Sidney

When we first moved into Strathcona, we were very excited to find that we had a little neighbor the same age as our  Sofia . It took them two summers to truly hit it off as amazing friends. It is beautiful to watch as they mature from toddlers to beautiful little girls and now both big sisters. Even though they are alike in many ways, and love to do similar things, they are different in very complimentary ways. We are looking forward to watching them grow and learn through many more years of friendship.

Models Do Eat.

I witnessed something miraculous the other day. I saw a model eat a while back, right in front of my eyes, and she swallowed her food, multiple times! And I’m telling you it wasn’t a salad either. I’m talking real food, food I’d eat.

Meet my friend Jessemey, we met on both our first day in NY, shes a talented girl and a wicked smile to round up the whole package, did I mention she LOVES TO EAT, and shes a FULL-TIME MODEL for FORD?
Originally from New Zealand, she just stepped off the zillion hour plane ride (from Japan) looking like it was no big deal. (see below)

When shes not vogueing it, you can find her discovering, and sampling new inspirations for her blog appropriately titled “Models Do Eat.”

There you’ll find chronicles of her and her friends as they brave their stomaches through the torturous task of eating dish after dish of amazing food in all the cities they go.

Got to commend her on her efforts to break the cycle and show that there are successful girls who enjoy life and work hard to maintain a balance, all with sense of humor.

When it comes to food, I’m too distracted to even photograph my food because its gone before I remember too capture it. But there was one instance that I remembered mid-meal.

Perhaps I should start a blog called “Models do eat, Photographers eat like pigs?”

top 10 photos from NY

 

  hey pals, 
long time no blog. sorry, been jet setting (not really). Its so bizarre that I waited so long to visit New York, but let me just say it was well worth the wait, and it was everything everyone told me it would be, and then some.   

   

I had the painstaking task of narrowing down my images into a top 10 (with other posts to come with more NY adventures in detail).     

   

Some pictures are for obvious reasons in my top 10, for others, its more about remembering the little moments that happened if I stopped and looked around, where I eventually found myself beside myself with overwhelming joy. 

   

   

  How I got to the image (above): I was sneaking up to try to take a picture of her, and she turned around and shouted at me “HEY!…..NEXT TIME you’re going to take a picture of me…let me know, i’ll give you a smile”
ME – “How about one now?” 

    

  

 I wish that everyone’s experience visiting NY is as rich, illuminating and full of love as mine was.

 

 

A Kid in a Candy Store: A B&H Story

The one thing about NY, is that is has everything you need, food, fake handbags, beautiful people, and B&H.
If you are not familiar already, B&H is the MEGA Wonderland for all things, video, film and photography.

This place is 2 floors, practically the size a walmart and filled from floor to ceiling of amazing equipment and gear for any professional. My head wouldn’t stop twisting and turning there was so much stuff to look at, and buy! I saw things I never knew existed in the industry before.

But the best part about B&H is the staff!

These people are real. They will give you their personal opinion. They won’t try to up sell you. They don’t pressure you, and will call you out if you are walking up to a product they feel won’t be worth it.

They all are in uniform, with a beard and yarmulke , topped off with a friendly smile. But if you’re not quick to decide when you arrive at the counter, they’ll move on to the next client. These guys mean business. Did i mention there is a conveyor belt system? Where if you want something on the top floor, they’ll give put it on the conveyor belt and shimmy it down. 2010 has arrived. How personalized can your shopping get? And all I wanted was a card reader.

I want to go back, I need to go back. I guess this would be considered the male equivalent of buying shoes/handbags for women. I can’t get enough, it honestly took a lot of will power for me to control my urge to just rack up my credit card.

Also standing outside was an amazing gentleman. He wore a curved Fedora, red turtleneck and sharp blazer, I thought, who is this guy and how old is his camera and does everyone dress like this in NY?

His name is Louis Mendes, and it turns out he takes Polaroid photographs of individuals on the street and gives them a print when he’s done. In fact, he also gets his gear from B&H (2 meters away) since no one else seems to carry what he’s looking for. He offered to take a picture of me, right after my B&H shopping frenzy grinning ear to ear like a kid. When I finally sort through my suitcase, I’ll try to post it.

Can’t wait to come back and conquer B&H all over again.

HEROES

As we all know, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Paralympics has begun, and I know we were all still basking in the afterglow of Olympic pandemonium that seemed to have abruptly ended a few weeks ago, but now we have been granted a second chance to reignite the passionate spark that united this country once before and relive the joy and celebration surrounding the momentous achievements of our athletes.

In regards to the upcoming participating athletes, I am simply in awe of them, not only because they overcame tremendous feats of strength and dedication to qualify for such a competitive event, but I respect them even more because they had to overcome more than the average able bodied person in their personal lives, which is inspiring even in itself. Personally speaking, I believe ALL athletes are from a different breed of people; the grace, humility and perseverance they eject is an aura so rarely felt between our everyday interactions. It makes me wonder why isn’t everyone like this?  I believe that that we can not only learn, but grow by watching these athletes compete.

Appropriately, I will be cheering for our Canadian athletes, however in regards to the entire event, in my eyes they are already HEROES.

A bronze medalist in the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games, Garth Harris was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at 9 months of age. Garth received therapy services from the BC Centre for Ability until he was 14 years old. As apart of his therapy Garth was introduced to swimming where he discovered and enjoyed the stabilizing effect the water had on his muscles. Soon Garth aspired to become a competitive swimmer.

International Paralympic Committee president, Sir Phillip Craven,  is a five-time Paralympian. He is s one of the key influences in having the Opening ceremonies broadcasted live by CTV last night.  Tamara Tagart’s facebook profile last night was “Watching the Paralympic Opening Ceremony, bawling my eyes out as the torch comes into the building.” Cheers to Sir Phillip Craven, and let’s give a hand to BCTV for being the first to show Paralympic Opening Ceremonies on TV. I heard it was inspirational/magical/moving. I only got to see the beginning as my daughter and i had to meet up with family at Surrey Memorial Hospital to visit my 74 year old father, Deo Cruz[senior] as he is recovering from a broken right femur and right humerus. A few days ago at the mall he lost his balance while standing on crutches in an escalator. He chose to to fall backward to avoid landing on people in front of him. We’re waiting for one more surgery for his arm. He’s going to be fine. Dad is one of the toughest people i know. He is by far one of my biggest heroes. I’d love to watch last night’s ceromonies with him.

Lauren Barwick is a gifted rider who would have established a future in the sport at a very early age but with two siblings who have disabilities, horseback riding was not an affordable sport in her single-parent family. After many years out of the sport, Lauren eventually found her way back to her passion and obtained a job training horses for the local movie industry.  Lauren was invigorated by her new role but a fall off of a horse would change many things in her life.  The accident left her paralyzed from the hips down. Lauren was hospitalized and underwent therapy for nine months. As her condition stabilized she started to reclaim her life and found a job teaching horseback riding to children. Despite being close to horses on a daily basis, Lauren had almost given up on riding again. Through the encouragement of her coworkers, she gained the courage to get on a horse. This simple act of bravery changed Lauren’s life. She learned how to ride horses again and soon became a competitive rider. After winning many equestrian competitions, she represented Canada in Beijing to bring home a silver and gold medal.

And our Canadian hopeful for Canada’s Downhill Events in Whistler this month….Karolina Wisniewska! Here is her Schedule so I hope everyone has a chance to take some time to watch an amazing woman do what she does best!

2010 Paralympic Winter Games
March 13: Downhill
March 14: Super-G
March 16: Super Combined
March 18: Giant Slalom
March 20: Slalom

follow her story through Karolina’s official website here

Shani Davis, Gold Medalist Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games

American Shani Davis, Gold medalist in Men’s Speed Skating  here at Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games showed up
at Bob Rennie’s Art Gallery at the historic Wing Sang building in Chinatown.
This incredible venue is the location for the Olympians Reunion Centre throughout the winter games.

Shani Davis was born on Friday, August 13, 1982, in Chicago, Illinois. Raised by his mother on the city’s south side, he started roller-skating at local rinks at age two. By age three Shani was darting around the roller rink so fast that skate guards would chase him just to ask him to slow down. Seeming to become bored with roller-skating, at age six a coach suggested that Shani switch to ice skating. Shortly thereafter, his mother started working for an attorney, Fred Benjamin, whose son happened to be involved in speed skating at an elite level. It was at that time that Benjamin suggested that Shani give speed skating a try.

Shani joined the Evanston Speedskating Club at age six and within two months started competing locally. Though immediately taking to ice, at competitions Shani was generally more interested in running around with his competitors and playing video games than he was with competing. Nevertheless, by age 8 he was winning regional age-group competitions and began to hear about the Olympic ideal from his Northbrook competitors and friends. Shani’s mother encouraged him to participate and, in an effort to build his endurance, woke him most mornings to run a mile on a track close to their home. As there were — and still are — no speed skating clubs in inner city Chicago, at age 10 Shani and his mother moved to the far north side of the city to be closer to the Evanston rink.

“My mom never thought of herself first, and I credit most of my success to her. She continues to manage my career and is always there for me.”

Shani  with 5 time Olympian Charmaine Crooks

Shani’s press attaché Nathaniel Mills, has competed as a speed skater in three Olympic Games, serving as Team Captain of the 1998 Olympic Team in Nagano, Japan.
He served as a delegate to the International Olympic Academy in Greece and co-founded the Olympism Project to educate about the philosophy of Olympism. He commented on these photos saying,
” These are stunning photographs…possibly the best i’ve ever seen of Shani…”.

Congrats Shani!

Tony goes to Barcelona

 

A good friend of mine, Tony Millares III, owns an exceptional architectural woodworking firm called Urthwurks Furniture Inc.  Starting in Brooklyn, NY, he moved his shop to Vancouver in 2001 and has designed and built for Jasper Johns, Francesco Clemente, Bette Midler, ALIFE NYC and the list goes on and on.  Last year, he worked on the restoration of the Wing Sang building, which is now the home of the Rennie Collection . In the end of 2009, he was busy completing Canadian artist, Rodney Graham’s   new line of work called POSSIBLE ABSTRACTIONS, which is a series of sculptures in the shape of a painting made out of wood and corian.  Tony was hired as the artist’s technical advisor and built the entire collection which is now showing at the Museu Pablo Picasso in Barcelona.  He has written a few words on his blog about the process.

In mid-January, the pieces were shipped to Barcelona along with privately owned Rodney Graham pieces that were lent to the museum for Through the Forest, Rodney’s first solo exhibit. Unexpectedly, Tony was given a well deserved first class ticket to Barcelona to attend the opening and unveiling of POSSIBLE ABSTRACTIONS and as I write this article, he is on his way home.

Over the past year and a half, I have had the opportunity to shoot a lot of his work, and looking through te lens, I have learned that he is an extreme perfectionist when it comes to his own work.   I have never seen so much passion and love put into every detail.  With each job, he hones his skills as a designer and craftsman and he blows my mind every time I shoot his work.   The photos I took are only a fracture of what went on behind the scenes in the last few weeks before the opening in Barcelona.  

 

“Ok, what’s next?”

 Welcome home Tony, and congratulations to you and your team at Urthwurks! 

Team Kent Update – October 6

 

 

 

 

Team Kent Update – October 6, 2009

Greetings All, 
Me and mom crashed hard and slept a lot over the last few days, so that’s why we haven’t emailed sooner.  

At 6 AM on Saturday morning, Dr. Parney’s Resident entered Kent’s ICU room to find him reading his book.  Kent was immediately moved out of ICU, and he proceeded to spend the day phoning people “collect,” walking laps around his new ward on the 9^th floor, critiquing the hospital menu with the assistant nutritionist and trying to get Deb and Paula to sneak him out of the hospital for a steak dinner.  We left him around 6 PM and said we would be back around noon on Sunday with real coffee and a nice takeout breakfast.  His instructions were to get some rest. 

At 10:30 AM on Sunday morning, the phone rang in the hotel room and I answered it from a sound sleep.  Kent blurted out that there was no need to bring him breakfast because he was getting out of cellblock 9 at noon.  He then chirped that he didn’t need a coffee either because one of the nurses hooked him up when she did a coffee run that morning.  All hopes of sleeping in for the next few days immediately vanished – ha.  The energizer bunny was reborn. 

True to his word, Kent the Wonderboy was released from the hospital at noon on Sunday.  Dr. Parney said that Kent was having an amazing recovery and there was no need for him to stick around.  The doctor said that he would contact the neuro-oncologist, Dr. Uhm, so we could see him before we returned to Edmonton. 

When we showed up to see Dr. Uhm at 12:30 PM on Monday, Dr. Uhm looked Kent up and down and said, “You’re just not the average bear, are you?”  Kent just laughed.  Then Dr. Uhm said that he just wanted to see Kent in person, because he couldn’t believe that he would be released from the hospital so soon.  He then confessed that when he tried to contact Kent at the hospital that morning, and Kent was not registered as a patient, Dr. Uhm feared that Kent had died – because they never release a brain surgery patient less that 48 hours after surgery.  He told Kent that he was having a remarkable recovery, and that it was truly unbelievable.  Kent said, “I never had any doubt.”  Although we’re sure that all of your prayers must have played a role in this. 

Just to put things in perspective for you: 

1. They removed approximately 80 grams by volume, or two man handfuls, of tumour tissue from Kent’s coconut;

2. He has 24 large stitches in the shape of a “T” on his head (he has nicknamed himself the new Mary Shelley’s Fran-Kent-Stein);

3 He had a 25 % chance of having temporary neurological problems, an 8-10% chance of permanent neurological problems, and a 1-2% chance of coma or death.  No wonder the doctors were shaking their heads. 

Dr. Parney is referring Kent to a team of doctors at the Tom Baker Centre in Calgary for continued follow up and chemo treatments.  We plan to meet with the Calgary team within the next month, as Kent cannot start chemo treatments until his incisions heal, and that will take at least a month. We are then hoping that the chemo treatments will happen in Edmonton at the Cross Cancer Institute every three weeks until the rest of the tumour is gone. 

Interestingly, Dr. Parney and Dr. Uhm are very keen to work in concert with the doctors in Calgary, and continue to play a role in Kent’s treatment.  They seemed very impressed with his attitude, his ability to keep his body strong, and the fact that he is somewhat of an anomaly when it comes to patients with GBM tumours.  But we all knew that – ha 

We managed to get on a flight home to Edmonton this morning and arrived home late this afternoon.  We plan to spend the next few days catching up on sleep before heading to the farm for Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday.  We all have a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving, that’s for sure.  

Heads up on Kent’s new beauty scars.  The doctors cut into the same area where he had his previous two surgeries, and they reduced his much-loved divet.  However, the new scars are quite dramatic and one of them starts in the centre of his forehead.  A lady at the Chicago airport asked him if he was wearing a “downtown Chicago hair cut”.  She told us she thought the stitches were tattoos.  The good news is that Kent got a free facelift out of the deal.  Seriously, they removed all of his forehead wrinkles and he looks like he’s 20 years old. Lucky for me.  Now I’m really lookin’ like I robbed the cradle.  Me and mom, on the other hand, want to sign up for Botox treatments after this last week on the road.  But it’s nothing that a few good glasses of Malbec won’t fix.  And that’s another reason why we’re going to have the Splashdown Soiree on October 22nd.  We sure hope to see you all there to celebrate Kent’s amazing recovery from surgery. 

Party for Pankow in Vancouver a Huge Success!

Jonathan Cruz reports that the “Party for Pankow” on October 2nd was a huge success.  Tons of people came together to have fun, raise funds and send healing energy to Kent.  Jonathan and his son, Deo, shot some great photos of the event, and Deo recorded parts of the event.  Here are the links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M67SrtAi1tc

www.jonathancruz.com/partyin4pankow 

We would like to thank Jonathan, Richelle and Joanne, Annalissa, Katie, Gabriella, Deo and everyone else who was involved in planning this amazing event.  We would also like to thank the many sponsors, as well as the folks who donated time, funds and/or products in honour of Kent.  The kindness and generosity of this community of people is truly incredible – especially since we have never met most of them. 

Check out the cool pic above of Rex Weyler, a co-founder of Green Peace, at the Party for Pankow.  We sure wish we could have been there…

Splashdown Soiree – Edmonton Fundraiser October 22, 2009
Mark your calendars – the Splashdown Soiree fundraiser will be held in Edmonton on Thursday, October 22, 2009 from 8 – 11 pm at After Dark/Shark Club.  You might need to take Friday off…

Highlights Include:
8 pm to 9 pm – Complimentary Snacks
8 pm to 10 pm – Silent Auction
8:30 pm to 9:30 pm – Musical Stylings of Blackboard Jungle
9:30 pm to 10 pm – Open Mic for folks who want to roast Kent, tell stories, etc.
10 pm to 10:45 pm – Blackboard Jungle
10:45 pm to 11:00 pm – Closing Remarks

The event will be emceed by Miekio Ouchi and Elizabeth Marsh.  Elizabeth, a professionally trained auctioneer, will be auctioning off a few select items, at some point during the evening. 

Please see the Splashdown Soiree poster at the bottom of this email, for more details.

If anyone has a product or service to donate to the silent auction, please email Tracy at: reception@elizabethan.com 

Fundraising Update

For those people who are interested in making a donation to Kent’s medical fund, we would like to encourage you to use the Scotiabank system if you are in Canada, and PayPal if you are outside of Canada, since PayPal charges a fee to for their service. 

Scotiabank Account # 61903 1244183
Transit # 80689
Address: Terra Losa Centre, 9740 – 170 Sreet N.W., Edmonton, AB T5T 5L5
Phone: 780-448-7506 
Donations can be made at any chartered bank, but it is probably easier if it is through a Scotiabank.

Pay Pal Web Page
We The GoTeamKent webpage now has a Pay Pal button, for those of you who are Internet savvy.  Here’s the link: www.GoTeamKent.com 

Kudos
Thank you very much for the donations we have received to date.  We are in the process of sending out thank you cards to those people who we know have made contributions to Kent’s medical fund (via Mayo account, Scotiabank account and PayPal).

Party for Pankow on Friday, Oct. 02

—— 

 

 

  

 

 

Planning a Fundraiser for the evening of Friday,Oct. 02 here at the studio.  Please save the date. more details to follow…

 

 

Greetings to All who Know and Love Kent,

As you may know, Kent Pankow and Deb Hurford will be going to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota tomorrow morning for treatment of Kent’s brain tumours. Family and friends of Kent and Deb will also be raising funds to offset the costs of Kent’s treatments.

 

 

Kent, February, 2009

 

Kent’s Diagnosis

2000 – In January of 2000, Kent had a seizure and was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumour, the size of a golf ball, in the right frontal lobe of his brain.  Kent successfully underwent 2 skull surgeries, maximum radiation, and Temodal chemo treatment at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton.  The surgeries resulted in minor memory loss and Kent remained free of cancer for 7 years.  Given the aggressive nature of GBM tumours, Kent’s recovery was considered remarkable – but for anyone who knows him, he’s no quitter, so you know the rest…

 

2008 – During his annual MRI in the spring of 2008, two small tumours appeared in Kent’s right frontal lobe.  He was treated with a second chemo, called Temodal, from May 2008 to January 2009.  The chemo appeared to be working for the first nine months but, by January, the tumours had adapted to the drug and they were growing.

 

2009 – Since Temozolomide chemo was no longer working, Kent was treated with a second chemo, called CCNU, from February to August 2009.  In the beginning, CCNU appeared to be shrinking the tumours but, by August, the tumours had adapted to the drug and they began to increase in size and spread.

 

August, 2009 – Doctors at the Cross prescribed a third chemo, called Etoposide (VP-16), for Kent on a daily and indefinite basis.  The chemo and tumour activity were having an impact on Kent’s quality of life.  He was feeling nauseous, had low energy, was sleeping a lot and couldn’t remember phone numbers of friends and family members.  He also broke his collar bone on August 13, 2009 while doing stamina training at then gym. 

 

When the third chemo was prescribed, we decided to contact the Mayo Clinic for possible treatment.  The doctors at the Mayo examined Kent’s medical file and they feel he would benefit from treatment at their facility.  They had scheduled an appointment for him on September 23^rd, 2009.  This was very good news, as the Mayo rejects international patients if they do not believe the Clinic can offer a promising treatment strategy, given the expenses associated with travel to the Mayo.

 

Kent’s Current Condition

Kent was losing his balance this past week, and he was falling down a lot so his doctor ordered an urgent MRI on September 10, 2009.  The MRI revealed that there are currently 3 tumours in Kent’s right frontal lobe.  The largest was 3.5 cm three weeks ago, but it has increased substantially in the past three weeks.  There is now tumour activity in the centre of Kent’s brain, where surgery is not possible.  Additionally, Kent has three sizeable cysts that may need to be drained in the very near future, and there may be some bleeding near the cysts.  As a result, his doctor suggested we try to obtain an earlier appointment at the Mayo. 

 

We managed to get an appointment for Tuesday, September 15, and we are flying to Rochester tomorrow morning.  Kent has been assigned to Dr. Ian F. Parney at the Mayo.

 

Why the Mayo Clinic?

There is only one chemo left on the market in Canada available to Kent, and it would take 4 weeks to start working – and living every day with chemo doesn’t feel like a real solution.  The doctors at the Cross did not want to do surgery until Kent loses speech, motor coordination, etc., as they have a philosophy of “do no harm.”  Although we respect that philosophy, there is also no guarantee that Kent would regain those functions if surgery were to take place, after the fact.

 

The Mayo Clinic has access to drugs that are not yet approved in Canada, they have a state-of-the-art Gamma Knife surgery machine, and they attract the best doctors in the world.  “Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, is ranked No. 1 in Neurology & Neurosurgery in the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings.”

 

Why Fundraise?

According to the financial advisors at the Mayo Clinic, the costs for Kent’s treatment could be as high as $120,000 US.  The cost of skull or Gamma Knife surgery ranges from $76,000 to $84,000 US, for example.

 

Although we have some funds available, and our families are trying to help us out, the $120,000 US figure is a bit daunting.

 

 

 

Team Kent Fundraisers

We will be holding some fundraising events over the months to come to help offset the costs of Kent’s medical treatments at the Mayo Clinic.  The band “Blackboard Jungle” will be donating their groovy stylings for a celebration on a Saturday night in October or early November, and we will likely have a silent auction and accept donations, etc. 

 

We also need to investigate income tax laws on this front, so everyone involved benefits, rather than paying additional taxes or penalties.  We just haven’t had the time to deal with this yet. Please stay tuned for more details, after we return from the Mayo.

 

Be a Part of Team Kent

 

 

 

Email us at Team.Kent@hotmail.com to let us know if you would like to receive regular email updates from Kent and Deb.  We’ll be sending updates on our trip to the Mayo with Deb’s mom, Paula.

 

You can also email Kent to wish him healing vibes at the Mayo – and recommend your favourite comedy movie to him, as he has a lot of free time on his hands these days.

 

Feel free to drop by the house and visit Kent and Deb any time, upon our returmn. Our address is:  10945 – 81 Street, Edmonton, Alberta  T5H 1L6.

Phone: 780.642.1664

 

 

Kudos

A Big Thanks to everyone who has provided support to us.  Your friendship, love, humour and prayers mean a lot.    – Kent and Deb

 

Learn More about GBM Tumours, Gamma Knife Surgery and the Mayo Clinic

 

Dr. Ian F. PARNEY

http://www.mayoclinic.org/bio/15095771.html

 

GBM Brain Tumours

http://www.mayoclinic.org/glioma/glioblastoma.html

 

Gamma Knife Surgery

http://www.mayoclinic.org/stereotactic-radiosurgery/gamma-knife.html

 

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

http://www.mayoclinic.org/brain-tumors/?mc_id=comlinkpilot&placement=bottom

Roedde House 1910-2010 Vintage fashion Shoot by guest blogger, Beverley McEwan

   

  

Roedde House Museum

Roedde House Museum

Roedde House Museum

Roedde House Museum

Roedde House Museum

Roedde House Museum

Roedde House Museum

Roedde House Museum

Roedde House Museum

Roedde House Museum

Take a fabulous photographer, a wondrous collection of turn of the century fashions, a motivated “A” team and a grateful impresario; add one of Vancouver’s best-kept secrets and mix. The result is “Vancouver’s Roedde House 1910-2010”: a stunning series of photos of Edwardian gowns photographed by Jonathan Cruz, during an incredible day at in Barclay Square that resulted in even more incredible photos.

 The day was one I will never forget: magical, with everyone wanting to make the gowns, the house, the shoot, nothing but perfect.  It began with us on deck at Jonathan’s studio at 7:30 AM, where Myles was at work with Tia’s hair and wigs, David was setting up, Sofia was being enchanting while Maureen and Annalissa watched. Jonathan took pictures of Eric Hamber’s design students, everyone was smiling and the day continued from there, as we moved to Roedde House and enlivened it for hours as Jonathan took shot after shot of Tia. Beginning  in a spectacular collection wedding gown, complete with dozens of hand-sewn pearls  and ending  with at the piano in a  flapper era dress, while David Wilkes  and Myles Lepham, who had been working non-stop to make all of this possible, watched from the sidelines.

 “Magical” does not begin to describe the day for me.  I was-and continue to be-knocked out by the generous donation that Jonathan made by making the day possible, his invitation to Myles and David to join him in donating their day…and everyone’s willingness to do so.  Tia, who posed endlessly with grace and poise, also gave her time as a professional model and I couldn’t imagine anyone else in the collection’s dresses.

 Jonathan, whose energy equals his talent, turned my request for “ a few photos, please” into an event that saw a community of Vancouver’s talent, including Jonathan, model Tia Spowart, hair artist Myles Lepham and stylist David Wilkes combine to donate their time and professional skills to this shoot, done on site at the 1893-constructed home of Gustav and Mathilde Roedde.  Attributed to Francis Rattenbury (the architect of the BC Legislative Buildings, the Empress Hotel and Vancouver Art Gallery), Roedde House is a restored and furnished house museum, one of the finest of its kind anywhere in Canada.  My task was to write a handbook for area secondary school teachers that would somehow “lure “them into visiting the house and bringing their teenaged charges with them.  The” mission” evolved slowly until I visited Eric Hamber’s fashion design program, where the students design vintage dresses, and where student Daisy Leung was named to represent Canada at a world skills competition.  That visit, seeing Jonathan’s stunning photograph of Chloe at the CNIS gala and discovering the boxed vintage gowns tucked carefully away in Roedde House led to my request for a few photos.

 As the “impresario” writing Vancouver 1910-2010: A Roedde House Handbook, I am totally knocked out by what a community coming together can do.
Thank you , Jonathan and “A Team” for a unforgettable day. (Thanks also to Gabriela and Dan Ax , Avocado Films).

  The pictures speak for themselves. 

             Bev 

Beverley McEwan
Presentations Canada
Consultant