It's been awhile since I last blogged, so I thought I'd get 2011 started with some colourful photos from Illuminate Yaletown. It was raining on Friday night, making photos a little difficult while holding my umbrella & monopod, but once you're into it then you stop worrying about your gear.

I've put a few favourites below, and I've got a few more on the Flickr set.

Here is the main website for more information about the event.

Great installations by all the artists involved!

So I was walking down the street ... when out of the corner of my eye, I notice Batman taking a break from his usual caped crusader duties ... just chilling out and chatting up the ladies.  My hero! ... more pictures after the jump below.

No weddings today, so I had a chance to go check out the Showdown in Downtown where Steve Nash and celebrity friends were playing soccer at David Lam Park in Yaletown in his fundraiser benefitting children's charities on 3 continents.

• As busy as the weekends are during wedding season, I love to take time out during the week to work on portrait and headshot sessions. Frané moved to Vancouver recently from Saskatchewan and was looking for a headshot session to help further her acting career.
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There was a lot of publicity for this month's critical mass, and the street closures, combined with the opening of the World Police & Firefighters Games, made for a very busy traffic day! It's still pretty hot and muggy out there, so I just grabbed a few shots at the tail end of the ride.

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  It was fireworks night in Vancouver in more ways than one. In addition to the usual English Bay competition, there was a pretty awesome thunderstorm with tons of lightning passing through downtown.
  
  We so rarely get them in Vancouver that they have always fascinated me ever since I was a kid. On this night I had to react quickly and I didn't have my tripod with me, or my umbrella for that matter!
  
  But hey, being able to go out and shoot in this kind of weather is one of the main reasons why we buy professional camera bodies, isn't it?
  
  View the film strip by scrolling below.
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  It's a long walk across the bridge, but who cares, the colours alone ended up being worth paying the price of getting soaked!
  
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  I wasn't lucky enough to capture one of the lightning strikes, but my lack of a wide angle lens didn't stop me from trying.
  
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  For obvious reasons, I couldn't really shoot for very long pointing up, but the orange lights against the purple sky had me trying to snag a couple of frames.
  
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  The colours in the wake of the storm just got better and better ...
  
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  and there was even a faint rainbow, starting near Science World ...
  
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  and ending near city hall
  
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  Once again, wet pavement + sunset = awesome colour!
  
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  I was soaked by this time, time to heading back towards downtown .
  
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  These colours are straight out of camera, in muted portrait mode no less. This is exactly how it looked out there tonight.
  
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  Yaletown condos silhouetted in orange
  
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  Some passerby had umbrellas, but most of the crazies out on the bridge were soaked.
  It was kind of a warm rain, like you would get in a tropical place so it didn't bother me too much.
  
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  Remnants of a bridge party it would seem ...
  
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  Shifting from orange to pink now ...
  
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  Hiding at the bus stop, letting my gear dry and
  snagging more of the colourful wet pavement.
  
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  Pink shifting to purple now ...
  
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  Liking the colour balance of the bus lights against the sky.
  
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  Free advertising for AmiChi
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  Purple fading away now ...

Who ya gonna call? Yes, Ghostbusters was on the menu at the 2nd annual outdoor movie night in Yaletown. We didn't get a chance to do the whole popcorn and picnic blanket thing, just a quick photo visit. Next year!

I believe the official screen size was listed as 40x20 feet and the image quality seemed quite good for such a BIG screen. The audio also sounded good, much better than other outdoor movie events I've been to.

Update - Cafe Vancouver had their grand-opening Friday (April 24th), so we stopped by again to sample the coffee and the Turkish pastries baked by Solomon's wife Naz. Very tasty! That, combined with the fun of seeing lots of international hits on our blog (hello Turkey!) after Naz emailed all her friends ... convinced us to do a follow-up. :)

While out and about doing a quick bit of testing on a new polarizing filter, I met Solomon, who has just opened a new place in Yaletown called "Cafe Vancouver". I didn't really get a chance to sample the goodies this time around, but I vowed to return soon with Rosy. Cafe Vancouver has an inviting decor and along with organic coffee, they bake mostly everything on-site. I'm also always up to support local Yaletown businesses whenever possible ... and especially with free wireless internet! Future clients, don't be surprised if I bring you here to meet instead of the busy Starbucks! :)

Solomon and his team ...

With the (slightly) warmer weather, the snow is starting to melt, so I had to venture out once more before it's gone! These are in and around the David Lam Park area.

Soup weather in effect :)

After a so-so August in terms of weather, September has been really quite great. However, today is the first day of fall ... it's time to start scouting those colourful leaves!

This usually also marks the time of year when the wedding season winds down and studio season revs up. I'm thinking of offering some sort of special on Christmas portraits for kids, although maybe just for friends & past clients. I'm definitely not dressing up as Santa though, hehe. As always, email me if you are interested.

There should still be plenty of chances to enjoy some outdoor fall sessions as well.

I usually also start opening the calendar to shooting other events as well - bar mitzvahs, corporate events, and quinceaños!

I was walking by Firehall No.8 in Yaletown and noticed this tribute to the firefighters helping in the 9/11 rescue efforts. It brought back memories of that tragedy, and the realization that it's been 7 years. Peace be with the families affected by the events that day.

It's always fun to get out around False Creek, especially at night when the lights are reflecting off the water. I usually need to combine these mini photo excursions on top of "real" activities and last night was no exception. So after our Shoppers Drug Mart pit-stop to catch the last day of the ice cream sale(!), I managed to steal a few minutes. The water turned so smooth in this exposure, it looks almost like ice. I'm not sure if this sculpture is really called the "rocket" or not, but it is pretty interesting in that it changes direction according to the tides.




I never realized the end "glows" until I was taking this shot (it comes on for about approximately 20 seconds every couple of minutes). I guess it's preparing for take-off. ;)

More False Creek sampler shots here ...