ABC Jewellery and Loan, Vancouver, British Columbia 2019
All posts filed under Urban
Yale Hotel Neon, Vancouver, British Columbia 2016
The Yale Hotel is a well known site on Vancouver’s Granville Street. A reminder of the days when neon ruled the downtown commercial districts.
Parking Garage and crescent moon, Bute Street, Vancouver, British Columbia 2018
Sometimes walking around you see an image that’s combination of genres. This view along Bute Street in Vancouver’s West End was one of those. The dusk sky with the crescent moon overhead is from a traditional pretty landscape but below is a grittier urban nightscape. I’ve been finding a lot of photos in the West End during recent visits.
Berkeley Place Elevator Shaft, Davie Street, Vancouver, British Columbia 2018
Walking to breakfast early on weekend morning we passed the site of what had been, until just days before, an apartment complex in Vancouver’s West End. The elevator shaft, with the somewhat incongruous potted palm tree, at the bottom were the only two things left standing that day. A week later the shaft was gone as well.
Corner Store in Snowstorm, Davie and Thurlow, Vancouver, British Columbia 2018
This was one of those heavy west coast snowstorms that came in, dumped a load, and then it all melted away by the next day. I walked out of the Skytrain Station on Davie Street and there were just light flakes falling, but by the time I reached Thurlow there was snow covering the ground, the falling snow was much heavier and just a few …
Selfie Bus Shelter Poster, Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia 2018
Late night Vancouver street photography while walking along Granville Street. Photographing an ad for a camera phone and camera phone photography.
Hair salon and Murphy beds, Langford, British Columbia 2017
Architecture, of course, like everything works in cycles of fashion. The A-frame entrance to suburban housing, at least in British Columbia, was common enough in the 60’s and 70’s. It’s perhaps rarer to see this vernacular architecture at use in commercial buildings from that era, certainly with the use of the double A-frame on the structure, which you can’t see in this image(the A is …
Last Gas Station, Davie Street at Burrard Street, Vancouver British Columbia 2017
Another sign of changing times, this Esso on Davie Street at Burrard Street is the last gas station in downtown Vancouver. How long it will exist is another thing. The property went up for sale last spring. Property in Vancouver, especially the core, is just far to valuable for use for something like a gas station. It’s a large footprint on the land and the …
Box House, Bevan Avenue at Third Street, Sidney British Columbia 2017
A great example of why it’s important to photograph a unique, even if insignificant on a larger scale, piece of architecture when you have the opportunity. This small square box of a house was bulldozed less than two weeks after I took this image. The house was very basic but unlike anything else on the street. I’m sure it’ll be replaced by a larger box, …
Curio and Antique Store, Victoria British Columbia 2017
This little shop in downtown Victoria seems like a throwback to a different era with it’s amazingly eclectic collection of goods, from toys to Indigenous art. There’s certainly a recent history of toys visible in the objects for sale. Normally I would have tried to reduce the reflections in the window glass but I think the buildings reflected are useful visual information about the street.
Ruby Karinto, Victoria, British Columbia 2017
Much of my photography centres around landscapes, natural and manmade and how that shapes us and our culture and/or how we and our cultures shapes our constructed and social landscapes. I like how the local makes us all unique to our own parts of the world. I haven’t concentrated so much on people who shape our culture especially artists, be they writers, musicians, painters etc. …
Drive Through View, 8th and Cambie, Vancouver British Columbia 2017
A view of a fast food drive through from West 8th Avenue at Cambie Street, at buildings facing a back alley and at centre with Canadian flag, Vancouver’s City Hall shows over the roof line of the 9th Avenue shops.
Bus stop shelter and new house, Victoria British Columbia 2017
The house in the background was just recently completed, built in a current ‘modern’ square style somewhat at architectural odds with the other older homes on the same street. I find it somewhat ironic that the ‘old’ bus stop shelter in front, mirrors the new build. That square style of bus shelter, which offered riders a largely enclosed (to the elements) structure but with windows …
Taber Music School, Saanich British Columbia 2017
This low building has seen several different commercial lives but currently houses a music school, readily apparent not only from the sign but but by the musical note decor painted on the outside. It looks though it may have been a garage at one point.
Barclay back alley, Vancouver, British Columbia 2016
A Canadian flag hangs in the window of an apartment as seen from a back alley in Vancouver’s West End.
British Columbia Documentary Photography #2
I recently read an interview with a local archives manager. He talked about the work and purpose of the archives and about acquiring material for the facility. He is always on the lookout for unique local photographs showing the community’s history but he made a a comment that I thought every documentary photographer should consider. He said that it was easy to find/receive images of …
Car Dealer, Clark Drive, Vancouver, British Columbia 2016
Waiting at dusk along Clark Drive for the bus to come along. Industrial areas have their own beauty.
Giant Bathtub Parade Float, Victoria, British Columbia 2016
The annual Victoria Day Parade is a big deal in Victoria. It’s three hours long and starts from from Mayfair Mall and moves all the way down Douglas Street through the downtown. It’s not entirely unexpected, since parades are full of odd sights, to see a giant bathtub representing Nanaimo (famed for its annual bathtub race) coming down the street. It is however much stranger …
CTV Broadcast, Robson Street, Vancouver, British Columbia 2016
Everybody has to work somewhere but it looked odd to see this television reporter, standing on a box on the Robson Street sidewalk waiting to respond to a remote (?) camera for a broadcast, not the traditional cameraman partner. Instead she was paired with a security guard, who was keeping an eye on the passing pedestrians.
Fresko Cafe, Yates Street, Victoria, British Columbia 2016
Wonderful hand painted signs on the exterior of this downtown cafe in Victoria.
Vancouver Public Library Steps, Central Branch, Vancouver, British Columbia 2016
I stopped by the Vancouver Public Library’s Central branch, the big one downtown bordered by West Georgia and Robson Streets. Designed by Moshe Safdie and DA Architects, that complex’s colonnaded walls give it a sort of Roman ruin look. I was there to check out some of the early Vancouver photography held by the Special Collections photo section up on the 7th floor. Had an interesting chat …
Cardero Grocery, Vancouver, British Columbia 2016
The Cardero Grocery tucked away in Vancouver’s West End is another one of those old corner grocery stores that appears to exist in a time warp. Old painted lettering and old 7-Up logos on the facade. It seems to me the key to the longevity of these old stores is their proximity to a school. It’s not the local residents shopping that pays all the …
Arbutus Cafe, Duncan, British Columbia 2016
While new architecture is as important as old, new, especially chain store architecture, is the same. A visual repetition that repeats across a province, a country and even the world, that makes everything appear to be the same, that in the interest of convenience takes away our regional uniqueness. The Arbutus Cafe in Duncan (above) is a one of a kind local establishment. It has …
The Odeon, Brickyard and Efes, Yates Street, Victoria, British Columbia 2016
Unique local restaurants and movie theatre along Yates Street in downtown Victoria.
Rain storm approaching, Harbour Road, Victoria, British Columbia 2016
This is the kind of weather we’ve seen a lot of this year. The street, Harbour Road, is one of the more interesting roads in Victoria simply because the side shown is new residential with some commercial/retail thrown in. The other side of the road is on the harbour and is still marine industrial giving the area a nice feel, holding on to an …
Vernon Drive Grocery, Vancouver, British Columbia 2016
This small corner store is such a great example of the old school of the neighbourhood grocery in Vancouver. It’s served many generations of neighbours as well children attending Admiral Seymour Elementary School across the street. The Pepsi signs are quite unique too I think, a change from the usual Coke version. The high price of Vancouver real estate has been in the news a …
Property waiting for redevelopment, 1100 block West 7th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia 2016
This property, looking pretty rundown at this point, has spectacular views of the Vancouver skyline. It has a unique mainly glass gazebo on the roof (at right). I’m guessing that the little house/entrance leads to either stairs or an elevator although elevators seems to be something only new small residences have. Redevelopment means that the space will hold more residences and they can all enjoy …
New Vancouver Art Gallery site, West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia 2016
As an exercise I sometimes try and photograph with an eye to preserving a view that will not exist in the future. The above is one such view. Shot from Cambie Street and looking across Georgia Street to the north. The parking lot seen at the lower right of the image is the future site of the Vancouver Art Gallery. That new building will most …
Olympia Pizza & Pasta, Vancouver, British Columbia 2016
I’ve been eating at Olympia Pizza for over 30 years. Sure, there was a 15-20 year gap in visits when I lived in Alberta but now that my son lives in the west end, my old neighbourhood, the family has resumed enjoying their house lasagna during visits. It’s wonderful when you can revisit an old favourite. The exterior could use some updating or at least …
Army & Navy Store, East Hastings Street, Vancouver, British Columbia 2016
The exterior of Army & Navy store, a long time fixture along East Hasting Street in Vancouver, is looking pretty shabby these days. When I was a kid, and the area was still a commercial hub, my parents would bring us in to the city from our home in the Fraser Valley and the Army & Navy was always a stop for new school clothes, …