hexstatik

i woke up yesterday morning to find a note from crystal saying that she was gone to starbucks to do some reading. i quickly had a shower and got dressed, but just as i was about to leave to make my way over, crystal walked in and proclaimed “i know what i’m doing today! i am going to take a time lapse video on the skytrain, are you in?”.

“sure!”, i said.

she had after all decided to take my idea of taking a time lapse of the sky train, so there was no way i was going let her go without me. we made a quick trip to london drugs to pick up a USB cable, had a bite to eat, installed the required software, and charged our batteries before finally making our way to waterfront station.

once we arrived, we spent a few minutes on the platform to do some prep work to get ready and organized. i headed to the back of the train, while crystal stayed up at the front. she nodded and we both boarded. since we were at a terminus station, we were able to get on before the train switched tracks to head in the opposite direction. this gave us a few extra seconds to set up the tripod, connect the cable to the laptop, start the software and make some final adjustments.

at my end of train, everything was working perfectly and i was snapping photos in no time. suddently, my phone rang - it was crystal. she hadn’t set up her software, so we needed to get off the next station and restart. this time, we both got everything up and running on time.

immediately, other people on the train wanted to know what we were doing. at the front, i was approached by 3 different people. the first told me he had always wanted to do the same thing. the other was a film student who wanted to know if i had gone to school for film too and wished me luck, and finally an older man returning home from the auto show with his son who told me that i should “put some ghosts and throw some ads” into my movie to make a bunch of money.

after about an hour, our trip around the millenium line was just over. after a brief encounter with a skytrain attendant, we headed home to create the following movie with the resulting 729 images.

first and foremost, let me start off by saying that i did in fact pay for today’s trip on the sky train. thank very much.

there i was at the front of the train, on the phone with crystal, who was at the back. we were both taking a series of photos for a time lapse video project we were working on. having almost reached the end of the line, we were trying to coordinate out next move - get off now and go home, or go around again and do it reverse.

suddenly, i saw a blue jacket walking on the platform looking into the train. he spotted me and stepped onto the train while talking on his radio “hold the westbound at commercial”.

“what are you doing?”, he asked.

“just taking some photos”, i replied.

“do you have a permit for that?”, he asked

“why do i need a permit?” i hung up the phone on crystal. (read here for crystal’s story from the front of the train.)

he informed me, “you need to have a permit. you’re going to have to leave.”

“sure, ok. just let me get my stuff.” just then the doors closed on the attendant and the train started to move, so i let my camera finish the series of shots between commercial station and the last stop on the line, VCC-Clark.

during the short trip to VCC-Clark, the gentleman was getting more and more flustered with me, as was i with him. i asked him what rule i had broken, and to produce proof that i was in fact doing something against the “rules”. he then replied it was posted on the “translink website”.

“really? so you just post all of your ‘rules’ on the website where people can see them?”

“do you want to speak to the police, sir?”

by now, i had started to get my bag ready while the attendant began to speak into his radio and turned to the front of the train where he suddenly spotted crystal and her set up. he immediately turned to me and asked ,

“you have another one set up there?”

“no, that’s my partner.”

“do you have any ID on you?”

“for what? no!”

it was definitely time to go.

i tried to call crystal, but my phone was taking too long. i shoved the phone in my pocket, unplugged my gear, packed my laptop and grabbed my camera on it’s tripod and headed to the back of the train to get crystal. luckily, during my initial phone call, crystal heard the attendant ask “… you have a permit?” and was on high alert. as i was approaching the rear, i called out for her to “grab your stuff. we have to leave.” she was off the train before i arrived.

as she tried to leave the station, the attendant told her;

“you’re going to have to wait here.”

“don’t stop, keep going” i yelled out.

as we were briskly descending the stairs, i glanced back to see if he was following us. he was standing at the top of the stairs ,still talking into his radio. the look of disbelief on his face was priceless.

so, tonight was my hockey team’s final game of the regular season. unfortunately, we were playing our division’s first place team, the rhinos. the rhinos are a bit frustrating. they were in the division above us, lost something like 11 games in a row, and were demoted to our division. once in our division, they proceeded to win every single remaining game of the season.

our last game was also against the rhinos and we played very well, coming just short of the win in a very close 3-2 game. tonight was a different story. they out skated, out played and out shot us, leading to a 3-1 loss for us.

well, it’s off to the playoffs now. hopefully we get our game together and meet the rhinos in the final, where we can hand them their first loss! :)

photo by freedryk

today, i executed a great escape in a tunnel below the streets of vancouver. on my way home tonight, as i walked toward my skytrain platform, i spotted two skycops. luckily for me, they were busy with a street person, so they didn’t see me head for the stairs down to other platform in an (obvious) attempt to avoid them.

i went downstairs to nervously wait on the platform for the train while keeping an eye open for the skycops and being watched on the security cameras. i was going to get onto the train and head in the wrong direction to get out of dodge, but i was already nervous enough and didn’t want to spend one more moment in the fare paid zone than was necessary.

i decided instead to try to blend in with the riders coming off the train and head for the exit. this way, i could head up the stairs to see what the situation was and simply make a clean exit if necessary, or, if the coast was clear, i could wait for the next train heading my way. when i arrived to the upper platform level, there wasn’t a skycop in sight. sweet! i had just totally avoided getting a $173 fine and headed for the platform to wait for my train.

a few short moments later, the train arrived and i boarded. the train was the new type, where the cars are connected in groups of two and you can walk from one car to another, with a total of 6 doors. i decided to head to the rear of the last of the two cars, just as the two sky cops hopped on from out of nowhere.

fr@ck!

i was just about to get busted. luckily, as i was walking to the rear and approaching another door, i heard the chime on the overhead speakers indicating that the doors were about to close. at the very last second, i darted through closing doors and onto the platform. as i looked back to see if the doors would jam because of a hand or foot, i saw the sky cop on the train, pointing at me with a smile on his face. i returned his smile with one of my own, turned my back and headed out of the station.

as i’m sure you’ve noticed, i changed the look of the site around. the change was entirely motivated by scott’s new blog and the look of his site. i’d started working on it live in the evenings, and then changing it back to the old one before i went to bed. scott must have hit my site during the short time period i was doing my live edits, and decided to post about my new look on his site before i was done. it was just the motivation i needed to get it finished!