Here's a few images from the Labour Day weekend, spent on Pender Island is in British Columbia's beautiful Gulf Islands.
Stars
Dock
Swishies
Aaaaaahhhh...sploosh  

One of the joys or curses (depending on the day and the circumstances) of living on the west coast of British Columbia is the BC Ferry System.  

Long waits, bad food and general crowding can make the trips miserable.  But...the right weather, a nice sunset and seeing through the frustrations can be your lifesaver.

Earlier this summer, a few blocks from my home, Prince Edward and Dutchess (not princess apparently) Sophie visited to raise the Para-Olympic flag.  

My sister is a fiend for royalty so I tagged along on her outing.  While the royals were the "show" I enjoyed seeing our police men and women dressed in their formal regalia and doing a little flag waving.

These people do a pretty nasty job, so its nice to see them able to enjoy a bit of pomp and circumstance on a special occasion.
   

Well, there comes a time in every photographer's life when the must confess to taking pictures (likely far too many) of their pets.

Today, I'm coming clean and gonna show y'all our two cats: Abby and Mika.  As you can tell, they're all about the eyes!

Our cats are dark brown and anyone's who's tried to photograph a dark brown or black cat on camera knows that it is very tough to get right.  So, despite thousands of efforts, there are only a few good pictures.  

Abby and Mika are burmese and can be very fierce ...  ummm  ...I mean fierce! ... fierce!!. (That's better). Most of the time, however, they kinda just hang about dreaming of mice and sunshine.

This is my friend Kim.  We met in "beginner photography"  and she's getting married this weekend...and I can't be there :(  

Kim's a hoot and she's even more of one when she's with her bestest friend Soula.  They're the kind of best friends that lots of people probably envy a whole bunch - They just "get" each other.  

Anyway, this is my way of wishing her a great day and an even better life to follow.  

Congrats Kim!
 

This past Sunday I returned to church (a place where I hadn't been in a few years)  to participate in a farewell service honouring the minister who had been there for the ten years I had attended.  My wife and I like and respect him so we felt it fitting that we give him our thanks and best wishes.

After the service I waited for the congregation to go downstairs to the large collection of pasta and jellied salads that seem grow like fungus in church basements and I took a few pictures of the sanctuary. Cross / Pews  

It is time for me to fess up.  I've taken pictures of lovely flowers but I've only done the short work of clicking the camera.  The credit for creating this elegance around our home goes to my wife (and God or mother nature, of course).   We have a small urban patio garden and she puts in the many hours needed to keep us surrounded in colour and beauty - and to ensure I have lovely subjects.  Where photography is my art, gardening is hers.  It's a match made in heaven.
 

No story. Just a few pretty flowers.

"Wall Flower"
Osteospermum
Crocus

There are few things more fundamental to our existence than water.  I have seen many beautiful postings here of waves and ponds and splashing water.  I looked through my own picture and was amazed to find how many ways I’d seen and photographed it -- As sunsets as social commentary and as background. I’ve even taken delight in freezing it (without the use of winter or a Frigidaire).

About two years ago I realized that for my entire life I had been using the words "faith" and "belief" interchangeably, when they’re really entirely different concepts.  

Beliefs are the premises that we hold to be true about the nature of existence.  They are are objective (ish) and can be catalogued.  Religions tend define themselves according to beliefs because they can be written down, discussed and debated.  However, they can also be used (by some) to draw lines defining who is “in” and who is “out” based on those beliefs. What is often called a “statement of faith” in religious tradition is usually a “statement of beliefs” – a sort of catalogue of what is and isn’t permitted.  While we all must have beliefs I would suggest they are best when held with a light grip.

Faith, on the other hand, is our relationship with God (or however we might define that).  It is much more subjective and can’t easily be defined. It is what sustains us.  It is, in the words of Karen Armstrong in “The Spiral Staircase” - “… really the cultivation of a conviction that life has some ultimate meaning and value, despite the tragic evidence to the contrary”.  Faith does not, in itself, promote the comparison of one to another, it simply beckons us to search as we walk down life’s path.

Faith has a tendency to subvert our beliefs and Art (in our case, photography) is one way it by-passes our intellectual gate-keepers.  Art allows us to experience and feel something without first concluding whether it is right or wrong, orthodox or heretical.  Art is one way of poking around in the bushes as we walk on that life journey; a way of opening ourselves to relationship.  

Globalisation has created an economic boom  resulting in the reconstruction of world cities.  Those positioned to drink from the trough of global capital flows are benefitting greatly.  Those who are not have found themselves on the wrong side of a widening economic gulf separating rich and poor. In a society addicted to consumption corporations have been able to pressure governments to give them numerous tax advantages on threat of pulling-out.  Governments are increasingly strapped for money and are cutting social services to survive.  Some are trying to fight back many are left out in the cold.

Lawrence is a man who regularly pan-handles in this location.  He stands in front of a branch of TD CanadaTrust which reports multi-billion dollar quarterly earnings.  Part of its corporate success has come through reducing the hours, wages and benefits of its front-line employees who, for the lack of one pay-cheque, could easily find themselves begging too.

I feel very privileged to live in Vancouver - a place of stunning natural beauty.  Unknown to many Vancouverites is a by-law that restricts the height of buildings in the downtown core.  Although an irritation to developers, it means that the North Shore Mountains remain visible from most places in the city.  Our city has placed significant value on aesthetic.  It has paid-off.  Vancouver is a major tourist destination because it is just so beautiful.  Here's some of what can be seen at night.
Two Cities? / Skyline & Mountains / Sunset From Beach / Steveston Sunset / Bus on Cambie

On my second day in El Salvador we hit the road and travelled to areas that were not far from the highway, but tremendously remote never-the-less.  After abandoning the 4-wheel drive because the road was impassible we walked upon these villagers who were clearing the "road" with their machetes.  We learned that they had settled this area after fleeing the much more violent north during the civil war.  Even here, to avoid being killed by geurillas they had spent months sleeping in the branches of trees.  After the civil war ended they created thier village and the "road" that connected them to the rest of the country.

I didn't find out how much, if anything, she knew of Che Guevara.
Che

Martin Barahona is the Anglican (Epsicopal) Bishop of El Salvador and the Archbishop of Central America.  Martin is a man completely committed to bringing relief and aid to a people living in a nation of violence and poverty.  In any given day he could be negotiating the release of kidnapped children or gathering resources to establish health-care services in remote villages or organizing the construction of homes that won't collapse in earthquakes.  His compassion is evident in his two daughters who are entering into adult life with an equal drive to bring social justice and fair living to the people of El Salvador.

Despite the title and position he holds there were no formal portraits of him.  While at his home for dinner I asked if I could take a portrait.  Without any studio equipment (or a studio) I set the camera to a 2-second exposure, turned off all the lights, hung a dark sheet behind him and got my priest travelling companion to operate the flash from the side of the room.  This, to my surprise was the result.

Portrait

Just so you can see his lighter, more earthy side, here is a candid taken outside his office.

Laughing