Vancouver (/vænˈkuːvər) is a coastal seaport city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia.
As the most populous city in the province, the census recorded 631,486 people in the city, up from 603,502 in 2011. The Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2,463,431 in 2016, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada with over 5,400 people per square kilometre, which makes it the fifth-most densely populated city with over 250,000 residents in North America behind New York City, Guadalajara, San Francisco and Mexico City according to the 2011 census. Vancouver is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada according to that census; 52% of its residents have a first language other than English. 48.9% have neither English nor French as their first language. Roughly 30% of the city’s inhabitants are of Chinese heritage.
Vancouver is consistently named as one of the top five worldwide cities for livability and quality of life and the Economist Intelligence Unit acknowledged it as the first city ranked among the top-ten of the world’s most well-living cities for five consecutive years. Vancouver has hosted many international conferences and events, including the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, UN Habitat I, Expo 86, the World Police and Fire Games in 1989 and 2009; and the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics which were held in Vancouver and Whistler, a resort community 125 km (78 mi) north of the city. In 2014, following thirty years in California, the TED conference made Vancouver its indefinite home. Several matches of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup were played in Vancouver, including the final at BC Place.
The original settlement, named Gastown, grew up on clearcuts on the west edge of the Hastings Mill logging sawmill’s property, where a makeshift tavern had been set up on a plank between two stumps and the proprietor, Gassy Jack, persuaded the curious millworkers to build him a tavern, on July 1, 1867. From that first enterprise, other stores and some hotels quickly appeared along the waterfront to the west. Gastown became formally laid out as a registered townsite dubbed Granville, B.I. (“B.I” standing for “Burrard Inlet”). As part of the land and political deal whereby the area of the townsite was made the railhead of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), it was renamed “Vancouver” and incorporated shortly thereafter as a city, in 1886. By 1887, the Canadian Pacific transcontinental railway was extended westward to the city to take advantage of its large natural seaport to the Pacific Ocean, which soon became a vital link in a trade route between the Orient / East Asia, Eastern Canada, and Europe.
Classic car, Vancouver, Canada
I was quite lucky to get a few great shots of more or less classic cars with interesting backdrops. I found this one just walking down Main street close to shop Task.
Without my own couch and living room, the evenings were mostly spent with Dustin in his yard enjoying one or two fancy Canadian microbrews and a few spliffs. In the daytime life was mostly a combination of lounging in public parks and exploring the city on skates or by foot, taking photos etc. I was quite busy with my workload and not falling into disrepair, visiting my different work places, eating, bathroom duties etc. I wasn’t too worried about creativity, be it blading or photography, being able to stay functioning was my main concern.
This lasted through most of the summer, lots of work, a life from day to day, just trying to get ahead of the game for some free time. Towards the end of my stay I got the tip to visit the local libraries to work, I think Taylor came up with the idea. At first I refused, I couldn’t imagine it working out well, but by that time I was so annoyed with the coffee shops, the people visiting them and having to drink coffee all the time, so I gave it a shot and what can I say? I haven’t looked back since, it worked perfect in every way. Thanks Taylor. This tip made my future explorations possible and it made my daily life so much easier, a free and quiet desk space without too many disturbances. No questions asked, never, not a single time. Depending on the library, it wasn’t possible to leave the computer unsupervised, so for every break I took I had to pack up my things and go on an outside mission, It made me smoke less. A lot of homeless people would use the libraries for all sorts of things from mostly TV, entertainment and information, but mostly to lounge, for the bathroom, sleeping and internet. It was hilarious to walk by behind them and see what some of the people watched on the public computers. I switched in between libraries around town and once I had settled into a new routine I ditched the coffee shops and mostly worked from the library on Main Street and 8th, in the Mt. Pleasant community center. They had a fitness center and a steam room as well. I could shower before or after work, even during if I would have felt the need (never did). The crackyness of some of the homeless was a bit annoying sometimes, mostly the smell when they sat directly next to me. There have been some fucked up people sitting next to me in those times.
Towards the end I went to the downtown library a couple of times. I took the sky train from the community center to the city and worked from a window space on the 8th floor surrounded by skyscrapers. My best library experience in Vancouver but costly and a lot more effort than using the local ones, but it did make me feel a bit like one of those people wearing a suit, rushing a suitcase in one and a coffee in the other hand to work.
Skyline, Vancouver, Canada
It was always a surprise, walk down the alley behind 12th street, get to Yukon street and have a look towards the city center, it would almost never disappoint. Divided into 4 layers, the foreground (our side of the city) downtown in the middle, North and West Vancouver in the far and the mountains in the background. Sometimes you couldn’t see anything except the foreground, sometimes clouds would cover the mountains, sometimes fog would cover the top of the skyscrapers. This photo was taken from another spot, but when I think about Vancouver’s skyline I always have to think about how it never looked the same.
Chabudz
After we stayed at the community center for a while we somewhat became locals, familiar with most of the different sleeper vehicles and the people living in them. Judging by the dashboard and the way the car was set up one person stood out, he clearly had been there and living in his vehicle longer than anyone else. He stayed in the best spot (cars with headlights coming in the morning would wake you up when staying in a bad spot) and didn’t seem to be moving his vehicle at all, at some point we questioned ourselves if the car was still able to drive.
He had a girlfriend too, we figured she might have worked as a prostitute, but didn’t know. For some reason he got our special attention, maybe because he was just so setup and seemed like such a professional overlander, at least more than anyone else in the parking lot. Dustin started naming him Chabudz, after our boy Chabuddy G from the TV-series “People just do nothing” That name stuck even though the resemblance between the two was quite small. He gave us some love for our trailer solution as well, even if it put some heat on him (the bushes where we hid it were just behind his camp spot)
The crazy thing about him was that when I returned to Trout Lake just about 4 months later, his vehicle was still there. He nearly made it through winter and was still living the Trout Lake community center life.
Down the bridge, Vancouver Canada
Shot from Cambie bridge looking down towards the pathway around the Burrard Inlet.
Homeless, Vancouver, Canada
One Saturday night I got bored, bought a few beers, grabbed my camera and went downtown to see how Canadians party (partying in North America isn’t comparable to Europe, especially if one has experienced the outgoing and very economic way of partying in Barcelona) Still interesting to see downtown in action. This was shot at 3:30am on my way back to the car.
