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Fun with a Fisheye Lens

dustin — 2011-05-16T03:20:37-04:00

2011 was my 6th year attending the Northern Voice personal media conference. I took the opportunity this time to play around more with my DSLR camera. I got to talking with photographer John Biehler about shooting using a fisheye lens, and he was kind enough to lend me his for the second day of the conference.

Fisheye is such a different perspective, it took me some time to get a feel for what it works well on. Here are a few of my favorite fisheye shots from the day (click to enlarge):

See all my photos in my 2011 Northern Voice photoset. The first half were with a 'regular' lens, and the second half are fisheye shots.

Intention 12 New Year's Festival

dustin — 2010-12-08T19:23:33-05:00

Last year I attended the Intention Retreat, which happens the 5 days over New Year's. It was a gathering of about 80 people, held in camp lodges outside Maple Ridge, BC.

It was an amazing way to celebrate the end of the year, and start of the new. It's a combination of workshops, dance parties, and communal meals. An excellent container for a gathering.

There's a pre-festival party happening next friday, and there's also the opportunity to ride a bus up to Intention for 1 party night. Check the Intention website for details.

I'm attending again this year, and I highly recommend this event.

Vancouver Port Dragon

dustin — 2010-11-29T21:54:28-05:00

The eastside cultural crawl inspired me to buff up my photography. Thinking about what I would show if I was displaying a photo exhibit, I went back and remastered one of my all-time favorite shots. Click to enlarge.

Northern Voice 2010 takeaways

dustin — 2010-05-07T22:52:16-04:00

Notes from day 1 of the 2010 Northern Voice personal media conference...

Bryan Alexander reminds us inject a sense of mystery into our (digital) lives.

How do you Find Your Voice?
Monica Hamburg says "Write, write and keep on writing. Don't be afraid to suck."

Dave Olson says "Take Risks and Hone your Craft with practice. Your voice comes out of your personal experiences."

The Cunting Linguist said "Write for yourself. Create excellent content. Be yourself online and don't pull your punches."

Taylor Loren ended the day with a hilarious take on relationships in the digital age. She had artistic slideshow technique, and maybe works with my cousin.

PS: Lunch chatting with the creator of Get out of Canada!

PPS: A friend of mine recently started a new blog about food and environment issues in Vancouver. I have been quite enjoying it, so check out: None too strong.

Petra's Call flash webcomic

dustin — 2010-01-26T06:57:37-05:00

Petra's Call is an innovative flash-based webcomic from Ninja Robot Dinosaur that you should definitely check out. There are 15 episodes currently, all available through the embedded flash app above.

I met the creator Shane Neville years ago in Vancouver. He since moved out to the Maritimes, but looks like he's back in Lotusland in 2010. Exciting!

Who is that at 4 minutes and 30 seconds?!!!

Maryam — 2009-07-14T21:22:09-04:00

I'll give you a hint: Rhymes with Bustin' Racks.

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-297853

Lantern Park Design Entry

dustin — 2009-04-08T17:09:37-04:00

Lantern Park - Beacon at Main and Terminal is an entry in the VPSN "Where's the Square?" design competition, created by myself and 2 friends. It's a re-design of the large park between Main St Skytrain station and Pacific Central station in Vancouver.

We are ready

YvonTripper — 2009-02-13T15:07:28-05:00

It is one year until the Vancouver Olympics. To promote Radio Free Qu�bec's coverage of the Games, we have prepared this promotional video.

On a personal note, I am somewhat disappointed that Vancouver has not produced a cheesy song to celebrate the 1-year-to-go mark, as Beijing did:

The Olympics without a cheesy song celebrating every milestone of preparation is not really the Olympics, if you ask me.

Vancouver Critical Mass Bike Ride

dustin — 2009-01-26T02:29:39-05:00

Critical Mass is a fun bike ride that lets everyone cycle parts of the city that are normally overrun with cars. Costumes are encouraged in our monthly bike parade!

Vancouver details:
Meet at the North end of the Art Gallery.
On the last Friday of every month.
Announcements at 6 PM, we ride at 6:15.

Critical Mass uses ad hoc organization through the ride. Every cyclists looks out for each other. It's important for safety that all the bicyclists stay together in one large group. Safety in numbers.

Stop and "cork" open intersections to cars. This is a very rewarding experience and a good opportunity to see the beautiful parade go by. After corking you'll be at the back of the ride, and can play the peloton game of racing to the front.

People at the front need to choose the route in real-time and shouldn't get too far ahead. The group will stop after the top of bridges or big hills and let everyone catch up. If the mass is big it should stay on larger streets so we have more lanes and can ride together.

Critical Mass is many things to its many participants. Partly it is a non-violent protest for bicycle rights. A gathering for the thousands of cyclists in the city. We deserve more of the road and Critical Mass is our proof. These are our streets and we want to ride our bikes on them.

First and foremost it is a celebration of Vancouver and bicycling! Everyone is welcome to ride. Have fun and be nice to people along the parade route!

More...
Join the Velolove Announcement mailing list to get reminders about Critical Mass!

Join the Velolove Discussion list to talk with other local cyclists.

Check the CycleMass Vancouver Blog for more local cycling events.

Interesting Vancouver 2008 Recap

dustin — 2008-10-25T19:44:34-04:00

Interesting Vancouver 2008 was a delightful little conference covering a wide variety of topics. Here's a recap of some of the points that I liked the most.

James Sherrett: We put 2 things into our bodies to make us who we are: stories and food. Be aware of what you're making part of yourself.

Darren Barefoot: Living outside your comfort zone helps show you who you really are, and grows you as a person.

Roy Yen: Our community is our culture.

James Chutter: Artists build on each others work. Push copyright laws to let it happen more.

Cheryl Stephens: Talk in plain language and more people will understand you.

Shannon LaBelle: There are a ton of little local museums around Vancouver.

Irwin Oostindie: We are our city's communities. Fuck stratas that shut down culture next to them.

Jeffrey Ellis: Vancouver has a vibrant underground comic community.

Tom Williams: Follow your true passion. Don't bullshit yourself about what that is. If you're unsure about your true passion, follow your tears.

Joe Solomon: We can create real climate change solutions today, using a kiva.org funding model and our existing community connections.

Dave Ng: Perspective is everything.

David Young: All the "great places" throughout history have been created by a core group of individuals in that place. Vancouver has more then enough potential to be a true great place.

Huge credit to Brett Macfarlane for organizing the event. I'm looking forward to more Interesting in the future.

Transit Safety = Building Activity

dustin — 2008-10-02T02:22:20-04:00

Karen Fung is doing an amazing job captaining the SkyTrain Unconference Blog. There's an open in-person meeting on Saturday with Translink. I don't think I'll make it, so here are some thoughts on their targeted issue of Safety.

SkyTrain stops are are hubs that lots of people pass through. Usually when there are many people around safety is not a concern. Problems can arise when a hub has relative down-time (empty except for a few people) or in quiet areas close-by.

The worst case is when you get off a skytrain or bus in a totally deserted area, or with only a few sketchy people and nobody else.

One powerful path to improvement is to build more community and commercial services around our transit hubs. A coffee shop, restaurant or bar right beside a transit hub is a world above a deserted hub in terms of safety.

Vancouver doesn't do this very well. Many large transit hubs are completely devoid of any services. These hugely traveled areas could support a variety of businesses, or serve as excellent locations for community activities if allowed.

Location, location, location! Translink needs to build more sticky activity in its centers. Safety through active community is the real way to improve the situation in and around transit hubs.

Locking the system down with turnstiles or more cops is an easy sound-bite solution, but doesn't address the root of the problem.

Zipcar, the Car Co-op and New Drivers

dustin — 2008-07-30T17:58:14-04:00

Zipcar and the Co-operative Auto Network both have cars parked right outside my building. Members can use the cars when they need one. This would be great except for the fact that neither of them will let me join.

Zipcar and the Co-op both require customers to have 3 year driving records. I only recently got my BC driver's license, and I still have my N, labeled as a novice driver.

As a new driver, I think I'm the prime demographic for a car sharing service. Lock me into your program when I'm young and getting started driving and there's a good chance they'd have me as a customer for a long, long time.

It's been good to see the 2 services competing against each other by adding more locations around Vancouver. I'm hopeful that one will see the opportunity here and create a way for new drivers to join.

Rejecting new drivers hampers the growth of car sharing, and pushes people to buy cars. Here's the research on how to buy a used car and Canadian car buying tips.

Random Links for June 3

dustin — 2008-06-03T07:00:02-04:00

How to Survive A Disaster.

GiveMeaning - Free Online Fundraising Tools for Charities.

Kiva - Loans that change lives.
Awesome micro-credit lending organization.

Global Agents for Change.
Biking from Vancouver to Mexico to raise money for micro-credit loans.

Random Links for May 21

dustin — 2008-05-21T07:00:02-04:00

Consciously Creating New Habits Fosters Creativity.
"You cannot have innovation unless you are willing and able to move through the unknown and go from curiosity to wonder."

Golden Ears Provincial Park.
Awesome campgrounds not far from Vancouver.

Spencer Herbert - Vancouver West End.
Candidate for the BC NDP nomination in the new West End riding.

Random Links for May 17

dustin — 2008-05-17T07:00:02-04:00

Surreal paintings of Jacek Yerka [awesome].

My experiment with smart drugs.

Join the online Translink advisory panel.

Magnetic North Theatre Festival - June 4-14 in Vancouver.

Chart comparing food consumption in different countries [image].

Random Links for May 13

dustin — 2008-05-13T07:00:02-04:00

The best advice I ever got - "assume positive intent."
The best advice from 25 different successful people. I'm linking to the stand-out one I liked. There are some other gems in there too.

New Music West Festival - Vancouver, May 14-18.

Treadmill Kittens [funny cat video].

PlayStation Network and Downloadable Games.

Dance, Monkeys, Dance - Slam Poetry with Flash Animation.

Vancouver Farmers Markets.

Things that are younger than John McCain.

Random Links for May 7

dustin — 2008-05-07T07:00:01-04:00

Food vs. Nutrition - 40 minute talk from Michael Pollan.
He's the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food."

Bike To Work Week Vancouver, May 26 - June 1.

Avoid The Relativity Trap - How Thinking Globally Can Save You Money.

Sleep deprivation is not a badge of honor.

Vidfest and the Pop Vox Awards

dustin — 2008-05-01T20:19:01-04:00

Vidfest is the Vancouver International Digital Festival, happening May 21-24, 2008. It's got a keynote from Chris Anderson of Wired, a day of "creative exchange" conference sessions, a day of "International Partnering Forum" one-on-one meetings, and the PopVox Digital Media Awards.

Lux Delux is in the running for the best casual game award. Please show your support and vote for the entry (you have to register an account for the Vote button to show up).

Launch Party 4 is also happening on the 21st, celebrating the local startup scene. And the Vancouver Game Summit runs concurrently on May 21-22, mostly focused on console business.

Techcouver is being used more as a nickname for Vancouver. Cool beans.

Random Links for April 27

dustin — 2008-04-27T07:00:02-04:00

Drugs vs Tree [COMIC].

Simple Manifesto: Break Free from the Tyranny of the Clock.

Free walking tours of Vancouver neighbourhoods - May 3-4.

Random Links for April 18

dustin — 2008-04-18T07:00:02-04:00

TransLink - Cycling Route Planner.
TransLink is investigating the development of a web-based cycling route planning tool and wants feedback.

CANADA: Nation or notion? Debate between Malcolm Gladwell and Adam Gopnik.

KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art.
Exhibit showing at the Vancouver Art Gallery from May 17 to September 7, 2008.

Don't tase me-tro

chrisdye — 2008-04-16T11:50:25-04:00

Vancouver transit cops tasering people who don't pay their fare.

Random Links for March 27

dustin — 2008-03-27T07:00:02-04:00

Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival.

Invoke Media - Interactive Agency.

DeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science.

thegreenpages.ca - Canadian Green Pages.

happyfrog.ca - BC's Green Directory and Sustainability Community
"Live green, have fun!"

Random Links for March 16

dustin — 2008-03-16T07:00:02-04:00

Google Sky - Maps of Outer Space.

Pemberton Music Festival - July 25-27, 2008.
Coldplay, The Tragically Hip, Interpol, Tom Petty, Metric... $$$

The ShowGears - Vancouver Reggae Band.

Whistler Wednesday

dustin — 2008-03-14T04:58:15-04:00

Random Links for March 4

dustin — 2008-03-04T07:00:09-05:00

Flickriver - A new way to view Flickr photos and more...

Flickriver: my most interesting photos.

Keep It Surreal - Vancouver Photo Guide.
Cool blog. I've subscribed.

National Wildlife Magazine Photo Contest Winners.

Ants on Beatty

dustin — 2008-03-04T02:09:49-05:00

The full Beatty St wall is now part of my updated Vancouver Murals photoset.

Random Links for March 3

dustin — 2008-03-03T07:00:02-05:00

Feeling tired? Exercise a little.

Balloon Tank [PIC]

U2 3D: Live-Action 3D Concert Movie, Featuring U2.
Now playing at the Vancouver IMAX.

Social Networking and Business

Mirzipan — 2008-02-27T20:33:27-05:00

Janeane Garofalo is having (with Dana Gould, Paul Provenza, and maybe the ACLU) an exclusive event for a certain kind of person. It's Friday, free, and part of Vancouver's Comedyfest. All it takes is lining up (first come, first served) with a print-out of your MYSPACE profile.

Is this the sort of thing that Dave Pollard is talking about in his "how to save the world" blog item 10? Your previous link-love got me thinking about it, and I later found myself on the comedy show's page. How can web-based social networking and the business mindset be used and harmonized? Or is this simply cross-promotional corporate advertising on the web?

Northern Voice 2008 recap

dustin — 2008-02-27T18:32:12-05:00

The 2008 Northern Voice social media conference was a blast!

I led a session during the unconference day titled TransitCamp and Open Source Government. It was my first time presenting such a thing, and definitely a learning experience:
- good idea to ask audience how much they know about the topic at the start
- plan for at least 10 minutes of questions (probably more at unconferences)
- work on being a calm and collected speaker

An outcome of my session was this Open Letter regarding Open Access to BC Government data.

Matt Mullenweg was an excellent keynote speaker. However, I must call bullshit on his suggestion that police can make any meaningful difference containing spam in open systems.

Fuck Stats, Make Art was a very entertaining session from DaveO.

CBC is experimenting with crowd-sourcing Citizen Journalism, at least in Vancouver. I am planning to send them some story pitches, and you can too. This could be an awesome opportunity to open up our media. Hopefully I'll write more about this in the future.

Building a Better Conference Badge is a good read for all organizers. The NV nametags definitely need a redesign. Space for user-tagging is a good idea, but you need to tell people to do it when you give them out.

Finally, some random link love:

Bokashi - Hassle-free composting

Thinking Cap - Internet Marketing

Hop Studios - Internet Consulting - has done government access to information requests

Anita Webster - Vancouver PR

353 Haiku Movie Review

How to save the world .ca

Green politics .ca

Love for Public Spaces

dustin — 2008-02-18T03:46:16-05:00

Valentine's day at the art gallery, care of the Vancouver Public Space Network.