Film Advance

(Camera: Olympus OM-PC; Lens: Zuiko 24mm f/2.8; Film: Kodak Ektar 100)

The new Hosaqami totem pole is located on the grounds of Government House, Victoria, BC. This replica was carved by Chief Tony Hunt and installed in September 2012. The original Hosaqami was carved by Chief Mungo Martin, Hunt’s grandfather, and was displayed on Whale Island in Portsmouth, England, from 1959 until the late 1980s when the ravages of English Channel weather eventually damaged it beyond repair. The remains of this pole are now slowly “returning to the Earth” at Government House, in back of the Cary Castle Mews.

(Camera: Olympus OM-PC; Lens: Zuiko 50mm f/1.8; Film: Kodak Ektar 100)

Another shot from the same day as the previous image. Don’t you wonder why so few public buildings are designed to be visually attractive as well as functional? The next time you go walking in your own city/town, take note of how few really nice buildings you see. It’s surprising how rare appealing architecture is really. I don’t agree with everything that Prince Charles has to say on the subject, but I do take his meaning when he quotes Goethe, saying “there is nothing more dreadful than imagination without taste.” Of course, that sentiment applies to many, many things — not just modern architecture.

(Camera: Olympus OM-PC; Lens: Zuiko 50mm f/1.8; Film: Kodak Ektar 100)

At some point in the not-too-distant past, Central Middle School here in Victoria repainted their building in the style of a Mondrian painting. It’s really quite striking and transforms an otherwise unremarkable structure into something attractive and worth walking by.

Real tomatoes.
(Camera: Hasselblad 503cx; Lens: 80mm Zeiss Planar (with extension); Film: Fuji Reala 100)

These tomatoes aren’t perfect. A couple have noticable blemishes, they range in size, and they’re not evenly ripe. They’re not from a store, rather, they’re from my dad’s garden in Penticton, B.C. And you know what? They taste great. But that’s the thing these days isn’t it? You can go into any supermarket and find great looking produce that tastes, well, underwhelming. Strawberries are another prime example — big, lucious berries from California that taste like styrofoam. What does it say about “the market” if it has decided that we would rather have fruits and vegetables that look better than they taste? Style over substance. Features over function. Opinion over information. Fiction over fact.

This is the modern world that I’ve learnt about . . .