work visa expires in January 2012 - so probably around then)

Ian

SPF15+...

2011-03-11T13:17:00.006+10:00

...or die!

about a month ago - a friend asked if I'd like to head to the beach. We ended up heading over to north stradbroke island (just off the coast of brisbane)

once every summer - I head to the beach, and forget to look after myself - skin-wise...

as a consequence of this sunscreen neglect - I ended up burning pretty badly, and peeling over the next few weeks.

photos. (but not of the peeling skin - that'd just be gross...)

'dead-mans' beach and one of the lifesaving flags that you swim between

kids at the point, body-boarding on the back-wash (waves that form after hitting the rocks?)

woo-hoo

Mark - exiting the surfing area

people heading to one of the breaks...

...then waiting for a wave

walking down to look off the cliffs

looking back at the inlet

danger! danger!

seriously - danger!

mark readying to jump (off an entirely safer and smaller set of rocks than the danger signs - those things are there for a reason)

Jump

Turtle hanging out in the waters of the inlet

what else have I been up to?

- still bridge-climbing (although I've handed in my notice) - I recently exceeded 150+ climbs

- recorded a TVC yesterday

I bought a new lens - a 50mm F1.4 with internal focus

which has amazingly shallow depth of filed

what's next

- Selling my Car (which fills me with sadness) - anyone want a well-loved MY03 Forester XS with really low Kms and new tyres/suspension/clutch?

- Buying a cheap car to leave in Australia

- figuring out just what I need to take to canada (in 18days!)

see ya

I still call...

2011-02-10T11:43:00.003+10:00

...Australia Home;

well at least for the next 46 days.

Flights home from London were interesting.

Delays in Heathrow meant that we departed an hour and a half behind schedule. Coupled with a 40 min delay circling the airport in Dubai, I landed AFTER the boarding time of the connecting flight to Brisbane.

Exit the aircraft, RUN to security, RUN to the boarding gate... and meet 80 other passengers doing the exact same thing.

Ooops – turns out I wasn't the only person swapping planes from london to brisbane.

Uneventful flight to singapore (well, except for a harsh foggy-landing), more bland air-time to brisbane.

Managed to fit 7 movies into the near 21-hrs of travel.

Unstoppable – surprisingly good
The A team – not so surprisingly bad
Sorcerers Apprentice - meh
Inside Job (doco) – meh squared (shocking how it got to that point though)
Frequently asked questions about time travel – slow start, but extremely good
Ratatouille – still one of the best pixar films out
His Girl Friday – rapid-fire dialog from the 40's = yes please.

Met at the airport by a good mate, who dropped me back by about 0200.

The last few days have been about, dealing with the inevitable jet-lag, slowly unpacking, and deciding on my future plans.

The success-rate of those 3 things = not so good, pretty abysmal, and quite decisive.

Ticket is booked for my canadian odyssey.

I depart Australia, vancouver-bound; on the 29^th of March 2011.

Return date is locked in just before my work-visa expires on the 17^th of January 2012.

Time to pack-up my life, and move halfway around the world.

Photos and other things

London tube station

tate modern

A380 on the way home

nifty tail-cam

London...

2011-02-04T13:34:00.011+10:00

...by foot

for some reason, whenever I hit a new city, my preferred mode of transport, is walking.

I seem to enjoy the discovery of how streets connect together; building a little map in my head of how everything in an area is laid out.

On this particular trip, that's meant 3 very packed days in 3 very different cities.

When you add in the 6-days skiing, it's been a 'holiday' of non-stop movement.

Today was London.

Learning from my paris mistakes, I caught a train into the touristy area to start my day.

Waterloo station, towards the Thames and the giant london eye thing.

The only goal of the day (or indeed my only pre-thought), was to find the tate gallery.

I kind of figured I'd be able to take photos anywhere.

Lets start...

...in paris (on the eurostar heading NW to england)

journey was fairly uneventful, but delayed by enough time that it made all the regular passengers annoyed. met my host at the train station, and had a lovely evening catching up with, and meeting new people

this morning held the promise of a slightly warmer (9 deg C) environment, and even the chance of a little sun later on in the day.

Morning cloud

Getting lighter...

morning for sillhouette of a church

foot-bridge, a little over from the waterloo bridge

Big Ben, through some trees

almost midday, only had a coffee at my accom by this stage.

double-decker and the parliament, does it get any more english than this...

Queens walk

found the tate gallery, it should probably be renamed the Turner gallery on account of just how many Turners they have... seriously, it's a little over the top
just for laughs, I also went to the tate modern (which was several Kms away, in the opposite direction to the way i'd just come...)

flags, flags, flags, flags

westminster abbey

classic...

more of the scenic clock

the county hall (london eye is right outside)

inside, is the London Film Museum. which, lets face it, is going to make me curious enough to spend the 12 pounds to take a gander (promises of seeing behind the magic of the movies)

amusingly, just as I was considering leaving, there was an evacuation from the building - and I had a chance to grab a grande-mocha at the starbucks next to the evacuation area... (P.S. I don't think it was anything other than a simple inconvenience for the adjoining hotel, didn't look like the building was on fire or anything...

love that they positioned the old-school pedestal boom next to an articulated dino-skeleton

Daleks - like, real; have actually been used in the making of the TV show...

Charlie Chaplin's hat and cane (there was a whole wing devoted to his life and career)

Lightsabers (the three in the front - are actual props from the "first" two films, while the blaster and saber in the back are commercial replicas)

a collection of actual ewok fur... (this is something you can buy - if you're so inclined)

stormtrooper costume (unsure of its authenticity - there was also a Vader costume and a boba fett)

X-wing model

Sunset

pretty walkway

looking north

beach on the Thames

nice contrast in buildings...

ok, where's my bike?

millennium bridge

pretty war-ship

London Tower

another angle

London-Bridge ('aint falling down, but they are doing some restoration on the road deck - so it didn't look like it was going to open up anytime soon)

alternate

on the deck

signage

pretty-trees

night-eye

well, it's off to bed, for a few hours sleep, before a short day tomorrow... followed by a non-existant day (Sat feb 5th dissappears into the ether due to date-lines, flight times etc)

anyone feel like picking up a worn-out and bearded little aussie at the Brisbane International at 0100 am on sunday morning? (6th)