| November 26th, 2005
Ashley and I went to Montreal this weekend for our two year
anniversary. We decided to go to and see the Penguins at the Biodome and
I have to say that they are the coolest animals in the world!
Usually when you go to a zoo to see animals they are lame and just
sleep or lay around but the Penguins swam, jumped, waddled, frolicked,
nurtured, played, and even....um....did it.
And yet they still can't fly!
November 23, 2005
November 17th, 2005
November 15th, 2005
November 13th, 2005
November 12th, 2005
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Well it took me about a year to get around to it but I
copied all the bands from the main page to the bands section
that were missing = 46 "new" bands in the
BANDS
section.
Grand Total... over 273 bands ! Wow. |
November 10th, 2005
Remember when I used to do this all the time?!
Pictures are up of
The Trews and
Rocketface when they played in
Kingston last night. Enjoy!
November 7th, 2005
November 6th, 2005
Marnie Vaughan looks out of place as she walks out of a
gas station in the bright hot sun of Ventura California. She is on her
way to a figure skating competition with her family from Montréal.
November 5th, 2005
Least politically correct
sign ever! And I found it in California of all places....
November 4th, 2005
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So as you read before I came to L.A. 24 hours
before my friends did for a Sportsshooter conference. I wanted
to shoot something cool and different while I was here and luck
had it that I was able to.
On Wednesday night while I was catching an
elevator from one level of LAX to another I saw a Red Hat Lady.
Now if you don't know what The Red Hat Society
www.redhatsociety.com is then you should check out their
website but basically it is a society of women over the age of
50 who wear purple and red and have red hats. They say "We
believe silliness is the comedy relief of life" and the
whole philosophy comes from the poem Warning by Jenny Joseph.
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple.
With a red
hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
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And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens . . .
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple. |
I had met Red Hat ladies before in Saskatoon and they are all
wonderfully quirky and exciting people so a light bulb went off
in my head that I could make a cool photo story from a
convention like this. I found out where and when the convention
was and on Thursday I made the best of my 24 hours and went to
Disneyland park where the convention was and shot a 50's sock
hop dance ---->
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See The Sock Hop
Enjoy! |
November 3rd, 2005
| So long story short I am going to a
Sportsshooter conference this weekend in L.A. I had booked
the flight several weeks ago and was all set and had my calendar
marked as leaving on Thursday. My friend Aaron and I were
going to drive to Detroit and fly to L.A. (for only $220US
return airfare might I add!!) only when I received my
confirmation e-mail from the airline a couple days ago I saw
that I was booked to leave on the Wednesday ... not the
Thursday.... hmmmm.
I double checked and yes... I accidentally booked to leave on
the wrong day! Wow... I call the airline and it is going to cost
me $200 US to change my flight from Wednesday to Thursday -- not
worth it.
SOOOO... I bought a train ticket to Windsor, bummed a ride
from my friends' Dad to the Detroit airport and now I am in L.A.
... 24 hrs before my friends are going to be here to go to the
conference.
I have nothing but time to do nothing... so what am I going
to do?
Catch Up! If you haven't noticed below I have posted
some updates from the last week that I have been meaning to put
up.
I have 24 hours, a few cans of Red Bull, and free Wi-Fi. Time
to get everyone up to speed on the life of Ryan! |
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So What's new with me you ask? Well something that hasn't been
new is this site. I have only updated it a few times since I moved to
Ontario which is pathetic, yet I have never received sooo many visits
per day! I have been receiving 1300-2000 visits a day and my bandwidth
(75GB data transfer of pictures) is through the roof! It's
funny how I am always afraid that if I don't update very often I will
lose visitors but it is the opposite!
Remember when I wrote about how all my friends (and me) are
addicted to Lost!? Well the
funny thing about the picture to
the right is that same night, after Ashley and I had a "Lost
Party" with some friends over to watch the TV show our 80 year
old landlord pounded on our door after everyone left and FREAKED
OUT at us! |
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"Goddamnit! Did you have half of Loyalist College up there?! Your
shaking the whole Goddamn house!" He yelled. "I just had some friends
over to watch TV" I said "Do it somewhere else! I told you not to have
parties when you *PUNCH THE WALL* MOVED in here! *SLAMMED THE
DOOR*
Ashley and both had our jaws dropped. We had been in love of our cute
80 year old landlord who seemed charming and his lovely wife but then
all of a sudden we saw his mean side.... We certainly
weren't having a party that night (we were just watching TV!), we
weren't loud, yelling, or drinking but for some reason our landlord
constituted that as having a "party".
Ashley and I didn't have anyone over for two weeks after that. We
felt kind of uncomfortable (for obvious reasons) as we felt we had to
tiptoe around our own home for fear of our "crazy" landlord.
Then one night I had ONE (yes only one) friend over to help
edit a documentary she had shot in New Orleans last month. There were
only three of us (Ashley, Alexandra, and myself) and all we did was talk
and go through pictures. Alexandra left our place at 12:30am and tiptoed
down the stairs..... the next morning there was an eviction notice!
in our mailbox saying that we had been warned of "partying" before and
that the previous night (when I had ONE friend over) we were
unnecessarily loud and yelling and partying!!! 80 year old landlords
suck! I guess when he had asked us not to have parties in our
place he meant NO GUESTS AT ALL! That is completely unreasonable
and a landlord can't tell a tenant (especially if they are paying
$850/month!) to not have guests or "live their lives" so we left!
If we had really wanted to stay at our place we could have fought the
eviction and stayed (since he didn't have a solid case for kicking us
out according to our lawyer) but we decided to leave anyways. We didn't
feel comfortable in our own home which isn't the way it should be with
any rental property.
Luck also had it that there was an available
apartment above the place where
Ashley works which was in a better location of town, closer to the bus
terminal, more modern, AND $200/month cheaper so it was all a blessing
in disguise.
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| Moving all of our stuff was super smooth. We
pretty much had all of our stuff moved out of our old place and
into a moving truck in half and hour and then moved out of the
truck and into our new place in half and hour. Ashley and I
went to a thrift store and bought a matching green couch and
sofa chair for $10 and we even found that the cable TV wasn't
disconnected when the last tenants moved out = free cable for
us! (or until we get caught *knock knock*).
Anyways I'm still in LAX and starting to get really tired...
maybe I will take a nap.... everyone else around me is doing it
so I will too! -Ryan
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November 2nd, 2005
One of the worlds busiest
airports and I'm the only one here!
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Passengers were asked to stand outside the LAX
terminal
while a bomb squad checked a suspicious bag. |
The threat turned out to simply be a suitcase
accidentally
left unattended. The terminal was reopened
shortly after. |
So after my adventures of last week for the Eastern Canadian News
Photographers Association (longest name ever) convention I am now going
to Los Angeles (or well I guess I'm already there)
I was out of the LAX terminal for not even 5 minutes taking pictures
and two police asked me to leave. I first thought "damn homeland
security!" then they told me it was due to a situation... I looked over
and there were a dozen "bomb squad" cars lined up!
I investigated and there was a suspicious package left in a terminal. I
shot a bunch of pictures but then the threat ended as it turned out to
be a false alarm. I only got a few shots in before the terminal was
reopened but wouldn't it be awesome if I paid for this conference with
freelance spot news too!
November 1st, 2005
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I miss the good ol’ days…
Where I am living right now in Belleville
Ontario there is no “scene.” I took a job working at a bar (The
Shark Tank) in hopes of shooting lots of bands but its really
just club nights with a band once in a while.
Next week I am going to see The Trews in
Kingston but it won’t be the same.
It wasn’t until I left Saskatoon that I
realized how great a city it is for music. Our scene was small,
but you got to know everybody and that made it strong.
There are always shows going on (at least
once a week or so) and a lot of bigger names have been coming to
Saskatoon which is great.
Something I have always loved about
Saskatoon shows (and Regina) is access. Since we are “smaller”
we typically get to see bands in venues like Louis’ and The
Bassment that often play in much larger venues in bigger cities.
We get to stand closer and be more intimate with the bands even
at Prarieland Park and Credit Union Centre.
I look super forward to coming home for
Christmas. Hope too see you all then! I really miss the
music....
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Oct. 31st, 2005
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So I was at a Photojournalism conference
this weekend and a friend of mine was telling me the importance of
attitude and always being prepared.
He told me that a
photojournalist he knew had one time drove past an accident and
didn’t take any pictures because “he wasn’t working” and he
didn’t even have his gear with him because he wasn’t on the
clock.
Later that morning we went to Tim Hortons
for coffee and I heard sirens outside. I looked out the window
and there was a three car accident! I (as always) had my camera
on me so I ran out and took pictures. I freelanced the pictures
to The Toronto Sun and they published them!
Just after we left Tim Hortons my friend
told me that coincidentally the same photographer he had
mentioned earlier was actually sitting in that Tim Hortons and
once again didn’t bother leave his coffee and shoot.
I paid for the conference with one picture,
before it had even started. AND since I left my friend standing
in line he paid for the coffee! Always be prepared. You are
always working in this job.
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November 1st, 2005
[2].JPG) |
My friend Tom actually took this picture of the menu at a
restaurant we were in last weekend. I don't even know what
"kind" of restaurant it was, and we could hardly understand the
waitress, but it was the best "kind" of food I've ever had.
Didn't try the dish on the left though.... when I order
chicken I want the meat...not the bird! |
October 11th, 2005
I updated my portfolio webpage
www.ryanjackson.ca
Check it out! :)
October 9th, 2005
October 6th, 2005
Click Below to See my past rants and ramblings....
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