After Dinner Walk with Wife

Fuji Megadestroyer Track Bike

I enjoy riding a fixed gear track bike as a functional but minimalist form of transportation. But due to the lack of gears and brakes (I have fronts for emergency) I love the look of a track bike. I know it's vain, but there's no water bottle holder installed either, since it affects the lines of my matte-black frame! And nothing beats a Brooks saddle and Knog bike lights....Ride on Vancouver!!

The Royal Game: Bighead Vs Coco

Coco loves to play Chess. I love the idea of playing Chess, but I'm a very entry-level player. I see maximum 3 moves ahead, and my end game is not very impressive. But I do love the game. I dusted off my set and invited Coco over for lunch and a game. 4 hours later, we had to stop. I still have 1 knight, Coco still has 1 bishop, and we both have both rooks and our queen. What will happen? I think I'll be destroyed in 4 moves, but I can't see where it's going to come from....
To be continued.........

Luongo Shrine

Vancouver is a hockey town. Yes we have the Lions, and we have the Whitecaps FC, and yes at one time we had the Grizzlies; but no other pro sports in Vancouver seems to unite all generations, races, cultures and sexes. My mom started watching the Canucks back in 1975 when we first came to Canada, and she had never seen hockey before in her life. She's pretty much watched every season since then, and even has her own 1994 era jersey (for the '94 cup run).

I was in a little Italian cafe near my house on Hastings, and I noticed they had a huge Luongo 'shrine' set up. They have autographed pictures of Pacino and other famous Italians, but Luongo took first place in both size and placement. I think the older gentleman in the picture is the owner, because he always seems to be in there eating something every time I go in.

Quickly taken on my iPhone 4 Hipstamatic camera. John s lens, Black Keys film.

Tight Kerning on Sign!!

Found this sign on the glass at the entrance to a buddy's apartment building. The kerning is a bit tight don't you think? I can see this as a hip t-shirt design in Japan (random English words mashed together that makes little or no sense). You can see my reflection in the glass.......

shot on my iPhone 4 Hipstamatic

Fuji X-100 Versus iPhone

What a beautiful looking camera. Feels great in the hands too.
shot on iPhone 4 Hipstamatic

Very retro ergonomics. It even has a screw mount remote shutter release!! Sweet! Very tricky trigger though. You have to play with it a bit......
Shot on iPhone 4 Hipstamatic



Full rez picture using X-100 at ISO 800. Please click on it. Very sharp and very low noise.


The exact moment I took a picture of Jer (exactly 8pm), he took this picture of me with my iPhone!! Which takes better pics?Shot on iPhone 4 Hipstamatic

Backward Portrait: The Wives

The girl's had no idea I took this picture. Me and Jer were walking behind the wives and I decided to take this pic quickly. I know Jer's wife on the far right looks too posed with her arm swinging, but it was completely spontaneous and I just happened to catch it. Walking along Cambie and 22nd in Vancouver.
Taken with my iPhone using Hipstamatic.

Big Old Tree

Just a big old tree in my alley. I love this tree. It makes me happy every time I see it when I come home. That's all I have to say about that.

Shot on my iPhone using Hipstamatic camera with John S lens and BlacKeys B+W film

Follow me on Twitter!!

I'm new to Twitter. I tweet whenever I update my blog. So you can follow me @bigheadtaco

The Backward Portrait. Weird or Cool?

Wife walking ahead of me in Tokyo...I like her new purse.


Cool dressed letter carrier... I like how tightly she has her waist belt, making her jacket more dress-like


Jeremy and his super cool Porter Japan man-bag


My wife getting ready to carve up 7th Heaven on Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler

I don't know what it is, but I like shooting people from behind. Why? I think it draws the viewer into the picture more doesn't it? You wanna see their face, you want to know more about them. Imagine walking behind someone in public, and they look so interesting from behind (an awesome jacket, cool pair of shoes, bright socks, classy purse (or man-bag), or just well put together over all!!), making you want to catch-up and get a glimpse of the face to put the entire equation together.

My pictures were all taken with permission of course, which makes it not creepy. Maybe I'll start a new fashion photography trend? Backside only? The cover of Time? Wedding Portraits? Drivers License? Look, even the Sartorialist is doing it!!

I've posted the latest one of my wife as well as the last few I've done most recently just to give you a feel for what I mean about the draw of the backward portrait, and perhaps at the end of the year, I'll repost all my backwards portraits for your viewing enjoyment.

Double Wasabi Filet-O-Fish in Hong Kong

Growing up, I never liked the Big Mac. The Filet-O-Fish was small, but it was the tastiest for me. So when we were in Hong Kong and they had a special double patty, wasabi Filet-O-Fish, I thought I was dreaming. A Filet-O-Fish the same size as a Big Mac? And wasabi? Man oh man!!

I love how the picture is always better than reality in food pictures, but the contrast was pretty funny this time. Notice how far the top bun is over to the left, and where's the wasabi tartar sauce oozing out? Ha, ha!! I have to say though, it did taste really good!!

2100 Bottles of Wine on the Wall!!

The most famous restaurant in Whistler is probably Araxi. But my wife and I enjoy the Bearfoot Bistro. After seeing staff going up and down a misplaced set of stairs in the middle of the restaurant all evening, we asked where it led to. After being told it was their special room, we asked the owner if we could take a peek, and so he kindly took us down into his Bat Cave. It was nice and cool (temperature wise) and it was nice and cool ( cool-factor wise). Notice the saber on the wood block table to the bottom right? Notice the white table clothed table to the bottom right as well? Totally in the way!! Argh!!

If you love to drink, and you love hanging out with friends surrounded by a lot of bottles of expensive and rare spirits hanging off the wall, and you love to use a saber to open your bottles of champagne, then the Bearfoot Bistro Bat Cave Cellar is where it's at!!

Fact: The proprietor of the restaurant, Andre St Jacques currently holds the world record for sabering the most bottles of champagne in under a minute: 21!!

Red, Red Ship!

This ship has a lot of red on it. Most ships have either white or grey coloured decks, but not this ship. Perhaps they over estimated how much red paint they needed, so they kept going until they were finished? Perhaps the inside is also red? I like it. It's industrial and mechanical looking as a ship, but the red makes it kinda cool, like a Ferrari ship or something. I took this shot while riding home after work on the 2nd Narrows Bridge.......

Nissan Figaro vs QR Code

I did an install on my customer's imported Japan only Nissan Figaro in Bumble Bee Yellow. It gets a lot of attention where ever it goes, so she decided to decal it, including a QR code. I thought it was cool that both the Figaro and the QR code were imported here from Japan, and both from around the same era, mid 90's!! We're impressed from things from Japan from over 15 years ago folks!!

For those who know how signs are made, the sign is not a digital print, but vinyl cut, which includes the QR code.... it wasn't easy to weed!!

Taken on my iphone Hipstamatic app, Watts lens, Black Keys B + W film

Fashionable Canada Post Letter Carrier

It appeared that everything this Canada Post letter carrier was wearing looked like it was standard issue, but it's the way she put everything together that stood out for me. I was lined up behind her buying a sandwich and I was impressed at how stylish she looked. The fringes of her long jacket reminded me of a dress fringe (you can't tell from the back, but she was wearing short shorts) , and her galoshes reminded me of stockings. She had this industrial, military school girl uniform look. I thought it was so cute. My wife said I should have asked her to take her hood off and look back, but it was rainy. I know she's German, and that she's blonde, but beyond that, I guess only I know how she looks!! But shooting her from the back with the hood on, I think it makes her look more powerful!!

Everyone should try and look good and stylish at work! Go Postal Girl Go!

Remember to follow me on Twitter @bigheadtaco

Sean the Irish Canuck

Hockey fever is high in Vancouver as the Vancouver Canucks are in the Stanley Cup finals against the Boston Bruins. One of my customers came in with this hairdo this morning, a day after Canuck's 1-0 game one win the night before. Sean was at the game ($1300 for a pair!!) with this haircut and said he had lots of random peeps taking pictures of his head.

I like his intense expression and how his hoodie makes his head look like it's extended forward and ready to attack, like a wild animal (or a crazy Canuck!)

I wonder if he'll do something similar for the Vancouver Whitecaps FC if they make the MLS finals?!?! Go Canucks Go!!

P.S. Canuck is a slang term for a Canadian, typically only used by Canadians to refer to themselves or to a fellow Canadian. Most American's have no idea what a Canuck is. They think it's a First Nations term, or a type of bird, a fish, a plant, etc.

Taken with my iPhone 4.

Train Bridge in Action

I've taken many pics from my daily bike ride trip across 2nd Narrows Bridge, but I've only been able to get this shot maybe 3 times total. I think my serendipitous timing on this shot is my best thus far. Because the framing is so tight in this 4/3 aspect ratio, I couldn't crop it to my more typical 16:9 or wider. I'm still amazed at how such a small tug boat can pull a huge ship!!

Hong Kong at Night

So many taxis in Hong Kong. This is late, late at night, as you can see there's no people around, but still taxis crawling everywhere!!


This is rare to see in Hong Kong. Dead street with almost no cars.....


On the last night in Hong Kong, while everyone else wanted to just pack, eat, and relax, I wanted one more night to enjoy the lights and the buildings and the crazy transportation system (taxi's, trains, buses, ferries, etc.). Here are just a couple of shots.Taken through the window of a double deck bus. You can tell from my shooting angle, as well as the funny way the street lights flares up in the bottom picture.