I’ve spend most of my past week prepping for the upcoming trip back to Midway Island in the North Pacific. We are returning for a second time, to continue work with Chris Jordan on the Midway Journey project. This time, I’ve been very fortunate that the folks that fly the charter plane from Honolulu to Midway made a concession and doubled my weight limit from the typical 50 pounds, to 100. I begged and pleaded as I really wanted to bring more gear and equipment on this trip. It was such great news when that email came!!
So this time around, in addition to the HDV camera and SteadicamJR I brought last time, I am bringing a Canon 5DM2, along with some awesome new gear. One of those items is the Kessler Cineslider
It arrived last week and I am blown away by the quality of the design of this thing. With the added electraDRIVE motor and Oracle controller, the movement is truly amazing. It has a timelapse feature built in as well, so it can run for all night and create absolutely stunning night-time sky shots. I can’t wait to use it out on Midway next week. With virtually zero light pollution, the shots we get should be pretty amazing.
Not in my own backyard! Over the past 9 months, as a result of the life changing experience out on Midway Island last year, my family and I have worked hard at reducing and refusing single use plastic. We started thinking that plastic is something others consume and the birds way out in the Pacific Ocean die from it. BUT, today I was reminded how responsible I am, we all are together, for this plastic mess we have created.
Today behind our garage, Jennifer heard a strange noise. As she looked closer she noticed a small baby bird entangled in a piece of plastic fishing line. He was desperately trying to fly away but was tangled in the line struggling to breath. At first glance it seemed as though he had swallowed it and it was stuck in his mouth. We were on a rescue mission. I gently grabbed hold of him and unwrapped the line that was twice around his neck. Once free of the plastic prison I released him into the air where another bird joined him from a bush nearby, most likely one of his worried parents.
As I prepare for another trip to Midway Island in just over a week, I couldn’t help to think about the irony of this poor little bird who was dying from a piece of plastic, right in my own backyard. This experience was deeply moving for me. When we are on Midway this time, we will be seeing baby Albatrosses, just old enough to head out on their own, many dying as a result of the plastic they have been fed. Somehow it seems easier to think that plastic is a problem in the Pacific, but after today I am reminded that it is a huge problem right here in our own backyards.
Better late then never… final day of the 2010 Olympics.
Had an early morning and checked out of the hotel. The experience at the Empire Landmark was less then adequate and I would not recommend this hotel to anyone! There are lots of other great options in town with far better service!!
Then we headed to the IBC where I helped Jiri Bakala pack up his edit suite and said goodbye to all the guys at the office. It was a great three weeks getting to know many of them.
We then headed to the Czech House. Along the way, there were lineups at every single pub and bar along the way. Everyone waiting to get in and get a seat for that final hockey game.
We got to the Czech house, had lunch and watched that final USA vs. Canada game. OMG… that was something!!!! But what a finish to the game and to the whole Olympics. An author could have not written the ending any better. I sat there watching the ending, the beautiful commentary after the big win… then there was that wide helicopter shot of downtown Vancouver, as the announcer commented how it is not really visible from the air, how much excitement and celebration is going on in the streets of Vancouver at that moment…. my eyes were tearing up how proud and excited and fortunate I was feeling to not only have had this opportunity to work with these amazing folks from my native land, but how proud I was at that moment, to be Canadian!! It was at that moment, that the top boss from Czech TV, Ota Cerny, yelled at me from across the room, “Hey, Vozenilek… don’t cry…. remember, you are Czech!!” I responded that “I am allowed to cry… that I am half and half!!” It was so funny and one of those moments I’ll never forget!!
We then left and headed back to the hotel for the last time said goodbye to the Czech House, where I spent so much of my time over the past 3 weeks.
While driving back, at one of the red lights, I jumped to the back and pulled out my camera and snapped some photos out of the car window. There was celebration on every corner, streets were closed, gridlock everywhere.. it was amazing!
I then decided to go visit my friends Milan and Romana and after a bit of debating whether to walk or drive, I decided to walk…thankfully! Right down Robson, onto Granville and over the Granville Street Bridge. It was an unbelievable sight!!! Thousands upon thousands of people, singing, dancing, celebrating…
Only in Vancouver!! Melting pot of people.. so wonderful!!
Even the police security guys were high fiving everyone…
As I walked up the Granville street bridge, the cars all of a sudden stopped flowing and the bridge was shut down. It immediately filled with people, walking into downtown to join the party.
Buses lining the Cambie Street bridge waiting to pick people up from the Closing Ceremonies.
I got to Milan, Romana and Daniela’s place and we watched the closing ceremonies on tv together. The amazing part was that looking out the window of their condo, we were overlooking False Creek and BC Place Stadium, where the closing ceremonies was taking place. We were trying to imagine the energy in that building at that moment.
View of the finale fireworks over downtown.
Milan and I then walked back over the Granville Street bridge back downtown to join the party. It was wild!!
Robson Square fire works and people EVERYWHERE!!
Art Gallery fountain… full of bubbles.
…and middle of it all, this guy, enjoying a quiet moment.
Finished the night off by going out for a beer with the guys from the station. Lots of great stories and reminiscing on the past 3 weeks. They were genuinely taken by the atmosphere in the city and mentioned that from the many other Olympic games they’ve been at, they haven’t quite seen this sort of thing before. That was really neat to hear!!
After I got back to my room that night, I spent a few minutes out on the balcony, overlooking the city and felt very sad for this adventure to be over. The memories and experiences from this amazing event I’ll cherish for the rest of my life and I feel so very grateful for the opportunity to have been part of it.
Lastly, here some of my favorite videos from the games. All put together by the fantastic team at Barbershop Films.
Opening ceremony film:
With Glowing Hearts – this was probably one of my favorites and I tear up each time I watch this!! It was played at all the venues during the games.
Highlight film from the games with a really fabulous music track by Go Do called Jonsi.
And finally, this fabulous summary and video from CTV
Day 18 – Had the morning off so I got caught up on the blog.
Last night Jiri told me a story about how him and Jakub went to a restaurant for lunch in Yaletown and once they received their bill, there was an automatic 18% gratuity added onto it. Jirka asked for an explanation and the server said that it is their policy during the Olympics. Apparently only after he had to ask for a manager couple of times and the conversation got heated, did she offer to remove this fee.
We had the same experience at Fog n Suds near the start of the games. I made some calls to other restaurants in the area just to inquire and Red Robins told me that they never charge an automatic gratuity, even with larger parties. That they leave it completely up to the guests. I thought that was pretty awesome. Earls, on the other hand, started the Olympics with the same ‘automatic tip’ policy, but apparently due to numerous customer complaints, they dropped the idea after two days. It is pretty sad to see how some businesses have been ‘milking’ the tourists in this way.
The experience in our Empire Landmark Hotel on Robson hasn’t been any different. VANOC booked the entire hotel years ago, and then gave the rooms out to the various broadcasters for a rate of $180/night, with only the room included. No breakfast, no parking, no internet. We looked after our own breakfast, but the parking was an extra $20 and internet was $10.
After some digging we found out that the value of these rooms during the Olympics were $450/night!!
Now the interesting part. I called the front desk and asked about their rates for next week, after the Olympics are over… the rate I was quoted was $85/night, INCLUDING breakfast. And parking is only $10!! That is way more then double the regular price!!
Yes, business is business, but in my opinion, some of the immense amount of extra revenue these huge companies made off these games, should be now used to pay of the bill that we are all going to get in a few weeks, once they add it all up.
Late morning we headed to the IBC and then off to the Athletes Village, to pick up Martina Sáblíková and her coach Petr Novák, so that we could drive them to Granville Island, to meet up with Jakub Bazant and Jiri Bakala, where they were going to film one of their short vignettes with her. We waited around for a bit and got a chance to see the area of Science World, which is where the Russian pavilion for the Sochi 2014 Winter games is. We asked some of the people near the front of the giant lineup and they said that they had been waiting for 3 hours! Wow!!!
Once Martina and her coach came, we took them to Granville Island for the filming.
The timing was impeccable, as my friends Romana (& Milan Vana) and their daughter Daniella just happened to walk by and see us, so they were able to meet her.
Jakub Bazant and Jiri Bakala spent about 35 minutes with her filming around the island.
We drove them back to the Athletes Village, then to IBC and then headed to the Czech House, where we watched the Slovakia vs. Finland hockey game. Along the way, I snapped a bunch of photos out of the car window.
One of the three cruise ships docked at Ballantyne Pier, where all the police officers are staying.
Then we headed back downtown and bumped into the guys from the office in front of the hotel. Tomas Jilek, Robert Zaruba, David Pospisil and Pavel Krizek in front of nice limo.
Then I drove over to visit my good friends and clients, Maxine and Dave Whitehead and Hollie and Paaren Mihtla. It was with these amazing folks that I spent a couple of weeks in Italy almost two summers ago, working on the Hermitguides travel films for Venice and Rome. We haven’t seen each other in a long time, so it was wonderful to catch up and visit.
Day 17 – A very early morning today. Met out front of the hotel at 6am and drove to Whistler. The weather was terrible. Pouring rain, low clouds… it was too bad that they couldn’t experience the beautiful mountain tops of Howe Sound and the surrounding valleys.
This was my first time driving the ‘new’ highway and boy, did they ever cut a big chunk of forest out of that new section above Horseshoe Bay. But overall the highway was really great and smooth. There was a check point just past Squamish, where they checked that we had the right passes on the car window to be able to drive up there.
We went to a gas station at Creekside, where the downhill races are held. We had a coffee and muffin and waited for our folks to arrive and meet us. Once they showed up, we followed them up the hill to their rented log house. This is where the cross country ski team is staying. The house was just amazing.
We set up our interview in the living room. We brought portable banners to satisfy all the sponsors. First we shot one with all four of the athletes, then just one with Lukas Bauer. They had won bronze in the relay race yesterday. It was amazing to be able to hold his medal. It sure was heavy. None of the metals are the same. Each has a unique design and collectively is part of a huge pictures. What a great idea.
We then headed straight back. It would have been nice to stay and see the village, but the weather was really bad and we needed to get back to deliver the disk to the IBC. On the way, I was excited to at least take the guys to Brandywine Falls, just outside Whistler. I’ve been there several times and it is just spectacular. It was a complete shock to pull up to the parking lot and see it surrounded by security fencing. The police officer came up to us right away and I asked her where we can park to go to the falls. She responded that unfortunately we can’t, that it is a secure Olympics site. What? A provincial park 15 minutes from Whistler, in the middle of no where? Why? She said that they are using the parking lot for deliveries and that it is a secured area and that thus the falls are too and are out of bounds. I wasn’t in my happy place at that moment… but we peacefully left… and carried on with our trip back home.
We at least stopped at Shannon Falls in Squamish and did the short hike up to the bottom of the fall. They guys loved it.
While driving the Sea to Sky Highway, it was interesting to see what they did at the narrow section between Porteau Cove and Furry Creek. They couldn’t widen the highway there due to the train track and the giant cliff. So what they did was paved over the train tracks and when there was no train running, used that as the south bound lane. The regular highway was used as two northbound lanes.
We then drove straight to the Czech House to pick up some last things and have a meeting. While pulling up, we saw this in the parking lot and they were just having a laugh at the size difference between these two vehicles. They don’t quite have trucks like this in Europe.
After we got to the IBC, we brought all the camera gear in as this was going to be our last shooting assignment. Was sad to see that awesome camera go! Jaromir getting randomly checked at security.
That evening we went to the Canada vs. Slovakia game. Jaromir was able to get us a couple of tickets, as this was a high demand game. We walked there from our hotel.
The game was fabulous and the energy in the room just unbelievable!!
Newscast crew from a French TV network. These guys had this amazing tiny remote controlled camera that kept sliding back and forth.
Most of the ice-level photographers had such black shields around their lenses, so they didn’t get glare and reflections while shooting through the glass.
After the game, I stuck around for a while and just had a seat in the empty arena. It was really mixed feelings of such joy, appreciation but now sadness, that this was going to be my last time in this Olympic venue. I sat and watched the live taping of the four CTV Hockey guru guys, talk about the game.
Czech crew doing a standup after the game. David and Robert with Pavel behind the camera.
Another standup in the arena.
Fixing the center ice remote camera.
Even these people all play an important role in the daily success of the games… at each venue. The cleanup crew comes out full force once the people are all gone. I wonder how many hours it takes them to clean the entire stadium.
I then left and walked to the Live City Yaletown site, where they’ve been having the nightly fireworks. I waited for nearly an hour until they began, but it was well worth it to be so close. Really really well done!
Then the trek back to the hotel through all the thousands of fans in the streets. The patriotism of all these people is just extraordinary. Canadian flags everywhere. Complete strangers high-fiving each other, hugging each other… really amazing!
CTV outdoor studio on Robson Street
And in the middle of all that chaos and thousands of people, on the sidewalk, was sitting this sweetheart… in his own world, carving his wooden totem poles.
