Sweet Soul Burlesque
Crystal Precious and Burgundy Brixx I’ve helped to launch two independent newspapers based in Squamish, both published by my friend Alan Forsythe. It’s been so much fun that he decided to start another one in Vancouver, the Urban Pie. A part of our lead up to the first edition, I spent yesterday shooting for the [...]
Rio Theatre
Daniel Gagliano, Alex Chisholm, Corinne Lea, Paul Hendriks, and Chris Redmond. This is an assignment for an upcoming edition of Urban Pie that we’re hoping to launch at the end of April. The Rio Theatre is an old 30′s era movie palace that’s been restored as a movie theatre and live event venue, and is [...]
Executive House Shoot
I spent a busy day shooting this brand new executive Whistler house for CR Contracting, the builders of the place. The house contains some amazing timber framing, with entire tree trunks being used for the upright posts. This first shot is the front entry, looking towards the kitchen and breakfast nook. One of the great [...]
Nita Lake Lodge Wedding, Charissa and Nick
Charissa and Nick came up to Whistler for a quiet wedding with just the two of them. I knew it was going to a lot of fun when Charissa told me that instead of exchanging rings, they were going to get tattooed instead.
Top of Whistler Wedding, Rachel and James
It’s pretty funny, I make my living shooting weddings, but this is only the second one I’ve done in the last six months. I finished up my last one of 2009 in October, and then took off for South Africa for three months. I did another small one in January when I got back, and [...]
James Bondage Party
Garibaldi Times art director Jody Iverson and friends Last night I popped off to the James Bondage party in Squamish to grab a few photos. It was a pretty good time, but did I ever feel like a square. Brian Raiser (R)
Olympic Wrap-Up
That’s me (bald spot and all) filing my pictures back to head office in Toronto from the Canada Place Starbucks. I spent the Olympics covering ministers from Industry and Foreign Affairs, and members of the Canadian Tourism commission, as they lobbied, and generally sold Canada to an incredible group of International VIP’s and CEO’s. I [...]
Olympics, Granville Street Party
Having spent all of Friday following a couple of government cabinet ministers around, I decided to take some personal time to hang out on Granville Street and take in some of the revelry. A good time was had by all.
Olympic Protests
Protesters marching down Georgia Street, in front of the Bay store. Downtown Vancouver. Since I didn’t have any other gig for the Olympics, I decided to head down to Vancouver and check out the protests planned for the opening ceremonies. Generally, it was pretty peaceful, with some pushing and shoving, but no serious agro to [...]
More Torch Photos
I got a call from the Canadian Press assignment service last night asking if I could spend the day covering a famous British athlete who was in town to do the torch run. Matthew Pinsent is a four time gold medal rower, and a really nice guy. An idea of how crazy things got. The [...]
Olympic Torch Relay
I’ve been kind of grumpy about the Olympics for a while now, but I have to admit that it’s hard not to get a patriot lump in your throat when the torch comes through. It was nice seeing it going by in Britannia Beach, as it’s a long way away from the big Olympic machine [...]
The Sani Pass
My Dad took us up the Sani Pass, which is the main southern access road into the Kingdom of Lesotho. Lesotho is a separate country that is actually completely inside South Africa. It’s a pretty desolate place, and all they seem to do is raise sheep and provide hydro electric power to South Africa. If [...]
Joyce in Jo’burb
Joyce flew in from Whistler for Christmas, and after three days of the Buzzard family goings on (Christmas lunches on the 24th, 25th, and 26th), we decided to pop up to Johannesburg for some peace and quiet. Joyce riding a WWII German 88mm antiaircraft gun, and about to get us thrown out the Johannesburg Military [...]
The Durban Club
A close family friend invited my father and to lunch at the Durban Club, the self declared final bastion of the British Empire. It’s an exclusive men’s club located in downtown Durban. The club has been operating since 1861, and has been in the current building since 1903. Arnold is my sister Joanne’s father-in-law. He [...]
The Blue Horizon Club
I had the pleasure of attending the retirement party for my father’s friend, Colin Govender, at the Blue Horizon Social Club. Colin was a shift supervisor at the chemical plant my Dad ran on the Natal South Coast. There was a terrible accident where a huge chemical reactor failed, and Colin crawled on his hands [...]
Burning the Sugar Cane Fields
Before the farms harvest the sugar cane, it’s burned to remove wide grass blades, or trash from the cane, leaving the bamboo like cane behind. This saves a lot of work for the cane cutter, and clears the area of snakes and rodents.
South African Sugar Farm
A worker climbs between two sugar cane haulers. This week I had the pleasure of touring the Rhodes sugar cane farm on KwaZulu-Natal’s South Coast. The owner, Craig Rhodes, and his father Chris were kind enough to let me have the run of the place for two days. It’s a large operation, with over 300 [...]
Some of the Locals
A couple of the locals around the Limpopo region, around Kruger Park. Nothing but rain and cold weather here in Durban, nothing much else to report.
Caspir in Action
It took some searching, but I knew I had a shot a Caspir Armoured Car on patrol, to add to the one that’s in the museum. This was in KwaMashu, a Durban area township, in June 1996.
Kruger Park Safari
African Elephant, near Lowe Sabie Camp Cape Buffalo, near Punda Maria Camp Boabab Tree, near Punda Maria Camp Punda Maria Campsite Elephant Skull, near Letaba Camp Submerged Hippos in the Oliphant River. Hippo on the bank of the Sabie River Hyena, near Lower Sabie Camp. This guy would make a Pit Bull look like a [...]
Kruger Park at Night
The Apartheid Museum is a must see. It’s a thought provoking place, and being a journalist for the tail end of, a bit of personal history as well. Above is a self portrait in the mirror display. This is a frighteningly realistic solitary confinement cell they had mocked up. It’s a lot smaller than it [...]
Apartheid Museum
The Apartheid Museum is a must see. It’s a thought provoking place, and being a journalist for the tail end of, a bit of personal history as well. Above is a self portrait in the mirror display. This is a frighteningly realistic solitary confinement cell they had mocked up. It’s a lot smaller than it [...]
South African Military Museum
I was driving around looking for the Apartheid Museum, and came across the South African Military History Museum. I figured they’d be able to give me directions, I stopped in to ask, and found that some history buffs were holding an Angolan War re-enactment. The South Africans fought a war there in the 70′s and [...]
Around Johannesburg
My first day in Johannesburg, or Jo’burg to the locals, my friends Philip and Sue took me for a tour of all the cool old haunts. This is the Radium Beer Hall, which has been a operating as a local pub non-stop since 1926. It was one of the first bars in the country to [...]
