BC Observations

Happy BC Day to my fellow British Columbians! Hope you're enjoying your long weekend.

A few weeks ago I headed out on a road trip, with with my mom, 2 of my sisters and a nephew. We were taking my mom on a "sentimental journey" to Kitimat BC, about 1400km from Vancouver, and we only had a week to do it. She had lived there for a few years, as a teenager, when the town was brand new, and for one year "reigned" over the town as Miss Kitimat. Pretty cute. The town of Kitimat was created to support the aluminum smelting industry in the mid-50's. Before that, it was a tiny fishing village. Here are some pics of our road trip to northern BC....

An abandoned old church near Lytton BC. 

The Fraser River.

Barkerville is a national historic site of Canada located along Williams Creek. It's an old "gold rush" town built in the 1860's. Many of the original town's buildings still stand today. Incredible history. 

The old Canadian National train station. 

Kitimaat Village, just outside of Kitimat. 

What I really noticed is that since the town was born in 1954, the architecture is very much of the era. Loved it. Even the abandoned buildings still looked great. I'd love this one to be turned into some kind of accommodation. 

A-frame architecture for the First United Church.

This is Miss Kitimat (aka my mom) taking a look at what was the town centre, where she was "crowned". 

Happy Friday

janis
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Hello Weekend

Hello! I hope October's off to a good start for you!

It's been a while since my last post, as it's been a super busy month. I've had a variety of shoots - everything from lovely homes, to Christmas, to a fun trip to Victoria BC for Canadian Living magazine. Instagram and twitter have been the way to go for me. Both are perfect for keeping in touch with all of you as well.

Thought I'd share one of the shoots I worked on. It's now on my lottery fantasy list. A beautiful 50 year old "cruiser", named 'Breezin' Thru', built by Vancouver company, Benson Shipyards. Eric Jespersen, a boat builder, restored my current fantasy, and Peter Wilds furnished it for their Australian client. 

Loved all the black and white against the warm, dark, glossy wood. 

We didn't have a lot of time with 'Breezin' Thru', as she was being shipped to her new home in Australia. This was quite the event. Loved having the opportunity to say bon voyage, as she was lifted onto the cargo ship.  

Could you hang out on 'Breezin' Thru' or would you prefer to stay on land? 

If you'd like to read more about Eric Jespersen, and this project, click here. He's a talented craftsman. 

Have a fantastic weekend! 

janis

My City

Happy hump day! Hope your week's going well.

I wanted to share a story I did for The Simple Things magazine, one of my favourite mags. Each issue they do a "My City" feature, and they asked me to do one on Vancouver. I love these features, so I was pretty happy to do one for my hometown. Click here for the whole story.

What do you love about your city? I'd love to hear about it.

Have a good day!

janis

Victoria BC Observations

I was in Victoria for most of the weekend, to shoot stories for a couple of magazines. Always nice to spend a few days there. It's so easy to get around, lots of great little cafes and restaurants, shops, and the scenery is stunning. Here's a little of what I checked out, when I wasn't working....

It was great to see that one of my favourite shops in Vancouver has opened up in Victoria. The Regional Assembly of Text has taken over the lobby of a beautiful heritage office building on Johnson Street. They just fold it up and tuck it all away at the end of the day. Stop by and use the vintage typewriters to create your own buttons, or pick up one of their fantastic notebooks, recipe boxes, or wrapping paper. Most of the products are the creation of shop owners, Rebecca and Brandy. 

The weather was perfect to have lunch on the wharf, at Red Fish Blue Fish, a water front restaurant made out of a cargo container. We had a bbq salmon tacone, salad, and a roasted rhubarb & vanilla creamsicle. Beyond delicious. 

After wrapping up a shoot, that had started at dawn, we lounged around at Saxe Point. Such a pretty spot to relax and hang out until the next shoot.

The Milkman's Daughter is a perfect mix of fashion, vintage, books and upcycled furniture by Janice of Modhaus Designs. It's owned by the women of Smoking Lily, another great shop in Victoria and Vancouver. I loved the stacking boxes with screen printed illustrations. The exterior of the shop is pretty spectacular too! 

Have you been to Victoria? A super short flight from Vancouver or Seattle, or take the ferry (I'm not too keen on flying in tiny planes). The bonus with the ferry is that it's not uncommon to spot a pod of orcas....pretty magical. 

Now to start editing the shoots....so much to sort through. Have a great day!

janis

Fes and the Middle Atlas

I'm wrapping up my trip to Morocco with some images of Fes and the Middle Atlas mountains. A pretty amazing experience, and a little daunting at the same time. We stayed at the beautiful Dar Roumana, right in the medina, and were well taken care of by Vincent, the chef and manager, and Mohammed, the assistant manager.

Fes is the second largest city of Morocco with a population of about a million. We stayed in the ancient medina of Fes el-Bali, a labyrinth of over 9000 streets and it's car-free. Nothing but donkeys and motorbikes. This post is picture heavy so grab a drink....

The views from our riad, Dar Romana. Perfect spot to hang out. 

I don't think I'll forget the tanneries. I will never look at leather the same way again. This really has to be one of the hardest jobs out there.

A father and daughter making bread.


Loved having the chance to see these men weave. By the way, I never just took a picture without asking. It didn't hurt to leave a few dollars as well.


One of the entrances into the medina.

A Few Days in Paris

Ah, Paris. I can't believe I had never been there before. To be honest, it hadn't been at the top of my list (weird), now I can't wait to go back. We only had a few days to explore, and these were some of my favourite moments...

The green chairs sprinkled all over the Jardin des Tuileries was a pretty fantastic sight. If it was this beautiful in February, and can't imagine what it's like in summer. 

Centre Pompidou was incredible. We checked out the Dali exhibit along with everything else it had to offer, including the beautiful restaurant. 

Marrakech and Essaouira

Happy hump day! Hope your week is going well so far. Thought I'd share some more of my recent trip. I have to say, it was all pretty fantastic but, to be honest, a little harrowing at times too. More on that soon ;)

While in Marrakech we checked out the souks and had a road trip to Essaouira, as part of our  Instant Love polaroid workshop. I have to admit, I'm not one for "bartering" or "haggling" when it comes to shopping, so I only dabbled in the shopping experience. Here are some of the colourful sights I saw and shot....

Shopping around the souks.

Instant Love at Peacock Pavilions

As I mentioned in the last post, I just returned from Morocco (with a short stay in Paris). It was an amazing experience. I went with my sister, Wendy, and part of our trip was a polaroid workshop with Jen and Amanda of Instant Love. There were eight other woman at the workshop as well. Loved them all. It was so nice to hang out with such an inspiring group of people. I'll be sharing more of our adventure next week.

We stayed at the Peacock Pavilions, owned by Maryam, author of Marrakech by Design and blog My Marrakech, and her husband Chris, an architect. The best hosts ever.  Here's some of our week at Peacock Pavilions....

One of the suites in the Atlas pavilion. 

The communal living room in the Atlas Pavilion. I loved this fireplace, and the chairs covered in vintage blankets.

This is a sample of our breakfasts every morning. I miss them so much. ;)

The ladies.

Henna and cocktail night. 

The Medina Pavilion, and yet another crush on a fireplace. 

Beautiful painted ceiling and pendant lights in a suite in the Medina Pavilion. 

Tiger, one of the many stray cats roaming around the property. Chris and Maryam collect strays ;) 

Some of my polaroids taken with my SX-70. 

I loved our stay. I definitely plan to go back, with my husband along next time. What do you think? Could this be a future destination for you? I'd love to know. 

As for the workshop, I highly recommend it, whether you're a pro photographer or newcomer. I thought it would be a fun way to introduce my sister to the world of polaroids, and photography for that matter, and it was. Jen and Amanda are great teachers and very easy to hang out with. No attitude, super helpful and hilarious. I miss them. 

I have so many images, so I'll post more on Flickr later this week. Back soon with another Morocco instalment!

janis

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