The Fringe Factor

Every summer for the past 31 years, a little spot in Old Stratchcona comes alive with music, performances, and food. The Edmonton International Fringe Festival is the 2nd largest festival of its kind (Edinburgh touts the top rank). I've always loved the Fringe, its energy is so contagious that you cannot help to walk away with a grin on your face. In addition to its large selection of live indoor stage performances, the outdoor buskers and carnival colours make this festival a great nirvana for photographers.

After having taking a few photography courses, I thought I'd do something different at this year's fringe and apply for the fringe photography volunteer team. Back in April, I submitted my application with a small hopeful portfolio. Months went by with no word and I'd forgotten about it until 4 weeks ago when I got an email welcoming me to the multimedia team. I was glowing! Really? Someone out there thought that my photography skills were worthy enough for a festival THIS BIG? Whoa - easy there ego.

Soon I was sitting in the volunteer orientation, meeting the team leaders, and eventually checking in for my first shift. Each volunteer was assigned to photograph specific subjects for each shift: general festival (buskers/patrons), kids, vendors, volunteers. Most of my shifts were general festival (I was a new recruit, so they started me easy) but I did manage in a few extra shifts of kids' fringe and late night cabaret (photographing people in their underwear was a definite first for me, at least in public... uh, I overshared didn't I?).

"Chris without the hat" at his juggling best

To say that I had a great time is an understatement. I was a kid on Christmas morning, 8 times in 11 days (it was more like Hanukkah!). Having an official status within the festival allowed me to get closer to the action. It meant a greater connection to the performers, organizers, and fellow volunteers. I was able to talk to artists about their trade and learn more of the work behind the curtains that make this festival such a success. To top it off, I learned more about photography from seasoned photographers. One lesson was trying to find THE shot. There's so much action going on during any performance (not only the show itself, but the crowd's reaction or interaction with the performer), it's hard to not have a trigger finger. I did find the 75 shots/shift very limiting, but as the festival wore on, I found that I was taking more quality shots over quantity.

Living statue Daniel Anderson gets Fringe muralized!

To challenge the photography team, there were competitions for the top 25, top 10, and top photo of the day picks. I did manage to make top 25 lists with each day I had a shift (I think everyone made this list). I managed one top 10 list. But the gravy was snatching/snapping two photo of the day. Sadly, I can't show these shots off as the price to pay with volunteering is that all your submitted photos are owned by the Fringe which may be utilized for marketing/promotion purposes. The photos shared here (and my flickr account) were taken on my off days  - yes, this meant I was at the festival almost every day. Go me.

Would I do this again? Absolutely. In fact, this experience has encouraged me seek out more photography volunteer jobs. This is only the beginning.

Winnipeg's Dan and Kimberly Craig from The Street Circus dazzle the night crowd

Sky of Blue, Sea of GREEN

Green is the colour
Football is the game
We're all together
And winning is the aim
So cheer us on through the sun & rain
Saskatchewan Roughriders... that's our name!

Above is a chant I learned along with "itsy bitsy spider" and the alphabet song.  Often the word "sun" would be appropriately replaced with "snow".

Whilst hockey is a dear sport of mine, I am a bigger fan of Canadian football. Specifically, a fan of my home province's team: the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Any Canadian would tell you that the biggest, most hardiest team fanbase of any Canadian sport (yes, shockingly this includes hockey teams) is Rider fans.

An example of the pockets of Roughrider green among
the hosting team crowd (Calgary).
Yes, this isn't a home game.

The evidence is in the stands. No matter where Saskatchewan plays their away games, almost half of the stands are the team colours: Green n' White. I thought this was untrue until I first moved to Vancouver. When the Roughriders were visiting the first time I was there, I hesitantly put on my Green n' White jersey and went to the stadium, thinking that I'd be outnumbered. To my surprise, I found myself sitting with a pocket of other Rider fans which riddled the entire stadium evenly between the Orange n' White (BC Lions colours).

I wondered and asked the people sitting around me, "Are you visiting from Saskatchewan?"

General answer: Oh no, we've lived here for the past 5 (10, 20, 30, etc...) years. Once a Rider fan, always a Rider fan.

The huge fan base is very ironic considering that Saskatchewan is a large (600K km²) small (population lingers around 1 million) province. However, due to the continuous emigration from the province (myself included), the RiderNation population is probably 5x that. We breed Rider fans. I don't know where my future husband's home roots are, but our children will bleed green (sorry, dear).

This past weekend, "my boys" (as I tend to call them) were in the Western Final. Another nail biter game, but we emerged victorious! Onto the Grey Cup final (for my American friends, that's the SuperBowl of Canadian football)! Where? Right here in Edmonton! Although I don't have tickets to the game (they go for $500/pop now, it's sold out, plus it's -35oC outside), I'll gather all my RiderNation fans around the TV to scream "GO GREEN".  Win or lose - I'm still proud of my team. It's Grey Cup week in the city. Awesome place to be!

I'm with the Jules

A few weeks back I was treated to a delightful night of modern and contemporary dance. I'm no an expert on dance styles and neither know the difference between a dosado and chassé. But I do enjoy watching dancers take the stage with imaginative choreography and unforgettable music. What made this performance extra special was that a friend in a former lab was one of the performers. There's a stereotype that scientists are married to their research. While that may be sadly true, we do have interests outside the lab (much to our supervisor's displeasure). Mine being obviously hockey. For Jules, she has recently rekindled her passion for dancing. Her enthusiasm and dedication to dancing is contagious. I often wish I had the grace in my muscles to move like she can. A Mad Beaker award to you Jules! She started a blog about her experiences if you'd like to follow along.

Back to the performance which was Orchesis Dance Motif 2010, I wasn't able to sneak a camera in and record some moves from the show. However I was able to make a soundtrack of the night with the selected music in which I'll post a few links in the coming weeks. Today's music is from an old group called Vitamin String Quartet. It's a group which could be classified part of the Baroque Rock genre. They take rock/pop songs from Coldplay, Evanescence, Linkin Park, even Eric Clapton and Enya and rearrange the music into a classical tribute. The result is you hear a great song remade into another great song. Radiohead's Reckoner remake is simply fabulous!

Oh Canada!

The party's over in Vancouver. I did catch Olympic fever throughout the entire 17 day competition. In the lab, people were constantly refreshing their web-browsers for up dates on the daily results. At the start of the competition, Canadians were moaning about the lack of performance from their athletes. Team Canada organizers made a very boastful prediction that Canada would take home the most medals. I love Canada (natch), but to put that expectation on our athletes is just unfair. Especially when you're competing against powerhouses like USA and Germany. The "Own the Podium" program is a good thing, as Olympic athletes are severely underpaid for what is expected of them (hmmmm, that sounds familiar). Well, everyone except NHL players. But let's not go there. When I was living in Vancouver, I befriended a lot of people from Team Canada Field Hockey. From them I admired the commitment to their sport. Especially when they were expected to train for 6-8 h/day and be paid only $50/day. How could anyone live on that? In Vancouver no less! I'm not sure what "Own the Podium" has now done for the athletes pay-wise, but at least it's bringing to light that if we Cdn taxpayers want the golden glory - we better be ready to dish out the funds to support those who compete.

Back to the Vancouver 2010 games. So then, Canada didn't win the most medals. But quality over quantity people. Canada did take home the most gold medals and broke records doing so (most gold medals in any Olympics and most gold medals by hosting country). If we complained about a gold drought on home soil, I think it's safe to say that we've got our fill now. And what a finish! Gold medal in both women's and men's hockey. I think that is probably the only thing that matters to Canada. We acknowledge that we're not perfect in many things (even trying to get the cauldron up), but when it comes to hockey - that's our game you're playing.



So congrats to the ALL the athletes. You did me proud along with the rest of Canada. Someone asked me whether there would be a holiday on the following Monday. I said "no, but whenever you see a Cdn, you'll note a small satisfied smile." People will carry that feeling around for a long time. Like the '72 summit. "With Glowing Hearts" indeed.