duanestorey's VirtualTourist Home Page

Man, anyone else tired of this crazy weather in Vancouver? I can't believe the windstorms we've been having.

Here's a shot I took today off my patio when the clouds parted for a few minutes.

About two years ago, I started to take photography a little more serious. I saved up some money over a period of months and went out and bought myself a nice digital SLR. I've slowly accumulated a bunch of lenses and have been trying to make myself better and better. It's a slow process, and I don't think you can ever learn it all, but it gives me a great excuse to get out and play around from time to time.

Once of the new areas of photography is called high dynamic range (HDR). The basic premise is that your camera can't handle as much dynamic range as your eye can. So, to counteract this, you take multiple exposures of a scene and recombine them using software. I've taken quite a few shots like this, and they are really neat to look at.

Here's one I took last night of Yaletown.

Well, I realize I haven't really updated this page in a long time. Unfortunately, it's been a rough couple of months for me.

A while ago I was coming out of a bar in downtown Vancouver and ran into three drunk guys.. They were harassing these three 20-something girls, so I made a comment to the effect that they should leave them alone. Shortly thereafter I found myself getting pummelled by the guys (along with a fourth guy who came out of nowhere). Before I knew it, they put my face through the window of a nearby 7-11. After I was on the ground covered in blood, one guy decided I hadn't taken enough of a beating, so he kicked me square in the face. Next thing I remember was being helped into an ambulance. The window cost me stitches to my face and head. The kick broke my left cheekbone in three places, and also fractured the orbital floor of my left eye. I just got out of surgery yesterday to reconstruct my eye socket using plastic.

Unfortunately, some parts of downtown Vancouver (and I'm sure most large cities) can get a little rowdy after the bars let out. My only advice is to keep your head down, get home as quick as you can, and if you can afford it, take a cab whenever you can. It's just not as safe as it used to be.

The good news is I finally got my master's degree the other day from UBC.

I spent 9 days in Tokyo, Japan in April, and I had a really amazing time. Most of the shots are accessible from my main web page -- I'm trying to get my Tokyo page here going, but I haven't had much time. Right after getting back from Tokyo, I had to bounce to California to spend a week with a customer. But now I'm back in Vancouver, and am getting geared up for camping, hiking, and all the other fun Vancouver activities you can do when the sun is out.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning (at some ungodly hour) for San Francisco. I'm going to spend a few days at a conference in San Jose with 10 other people from work, and then I'm taking a few days off to explore some of the surrounding areas. In San Jose, I'm staying at the Fairmont, which is pretty much the nicest hotel I've ever been in (I was there once years ago with my friend Rob). I've also booked hotels in Monterey, and one near Fisherman's Wharf. I'm pretty excited to see the 17 mile drive, and the coastal cliffs down the Monterey Coast. I'm debating which camera to take: I'd like to take the 20D, but it's such a monster to carry onto planes. If I bring that, I have to check all my luggage, just so I have room to bring it with me on the plane with my laptop. Or, I could go with the Digital Elph, but it doesn't take nearly as nice as photos. So, we'll see how it goes..

I'll post lots of photos when I get back next weekend.

** Update - I'm back, and it was a great trip.. My small Canon camera broke somewhere on the trip, but I had my other one as backup. Here's a shot of the Monterey coast. The rest of the shots are on my personal webpage.

I'm heading to Tokyo, Japan in three weeks, and that should be a great trip. I'll post some pics from that soon.

My life has changed alot in the last little while. I moved into my own apartment downtown on Beach avenue, and have been given a brand new eyeglass from which to view this great city. I'm literally about 2 minutes from the seawall, and can easily leave my house at 8:50pm in order to catch an amazing ocean sunset at 8:55pm. It's a great experience being down here, and I've gained a whole new appreciation for what this city has to offer.

I originally grew up about 1.5 hours east of Vancouver, in a little farming (drinking?) community known as Chilliwack. You probably know it as "that little place we stopped for gas" somewhere between Hope and Vancouver. While I really enjoy city life here in Vancouver, I try to get back home as often as I can.

Through travelling, I've managed to slowly improve my skills as a photographer. I doubt I'll ever make money from my photos, but I sure do enjoy grabbing my digital camera and heading outside for a walk..