Author: John Bollwitt

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A little love for Leo the Lion

First BC Lions football game at Empire Field 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.

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Nat Bailey Stadium is ready to play ball

Sneak Preview of Nat Bailey Stadium for 2010

We stopped by Nat Bailey Stadium the other night to check out some promotional stuff that the Vancouver Canadians are getting ready in anticipation of their upcoming season. Along with their new scoreboard, the smell of fresh paint was everywhere while I had some freedom to take a few shots around the grandstand.

Sneak Preview of Nat Bailey Stadium for 2010 Sneak Preview of Nat Bailey Stadium for 2010
Sneak Preview of Nat Bailey Stadium for 2010 Sneak Preview of Nat Bailey Stadium for 2010

Baseball is summer. Looking forward to sitting in those seats a few times in the coming months.

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Marlboro Scales

WSSF 2010 - Blogger House

I shot this during a weekend in Whistler with our fabulous hosts, Tourism Whistler.

They put us up in a first rate, private residence that you can rent out for periods of time, depending on how deep your pockets are and how long you want to stay. This was on the deck at the back of the house during the 2010 Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival in April.

Scales has become a good friend of mine here in Vancouver and a complete inspiration for my coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. He’s a constant reminder to keep challenging myself to be better at what I do while taking the time to enjoy life off the grid here and there.

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Hip shot down a Vancouver alley

Hip shot down alley off Smithe StreetI literally had my camera in my right hand but at hip level when I looked down this alley as I walked past and decided to hit the trigger for kicks and giggles. For the first time in a long time, I actually hit a decent perspective of a downtown alleyway in Vancouver, give or take what some locals might consider “typical”.

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Nike ad gets you pumped for the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Aside from hockey and baseball, futbol, or soccer as many like to call it, has to be the next sport in the world that always peaks my interest. And the World Cup in South Africa this year is completely worth getting excited for, much like this Nike ad has done for me. It’s quite possibly one of the best ads that most of North America will yawn at, so you should check it out.

If you’re not a soccer fan and this gets you curious about the sport at all, this summer is the time to check it out. Countries of the world with their best players going head to head in athletic competition? It doesn’t get much better than that.

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Spending a month with the Motorola Milestone phone and Android OS

Motorola Milestone home screen

Rebecca was offered to review a Motorola Milestone for a month, but I thought that I would take on the task to put it through some motions, try it out, and give my thoughts on the phone. Being a Blackberry user myself (due to necessity of my day job), I thought I would take the opportunity to try this device out from my perspective while Rebecca already enjoys the touch screen world of the iPhone.
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Photowalk: Iona Beach

Google Maps is chalk full of places for you to discover locations that are begging to be explored, especially with a camera. One of these is Iona Beach, an area Rebecca and I have wanted to check out for a while.

Iona Beach: April 2010

Once you get past the airport and head out to this narrow stretch of land, you can walk along a good mile of shoreline and vast sandbars during low tide. Aside from the number of tires and lumber products in my shots, this is really a beautiful place. You could easily spend a day at the beach out here, but the pet friendly folks were all over on this day.

The weather was cool and cloudy when we started out, but the sun and warmth eventually showed up as we hit the turn around point to venture back.
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The Appleseed Cast at the Biltmore Cabaret

The Appleseed Cast @ Biltmore Cabaret I’ve been a fan of The Appleseed Cast for a number of years now. Originally calling Lawrence, Kansas home, they passed through Iowa City a number of times during my days there.

So when they came through Vancouver and played the Biltmore Cabaret on March 9th, I took the opportunity to shoot some of their performance as they passed through town.

I processed all of these in black and white for a couple of reasons. First, the Biltmore, even though a great venue for music acts like this, is dark and has a low ceiling. On top of that, the lighting was low and green for the entire duration of the show. That pretty much makes every single photo make each person look green from head to toe.

The black and white seems to bring out the initmacy of the venue as well as the performance. This show is on their Low Level Owl Tour, playing the entirety of two early albums, Low Level Owl, Vol. 1 and Low Level Owl, Vol. 2.

In all honesty, these are two albums that I have the least amount of familiarity with, but I ran into a co-worker at the show who is an even bigger fan of the guys. He told me that this was a brilliantly spot on performance of two classic albums for The Appleseed Cast fans.
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