Law CourtsShot with Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 Processed in with VSCO app, with M5 preset

Last year in April, I went on a businesstrip to Vancouver in Canada. I went there to visiting shipyards and shipowners in the Vancouver area, but ended up growing really fond of the city in just a couple of days. I have been wanting to write a little about my trip and experience for the past year, but for some reason it's ended up taking exactly a year and it's not really what I set out to write. I was hoping for something profound about street photography in Vancouver, but it's become more of a short summarization of my trip and my thoughts.

Being a street photographer at heart I usually prefer to take public transportation as much as possible when I travel, it's kind of hard to do street photography in a cab on the highway, so the sky train from the airport to down town Vancouver was an obvious choice. According to a very nice lady that I talked to during the 23 min commute, It was built for the 2010 olympics, for transporting all the tourists to and from the airport and around town, and the residents of Vancouver have become fond of it since.

Vancouver Sky TrainProcessed with VSCO with m5 preset

I stayed at pretty nice hotel down town, hotel "Le Soleil", close to the city center and close to the harbour. If it was on my own dime, I would have chosen something a little more sparse because I hardly spend any time in hotel rooms, except for when I am sleeping (and charging batteries) or getting ready to go out.

Although it was a business related trip I was fortunate enough to have most part of a day to myself, getting time to walk around town and see the sights. I was hoping to find a dinner or café down town for breakfast, but I hadn't given much thought to it being a week day so I ended up having a granola bar and a coffee at a Starbucks just outside the entranceway to Granville Island.

Granville Island is worth a visit if you're in Vancouver, a little island filled with specialty shops, a food market, workshops, galleries and of course a marina. I was there on a week day during springtime and I can only imagine the horde of people that would descend upon the island on a Saturday during the summer holidays. All in all a must visit. I can recommend checking out the little store that only has office supplies. I spent 40 min just looking at pens, notebooks and cards, which probably says something about me (positive I hope).

Vancouver SkylineVancouver seen from Granville Island Another place that deserved a visit if you find yourself in Vancouver is the harbour, which features some interesting buildings and historical landmarks (marked with plaks with historical trivia). If you move along the harbour east you might as well swing by "Gastown" which is the old historical part of Vancouver, this is also a part of town where you can find some great restaurants.

If I have to mention a "negative" thing about Vancouver it would be the large number of homeless people in the city. If you walk along Granvill Street, towards Granvill Island, before 9 in the morning, you will see a lot of homeless people sleeping in the sides along the shops, especially in the entertainment district. From my canadian sources (my neighbor actually) the eastern part of Canada advise the homeless people to travle southwest to avoid the hard and cold winters in the east and north, they even pay for their buss fair to the Vancouver area. It's a pretty nuts policy, but makes sense if you see it from the perspective of the homeless - Go to Vancouver or freeze to death. It would however make more sense to take care of the homeless where they are, instead of exporting them to Vancouver, but I guess no country/government is perfect.

Zensize-PKR-20160413-GR5B6112 I genuinely wish my stay in Vancouver had lasted for a week or more, so I would have had time to see all of Vancouver, photograph and enjoy it. You know the impression or feeling when you get to a place and you think "I wouldn't mind living here", that is the impression that Vancouver left me with.

Below are my best shots from Vancouver, in no particular order.

Vancouver Harbor The LotShot with Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 Processed with VSCO app, with B6 preset TelevisionShot with Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 Processed with VSCO app, with B6 preset Processed with VSCO with f2 preset Dumbster StridebyShot with Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 Processed with VSCO app, with C2 preset Zensize-PKR-20160413-GR5B6099 Shot with Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 Processed with VSCO app, with G2 preset Wet VancouverShot with Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 Processed with VSCO app, with B4 preset Shot with Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 Processed with VSCO app, with A6 preset Shot with Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 Processed with VSCO app, with B1 preset Shot with Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 Processed with VSCO app, with G2 preset Zensize-PKR-20160413-GR5B6104 Zensize-PKR-20160413-GR5B6257 Zensize-PKR-20160413-GR5B6162 Shot with Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 Processed with VSCO app, with B4 preset Shot with Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 Processed with VSCO app, with F3 preset Zensize-PKR-20160413-GR5B6245 Shot with Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 Processed with VSCO app, with ACG preset Luminous Drapes Zensize-PKR-20160414-GR5B6322 Processed with VSCO with lv03 preset Processed with VSCO with b6 preset

Processed with VSCO with c1 preset

Processed with VSCO with b6 preset Zensize-PKR-20160413-DSCF7322