Then....Ty, Mase and I drove between Rupert and Terrace on a beautiful day.
Ok, Skeena, I get it now.
Thursday, 27 February 2014
skeena
Then....Ty, Mase and I drove between Rupert and Terrace on a beautiful day.
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
all native basketball tournament
I know, I know....Basketball? But trust me, the All Native Basketball Tournament is Prince Rupert's biggest event of the year and not to be missed. Beyond the fact that it attracts over 50 teams from all over British Columbia (and their fans), the entire event feels like a big festival that includes an Opening Ceremony, vendors, performances and incredible food.
The tournament is always held in Prince Rupert and has origins dating back to 1947. It began with Intermediate and Senior Men's divisions, but expanded twenty years ago to include a Master's and a Women's tournament as well. Learn more about the tourney here.
To be honest, I know pretty much nothing about basketball. At best, I could probably name a handful of NBA players (including, if we're being totally honest, Bryant 'Big Country' Reeves and I am pretty sure he hasn't played in the NBA since he was a Vancouver Grizzly)...but the All Native tournament was huge fun. The caliber of play seemed high (to me at least) and the crowds were phenomenal (despite the fact that most of my game photos were taken during early morning games with small crowds, most games were packed). I love jumping on a good band-wagon and here it was very easy to do!
Definitely the highlight of the week was attending the Opening Ceremonies. We were incredibly lucky to be given a pair of free tickets to this sold-out event and I am so glad we went. Each year, a different nation is responsible for the ceremonies and this year it was the Haida. Imagine 60+ Haida drummers and singers, plus another 100 or so dancers all dressed in cedar woven hats, blankets and masks. Just wow.
To be honest, I know pretty much nothing about basketball. At best, I could probably name a handful of NBA players (including, if we're being totally honest, Bryant 'Big Country' Reeves and I am pretty sure he hasn't played in the NBA since he was a Vancouver Grizzly)...but the All Native tournament was huge fun. The caliber of play seemed high (to me at least) and the crowds were phenomenal (despite the fact that most of my game photos were taken during early morning games with small crowds, most games were packed). I love jumping on a good band-wagon and here it was very easy to do!
Definitely the highlight of the week was attending the Opening Ceremonies. We were incredibly lucky to be given a pair of free tickets to this sold-out event and I am so glad we went. Each year, a different nation is responsible for the ceremonies and this year it was the Haida. Imagine 60+ Haida drummers and singers, plus another 100 or so dancers all dressed in cedar woven hats, blankets and masks. Just wow.
 |
| Moments from the Opening Ceremonies |
 |
| The Haida began with a scene depicting Gagiit- a sasquatch like creature |
Then all the teams entered, many dancing their way in, and pretty soon the entire gymnasium floor was packed. As the teams exited, the entire floor burst into bouts of dancing as the Haida continued the celebration. More wow.
I spent part of the week doing outreach for work at the festival (many groups and organization have booths set up), so I watched a fair number of the Master's and Women's games which were held in the same area. My professional demeanor went out the window when I was screaming as the Greenville women's team won right at the buzzer!
As fun as the week was, I do however have three regrets that I will try my best to remedy next year:
1) Bring my SLR to the Opening Ceremonies...my little point and shoot camera didn't really do it justice. Check out some of the event photography from Full Moon Photo here.
2) Try harder to get my hands on one of the clam fritters! Apparently they are amazing, but were always sold out when I went for a snack.
3) Attend the finals. I'm sorry we missed them this year as I am sure the games and the energy in the crowd is something to experience.
 |
| Players entering to the sound of drums |
 |
| All the teams lined up on the court. |
 |
| Just as you thought it was done, the Haida performers literally erupted in dancing. |
 |
| A small crowd at one of the early morning Master's game. |
 |
1) Bring my SLR to the Opening Ceremonies...my little point and shoot camera didn't really do it justice. Check out some of the event photography from Full Moon Photo here.
2) Try harder to get my hands on one of the clam fritters! Apparently they are amazing, but were always sold out when I went for a snack.
3) Attend the finals. I'm sorry we missed them this year as I am sure the games and the energy in the crowd is something to experience.
 |
| Trying out whipped soapberries |
Sunday, 23 February 2014
culture jam
I wouldn't consider myself an artistic person. Sure, I love the odd crafty DIY, but most often I am following steps or mimicking something I've seen or admired (damn you, Pinterest). This weekend, however, I did a little digging for my inner artiste and spent the entire weekend participating in the 2014 Culture Jam.
This annual event in Prince Rupert is put on by the local Arts Council. It brings in facilitators to lead groups through an intensive weekend workshop in various artistic disciplines. 'Mingles' throughout the weekend give the different groups a taste of what is happening in the other workshops.
This year there were three different disciplines represented: fabric arts, photography, and drawing (there was also supposed to be a song writing workshop, but unfortunately they did not have sufficient sign-up). The groups mostly work independently, but all groups are working off a common theme. This year's theme was 'Tall Tales'.
At the urging of a new friend, I signed up for the photography workshop. I was somewhat terrified going in. Despite owning a DSLR for many years, I really know very little about the technical side of photography. I was worried I would be in way over my head, but luckily our workshop was facilitated by an incredibly talented and encouraging photographer named Tara Nicholson. Check out her website and some of her work here: taranicholson.com.
Tara led us through a jam packed weekend (seriously, we were there for 5 hours on Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday). In the three days she taught us technical skills, got us to create mini-collections, showed us a huge variety of work from contemporary photographers, had us making cyanotypes, and even threw in a photo collage project. It was pretty amazing.
As I said, the theme for this weekend was 'Tall Tales'. We were asked to interpret this theme in any way we wanted and create 5-7 images depicting our interpretation. To me, a tall tale is something fantastical, unreal. Something like a fairy tale. So I decided to photograph characters and elements of fairy tales, as you would find them in Prince Rupert. I dubbed it "There are fairy tales among us" (Pretentious much? Yep). Here are the images I used for my project:
They aren't perfect images. They tend to be over exposed and I definitely need a fixed lens, a tripod, and a whole lot more practice....but I am pretty proud of them. I challenged myself to shoot entirely in manual mode and to choose subjects that I normally wouldn't. In the end, the whole thing wasn't really about making a perfect picture. It was about using a part of my brain that I don't use nearly enough these days.
Thank you, Culture Jam.
This annual event in Prince Rupert is put on by the local Arts Council. It brings in facilitators to lead groups through an intensive weekend workshop in various artistic disciplines. 'Mingles' throughout the weekend give the different groups a taste of what is happening in the other workshops.
This year there were three different disciplines represented: fabric arts, photography, and drawing (there was also supposed to be a song writing workshop, but unfortunately they did not have sufficient sign-up). The groups mostly work independently, but all groups are working off a common theme. This year's theme was 'Tall Tales'.
At the urging of a new friend, I signed up for the photography workshop. I was somewhat terrified going in. Despite owning a DSLR for many years, I really know very little about the technical side of photography. I was worried I would be in way over my head, but luckily our workshop was facilitated by an incredibly talented and encouraging photographer named Tara Nicholson. Check out her website and some of her work here: taranicholson.com.
Tara led us through a jam packed weekend (seriously, we were there for 5 hours on Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday). In the three days she taught us technical skills, got us to create mini-collections, showed us a huge variety of work from contemporary photographers, had us making cyanotypes, and even threw in a photo collage project. It was pretty amazing.
As I said, the theme for this weekend was 'Tall Tales'. We were asked to interpret this theme in any way we wanted and create 5-7 images depicting our interpretation. To me, a tall tale is something fantastical, unreal. Something like a fairy tale. So I decided to photograph characters and elements of fairy tales, as you would find them in Prince Rupert. I dubbed it "There are fairy tales among us" (Pretentious much? Yep). Here are the images I used for my project:
 |
| Carriage |
 |
| Goldilocks |
 |
| Castle |
 |
| Snow white |
 |
| Witch |
 |
| Wolf |
Thank you, Culture Jam.
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
up mount hays
On our first weekend back from the holidays, we were invited to brekkie at a friend of Ty's that lives in town. She fed us, supplied us with an amazing view, and shared info about great local hikes. It was lovely. On her advice, the next day we ventured out to climb Mount Hays.
Mount Hays is the mountain directly behind Prince Rupert, the larger of the two mountains on Kaien Island (yes, Rupert is on an island). It is named after Chales Hays, the general manger of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. He has a quite the story (Mr. Hays, that is) and apparently perished in the sinking of the Titanic.
According to this article, his mountain namesake also has a storied history. There were far-fetched plans to remove that top at one point to try and reduce the poor weather, or barring that, to place an airport up there. During the 1970s and 1980s there was a gondola and a ski hill on the mountain, although the enterprise unfortunately succumbed to a lack of snow.
We took the Kiwanis trail up the mountain and while the hike starts off fairly steep, the grade declines about half way up and you traverse some very muddy muskeg. Our boots were soaked and mud-logged quickly and eventually we gave up trying to tip-toe around the edges of the puddles. I'd definitely recommend some gaiters. Wet feet aside, the views were spectacular - snow-capped mountains, peeks at town, and near the top, a view of the surrounding islands. Apparently on very clear days, you can see all the way to Haida Gwaii.
A series of boardwalks wind their way through the alpine meadows at the top, though many are succumbing to the same forces that all wooden structures face in Rupert: too much water. I learned this the hard way with a tough bail off some slimey wood.
Evidence of the former ski hill is still apparent at the top.We stopped to have lunch on the foundation of the old chalet and as the day was waning, we decided to hike down the road to get back to the car. There is a road the makes its way up to the cell towers on the top- although I wouldn't recommend it as an alternate hike for the way up, it appears to be used primarily by dirt bikers and, sadly, people who use it as a dumping ground.
Peering down from the top was a perfect way for us new-to-towners to get a better lay of the land and I am sure that this won't be our only time up Mount Hays. If you are visiting and want to head up yourself, Trailpeak has more information or check out the excellent 'Outsider's Guide to Prince Rupert'.
Mount Hays is the mountain directly behind Prince Rupert, the larger of the two mountains on Kaien Island (yes, Rupert is on an island). It is named after Chales Hays, the general manger of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. He has a quite the story (Mr. Hays, that is) and apparently perished in the sinking of the Titanic.
According to this article, his mountain namesake also has a storied history. There were far-fetched plans to remove that top at one point to try and reduce the poor weather, or barring that, to place an airport up there. During the 1970s and 1980s there was a gondola and a ski hill on the mountain, although the enterprise unfortunately succumbed to a lack of snow.
We took the Kiwanis trail up the mountain and while the hike starts off fairly steep, the grade declines about half way up and you traverse some very muddy muskeg. Our boots were soaked and mud-logged quickly and eventually we gave up trying to tip-toe around the edges of the puddles. I'd definitely recommend some gaiters. Wet feet aside, the views were spectacular - snow-capped mountains, peeks at town, and near the top, a view of the surrounding islands. Apparently on very clear days, you can see all the way to Haida Gwaii.
A series of boardwalks wind their way through the alpine meadows at the top, though many are succumbing to the same forces that all wooden structures face in Rupert: too much water. I learned this the hard way with a tough bail off some slimey wood.
Evidence of the former ski hill is still apparent at the top.We stopped to have lunch on the foundation of the old chalet and as the day was waning, we decided to hike down the road to get back to the car. There is a road the makes its way up to the cell towers on the top- although I wouldn't recommend it as an alternate hike for the way up, it appears to be used primarily by dirt bikers and, sadly, people who use it as a dumping ground.
Peering down from the top was a perfect way for us new-to-towners to get a better lay of the land and I am sure that this won't be our only time up Mount Hays. If you are visiting and want to head up yourself, Trailpeak has more information or check out the excellent 'Outsider's Guide to Prince Rupert'.
Monday, 17 February 2014
northwards
It was somewhere around here, halfway between Prince George and Prince Rupert, that I realized we were actually moving. I am not sure what I thought the whole packing-cleaning-saying-goodbye process was that we had just done in Vancouver, but it wasn't until 3/4 of the way through our 20 hour drive that it hit me: my whole life was packed into the Uhaul in front of me. I glanced at Mr. Mase (our golden retriever) snoring in the backseat. He seemed oblivious to our major life change, so I adopted his attitude and kept on going, all the way to the northwestern edge of the province. Driving into Rupert the first night, the rain was absolutely pounding. A fitting welcome to the North Coast.
In the two months (with some time away over the holidays) since we first drove into town, we've settled in and begun exploring our new home. This blog will be a way to journal my experiences, adventures, and thoughts on this north coast experiment.
Thanks for stopping by.