oh-so-creamy-beautiful

my husband was home to sign for the new lens and try out the canon 5D mark ii for the first time, and i was so excited to see that not only did he take the initiative to learn how to use the camera, but he found creative things to photograph that i would never have even considered within our property lines.

i went to an arts school on granville island as a kid, then as a teenager, for many years, and while i took classes in everything from print-making, to sculpting, to animation, to ballet, lyrical, jazz (and even interpretive dance, now that i think about it), photography was a course that i was excited to do over and over again. i spent a lot of time in the darkroom because i felt i'd run out of things to take pictures of in that little tourist locale. ten years later, though, i guess i've rediscovered what granville island has to offer, and i'm excited that my husband found new ways to capture everyday images in and around our home. i spent the money on the new 24mm lens (i had to cancel my lens order mid-shipment because i didn't realize i'd bought the old version), and we're both blown away with it so far, so the extra $700 was worth it. apparently it only has 8 diaphragm blades, compared to one of my nikkors that has 9, but it makes everything outside the depth of field look oh-so-creamy-beautiful, and i can't wait to make good use of it.

that's hakoinu, which is japanese for "cardboard dog". there's a fantastically whimsical little store in the gastown area of vancouver called occupied, from a rare breed of wonderful shops akin to places like schmancy in seattle. we first stumbled upon haikonu onscreen at occupied and were delighted to bring home not only the dvd, but the little box dog himself. he's featured in a sweet silent-type japanese film with relaxing music. a boy unable to have pets in the apartment building creates hakoinu. his parents take travel-gnome-like photos of him with hakoinu, which are kept in the top of the dog's head for safe-keeping where they become hakoinu's "memories." sadly, the boy and his family move away, leaving hakoinu behind, and the little box dog spends the movie trying to find the boy, visiting the places captured in all his memories. i wish there was just a snippet of the movie on youtube to feature, but there isn't.