Category Archives: Vancouver

Once More

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There is so very much I could say and tell you about. My life has done a 360 in the last few months and as I’ve been trying to process it and organise for it, there has been little time for keeping up with my usual routines.

And of course, the decision that we have made is once again turning our normal routines upside down for a brand, new start. After much deliberation, the Canadian and I have decided to move back to Australia. We don’t know if this is the right choice, but for now, at this point in time, it is the right one for us. It’s going to take lots of re-imagining and finding our way in the waters of a different kind of life again but I know that our adventurous hearts will guide us through.

We love and will miss the beautiful village life we’ve made here in Vancouver. I know I will certainly miss seeing those snow capped mountains each morning as I looked out our window. I will miss the ease and the stress-free day to day living a smaller city brings and hope that readjusting to the bigness of Sydney will be a fun change, rather than a troublesome one.

As I think of our new life, I have been imagining us close to the sea, taking daily walks by the beach. Fingers crossed that an apartment will be waiting for us when we are ready to find it in just the right place. I, of course, am overjoyed at being able to spend real time with my family and friends again and cannot wait to reconnect with them all. I’m already planning our Christmas gatherings. As excited as I am, we will leave here with heavy hearts, knowing that we once again have to say goodbye to people whom we love and to a place that will always be our home.

These images were all taken around Vancouver with my Polaroid 180 Land Camera and Fuji film.

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Hello Again

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Where to even begin? I’m still alive, dear friends! Life is certainly full of ups and downs and twists and turns. Lately I’ve been experiencing them all and enjoying the things in life that important while trying to figure out the next move.

But rather than let life get in the way too much, I thought what better time to come back to this space than Roid Week! I will be sharing some instant images that I’ve shot in the past few months, plus some that I’ve held off from sharing from Instant Love.

I’ve got some big changes happening again in my life soon but more on that later. Hopefully, I will be able to share some new images from my latest toy with you soon.

Happy Roid Week!

 

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Lately on Instagram

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Ciabatta bread in my kitchen; Sean looking through vinyl at East St Records in Seattle; Fallen camelia petals in our neighbourhood; Scituate Harbour, Massachusetts; Stranded for 4 hours at Montreal Airport; Flying over Boston; Fallen cherry blossom petals in Vancouver; looking over downtown Vancouver from Kitsilano; Radiohead in Seattle; On my desk.

You can follow my life on Instagram at @mandaroid.

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Find The Beauty

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And a ho! ho! ho! to you…

Here’s something a little different for me. I’ve been teaching my Shoot By Design course participants to step out of their comfort zones and I really should practise what I preach, right? So here I am with some darker images with no natural light in sight. I didn’t completely step away from my usual thing but just took one element that is stylistically me and did the opposite. Do you step out of your photography comfort zone often?

Winter 2011 is the year that I embrace rather than retreat. For the past 2 years I’ve whined and grimaced at the darkness of the winter months here in Canada. I’ve spent every wet and miserable day pining for the light from my homeland and I finally came to the realisation that it was a really stupid choice to make. I can sit and wallow and be depressed for 7 months or I can embrace it and find the beauty in the situation. Being that I grew up in a land where the light was never an issue and sunshine was always around the corner, moving to Vancouver (where it is literally one of the greyest places on earth) took a lot of getting used to. I had no idea how much it would affect me and last year was particularly tough. I knew that I couldn’t let it beat me this year, so I’m trying my hardest to embrace it with open arms and find the beauty.

And it’s amazing…ever since I made the decision to adapt, I’ve actually been enjoying it! I’m seeing the fog and the mist as an atmospheric canvas, I’m taking long walks in the forest, I’m seeing a new beauty in the murky light, I’m delighting in wearing boots and scarves and coats, and I’m carving out a new way to take photographs. I’m even shooting a personal project which kind of has me giddy. More on that one soon.

Embracing, yo! <— Jesse Pinkman has a lot to answer for.

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Wandering Neighbourhoods: Main St

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Ah Main St, such a fun place to spend an afternoon.

OK, before I go on Vancouverites, I know…the Sylvia Hotel is not on Main St but it was part of my Vancouver wander in the last month and I wanted to share. It’s such an awesome looking building.

The rest of these were taken on Main St which is a funky area filled with cute shops for you to aimlessly browse in and adorable cafes that beckon you to stop in for a latte. Despite me not needing a bridal gown, I couldn’t help myself and ducked into Frocks for a peek. It’s such a beautiful store filled with bridesmaids’ gowns and gorgeous fancy shmancy jewellery. I, of course paid a visit to one of my favourite Main St stores, The Regional Assembly of Text and discovered Front & Company, a quirky clothing/consignment/accessories store.

With all the wedding mayhem I’ve been involved with in the last month, I missed out on spending some time with these awesome ladies who were in town last weekend. I’ve been loving their blog posts and instagram shots from their trip. Hopefully we can meet up when I’m in Seattle/Portland next, ladies!

Vancouver is pretty awesome.

All images were shot on Kodak Portra 400 film.

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Reasons I Love Record Stores

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Reasons I love record stores:

  • The endless possibilities of new music to discover.
  • There’s something special about loving a record that has already been loved and shared with others before you.
  • The anticipation of stumbling upon that longed for 7 inch vinyl that you’ve scoured many record stores for. There’s always the chance that this could be the day.
  • The people who work in them actually know about music. Unlike the majority of people who work in places like HMV and Sanity (insert local big brand chain music store).
  • Music and concert picks hand written on cards on the walls. I love the intimate nature of the way the information is displayed. It’s like a hand written letter from a friend telling you to check out their new favourite band.
  • The one dude that lives and breathes music. There’s always one older guy working in these stores who is passionate about music and knows a ton about music. The Barry of your Championship Vinyl. Not that Barry was older, but you know what I mean.

Awesome record stores:

  • Zulu Records, 4th Ave, Vancouver
  • Easy St Records in Seattle
  • Amoeba Music in Los Angeles
  • Red Eye Records, King St, Sydney
  • That one awesome little whole in the wall store in Temple Bar, Dublin. I don’t remember the name but they sold way more U2 vinyl than I’d ever seen in my life.
  • Championship Vinyl- ok, so it’s fictional but you know it’s awesome. TRAX can therefore also be included.

And yes, I smacked the hell out of shooting wide open in those photographs.

Taken with Fuji Natura Colour 1600 film from Japan.

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