I got the chance to go to Tamarindo, Costa Rica in May for 3 weeks for surfing. While I was there I got the chance to snap some photos. I haven’t had a chance to post these on my blog yet… so here we go!

Hummingbird, unusually still, but only for a second..

Faucet and tiles..

Beautiful Bird of Paradise..

Butterflies kissing…

Arenal Volcano erupting at night… 30 minute long exposure.

The 5 Wise Men…. posts making up a fence with growth starting on them..

A locked gate…

Beach crab hanging out…

Hacienda Pinilla golf course by the sea…

Time for introspection… lonely beach chairs for two.

A turtle by the pond…

Me surfing at Playa Langosta…

Puffer fish during a scuba diving trip… taken with my underwater housing…

The sideways moon…

Timeless ripples in the sand…

A rooster guards his turf..

A horse in front of some fiery-coloured trees..

Playa Avellanas at its finest…

As promised here is the video that I took with the GoPro Hero 5 Camera on my favourite drive in the whole world — the drive between Tofino and Nanaimo. I quickly edited this video in Adobe Premiere CS3. It’s about 2 minutes long. Bonus points if you know what the final location in the clip is!

I love photography, don’t get me wrong. But lately I’ve been looking for a new project (as if I’m not already busy enough!)… and I think it’s going to be video.

Now that I’ve got a helmet camera, and my DSLR, I feel like a video camera would be a great addition to my love for documenting my activities and those around me.

I’ve been watching a lot of snowboarding and surfing movies lately, and I’m getting inspired to cut my own moving pictures together to music and voiceovers.

I have a dilemma though. I can’t decide between getting a DSLR that does video, or getting a video camera. It may seem like a no-brainer to go with a video camera for video, but let me present to you the pros and cons of what I’m considering. I need your help!

My Goal

To be able to put together a high quality cinema-like surfing/snowboarding movie that can do well in most conditions, including low-light conditions, and be able to capture high speed action.

The Video Camera Option

Photo Credit: Canon.com website

I’d likely go for a consumer video camera, since I can’t afford to buy a $5k+ pro HD camera at this point in my life, especially not for something I’m just wanting to experiment around with at this point. I’m thinking either: a cheaper camera like the Canon Vixia HF11 (records to Flash memory), or a more expensive Canon XH A1 (3 CCDs).

Pros
- Tried and tested, a video camera will be able to auto-focus and capture high speed action
- Small and easy to handle
- Can capture long, continuous shots.. hours upon hours
- Some additional lenses (e.g. fisheye or wide angle) are available and not too expensive

Cons
- I’m not experienced with video
- Getting into a whole new system of accessories and add-ons to buy
- Needing to hold/bring two different cameras (the video camera and my DSLR)
- More moving parts to break

The DSLR Camera with Video Option

Photo Credit: The NikonUSA.com website

The newest generation of DSLRs are starting to come out with some limited video options. The Canon ones look really nice, but unfortunately I’ve already built my Nikon collection so I’m not going to switch. Thus, the only option for me is the Nikon D90. It’s basically the same as my D80, but with more features from the Nikon D3 and the FULL HD video capability. It’s an extremely intruiging idea.

Pros
- I can sell my D80 and only pay marginally more for an upgrade to the D90
- With that savings, I can pick up some nicer lenses for it
- I already have TONS of lenses that can be used with the camera, so all my video would reap the benefits of having those lenses (e.g. fisheye video, telephoto video, wide angle etc)
- Only one camera to carry around
- I know the camera very very well and feel comfortable with it, I could milk the depth of field options and exposure etc
- Already got all the accessories for it
- I get a nice step-up to a newer/nicer DSLR too!

Cons
- Limited to 5 minute video clips
- The video functionality is new and untested
- Auto-focus might struggle with high speed action?
- Need to buy much bigger memory cards

So basically, I’m stuck. I love the idea of just using one camera and using all my lenses, but I’m worried that the Nikon D90 might not do as good video as just having a video camera along. All the videos I’ve been watching on YouTube for both the Nikon D90 and the Canon camcorders I’ve been researching look comparable… but I would think they would look completely different blown up on an HDTV.

Any suggestions?

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate my birthday than with my family and friends. I try to go for dinner at my parent’s house every couple weeks since I’m really close with my family… but it’s always nice when they put something special together! Like a birthday dinner

I’ll keep this one short since I have to get up early tomorrow for a morning open skate at Burnaby 8 Rinks. (I’m learning to play hockey… well, learning to skate first :))

My mom is a great hostess, and even growing up when we were trying to make ends meet, she’d still always put together a great meal on special occasions.

This year, my mom and dad put together a nice roast turkey dinner with gravy, with salad, butternut squash, beets, stuffing, home baked bread (she grinds the flour herself…), pan fried potatoes and other vegetables.

My favourite dessert in the whole world that my mom makes is her tiramisu. It’s not really tiramisu, it’s more like cheesecake, but we grew up calling it that. She also made a chocolate cake to satisfy everyone else who doesn’t like cream cheese, but really I was there for the tiramisu

There’s nothing that makes you feel more grounded than spending time with your mom and dad, brother, and close loved ones. I’m so thankful to have them in my lives!

Well, it’s off to bed and up early for some skating. I can’t wait!

In a couple minutes, I will turn 24 years old. For the first time in my life (at least what I can remember of it!), I won’t be having a birthday party with my friends. I’ve decided to go low key this year, and just take some time to have one with my family. I don’t mind getting older… it just means more opportunities and things to look forward to in life! (Not to mention being older can definitely help at work, where age isn’t always a good thing)

For my “birthday weekend”, Allan took me to my favourite place on earth, Tofino… where we got to watch some storms and surf. It was pretty gnarly out there, but we still had a great time. You look forward to the big waves all year… it just sucks when they become a washing machine and don’t clean up nice at all for big wave riding. Nevertheless, we still had a great time being in the ocean and being close to the beach.

Leaf by a tree in Port Albert (by the beer store :))

Who ever thought we’d see gas below a dollar in our lifetime?

We checked out Chesterman Beach… but the waves were too small and they weren’t even clean. But at least the view is always pretty!

We stayed at 1431 Cox Bay. What a nice treat away from cold weather camping! It’s always brutal when you get out of the cold ocean and crawl into a cold tent… having a hot bath is a real luxury.

MMmm smoothies. We decided to stay in and cook most of the weekend… for dessert I made kiwi and grape smoothies with yogurt and ice! Definitely refreshing and nice to have by the fire.

On the drive back, we mounted the GoPro camera to the outside of the car to take some footage of my favourite drive in the world. Video coming soon.

It’s a tradition in Port Alberni and surrounding areas to cover Cathedral Grove and the drive to Port Alberni with the pumpkins from Halloween!

There are hundreds of pumpkins and it is really a sight to see the orange pumpkins set amidst the forest backdrop.

This photo was treacherously taken as I sat on the windowsill of a car moving at 120 clicks… and it didn’t even come out great. Oh well

Here’s a video of Allan surfing at Cox Bay with his gorgeous Robert August vintage board. Videos of the drive will be posted shortly.

In other news, the Canucks lost tonight in the shootout. A real shame to see them lose this game, even with Burnaby Joe gone from the lineup for the Avs and the Canucks pretty much at full strength. I would’ve loved to see Wellwood get a bit more of a handle on the puck out there. Also, haha… Canuck favourite (now Senator) Jarkko Ruutu gets suspended for elbowing someone in the face. Classic! Man, I miss Ruutu. Also, Brian Burke stepping down from the Ducks. Big news!

I feel so much better today. As many people have been blogging about lately, there’s something about November that makes us feel down and maybe on edge. I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and have had to come to terms (again) with who I am and the people I want to surround myself with. I know that good friends are invaluable and hard to come by, and my plan is to surround myself with people who I love, and people who love me. A couple interesting things that have come across my my path…

First off, for you Vancouver Canucks fans, there’s a film showing this Monday, November 10th at some Cineplex and Landmark theatres (not all, so make sure you check before going) called “Forever Faithful“. It profiles Canucks fans and their passion for the team. The trailer looks really good. Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it since I’ll be out of town in Tofino this weekend, but I’m definitely planning on picking up the DVD. You can read the Canucks press release here. Let me know what you think if you go see it!

Also in video game news, THQ is yet the next video game company to have significant layoffs. Their new “strategic” plan is to close down 5 studios, including Paradigm Entertainment (Stuntman, Pilotwings, Spy Hunter), Mass Media (Full Spectrum Warrior), Helixe (De Blob), Locomotive Games (Destroy All Humans!), and Sandblast Games. Wow. Not looking so rosy in both the publishing and development side of games right now. Basically, these cuts are going to eliminate about 250 jobs, which is 17 percent of all studio employees.

I finally managed to go through a few more of my photographs from my work trip to Japan. These ones are from a day trip that my boss and I did out to Kamakura. It’s really beautiful. We saw a number of different Buddhist and Shinto shrines, and climbed many hills and stairs, and walked across a long bridge to an island to climb up even more stairs… but it resulted in an incredible view.

Those aren’t Swastikas, they are religious symbols in Japan. Street signs on the way to Kamakura.

Beautiful pond

There were thousands of these statues everywhere. And the interesting/horrific part… each of these statues means there was an abortion or miscarriage. Japanese women would come here and place one of these statues as an offering or a prayer. The sheer number of statues in the temple made my stomach flip.

Bamboo at Kamakura Temple.

Flowers at the temple.

Praying Statues… very cute. I wonder how old these are. I wonder if “cuteness” is something that existed in Japan long before Hello Kitty and the like

Deep red Japanese umbrella…

Scariest spider ever! These guys were just hanging out everywhere. Made my skin crawl just trying to be close enough to it to take a good photo!

The largest Buddhish statue in Japan.

Flowers on bamboo. It was so neat to see so much bamboo everywhere.

The Bay at Shonan (view from the top). A long hike to get here, but it was worth it. We were also able to see a number of surfers in the bay. I already put up a photo of this in my previous post.

So there are surfers in Japan! My first hint that I wasn’t delusional to go surfing in Japan. These guys were surfing at Shonan, and I was planning on going out to the coast at Ichinomiya, but it was still rad to see all these older guys getting on their motorbikes and heading out to the surf.

And another Japanese surfer! It seems like the motorbikes/motorcycles/scooters are the preferred method of transportation for surfers in this area. I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable hitching my precious board to a bike!

Japanese surfing ad… neato!

Fancy eating octopus? These were being sold on sticks everywhere. The vendors would grill them for you

It’s a different way of life out here, than it is in Tokyo or Vancouver even…

Shinto shrine… so serene.

Each of these are prayers.. they are tied to the fence.

I felt like I was at the end of the world..

That’s it for now folks. I’m off to Tofino for the entire (extra long) weekend for some late season cold surfing, so I’ll be back on Tuesday. See you then.