Well, after manymanyattemptsandmoreattempts, I’ve finally had success in Vancouver! A camera was picked up, pictures taken, and it was returned. As I’ve mentioned before, it seems like Vancouver isn’t a random photo project kinda place – I’ve placed 8 cameras here throughout the years, and I’ve only received Camera #113 back.
Looks these guys had one helluva a day though. Okay, I might be making some big assumptions, but the guy above is wearing his red Andre the Giant shirt from breakfast at the beginning, all the way to the end.
This being the first camera received back from a place I know well, I went on a mission. A friend and I sifted through the pictures and came to the following conclusions:
They started with breakfast at Caffe Barney on Main Street
They then drove downtown, via Main + 2nd Avenue
They then cut up a bunch of meat somewhere. Okay, this one isn’t much of a stretch since it’s right there in the pictures, but we think it happened at their next stop:
Boneta in Gastown – one of the pics seems to have a bowl of meat on the counter…
All this was possible through the clues in the pics – signs seen on the street, telltale countertops and curtains, and menu boards – and following up with Google Maps, Flickr, and the websites of the restaurants.
It’s amazing what can be figured out just from the pictures.
If anyone else out there has unreturned cameras from Vancouver, return them so I can do some more detecting!
It’s been a busy weekend for the project. Four cameras were released out into the wild! I released two here in Vancouver, and The Girl placed two others in Illinois. And, we must have been on the same wavelength, ’cause every camera has something to do with Riding and/or Racing.
On Friday, I went on my first Critical Mass, and it was a big one, seeing as it was the one at the end of Bike Month. There was a gazillion bikes, so, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to leave a camera. Unfortunately, I was near the end of the crowd, and it was so packed that I couldn’t pass people easily, and whenever I took a detour to try to catch up, I always ended up near the end – behind the guy in the bear suit and the guy with the balloon machine. I eventually placed Camera #101 on the sidewalk. Hopefully one of the riders picked it up!
And, yesterday, on Canada Day, I went with some friends to the Hastings Park Racecourse to watch the ponies. Money-making wise, the day started poorly, but after a couple of good bets near the end, I ended up breaking even. We watched the races from the bleaches so that we could get a good view of our horses all the way around the track. During one of the races, I went down to the benches by the finish line and left Camera #113. Actually, due to my carelessness, I labeled it #110, but that camera had already been placed in Sydney, Australia on New Year’s Eve…. Whoops!
The Girl sent me an email letting me know that she also placed a couple of cameras over the weekend – one at a motor speedway, and the other at a horse racetrack. Two horse racetracks in just a few days!
The first one was Camera #150 on Saturday. She left it on a car in the parking lot at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois. That will definitely ensure that someone will take a good look at the camera. Lets hope it will work!
And, the second, was Camera #151 on the lunch counter at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois on Sunday.
Here’s to hoping that some of these make their way back!
On Sunday, I went with some friends to go to the annual Car Free Festival on Commercial Drive, in Vancouver. Knowing that there would likely be a good opportunity to place a camera somewhere, I brought a camera along for the ride – by bike of course… it is Car Free Days.
It was a beautiful day, and the Drive was packed with people – although, really, the only thing car-free about it was that there weren’t any cars on the road. There weren’t very many booths or events that were about car-free-ness. It was pretty much just an opportunity to buy clothes and food.
But, there were tons of people! So many people that it was difficult to find a place to put the camera without everyone seeing. On the way out, after having a couple of drinks, the festival was still going on. We had parked our bikes in a nearby park – Victoria Park – which was close enough to be busy, but far enough that it wasn’t completely packed. I took the opportunity to place Camera #45, and rode off.
Lame. I thought this was supposed to be anonymous. I had so many great ideas too… oh well, I’ll send it back blank and hopefully the next person won’t come here to read that they are being watched.
As it happened, I was bowling in the Lanes, and happened to see the person who found it. I wasn’t spying or anything – it’s just one of those things that happens when you’re in the same room.
Then, the person who found the camera came to the website and read on the above blog post, “A few minutes later, I saw an excited bowler showing the package to his friends,” was offended by this, and decided to make a statement by sending the camera back unused.
It’s interesting the reactions that people have to the project, and what can make them decide to not participate. It’s too bad that this one felt so strongly about it that he no longer wanted to partake.
On Wednesday, I went to Granville Island to film an interview on the project for BCIT Magazine. My first press!
We were down there for a few hours doing multiple takes and getting the right shots. Part of the story involved me placing a camera. Not only was this camera filmed while being placed, it was also the hundredth camera of the project – both in position, and ID number. Happy Hundredth Camera!
The crew wanted to film the camera from a distance to capture someone finding it and taking it away. We hid in a dark corner, hoping that no one would see the group of people around the TV camera on the big tripod.
I’ve never actually stuck around and watched what happens after I place a camera – although, when I placed Camera #71, I was still packing groceries into the rental when a couple of guys found it and exclaimed. I had to pretend as hard as I could that it wasn’t me!
It was definitely an interesting opportunity to watch and see what unfolds around a placed camera. It helped me to understand what happens to the cameras that never come back – no one notices them! We were in the corner for about 15-20 minutes, and then we moved to another area for another half hour to finish getting some other shots, and, for the most part, no one even saw it. Everyone walked by in oblivion. A few people saw it and glanced at it before carrying on, and fewer still picked it up to look at it before putting it back where they found it.
Then, finally, salvation… A group of about 50 school children on a field trip walked by. They chose to swarm the area where the camera was to sit and eat their sandwiches. Certainly, someone would pick it up, right? Wrong. Barely anyone even noticed it! One of the accompanying parents sat down beside it, finally noticed it, picked it up, examined it closely, then set it back down.
Around this time, we finished filming, and parted ways. I went back home, and, as far as I know, the camera is still there, being pelted with rain…
The BCIT magazine story has been posted on YouTube for everyone to check out. You can watch it below, or on YouTube.
I’m in a bowling league, and I’ve been thinking for a while that it would be a good place to put a camera – I just never had the right opportunity. Until now. On Monday, we stayed for to roll some extra balls after the league bowling finished at the Grandview Lanes. Shortly thereafter, the place was packed with hipsters, rolling their way to strikes. I thought that it would be now or never. It seemed like there would be a good chance that whoever found it would partake – hipsters are always into taking part in freaky-deaky projects.
I just needed a spot that would allow me to place a camera without anyone seeing it, plus be somewhere that people would go, and it would be obvious. The bathroom! I went and put Camera #94 near the urinal in the men’s room – dudes severely outnumbered the ladies, and many of the ladies that were there were just getting ready to leave.
A few minutes later, I saw an excited bowler showing the package to his friends. Mission Accomplished.
I went out for lunch today to The Foundation, and I thought to myself that the young hipsters who are into vegan/vegetarianism would probably also be into taking part in the project – it worked in Bellingham. So, I left Camera #93 under the table before leaving.
One day last summer, I went to the ol’ mailbox to see if there were any new cameras. Instead of a bulky envelope full of visual surprises, I found the above envelope from The City of New York Police Department.
My heart jumped – this was the moment in a post-9/11 world that I knew would come, especially in a post-9/11 New York. Boston didn’t take too kindly to ads placed near roadways, why would New York react any differently to anonymously placed packages left all over the city?
And, of course, since there is nothing of an identifying nature on the package, the only thing they could do was send their Cease and Desist letter – with the appropriate “We will follow up on this terror threat until you are tracked down. We hope you enjoy Guantanamo Bay” note included – to the address included in each package. There’d be no other course of action – such as looking at the Whois information for the domain name, or contacting Canada Post for ownership information.
So, I took a deep breath, and opened the envelope. All of my fears were laid to rest when I discovered it was a letter from the “Manhattan Property Clerk” letting me know that my property had been found, and I had 3 possible methods of getting it back.
After I was put at ease, I became amazed at the diligence of the Manhattan Property Clerk. I’m quite certain that if something was lost here in Vancouver and was turned into the city, it would just be tossed into the lost and found box and forgotten.
The sad thing is, this camera will definitely never come back. It has now been “disposed of Pursuant to law.” The question is, which camera is it? I think it’s Camera #68. After it was placed, I got the following note:
After I left #68 and walked a couple hundred feet to the gate, a security officer entered the park! I kept walking and turned around further in the distance to see him do a double take on the package! You should have seem him scour the park for a suspect! Not a mom with 2 kids and a stroller far off in the distance outside the park! Unfortunately he did pick up the package and at that point I descended back into the subway. Sorry about this one. I’m hoping that maybe someone along the security line might be tempted to do something with it!
The best we can hope for now is that someone finds it in a dump before it gets burned and sends it in. I have a feeling that’s not happening.
I have some sort of mind block when it comes to placing cameras on a regular basis. I seem to only place them when I am on some sort of trip/excursion. Unfortunately, this means that, even though I spend the majority of my time in Vancouver, it is severely under-represented.
For example, near the beginning of the project, I was in San Francisco for 2 days and left 4 cameras. The project has been going on for almost a year and a half, and, as of last week, only 3 cameras had been placed in Metro Vancouver. It’s not that there’s no where to place cameras in Vancouver – I just never think of it.
As an aside, none of the cameras left in San Francisco, or Metro Vancouver have made it back.
What this all results in, is that my participation in the project only grows when I go away. So, I’ve recently made a pact to place at least one camera a month, whether I am in Vancouver or not. To help this, I have decided to carry around one or more cameras in my pannier at all times. Since I cycle somewhat regularly, I should have a camera with me most of the time.
This came in handy last week when I was at The Persian Tea House with some friends. It dawned on me that I had a camera with me, so I placed Camera #95 at the table, hopefully in a spot where the next people to visit would see it.
