Recently I’ve written quite a lot about photography, and it’s a trend that I intend to carry on. So, I’ve gone ahead and created a new photography RSS feed over on the top right for those people who wish to only subscribe to photography related information. If you know of any photography-related aggregators, feel free to pass that information on. I have also added the photography subdomain, so you can view only the photography related entries by visiting photography.duanestorey.com. If you can pass some link love my way in the area of photography, that would be appreciated. Thanks everyone. ...

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I caught the original news for this in a Skype back channel yesterday, and have had a few people email me links about this since. For those of you who missed it, Microsoft has announced that it will be opening a Vancouver office to attract Canadian talent and to sidestep some of the immigration problems it has had in the past: Microsoft Corp. has ratcheted up the pressure on the U.S. government to boost the number of foreign worker visas it gets by announcing plans for a new software development centre in Vancouver. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant said yesterday it plans to open the centre ...

I’ve been meaning to write a post like this for a long time, so here goes. I’ve been into digital photography for around seven years now, but I would only really say I have taken it seriously since acquiring my digital SLR approximately three years ago. Years ago I would say digital photography is a hobby of mine, today I would say that it’s my passion. Truth is, I love taking photos. I love the challenge associated with finding a subject, figuring out how to best represent that subject, framing the subject, and then ultimately spending time on my computer later re-factoring the shot ...

I just got off the phone with Shaw Cable, and have finally completed my disconnection. I basically only watched 24 on TV, and now that it’s over, I really can’t justify paying $70/mo for it. So, so long Shaw, and thanks for the memories. To that end, I’m now selling the following: 1) Sony Progressive Scan DVD player with Remote 2) Shaw High Definition Digital Cable Box My dad gets first dibs on #2, but if he doesn’t want it, I’m open to offers before it goes on eBay. I paid $400 new for it, and $120 for the DVD player. ...

Good news is that I’m back home, awake, and compared to how I felt yesterday morning, doing relatively ok in terms of my lungs and joints. I’m still sick, and I have next to zero lung capacity, but I feel like I’ve stabilized at least. But here’s the bad news — I can hardly hear a thing out of my left ear. I was joking with Jason when I landed last night that my ears hurt so bad that I probably blew an ear drum while landing. At the time, I was having trouble hearing, and I thought I just needed to chew some gum and pop my ears. But, that was 12 hours ago and all I hear out of my left ...

So, this is the first blog entry I’ve written in quite some time while disconnected from the internet. I’m about 30 minutes out of San Francisco, somewhere around 40,000 feet. I feel like complete shit, and I’m really glad I decided to head back today instead of risking being down south and getting even sicker. A few minutes ago I had my head in my lap in pretty much unbearable pain — turns out my right ear had some real problems adjusting to the change in pressure in the airplane, probably since I’m so congested right now. If I don’t see some major changes in how I feel by tomorrow, ...

Last night Jason and I stopped in briefly at the Apple store here in San Francisco, California, so that we could mess around with a new iPhone. Of course, the store was completely packed, and most people were simply there to do the exact same thing we were doing. Like most Apple stores, the one in San Francisco is currently sold out of iPhones. After waiting only a few short minutes, I picked up an iPhone and started messing around with it. Right away, I liked how small and comfortable it felt in my hand. The user interface is pretty revolutionary, and it’s really intuitive how to use it. At ...

I woke up this morning feeling even worse than I did when I went to bed last night, so I bit the bullet and changed my flight — I’ll be coming home later this evening. If I’m to get any more sick, I definitely want it to be back in Canada where I can hit a clinic up and not have to worry about costs or insurance. I’m pretty sure I have health insurance down here through my work insurance, but I can’t imagine the hassle with trying to actually use it. My car is at the airport, so I should be all set when I land. It works out well since I have a lens to return to Leo’s camera in Vancouver. ...

After leaving Las Vegas, I ended up in San Francisco yesterday. I spent a good part of yesterday just driving around with Jason taking photos, and soaking up some of the beautiful California weather. Normally San Francisco is rather chilly in the summer time due to the fog that blankets most of the city. However, the last few days it has been really nice here – sunny with a nice breeze. I walked into Safeway down here last night to get some wine. On my way out, I saw some weird type of diet coke. Upon picking it up, I nearly fell over when I saw what it was. They call it Diet Coke Plus, and ...

I’m at the airport in Las Vegas, about to put some more photos up from last night and write a blog entry. But before I do that, you gotta check out this photo. My pal Joey out in Florida managed to get his hands on an iPhone, and sent me a shot of it pointed to my blog. Very very cool — thanks man. ...

Taken last night on my way home: ...

I have a wedding to shoot in a few short months, so I’ve been asking friends if they’d let me shoot them to get some practice. Today I met up with John, Keira and Rebecca for a quick photo walk in the park. To be honest, after doing this shoot, I think I feel comfortable shooting outside now. I sort of always assumed my 70-200mm f/2.8L lens would be pretty useless in poor lighting or in a wedding environment, but when I used it today with my speedlight, it was actually pretty awesome. Every time I pull that lens out of my bag and put it on (which isn’t often enough I’ve decided), I’m ...

Kris Krug snapped a pretty fun shot of me at the last Gastown Photowalk. And the reverse shot as seen from my camera: ...

I got my first roll back of Ilford XP2 back from development. My overall impression of it is pretty good – the grain is pretty light for ISO 400 (at least my memory of what ISO 400 was). It’s not as contrasty as I normally like, and I bumped the contrast up slightly before posting them, but it’s not that bad. The dynamic range is pretty decent, and the only shots that it struggled with were taken outside in the sun. All in all, I’m impressed enough that I’ll give it another go. Kris Krug snapped a few of these, so check out the actual flickr site for more info. ...

Today after work I dropped off my first roll of film to be developed. It was a 36 shot roll of Ilford XP2, and it’s probably the only black and white roll I’ve ever shot in my entire life, now that I think about it. The neat thing about this roll is that you can develop it in C41 chemistry (used for colour print film), which means you can basically get it developed anywhere in the city for next to nothing. I also have a few rolls of pure black and white to shoot, so I think it will be a useful comparison. I asked the ladies down at Custom Colour if the XP2 was noticeably different than the ...

Tonight I did something that I’ve been thinking of doing for a few weeks now — I picked up a film SLR body so that I could once again shoot film. And to even write that statement down now seems a bit weird, since I left the world of film years ago, thinking I would never ever shoot a roll of film again in my life. However, a lot of friends of mine who are into photography have started dabbling once again in the forbidden art, and it has caused me to take it seriously once again. I have no idea if it will last long with me, but it’s definitely cool enough to keep me entertained for a ...

Ok, it seems like almost 90% of all traffic hitting my website in the last week or so has been related to a blog posting I did a few months ago on the forth coming Transformers movie by Michael Bay. For those of you living in a cave, Michael Bay (director of Armageddon and Pearl Harbour) chose to turn the lovable, clickable toys from the 1980’s into a full-fledged, live-action movie. The movie premieres on June 20th around the world, and opens on July 3rd here in North America. If you head over to Ain’t it Cool News, you can check out a few early reviews from people who have seen it already. The ...

That’s right. Yours truly finally got his butt off the couch long enough to go outside and get some exercise. I’m happy to report that I managed to rollerblade at a pretty good clip for a whole half-hour without puking or anything. I guess you could say this officially kicks off my getting-in-shape thing (please don’t search the archives for the last time I said this). I’m going to be attending a pool party in Las Vegas next Friday, and I’m hoping that with enough effort I can lose twenty pounds by then and look absolutely smokin’ with my shirt off. A guy can dream, can’t he? ...

Last night, a few of us gathered down at Ben’s house near the Crosstown area for a small housewarming party. Ben is a good friend of mine from the old UBC days, and he’s pretty close to being a full-fledged doctor now. Afterwards, a small group of us briefly ended up at Honey for a round of booty-shaking. Me and Joe, @ Honey Lounge I also got to meet a few new people through Ben, which is always something I rather enjoy. Here’s a shot of Delilah (from Toronto) and her Vancouver friend Kate. Delilah has offered to show me around a bit when I’m in Toronto in August, and I’m quite looking ...