Wanderfull's Wanderings: Canada Day

Showing posts with label Canada Day. Show all posts

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Canada Day - Part 2 : In the City

Canada Day in the city is a feast for those who crave stimulation. There were probably things happening all over the city, but I stayed close to home and only visited Chinatown and Prince's Island Park. I wasn't sure how long I'd last after already spending a hot day at the Millarville Races. (See Canada Day - Part 1: In the Country.)

They were already starting to shut down Centre Street Bridge for the evening fireworks when I crossed the bridge into Chinatown. Drawn by funky music, I followed the Riverwalk bike path and saw a huge familiar face on a screen perched on a corner near the Harry Hays building.

Jen Kunlire, award winning slam poet and (now) singer, was grooving onstage with parts of the band Freak Motif. It was all very funky and fun.

There were sounds coming from all over, though. And I let them move me from place to place.

The next sound drew me to a Chinatown corner where I found Shakka, the amazing human robot (kinda freaky actually) jigging to James Brown. He was soon joined by a couple of hip hop dancers and a guy with a talent with a soccer ball. All very cool.

Further along the street were a bunch of musicians, some quiet and some not so much.

After Chinatown I made my way to Prince's Island Park. Crossing the street I overheard two guys in cars chatting .

"Heh, Brother," called one boisterous African driver. "Happy Canada Day!"

The other East Indian driver, looking a little shocked, said "Hey" back.

While they waited for me to cross a quick conversation unrolled about where they were originally from and their citizenship status.

"Canada is an excellent country to be in, Brother," the African fellow exclaimed.

Had to smile.

At Prince's Island Park and Eau Claire Market I found crowds of people, of course, and lots of photo opportunities.

Much later that night I dragged myself away from editing to watch the fireworks. Here I put my camera to bed. Partially because photographing fireworks is like telling the secret of a magic trick. It's the same reason I don't do nature landscapes. The full sensory experience (smell, touch, taste) just doesn't come through in a photo. At least not yet. I bet Google is working on it. Also in short, I'm not good at that kind of photography, but it is on my "eventually learn to do" list.

Still, in an attempt to make this blog complete I trolled YouTube to find the best fireworks video and found distant fireworks near a pretty downtown skyline, close over-exposed fireworks, good fireworks with terrible music attached, and so-so fireworks. [sigh]

So instead I figure I'd add a video created by one of my heroes -- astronaut Chris Hadfield and his brother Dave and their musical video homage to Canada Day called "In Canada."

And the best part of Canada... our comedy...

Links:

Calgary Canada Day - City of Calgary

Canadian Citizenship Practice Test - Richmond Public Library

History of Canada Day - Government of Canada

Canada Day 2014 - Part 1: In the Country

Canada Day 2014 - Part 1 : In the Country

Canada Day.

A day when everyone is obliged to wear red or red and white and possibly maple leaves. Occasionally you'll spot the crazy Canuck version of really tall Cat in the Hat caps (they have a maple leaf). Sometimes there are Canadian flags stuck in ponytails.

This year I went a little overboard with the celebrations by both road-tripping out to the country with friends and then later checking out stuff solo close to home in the city. So, I've decided to create a special Canada Day two part blog; Part 1 will be Canada Day in the country and Part 2 will be Canada Day in the city. See if you can spot any notable differences.

First, my friends and I went to the 109th running of the Millarville Races in Millarville, Alberta. They were so popular this year that we were placed in overflow parking and towed to the track by tractors pulling trailers. Part of the overflow was also because their regular parking lot was reduced in size by tall stone berms -- most likely souvenirs from last year's flood.

Other new things included a mechanical bull that the kids really loved and a VIP tent for sponsors of the races.

For $125 each, people could eat, drink, and be merry with a live band beneath a white pavilion next to the track. There were a few fancy hats and duds there, too. Not sure how well it went over with the regulars, though. It felt uncomfortably like elitism with rich folk partying in their bright white pavilions; separate from the regular folk. I also wondered how the horses felt about running past a really loud band playing near the finish line.

We wandered around the stables, the fair area and then the paddock where people inspected horses running the current race.

It was at the paddock that I met Vincent, a friendly jockey from Jamaica who caught me snapping a photo of him and decided to chat.

Vincent sported funky sunglasses, a bright yellow jacket, and a toothy grin. He said he had hurt himself a couple years back, broke a few bones, but that he felt good about the horses he was riding that day. So naturally during the races I tried to get as many shots of Vincent as I could. With his funky orange goggles, he wasn't difficult to spot regardless of what colors he wore.

As always, the best fun was shooting the kids running the foot races in between the horse races. Kids from as little as 3 or 4 years of age and up had a chance to win $10 running races ranging from flat out sprint to the three legged race to the sack race. One new race had the winner pick a charity that would receive a $450 donation.

Pre-sack race pointers.

Normally my friends and I have a picnic in the infield while the horses race around us, but we decided to leave our picnic backpacks in the car rather than haul our food around. Instead, I bought a 7-Up and a piece of tangy rhubarb pie from a local church table (no line-up) and the traditional teriyaki beef jerky from the Longview table. We wandered the fair area a few more times and scoped out the town community hall. We wound up leaving earlier than usual, mostly to avoid the crowds heading home.

This was the third time I've been to the Millarville Races and it had a different feel this year. More manic, I think.

Maybe it was just me. I felt a bit frustrated. You're so close to the track and the horses move so fast that you have to pre-guess your settings. It might also help to have lenses with really fast auto-focus. I took only one lens, the weather-proof Pentax DA 50-200mm zoom. After a few unfocused shots, I tried pre-focusing on a dirt clod that I thought the horses (at least one horse) would run past with some success. But then I got a lot of jockey bum shots.

The shots got better when we moved close to the starting gate. Then a guy walking on the race track decided to pass in front of me just as the horses were coming around the final bend. Arrrgghh!!

I might have done better if I took my Canon 50D. I chose the weather proof Pentax K-5 because I thought it would manage the dust and dirt clumps better. Unfortunately, the auto-focus isn't as fast as my Canon lenses.

Still, I think I got some okay shots.