Author: John Bollwitt

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Knocking down radio towers

I never like to pass us an opportunity to see some carnage and destruction, preferably that of the controlled type, but this was a chance that doesn’t come along too often.

In my near 15 years of being involved in the radio industry both in the U.S. and Canada, I have never seen a transmitter site have its towers knocked down first hand. Using my Nikon D90 and a cheap tripod, I thought I’d use the opportunity to take some video such opportunity.

To give a bit of back story, this is the now former home of CKST (TEAM 1040AM). Built in the early 80’s, the five tower site has been replaced with a completely new site, not far from this location. This site was slated for eventual demolition, but recent site inspections discovered some structural problems on the base of two towers that the need to bring them down became extremely urgent. In fact, this information was discovered late last week, and this past Monday’s appointment with experts in knocking down towers like this was bumped up.

As you’ll see in the video below, my video techniques are a little rough, but the sound of each, 240 foot tower hitting the ground was impressive. By the time I captured the third tower coming down, I figured out that static shots of each collapse worked much better on my cheap tripod, hence that annoying crunching sound of sorts. Live and learn.
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Photos from the CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

On an early October 4th morning, I ventured down to Concord Place with Rebecca to check out this year’s CIBC Run For The Cure. Across the entire country of Canada, people were running and walking to raise money to help find a cure for breast cancer. Being that we were invited to check out the festivities, I knew it would be a great opportunity to get some more practice in with my Nikon D90. This would be the first, large scale event with my new camera, so it was tough to pass up.

I should mention that this is the first time since 2007 that I haven’t participated in the Run For The Cure. We were invited to run by the organizers if we wanted, but the jam filled weekend of BarCampVancouver and other sixty4media projects kept us fairly swamped that weekend. Perhaps next year, and I’m always up for a good run, no matter what the cause.

That being said, here’s a selection of photos that were some of the best to me. I’m still getting a handle on technique, but these types of events are incredibly fun while difficult to shoot. So many great opportunities for getting great captures, but you just have to be in the right place at the right time.

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

This cat was cruising along on top of this guy’s head as he set out from the start line. With all of the dogs participating in the event, I can see why. Still, the way it’s perched on top of the hat makes me think that this is a regular thing. Just need the perfect Lolcats caption for it.

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

Pamela Martin, ladies and gentlemen. Quick eye contact, raised my camera, and she flashed me that perfect, Channel 9 smile.

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

I saw these three in the distance. They were all pushing themselves to make it to the finish line, coming in around the top 10% of all the other runners. One of them waived to go ahead and finish without them, but they instead locked hands, one of them let out a “we can do this!”, and put their heads down to finish that last 100 meters together. Kind of pulled on the heart strings.

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

A “most interesting man in the world” moment.

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

You can see all of my photos from this event on Flickr. Rebecca has a full write-up as well.

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Photos from the BarCampVancouver09 Photowalk

As mentioned in my previous post, this year’s BarCampVancouver had a morning photowalk where we ventured out around this year’s venue to explore the area through a lens. There was probably twenty of us wandering around mostly empty, over grown property next to the rail yard near Main and Terminal.

Here’s a selection of my favorite shots that I took on the photowalk (all my photos from BarCampVancouver09 are here).

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Photowalk

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Photowalk

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Photowalk

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Photowalk

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Photowalk

Peter has a good shot of me taking this photo.

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Photowalk

What’s fun about going on photowalks like this, at least that I’m discovering, is when in the company of fellow Nikon owners, you get the opportunity to try out different lenses to at least experiment with other components that I could get for my D90. For example, the final shot above was wide-angle lens of Peter’s that he let me borrow about half-way through the photowalk. It really gives you a good idea of how something works and feels before you consider purchasing said gear.

But it doesn’t matter about what lens you have. Jordan always looks sharp.

The biggest element that I get from photowalks like this is just learning my camera. It’s how I learned the ins and outs of my Canon S5 IS, and the Nikon D90 is no exception. I’m refining what I already know to get a better grasp on pushing my photography, but when you’re around people like this who know even more, you are constantly learning. The conversations are incredibly geeky at some points, but understanding terms, sharing concepts, and having someone grab your camera to show you some setting that you didn’t know existed is invaluable. It’s a true testament of only getting better by simply giving it shot.

Actually, in photowalking terms, you give it about 500 shots in hopes that you come up with a handful of good ones.
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BarCampVancouver 2009 not only successful but well worth the time

BarCampVancouver 2009 - Schedule Wall

Last weekend, BarCampVancouver 2009 was held at Discovery Parks Vancouver. And more than anything, I think the location was an ideal spot to have this year’s gathering of like minded folks to get together and discuss a good variety of topics, ranging from day trading, mass transit, photography, and even a session inspired by an old post of mine regarding freelancing (certainly read Raul’s post on this issue which further explains this session which I also attended).

BarCampVancouver 2009

BarCampVancouver 2009

I have always been a fan of BarCampVancouver since the first one I attended in 2006. In fact, that was the first big event in the Vancouver tech community where I was really introduced to the vast array of people who make up this city’s thinkers, movers, and shakers, only to have that be the tip of the iceberg of what it is today.

BarCampVancouver 2009

BarCampVancouver 2009

My favorite sessions this year were, of course, the photography focused ones led by John Biehler and Scott Prince. The morning photowalk around the building was followed by a great afternoon session regarding editing processes. Moving into the DSLR world myself, this is obviously of interest to me. I’ll post more photos from that photowalk later, but big thanks also goes out to Peter Andersen and Tyler Ingram as well. Learned a lot from these folks as of late, and you’ll see more proof of this later.

The other session of interest was a discussion I attended where the focus was the gap that exists between designers and coders. As with our projects with sixty4media, I found this interesting because it’s something that I personally struggle with on a constant basis. By that I mean the internal struggle I have between my creative sense and how difficult it can be to incorporate that with the infrastructure of web design.

As I get deeper into the realm of web development and push the boundaries of my skills, I find that working with a designer allows me to work better as a coder. Hearing the struggles, frustrations, insights, and ideas of how to deal with this gap (which varies from person to person), I came away from this session with a renowned sense of inspiration that have already found their ways into the how I work on a day to day basis.

BarCampVancouver 2009

I think the key thing to consider when it comes to events like this is that some of the best things you discover come from conversations you have outside of the sessions going on throughout the day. Sure, there are things like business contacts and the exchange of cards, but I’m talking about those elements where you really learn a tiny nugget of information that alters the way you think about or do things. Those moments are what really keep you coming back because who doesn’t like to be better at what they do or are passionate about?

BarCampVancouver 2009

Congrats to the organizers of this year’s BarCampVancouver. They did really well, and I’m looking forward to another one next year already.

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Moving into the DSLR world

In light of my recent birthday, I got an upgrade on my camera as a slight early gift. I’ve had my eye on the Nikon D90[wiki] for a matter of months now, but the push of going into the DSLR side of photography is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. As I said to Rebecca the other day, I’m back in the remedial class in terms of what I know, what I think I know, and what I don’t know. The last statement is vast, but I’m already in good company.

(The wise) John Biehler told me that once I got the model of camera that I wanted, there would be a lot of opportunity to meet plenty of other like minded folks who were eager to share their knowledge and insight on gear, techniques, and everything else you get yourself into when you make this kind of upgrade.

So just a matter of days after my purchase (of which Rebecca was in near constant contact with John via SMS), we had a birthday gathering at our place last Friday night, inviting John, Peter[flickr], and their collection of lenses and flashes for me to try out and get a feel for.

Still being a newbie, I’ll post a few of my favorite shots from the night with no edits or crops. Going through my own sense of discovery with this amazing apparatus and what it can possibly do. Click any thumbnail to see the full image.

Really liking the camera so far. I’m not sure how long it will take for me to get into purchasing extra lenses for it, but these trials have me gunning for a 50mm f1.4 lens, which many of the shots above are with. My only other goal with lenses would be to shoot some more concerts with. It’ll also be great for many photos that I’m sure you’ll be seeing on miss604.com, starting with a recent post where I shot George Stroumboulopoulos chatting with Rebecca.

Rebecca interviews George Stroumboulopoulos

Just for kicks, this was my favorite shot I took from that interview.

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Thoughts on a Canada Line platform

Waterfront Canada Line Station by Miss604 on Flickr.com
Waterfront Canada Line Station by Miss604 on Flickr.com

It’s been nearly three weeks since the Canada Line has opened, and I keep thinking about how much it has changed my daily life every time I take it.

Sure, there might be a day when something goes wrong and the next train will take forever to show up that I’ll be reduced to the multi-bus commute to get to work (which has already happened but not on my watch), but accidents, mishaps, and generally bad days can and do happen.

I had a great experience riding the train home on the day of my first commute.

Standing at the platform, a co-worker walked down the stairs while I was waiting for the next train. I was heading downtown, and he was going to pop off into Yaletown. He doesn’t live around there but couldn’t pass up the chance to try it out.

We stood there talking about how he was using the opportunity to shop around Yaletown a little before going home, which I’m sure many businesses down there are hoping for more of, when someone else walked up to chat about how amazing this whole thing was.

“It’s so Vancouver. It looks great, works amazingly. I just love it.”

I couldn’t help but nod my head with the stranger while he sipped his frozen latte.

“I’m just so sick of all those people who say this is a waste of money. I wish those people would just go somewhere and die. Because you know, we need more of this. Out to the valley, to UBC, shut off those motors on the buses. It would be tremendous!”

This man was genuinely excited about this new form of transit, as crazy as that is to think about. But I had a very hard time disagreeing with him, minus the whole wishing people die thing.

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A bad day at the station

In my time in radio, I’ve been apart of my fair share of absolute train wrecks. Those broadcasts that start off innocent but head straight down the drain. On the air, it all works out and everyone does their best to maintain some sort of professionalism so it looks like what happened was supposed to happen, but behind the scenes, everything has gone to shit.

Global BC’s noon newscast had that happen this past Monday, and they played this one off beautifully.

Dare I say, this video has a good chance of going viral…

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Why sports are pretty cool some times

I was at BC Lions vs. Saskatchewan Rough Riders game this past Friday, working the radio side of the play by play broadcast from BC Place. I’m not the biggest football fan, but the passion and excitement of the game is always what draws me into watching a game from time to time.

Finding this clip on YouTube, this game had two great elements to it. A ridiculous comedy of a play that results in a touchdown combined with pure athletic power on display in the field goal block towards the end, the real reason I’m posting this. Seeing that happen on the field in real time was amazing.

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Storms over the Canadian Prairies

We’ve returned from our whirlwind trip to Punta Cana and taking this B.C. Day to recover. I thought I would still get this video posted today to share something we saw on the plane ride home.

On route from Toronto to Vancouver, we caught these thunderstorms over the Canadian Prairies, looking north somewhere over Manitoba and Alberta. I’ve flown enough to see storms from above before, but nothing like this. After watching the show for a little while, I made a mad grab from my camera to shoot some video of it. It’s not the best quality, but some of the lightning displays are pretty amazing.

This was tough to shoot in terms of blocking any reflection in the window. Being dusk to complete darkness outside, I thought I would try anyway. Sadly it was just too dark to take any photo or video of the lines of flames I saw from some of the wildfires in the interior, and those gave me bigger chills than the lightning show.