It's just another day.

New Years Eve...often disappointing to many. People ultimately end up being let down due to such high expectations of a magical evening ready to unfold. It's just another day. Treat it like such and you might surprise yourself what a fine day it can be.

You can spend lots of money, go out and even get dressed up to impress the world.

Just remember this...It's STILL o.k. not to drink.

Pay attention to the details...

One of the perks of being on vacation is having nothing but time. Yesterday I spent some of that time paying attention to the details...

The first part of the day after leaving the house was spent at Cousin's Deli. The bun seemed crustier than usual, but still the best veggie burger on the block.

Made our way over to a friend's house to meet up for an afternoon to be spent in the snow. Despite the pleasantly warm weather I did take time to notice this subliminal message staring me in the face reminding me of places much warmer than Winnipeg.

I also wondered how long this skeleton minus the skull has been hanging around?

This old school door bell grabbed my attention...

... I even took the time to take a closer look.

...and yes, I noticed that the Santa heads/faces in this tree were super creepy.

Skip forward past kid's "play dates", supper and beyond right to the part of my evening where my friend comes by with some vinyl to share at a much needed record listening party.

Stories or pictures of records wouldn't do any justice to the evening. Here are the highlights via their youtube versions...

Low quality video from an Accused show in Toronto circa 1989, but you get the point. Brotherhood were great!

...and the collection grows.

I've had a small handful of collections in my time ranging from root beer bottles to Schwinn bicycles, but I've never considered myself to be much of a camera collector per say. I do have more than one camera as I have different requirements and tastes from one shoot to the next. I happened to find a new toy under the Christmas tree this year which I think upset the balance from required cameras to collection of cameras.

The Assistant had decided that despite her impending retirement from the position of "assistant" that I must have this 1974 Olympus Trip 35

I'm wary of some of it's features or lack thereof, while at the same time intrigued and excited to run a roll or two through it in the near future. I hope to be posting some results sooner than later.

Boys and girls

The final days of 2010 seem like the appropriate time to look back and pick some of my favourite photos from this past year broken down by two categories...boys and girls.

Some of these images have never been seen before, but are being posted now since they made the cut. The photos I chose (in no specific order) aren't necessarily a favourite for their strength as a photo by itself, but rather for the content or the moment captured.

A fitting image to start off the "boys" category is these three amigos captured post skate session downtown.

We met Justin our first day arriving in the 808
while skateboarding in South Kihei.

Adam Hopkins
at the Mansion.

Ryan at Komenda.

Johnny in Ka'ahumanu.

Taylor Bray
at Selkirk's new skate park.

Tommy Kono
in Wailuku.

Marky and Drew
with their Hondas in Selkirk.

Andrew at The Edge.

Another Adam for the best of 2010.

To transition in to the girl category we'll start with boyfriend/girlfriend during a lighting test shot.

The infamous assistant at a summer BBQ.

My friend Amanda doing some promo shots for a burlesque show prior to her retirement.

California girl in Kihei.

The assistant having a serious moment during a Sunday morning coffee in Selkirk.

A random crossing of paths with Jacqui
in River Heights.

Maikalani in Kihei.

"Shell Girl" from Squeegee Girl vs. Shell Girl.
.

"Squeegee Girl".

A piece from a session I was shooting for my book which is way behind it's original schedule, but slowly coming together.

Bring on 2011...

While the cats away...

...the rodents get DEAD!

We knew we had unwanted roommates that were on their way to be evicted for non-payment of the rent...but they were making so much noise we actually thought they were squirrels. Apparently we were wrong. Three down how many to go?

We'll be back...

...after these vegan gingerbread treats have been consumed.

Those Dancing Days

The girls are back with a new video from their second album.

Here's the song of theirs that caught my attention the first time around. Listen to the intro and think ...Dead Kennedys-California Uber Alles. Coincidence? Who knows?

Fred and the chair

This is Fred.

Fred HATES this chair.

He's been devoted to sticking a clean landing post ollie and to date the chair has been winning the battle. I'm posting this portion of his last attempt a few days ago to ensure him that he has all the clearance he needs...so all he has to do is win his fight with the banked landing.

Go Fred! To be continued...

Things done.

So I followed my own advice and we headed down to Winnipeg's Exchange District on Saturday.

Took note of Sk8 Skates marketing 101.

Checked out the Flea Market going down at War on Music.

Made a business transaction with Natalie and acquired some vinyl.

Went next door to check on Jon's photo sale. Jon was selling some photos. He will be there for the first part of this week as well. So go buy some photos.

We purchased some photos. Jason Crolly mini prints mounted on skateboard truck risers. Amazing.

Bumped in to Zak and his friends at the record sale. Since we were outside of Mondragon...

We all took part in a mid afternoon snack.

Yes...I picked up some classics and something a bit newer as well.

Saturday was about buying punk records, Sunday was about being skate punks.

Matt showed up for the session.

Mr. French with his 200mph smith grind.

Will making some big moves all day.

Ross being a little less reckless, but just as deadly as ever with this nose grind.

The second sighting of Zak in two days.

Done!

Things to do today.

We have lots of things to do today from attending Tae Kwon Do class to hanging out at the MTS Centre for some Moose Hockey (I go for the good company more than my never ending passion for professional team sports). All Sarcasm aside there are lots of things to do in between beyond weekly laundry and house cleaning.

If you're a local Winnipeger you might want to check out War on Music as rumor has it they're hosting another Flea Market today.

Once you've attended the Flea Market at War on Music at 93 Albert St. you might as well head on up to the 3rd floor of 91 Albert St. and check out Photographs 2010...and the Archives Schledewitz End of Year Sale.

If you're not in Winnipeg, but wishing you could be...well the next best thing is browsing the pages of the online version of Big Woop Issue 4

Food for thought...

It's late. I can't sleep. Youtube is my best friend and here's a thought...Can someone please arrange a band to play Black Flag cover songs IN the bowl at The Forks next year? Skate 4 Cancer? Anyone?

Just havin' fun at Park West

There's been less words, more photos this week. I'm taking a brain vacation.

Here's a photo of Park West local Grady from early this past summer. He breaks out just the right mix of old school on occasion from his well stocked arsenal of skateboarding tricks.

K.E.R.S.S.

Brennan with an ollie-gap to 50-50 at the K.E. benches (aka K.E.R.S.S. benches for the old school crowd).