Sunday I went on a photo safari to Vulture City Gold Mine with Brad and Heidi. It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day in front of the computer. So I jump at the opportunity to break my routine and take photos for the fun of it. It was a fun trip with good friends.

I spent the past weekend in Sedona. Saturday I took a hike onBrins Mesa Trail. That evening I dusted off my old tripod to take some night shots. I didn’t realize it until I got out, but there was a full moon. It made for some interesting photos.

I flew out to North Carolina to shoot Brandon and Lissete’s wedding. I had the great pleasure of working with my associate photographer, Ray again. The wedding was held at the couple’s house outside Raleigh. It was far enough outside that I got a chance to see very clear stars for the first time in a while.

The night really got interesting with a 5 minute fireworks display followed by the peruvian tradition La Hora Loca, the crazy hour.

Arielle and I met up with our good friends, Laura and Vinny, in Las Vegas for a weekend getaway. It was a nice vacation after the amazing busy spring we’ve had. It was also the first real vacation we’ve had in over a year. It’s easy to get caught up in daily life and not stop to take a weekend for yourself. It was relaxing to not bring the laptop and unplug for the weekend to have a little fun with friends.

My flight back to Phoenix was at 6:15am. Which meant I had to get up at 4:30am to make my flight. (50 minutes from Ray’s house to the terminal, including dropping off a rental car) I had enough time to grab a Cinnabon and relax for a couple minutes before they started boarding. I couldn’t have timed it better.

I got back to Phoenix in time to vote in the special election.

Next week I’m heading up to New York to show my editorial portfolio to editors and art buyers. During all the craziness of getting everything together, I was able to sneak away to Raleigh to attend a friend’s wedding.

I was able to have hang to time with my good buddy Angelo. He was adopted by my old roommates shortly before I left North Carolina for New Mexico. He’s always enjoyed me around. It was nice to have doggy cuddle time.
While I was in town I was able to meetup with Chris and Jenna. We hung out for the evening while drinking a few of Chris’ home brew beers. I’ll be flying back to shoot their Outer Banks wedding with Ray in September.

On Day 19, I left. I left good friends and great times. Like all good things, this too came to an end.

I’m glad I had Monday afternoon to relax and reflect. This helped me get my head on straight for being back in Phoenix and jumping into a packed schedule for March. Just over 24 hours gone from Vancouver, it almost seems like a dream. This morning, I asked myself, “did that really happen?” The details are already getting fuzzy and it almost feels like I never left. I’m amazing at how quickly I adapted to my new normal of being in Vancouver and how quickly it went away when I returned home. I’m going to spend the next week journaling as much as possible to try to capture my experience in greater detail. I’ve gained an enormous amount of perspective on my life and I’ve returned with a sense of calm. Looking back, it was an amazing trip on many levels.

Maybe all worked out the way it did because I had Batman protecting me at night. This was were I slept for 19 nights. A Batman comforter and sheets on a a futon in the living room of some truly awesome people.

This morning I left early to get some photos of workers taking down the fences. The fences that have kept me away from the venues since I’ve been here. Fences and lines seemed to be two themes for the games. I took photos of that, but they didn’t feel right. The tone of the city had changed. It wasn’t an Olympic city anymore. It was a city recovering from a huge two and a half week party. Some people went back to the lives they had before the Olympics. Others it was their job to help restore the city to it’s previous state. Tourists were leaving, very few were out on the streets. The mood I wanted to capture was one of loneliness. When the crowds were around, I never felt alone. I felt part of something greater than myself. While wandering the same places I’ve been many times in my time here, they were empty and cold. I felt alone.

My last full day in Vancouver. I’m filled with emotions as I reflect on this trip. I’ve been here long enough that this is my new normal. Phoenix seems like a lifetime ago. When I think about this trip, I feel opposite extremes at the same time. It seems like I just arrived, but I also feel like I’ve been here a very long time. I can’t express how much fun this has been. It’s also been one of the hardest assignments I’ve shot. I’ve questioned myself many times. It seemed kind of crazy to head up with about a month’s notice and no guarantees of work, but it also seemed like a no brainer. How could I not go?

Interacting with people from all walks of life has been a great joy on this trip. I feel like I missed many more photos than I captured. I’m confident in what I did capture. I’m glad I had today to reflect on the trip and gear down from Vancouver. I’m already gearing up for a busy couple months when I return to Phoenix. I’m excited about making prints and going through my work with Arielle and other photographer friends. I feel my work is done in Vancouver and I’m ready to leave. I’ll also miss the city. I’ll miss the amazing time I had hanging out with Seth, Vickie, Margo and Dale. All of them are very special people. I’m excited to return home to my wife, Arielle. I’m excited about the thought of coming back to visit.

I think hockey was the only gold medal that Canada truly cared about. When Canada beat Slovakia on Friday night, the town went nuts and that was only the quarter finals game. Today was the gold medal game versus the United States, the only team Canada lost to in the Olympics. To say people were rabid would be understating the mood of the city. When I was a quarter of a mile from BC Place or the nearest bar when Canada scored their first goal. I literally felt the air move when fans exploded in cheers. It was unlike much I’ve experienced before. When the United States scored to tie the game with 24 seconds left in the 3rd period, I thought people would start crying. The mob scene that followed Canada’s overtime win was incredible. After an hour of photographing and fighting through the crowds, I left. All the way back to Seth and Vickie’s place there were fans streaming into downtown to celebrate. It was pretty unreal.

My day didn’t start out covering fans watching the game. It started following a small group of protestors. This was the same group that I’ve covered before, but not the same group that engaged police and caused property damage. The Vancouver Police blocked off several streets to keep the protestors moving in a certain direction but they also cleared the way for the protestors. They even pulled away a couple very pissed off hockey fans that looked like the wanted to start something with the protestors. I have to say that the Vancouver Police have been some of the nicest people I’ve meet here. Everyone has been kind, respectful and helpful. The most I’ve seen them to do engage someone was to pull them aside, talk to them for a couple minutes then let them go about their business. I think just about any city in the United States would react in a much different way.

I watched the closing ceremonies among a small group of people my new favorite Vancouver hangout caffe, La Fontana. I felt this was a much more appropriate way to close out the Olympics than to fight through crowds of drunken people, again.

In the end the United States earned 37 medals, Germany had 30 and Canada made a strong push in the last couple days to earn 27 medals. So America did Defeat the World.

Today started out very slow. It was cold and rained all morning. It also rained most of the evening. I’m starting to come down with a cold so this made being outside pretty unpleasant. I went by the CTV outdoor studio, where people were lined up to get a free CTV olympic pin. I decided to call it a day around 6 and met up with Seth and Margo for dinner and to watch the Canada vs Slovakia hockey game. Canada won 3-2 and advanced to the gold medal game on Sunday. Afterwards the town went crazy. We headed out to Robson Street to check out the craziness. The streets were packed, you had to push through people to get around. From the way people were acting you would have thought that Canada won the gold medal. I’m interested to see what happens after the gold medal game between Canada and the USA on Sunday.