Disappointing

This week I finally got it together to see a photo exhibit I'd heard about on CBC Radio, Alex Waterhouse-Hayward's Secret Gardens: Vancouver's Hidden Rooftops (show runs till June 24 at the Pendulum Gallery in the HSBC Building at 885 West Georgia @ Hornby streets in Vancouver www.pendulumgallery.bc.ca/current.html).

The photos are amazing, but I was so very disappointed to see that they weren't actually prints on display. Instead, the format was similar to display panels I've had created for community and stakeholder communication events (open houses, town halls). Printed on paper that didn't do the photos justice and surrounded by an incredible amount of text that won the war in terms of distracting the viewer, I'm left frustrated. These are beautiful photos, and I want to see some decent prints of them. I'll read the catalogue later, thank you very much.

For some web images of his work: www.alexwaterhousehayward.com/index.php.

The Mermaid and The Fisherman

Copyright Ruth Seeley

On a brief trip to Granville Island today I noticed the life-size statues of a mermaid and a ship's captain outside a store called The Walrus and The Carpenter. This is a proud, lovely, and successful mermaid. The accompanying statue of the captain shows him holding the tiller but otherwise empty handed - distracted, no doubt, by the enigmatic smile he'd received from the mermaid.

Stalking the wild rosehip

Copyright Ruth Seeley

In the winter of 2005-6 I got more and more frustrated at not being able to find rosehips to photograph - I was viewing all these amazing macro images of rosehips from my flickr friends in the UK, and all I was finding was tiny little haws. The elegance of the rosehip's elongated oval shape and its wispy tails were essential - or 'primordial' as my Francophone friend Eric would say. Finally, after more than two weeks of wet shoes, slogging through the rain and peering at bushes, I headed for the library and took a different route. Wouldn't you know it, no more than a block from my house I found a bush just bursting with rosehips.

Birkenhead Lake

Copyright Ruth Seeley

One of three photos taken in July 2004 on a camping trip to Birkenhead Lake. Since moving to British Columbia in 2002, I've made a real effort to do the things I've always meant to do. This was the first time I'd been camping since I was eight. It was a beautiful weekend, horseflies notwithstanding. Naturally there were equipment failures (what's up with that air mattress) and certain failures to anticipate. I'd never encountered horseflies before, and I'll never go camping without bug spray again. But it was worth it for the sight of this gorgeous lake. Next time I'll get some photos of the skunk cabbage too. www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/birkenhe.html