Last night was the single greatest, most meaningful moment to me in Canucks history. My favourite player, my hero, my captain, and my role model had his #16 lifted to the skies and retired forever. So many people have had so many amazing things to say about Trevor Linden over the past week, so I’ll try not to be too repetitive here.

You can read this post about how Trevor Linden and the Canucks have been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. I got the chance to meet Trevor a couple years ago, and I can honestly say that he is just as kind and handsome in person as everyone’s made him out to be. Thanks for taking the time to sign my jersey, Trevor. You always had time for the fans.

Despite my best efforts to get tickets on Ticketmaster for this game, there weren’t any available even when they were advertised to go on sale. So I ended up having to buy them from scalpers back in September. It was worth every penny. I could only afford to go to one game this year, and this was THE game. I thought the #16 pins they were handing out at the gates at GM Place were a nice touch. I’m going to treasure mine forever.

GM Place really lit up nicely with the old Canucks colours. I still miss the old jerseys and the old colours. We were sitting 3 rows from the ice to the right of the goalies and it was a great view.

Linden imagery was everywhere, including the sides of the stadium.

Gino Odjick and other teammates showed up to pay tribute to Linden, but I cheered the loudest for Gino.

All the current Canucks players were wearing #16 jerseys for the ceremony and the warm up. What a cool sight to see.

Linden was given a Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing gift from his teammates. All I can say is… JEALOUS!!!!!!!!

Linden’s speech was incredible. What a stand up, classy guy. He somehow managed to make a night all about him, to a night all about his friends, family and fans. Somehow he turned around the spotlight on him, to a thank you to everyone around him. I was misty-eyed the whole night, but the tears started forming near the end of his speech. I have to admit I was really bawling by the time his number was being raised to the rafters.

There ceremony ended, and I’m sure many others like myself found it hard to switch over to the fast-paced rough hockey game that ensued. It was great to see the Canucks beat the Oilers, but my heart and mind was somewhere else.

I decided to go festive and wore Canucks Christmas stockings (with the feet cut out of them) as leggings.

I wore my Linden jersey (that I custom added a ‘C’ for Captain to). I’ve never seen so many Linden jerseys at GM Place EVER! The coolest ones were the old ones from his Junior years.

Face off…

Canuck players stand up and look out over the bench at an exciting fight taking place.

I took this photo of Burrows for Amy

This shot was taken right before the goal. Shame I wasn’t able to get the actual goal, but it’s a neat action shot.

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a good win for the Canucks over the Oilers. What a great night overall. The folks at GM Place did a great job organizing the night… making the fans feel special and putting together something really memorable for Linden.

After the game, I stood and looked at Trevor’s number in the rafters for a while. Hanging beside Stan Smyl’s and the Canadian flag. I’m so proud to be fan of the greatest player to ever wear a Canucks jersey, and I will always cherish the memory of seeing his number raised.

I miss having Trevor to cheer for. I will always be a Canucks fan, but I can’t help but feel like it’s a little different now. I can’t help but feel a little empty without #16 on the ice.

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In other news, the Canucks just signed Mats Sundin. I’m not stoked. I want a good Canadian player to join the Canucks. But if he helps us get the Cup, that’d be great, but I’m still not a Sundin fan. Darn, why couldn’t you have gone with Naslund to the Rangers?! He’s basically retired. He was a Leafs captain. There’s no real educated reason why I don’t want him on the Canucks. It just doesn’t feel right. Isn’t this a step backwards? Doesn’t it feels like we just got rid of a Naslund-like character? *sigh* Didn’t we already go through this with Messier? I know there will be a lot of opposing opinions… Anyway. From Linden to Sundin. Times are definitely a’changing’.

One of my favourite subjects to take photos of is people. There’s something about capturing someone’s essence… their beauty, their light, their energy… with a camera.

I’ve never taken any photography classes; I haven’t even read any photography books or tutorials. Everything I do is just guest and test with a camera and cross my fingers that it turns out. It leads to a ton of unused photos (my computer tells me I have over 30,000 photos, just over 500 gigs) and only a few good ones.

I’ve been fortunate enough to know some beautiful people in my life, both inside and out, and that makes picture taking much, much easier. I also was fortunate enough in university to be hired for some amateur photography.

Lately I’ve gotten more into shooting sports and nature, but you know what? I miss photographing people. And I’m going to focus on that more over the next coming months,

Here are a couple photos of some wonderful people I’ve met over the years.

Marisa… so beautiful! She’s got such a great smile.

An old fisherman in Cadiz… the old man by the sea.

Ashlie doing a great fashion shoot.

Mother and daughter in their own happy moment.

A man plays on the streets of Rome, Italy.

Kelly has the most fantastic green eyes.

Erin the schoolteacher. Enough said!

Only the best hat model ever!

Janet hides behind some leaves.

Adrian drives a speedboat.

Oh to be young again!

Sabrina smiles with all her heart!

Chantel is stunning surrounded by nature.

Father and son. (My dad and brother)

Natashya and accessories!

Peter is drop dead gorgeous.

Black and white hat…

Eyes…

The Puck Nuts hockey team… I took their team photo for the 2008-2009 season last night at Burnaby 8 Rinks.. what a bunch of good looking guys!

That’s it for now… now, off to Amy’s Christmas sweater party!

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…

Fall is such a beautiful time in Vancouver. The leaves turn Canadian hues, the air gets crisp and you can see your breath, hockey season begins, and thoughts turn to snow falling and the upcoming snowboard season. Perhaps my very favourite time of year is the time between Fall and Winter, when you can surf and snowboard on the same weekend, and still catch a Canucks game.

I thought I’d share some of my photos of what Fall means to me in BC.

Sometimes I like to reflect on Fall in Vancouver…

Before the puck drops…

The maple leaves start turning…

The bamboo starts blowing…

The beach gets cold and windy…

And we walk our favourite pathways covered in fallen leaves…

When there’s still enough sun to warm your feet…

When the sky is blue and the leaves are red…

And beach walks turn interesting…

And fall berries turn vibrant…

And the snow starts falling far away from us…

When nature crosses…

And the Pacific gets even chillier…

And the fall squash starts flowering…

… I fall in love with the West Coast all over again.

I’ve actually been a photographer since I was 10 years old. At that age, there was really no such thing as a digital camera… or at least nothing we could afford or anything attainable. My dad had an old Pentax Film SLR that he had used when he was a teenager and had collected a number of lenses and filters. My dad showed me how to focus it, and sent me off on my own. So I started playing around with my dad’s old camera. I wish I had scanned the photos, but I don’t have them anymore.

I eventually bought an Olympus C-3030Zoom. I can’t believe 3 MP seemed like a lot at the time! It was an old school digital camera but actually quite cutting edge for the time. I even bought a couple filters for it. I decided to start a photo journal site and post my digital photos and did this for the next 4 years. Here are some of my photos with the Olympus:

In 2005 I finally bit the bullet and bought a digital SLR. I bought a Nikon D50 with the kit lens, a 70-300 zoom lens, and a number of filters. I eventually bought an underwater housing for it in 2007 (to take surfing and scuba photos with it). Some of my favourite photos were taken with this camera:

Finally, last September my D50 died and I bought my Nikon D80, which I love. Here are some recent photos:

Now that I’ve started blogging again, it’s tempting to make it a photo journal — but I don’t think I will this time. I am, however, only be using my photos on this site, unless otherwise credited. I’ve been debating whether or not lug my DSLR around with me everywhere, for the purposes of taking photos for my blog. I love my compact Canon camera, but is it enough for the average reader? Do people expect high quality photos all the time?

So what do you think… to lug my DSLR around, or not to lug?

In other news, my dear friend Jessica Whidden has her birthday today. Jess and I first met last year when I went to City Sports Physiotherapy. Snowboarding had torn up my knees and generally messed up my body, and Jessica put me all back together. She’s a registered massage therapist, and her sports massage is serious business. She also happens to be a super mom… she’s an amazing skier and a hardcore snowboarder, pretty much a professional rugby player, extremely intelligent, and also gorgeous. Not to mention that she’s a mother, working pretty much full time, and also in school for acupuncture and even doing her yoga teacher certification. Holy crap, if only all of us could be like her. Love you Jess, and thanks for healing me on a regular basis.