On another trip back to my homeland of Iowa, I thought I should take the opportunity of being here to document a little bit of history while the caucus[wiki] happened yesterday.

With my camera in tow, my nephew drove Rebecca and I around town to check out a few of the locations where fellow caucus goers gathered to chat politics, hear from some representatives of the presidential candidates, and eventually circle the name of the person they want to represent the Republican Party in the 2012 election.

As a non-resident of the state, I can’t participate in this event, but this is the state by which I vote in federal elections in the U.S.

Walking into one caucus location, the woman just looked at us and said, “Alright, let’s do this. Who are ya and where do you live?”

I just told her that we were there to observe but also pointed to Rebecca and said, “Don’t live here.” (I’m a long time independent voter in terms of party affiliation, but for some reason, the last time I registered to vote by absentee, my registration card came back as Republican, even though I know that box for independent was checked.)

The only locations big enough to hold multiple large gatherings of people in this area are churches, and ascending from the basement where you register, it was easy to see why the woman at the front door was anxious to get our paperwork all in order. Seating was just at capacity with a few people standing at the back.

This is where everyone gathered to hear people speak on behalf of the candidates running in this caucus, but only a maximum of two people per candidate could speak for just a few minutes. If you had something to say, all you had to do is raise your hand and speak your mind as to why people should pick the person you wanted other people to vote for.

At the end of the evening, it was very easy to see and hear how many people were passionate about this caucus, the last speaker almost yelling at the crowd to vote for the person who will remove Obama from the White House as he waived his cane in the air.

As people broke off into smaller groups to actually make their vote, the battery life in my camera blinked empty. Shortly after all of the pieces of paper with one name circled were collected, we made our way back to the car and chatted about what we witnessed.

I’m glad Rebecca got to experience a small slice of Americana like this. Small towns and politics run almost hand in hand, and the way it happens can be like a thunderstorm in the heart of summer. The clouds will suddenly turn violent and rain down destruction, only to turn sunny and calm in a matter of minutes. But then you also know, another storm will eventually come along. It’s just a matter of when.

All of my photos can be found in this flickr set.

As this year is coming to an end, I’m thinking about all the things that has happened this past year and doing my best to catch up on them as a recap as much as sharing some of the photos I’ve been taking.

In late June, Rebecca and I took off for the Oregon coast for almost a week as an effort to get out of the city and recollect ourselves. 2011 has been a roller coaster of sorts, so we needed to spend some time listening and watching to the ocean in front of a fireplace from the comfort of cozy, seaside refuge in Cannon Beach.

It was such a charm to be in a smaller town that had feeling like being in B.C. but new to my list of states yet to cross off my list of places to visit.

Haystack Rock is the icon of this area, and we stared out at this natural rock formation from our room that the ocean seemed to place replicas of every so often along the coast.

In the last remaining hours of our stay, we were walking around the beach when I spotted a bald eagle heading straight towards the Haystack, where many puffins make their nests. Making a straight line for the rock, I stopped us both to watch what happened next.

As the eagle approached, a swarm of birds arrose from the Haystack, circled around the eagle, followed as it swung out and then back around towards its top, only to dive straight down to its surface. At that moment, the swarm collapsed on the same spot the eagle had just swooped into. The circle of life was in full effect as the nest were raided.

The one thing that I’ve always known and interested me about Cannon Beach is that this is the location where the Fratellis had their hideout in The Goonies. While that shack was built just for filming at Ecola State Park, we still had to explore it so I could say I’d been where Chunk had once tread.

I smell ice cream…

And while we did explore the town of Cannon Beach itself, it was tough to bring my camera along for the simple fact of not having a DSLR attached to my hip. This was a vacation after all.

But there were a few things I fell in love with other than just the piece of Oregon coastline that we called home for a few days.

One thing I’ve been told is how good Oregon beers are, and Bill’s Tavern and Brewhouse in Cannon Beach did not disappoint, especially after getting a little warm from the sun popping out from the clouds during yet another walk along the beach. The list of brews were all enticing, so I asked if they had a sampler that I could try.

The guy taking our order replied to my question, “You wanna try my beers?”

Yes I do, and I think I had just met either Bill himself or the brewmaster. Either way, it was tough to find a favorite as it’s a location pinned as must-go-back-to.

Other things of note: there is no sales tax in Oregon, it’s state law that you cannot pump your own gas, I love getting breakfast at the Pig ‘N Pancake if deciding to pass up the numerous cafes or bakeries, there is no better place than Cannon Beach to have a flip flop replacement emergency, and bird watching is serious business in these parts.

And speaking of serious business, so is cheese.

It might not sound like a good time, but the Tillamook Cheese Factory is an experience I won’t soon forget. It was a tad on the insane side in terms of the amount of people with their families to get samples of all things dairy, especially the double scoop ice cream cones and all the cheese curds you can eat until some one from behind shoves you out of line (I’m not saying that because people were rude as much as saying that the curds were tasty enough to get a little violent over the free samples).

In the end, simply driving around the coast is what really made our trip.

When we pulled off to take this photo, a family with thick, southern accents were at the same lookout, telling us that they didn’t have anything close to this beautiful back home. And while we have some pretty amazing scenery in B.C., it doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate other parts of the world that are just as awesome.

More photos of this Harrison River Eco Tour on Flickr.

Every once in a while, I find that processing a photo in black and white presents a different feeling to a shot altogether. And while that’s an obvious statement, I don’t like to do it very often.

I liked the way you see Jay and Eon (Bedouin Soundclash) come together at the center of the stage to focus on just each other for a brief portion of the song, forgetting everyone and everything else around them.

Pulling the color out of this one gives me more of a feeling that should be replicated by concert photography. It’s easy to get the photo of the lead singer at the microphone while he or she sings to the people in front of them. What’s more important to me is to capture those moments on stage that represents the intimacy of what live performances really are.

After all, I’m more of a fan than I am a photographer because I’ve been going to rock shows longer than I’ve owned a camera.

See more photos from this show at Miss604.com

Snapped this photo while photowalking during Hats Off Day in Burnaby Heights on Saturday. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of this event, especially since Miss604.com was a media sponsor.

I feel like I caught summer in this brief moment, even though it’s still, technically, spring.

Bottom line, this is an impressive affair. So many people, so many sights, sounds, and food. You could not have asked for a better day, and my slight sunburn is a tribute to that.

See all of my photos in this Flickr set and the recap post on Miss604.com.

I have been so amazed by this trip that Rebecca is documenting right now in Ghana. It’s wowing me with the imagery she is sending back. You should check them out for yourself on her Flickr set.

At work, I have a screen saver that cycles through my flickr stream, and this photo popped up the other day when I came back to my desk.

I took this a few months ago when Rebecca and I had a great weekend at the Westin Whistler as their guests. We were able to experience an amazing look behind the scenes in their kitchen while their very talented crew of chefs prepared some amazing food dishes for a local children’s hospital banquet and fundraiser.

I’ve always like how I was able to catch the way the clouds sit over the mountains on the other side of the Sea to Sky Highway from the main Whistler Village. You could stare out the window for hours, watching the clouds hover over the slopes.

Going back to 2010, I took this shot while in Iowa during the 4th of July. When you have a camera, some sparklers, and low light around sunset, what else do you do than experiment with long exposure?

Rebecca is remarkably good at making shapes like this, especially reversing a word to make it appear correctly for the shot without horizontally flipping it after the fact.

I had a fairly big project going on with the day job today, but there was a brief moment that relieved a little bit of the stress. I forgot about the email that mentioned Lights was coming in for a performance in our lounge at the station. I snagged my camera and snapped a few shots for the one song that I could stick around for.

I caught Lights about a year ago when I shot photos of Jets Overhead at The Commodore. She was the headliner, but I didn’t have a photo pass for her performance, just the opening act.

Lights takes my musical tastes to realms not usually tread, and I can’t help but appreciate the passion she has in her craft. She was also pretty brilliant live.

I shot this while crossing the Burrard Inlet in a Seabus to the north shore. This kid was a giddy as I often am while looking out the same windows at the city. It always makes me think about how lucky I am to be living in this city, and how thankful I am to all of my friends and family that made it possible for me to achieve everything I have.

I think that in a lot of ways, I’m still a kid at heart. That’s why I took this photo.

Last May, Rebecca and I finally made it over to Lighthouse Park on a cool, muggy day. It’s another one of those things that’s been on the list of places to visit after a few boat cruises by it and staring at it from the shore across the way from it.

The park is really pretty, but bring your hiking shoes for sure. As steep and narrow as some of the trails get, I still can’t figure out how, or yet alone why, some people got baby strollers over this terrain.

I’d barely recommend taking a stroller through Stanley Park, but it’s just the idea that some folks leave their front door not thinking about the fact that they are about to go to a park which sits at the base of a mountain.

Might this not seem like an unlikely place you’d want to bring a stroller?

I often enjoy riding shotgun while Rebecca drives. It gives me the opportunity to experiment with taking photos from the car, which usually doesn’t always turn out the best. Sometimes it’s blurry, the windows might be dirty, another passing vehicle can ruin the shot, and so on.

Rolling down Pacific Street with the sun setting off in the distance, this is a testament of not knowing how something will turn out until you try.

And I feel like this really is what summer in Vancouver is all about.

While many people will say that it rains a lot in this part of the world and they couldn’t live here because of that reason, you have to smile and nod. On those days that it’s not, this city is a vastly different experience. I don’t mind saving my energy to convince them otherwise.

Honestly, sometimes this city makes it easy to take beautiful photos of it. But in this case, this shot is more of an accident because I was only demonstrating the extra trigger I have on the battery grip for my Nikon D90. I held it to the side and just pushed the button.

Some photos, at least for me and are to my personal liking, are pure luck. Other times, it might be random. When you hit the sweet spot between the two, it’s immensely rewarding.

A little belated but worth mentioning that yesterday was Canada Day. We spent the day in Cloverdale for the Surrey Canada Day festivities out there, and I shot a lot of photos during our time on the ground.

The main reason we were out there was to cover the celebrations on Miss604.com.

• Canada Day in Surrey 2010 Day Blog
• Dragonette at Surrey Canada Day 2010

Even though it was rainy, it was still a great event. I only wish we could have stayed longer, but Rebecca’s health was waning at the onset of early evening as she’s been battling a head cold over the past few days. Short on time right now, but I’ll post some more of my favorite photos from the day later.

Updated: August 2, 2010: It’s taken me a while, but here are a variety of other shots that I took. Event photography continues to grow on me, but it’s really a fun challenge each time. You have to adapt to the venue, lighting, crowd, staging, and entertainment.

This is a great tradition of Surrey Canada Day celebrations. If you come up, you can get a cupcake for free. And quite honestly, everyone loves cupcakes. People from all walks of life, young to old, line up for these things.

Canada Day will be the time in the lower mainland to bust out all of your 2010 Olympics gear for years.

Rebecca with Diane Watts, Mayor of Surrey, B.C.

Live dancing groups are almost a Surrey staple.

Jessie Farrell with bass player, Ryland Haggis.

I kind of fell in love with the Dragonette when they took the stage.

In the last three years we’ve celebrated Canada Day in Surrey, I have never been let down. Even with the slight bit of rain that fell during the day, it still remains one of the best, free events for families.

Working the first BC Lions game felt like being a part of Vancouver history. I know I’m not from here, but this little boy (and his sister is in the other mascot’s arm) made me appreciate this day a little bit more. He was absolutely beaming to hug Leo.

And let’s be honest, this guy in a mascot outfit is simply a marketing tool of the football club. He gets the crowd pumped up, trots around on the field to reinforce the imagery of the team everyone in the stands are cheering for, and keeps the kids coming back for more and more.

Even when you understand all too well that there is a hefty business reason for Leo’s existence, it’s this one moment that you have to forget this.

In ten or twenty years, this little boy will recount the one year they whipped up a stadium in 111 days for there to be professional, Canadian football to be played here for just one season in Vancouver.

When all the stands are tore down and all that remains is the legacy of an artificial turf field and the four sets of lights, he might recount how his parents took him to a game one day, and even though the Lions lost in the final seconds of the first game to be played in the history of this temporary stadium, he even got to meet Leo and give him a big hug.

That’s why I took this picture.