The Birds

Late one afternoon I was sitting on my friend Peter's balcony in Vancouver when I noticed a massive murder of crows flying over head. There were hundreds of groups of between forty to sixty birds all heading in a westerly direction, it looked like a "crow freeway" during rush hour. As bird after bird flew by I asked Peter if he knew where they were heading or why? He told me that there was a massive nest somewhere in Burnaby (a suburb of Vancouver) and that they all got together after a good day of scavenging and tearing up peoples lawns throughout the city to "hang out".

A little while later Charlotte and Myself set out to find this nest as she did a story for the french newspaper L'Express du Pacifique. After a bit of investigation we located the their hang out spot a few hundred meters away from the Burnaby Costco (a bulk shopping outlet chain). It was really impressive, masses of crows all perched on leafless trees, squawking and shouting. As soon as one crow would get uneasy with us, all of the crows would take off suddenly, creating what seemed to be a huge chaos loop and just as quickly as it all began it ended as they somewhat neatly re-shelved themselves into the trees around us. Why they chose this specific spot as their home base, I'm not sure, They clearly seem to enjoy the safety and community of being in a large groups. All I know is that it was really great to sit and watch the birds as the afternoon light faded.

Charlotte's full story on the crows in Vancouver can be read in french HERE.

The End.

Easy Come Easy Go

A little while ago I had the good fortune of being given a Leica AF-C1 by an old woman who related to me "I have no use for the thing!" its pretty much your average point and shoot camera except that it has a Leica logo on it and a pretty punchy 40mm f/2.8 & 80mm f/5.6 lens built into it. They were introduced by Leica in 1989 and sold for around $400 dollars. I was pretty excited. I was also lucky enough to have been given a few rolls of expired Fuji Provia 400F slide film around the same time. I then devised a rather simple strategy..

We had a good run. She (the camera) fell out of my pocket and hit the ground hard in Superstore while I was on the hunt for cheap Halloween candy. She died on the way to hospital..

- Charlotte, Vancouver, 2009

- Vancouver, 2009

- Lion's Gate Bridge, Vancouver, 2009

- Main Street, Vancouver, 2009

- Charlotte, Vancouver, 2009

- Swimming Pool, West Vancouver, 2009

- Vancouver, 2009

- Crab Park, Vancouver, 2009

- Castaway Motel, Vancouver Island, 2009

- Tool Shed, Vancouver Island, 2009

- Vancouver Island, 2009

- Vancouver Island, 2009

- Halloween, Vancouver, 2009

- Halloween, Vancouver, 2009

The End.

New Website Is Up!

Hey all, Thanks to the help of explorer and avid adventurer Darcy Chapchuk, I now have a website up and running, www.shaunstander.com, it features a collection the last few years worth of my photographic work. We did our best to divide the images into sensible and reasonable categories.. did we fail to succeed or simply succeed to fail, I'm not really sure (let me know?). Our next task is to do a rather extensive update and to add thumbnails that allow easier navigation but at the same time don't distract from the images.. wish us luck.

- Darcy Chapchuk, 2005

"Its about crisp sheets of pure white paper, slightly used tin foil and sun burn. Hazel eyes, board games and finger tips. Insulting the clerk. Forgetting your wallet on the counter. Its taking things into  your own hands, Its fake snakes, cartons of milk and fleshly cut flowers"
The End.

Smooth Sailing at the Biltmore

On a warm night, late in the Summer of 2009, Carter Gilchrist and Paul Levesque of Chez Nous Presents rounded up 12 of Vancouver's finest bands and put on a little competition. The Challenge: each band had to do their best cover of a variety of classic 80's Yacht Rock songs. It turned out to be one of the most entertaining and enjoyable shows of the year. The atmosphere was supremely friendly and a good time was had by all (at least as far as I could tell). In the end it was The Greff Band who reigned supreme with their ridiculously smooth covers, winning themselves a yacht rental at Sewells Marina in Horseshoe Bay. (Lucky!)

Sean Nelson wrote a full review of the evening for Discorder Magazine that can be found HERE.

- Jody Glenham, 2009

- Prophecy Sun, 2009

- The Greff Band, 2009

- The Greff Band, 2009

- The Kidnap Kids, 2009

 

- The B-Lines, 2009

- The B-Lines, 2009

The End.

Instrumental Love

Late in 2009 I took my first steps into written journalism by writing and shooting a feature for CiTR’s Discorder Magazine. I pitched a piece to the editor in chief, Jordie Yow, entitled “Instrumental Love“. I was trying to find an interesting topic that steered clear of more standard music journalism and was something that was more accessible and interesting to someone who wasn’t necessarily and music nut. Since I had been a bit of a photographic “gear head” for a while, I figured that musicians would not be dissimilar in their feelings and emotions towards their tools of creation. I set out to document this dynamic with four of Vancouver’s artists. The first installment received tremendous positive feedback, enough that it has now been added as a regular feature in the magazine. The second installment was completed with help of Journalist and regular Discorder contributor Dan Fumano. Thanks to all the artists who helped..
“The relationship between musicians and their gear is a curious one. Some relationships are cinematic love stories while others develop a little more awkwardly. However awkward or romantic the connection is, the fact is, it’s a necessary and fundamental arrangement for the creation of music. I spent some time with a few of Vancouver’s forthcoming artists and explored their unique love, distaste and passion for all things instrumental.” – Excerpt from the introductory paragraph.

Discorder Magazine, October Issue 2009

Full Instrumental Love article can be read HERE.
Additional Intrumental Love for Bison BC, Fine Mist and MT-40.
Artist featured thus far include:
PrOphecy Sun
Ryan McCormick of Collapsing Opposites
Bruce Ledingham of Red Cedar
Jarred Greff of The Greff Band
MT-40
Jay Arner of Fine Mist
Dan And of Bison BC 

Zululand Snow

During winter months of the years between 2006 and 2008 I shot a project entitled Zululand Snow, It is essentially an emotional documentary of the vividness of childhood memory and of the sentimentality and importance the simple moments and environments. How everyday surroundings and “things” can accumulate and immense weight in our lives as we move forward. Its also a testament to how valuable and fleeting these moments are. Even though these are of an African origin the emotion captured is universal. Most of the images are shot within a small radius of my home town of Empangeni on the east coast of South Africa where I spent large segments of my childhood and adolescence. To date this one of the most personal and extensive projects I have completed, spanning roughly one hundred images and two and a half years to assemble. I have posted a few of these images, the full project and be viewed HERE.

(NOTE: “Zululand Snow” is a phenomenon which occurs in the Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa when sugar cane is burnt during the sugar making process which releases millions of black fibers into the air which then essentially “snow” over the region, hence the title)

Shaun.

The full project can be viewed HERE.
The End.