So this may be a bit of a diversion from photography, but it’s such a great find i had to share.  I’ve been really impressed with some of the products Costco has been bringing into the Vancouver store recently.  I tell my friends “before you ask me where it’s from,  fill in ‘Costco’ and if it fits, that’s your answer”   If I could change my Facebook status to ‘in a relationship with Costco’, that would also work.

So on my last weekly visit i came across this gem,  100% recycled paper that IS NOT bleached.

It’s almost too good to be true, made with renewable energy,  no trees cut,  no Chlorine bleach (one of the most caustic cycles in recycled paper) and 100% recycled.

The one negative would be that the paper is not as pure a white as the traditional office papers which are bleached and do come from trees,  but in this ‘green’ age, beige could be the new white!

I ran a test on the inkjet between the two papers and you might think the ink would blend more on a ’softer’ recycled mix, but the printed text actually looked slightly sharper on this paper… Wow!

I don’t even begin to know which portfolio to post this shot… maybe it’s time to start a new category.  What was interesting about this particular image was that between the angle of her body and the fact that she was looking head on at the camera,  I was able to mirror the image exactly.

My father once told me that there was a series of images shot of Marilyn Monroe that were then mirrored using the left side and right side of her face.  Apparently one side mirrored appeared much more beautiful over the other… relating to right and left brain influence.  This may be one of my next concept series for fun.

Genetically speaking,  symmetry is the truest definition of beauty… something to think about.

Here is my latest water shoot.  I took about 65 shots in this series with two people throwing water from either side.  It takes some time to get the throws right and timed.   This is one of the images that immediately caught my eye and actually gave me a chill.

You can click on this image to see it bigger.  With the exception of some dodging/burning and   the ‘highlight /shadow’  filter,  this is a raw image with absolutely no digital manipulation.  I’m sure that you as everyone else sees the ominous skull forming in the middle of the image.  This was a random fluke of water hitting in the middle… wow!

It was not the work with The Bank of Montreal and Elvis Stoyko,  It wasn’t even the Dussault campaign with Gene Simmons. . . I think i can finally say that i’ve made it to the big time now that i have officially been targeted by an extremist muslim group!  If you happened to log in to my blog last week you may have seen the following page:

It’s great to get validation from the far dark corners of the world.  I just never thought I was big enough to be a threat to those poor sequestered souls so far away.    You can see the magnificent work of this group of and their dancing goats and wonderful music on youtube. . . say hi from me!

It’s going to be pretty funny when upon getting to heaven,  the 72 virgins these guys are expecting turn out to be male computer nerds. . . think about it!

It’s hard to set this stuff up even when you try!

I was digging through my archives from many years back and came across this image which was in my ‘life is funny’ pile.  I was shooting this model in a phone booth (notice there are no more phone booths round Vancouver) on the corner of 7th and main when this lady started observing from the sidelines.   Normally i like to juxtaposition a beautiful model in a grungy alley or create some form of contrast and compare in my images. . . I think this one does it.   Do you think she was posing for me? . . . maybe it was  product placement  by Coca Cola!

I’m pretty excited. . I managed to get about 10 000 minutes on my iphone!!!!   How you ask?

Well Start by going to the app store through itunes and load Skype.  If you are in Canada however it is a little more work as Skype is currently not offered. . . But heres a workaround.

If you are signed in to itunes, sign out.   You will need to create a new profile.  .  . first scroll to the bottom of the page and choose ‘United States’ under ‘my store’.

Now go find a free application to download ( how about skype!). . . with a free app,  you do not need your credit card to verify your address.   Set up an account with a ‘U.S.’ address.    Now simply update your phone and you have Skype running on it.

Set up Skype. . . I went with a package that is $3 a month for unlimited talk anywhere in North America ($12 for the world) .  This also includes setting up call display that will show my Cel number whenever i call. Now you can make unlimited calls anywhere you get a wifi signal on your phone. . that was pretty simple!

It gets better though. . .

Download Quickpwn. . at this time the current version is 2.2.5 Here (mac version). Run the program and attach your phone to the computer.  This is going to update your software and allow you to load programs that are not controlled exclusively by apple.  If you have a broken (unlocked) your phone,  this is going to update your baseband to 2.30.03 which has not yet been broken. . so keep that in mind.  It’s not really an issue if you are using a Rogers phone with Rogers,  Fido with Fido, etc.  I also just ordered a hardware solution to unlocking. . .  A small card that piggy backs your sim card.   Again, there is currently no SOFTWARE solution to breaking the new baseband… if you see it out there, its a scam!!!

The rest of the downloads can be done ON YOUR PHONE through the new App ‘Cyndia’ that was just loaded by ‘Quickpwn’

Download ‘Backgrounder’

It will now show up as an icon – Run the program. . . click  ‘Application specific’  then ‘Always Enabled’ and turn Skype on permanently. . .this allows you to accept incoming calls at all times.

Download Boss Prefs from Cydia

You now have control to turn off the edge, 3G or the wifi network among other things.  This is great to test your connections like turning off wifi and running skype and seeing how it works with the 3g network.  You can also do stuff like turning the battery into a % charge remaining.

Download ‘voipover3g_1.0.1.deb’

This is the best part. . . this program fools Skype into thinking it is on the wifi network when it is actually using your data plan – 3G network.  It runs invisibly . .so you wont see a button with this one.

It seems like alot, but all runs really seamlessly.   The benefit is that you can talk on Skype from the network when you are away from wifi.  On a 1 minute phone call i used about 450 kb of data.  With the 6gb data plan that Rogers is currently offering,  you get conservatively 10,000 minutes.   You can not currenlty get a CDN phone Number through Skype but a U.S. phone number is only a few $.  One advantage  is that if you get a California #,  someone in L.A. could call you free locally and it would ring wherever you are.   I have unlimited incoming minutes, so when i call from Skype (FREE!!!), my current cel number shows up and if they call me back, its Free!!!! (unlimited incoming).

One Additonal note:

Cyndi has a great app called ‘Cycorder’.  Its Free and a much better version of the mac recorder. – It turnes your iphone into a video camera!

Enjoy!

Ok, so this is the farthest thing from photography,  but it is just so unusual that i had to share.

“Okay, so a lemon and a tomato aren’t the most natural of pairs, but that didn’t stop Israeli researchers from bringing us the Lemato! Unlike other genetically altered fruits and veggies (which were created primarily for health reasons), it appears that the lemato was solely an experiment to determine if it was possible to make tomatos give off the scent of lemons. Mission accomplished!”

Have you ever gone looking for yourself on the internet and found that ‘you’ are not ‘you’?  Well being that my name is popular and there are other ‘Bryan’ and ‘Brian’s’ about,  I thought that i would distinguish myself with my middle initial ‘K’.   I was a little suprised to find another ‘Bryan K Ward’ out there who also happens to be in a very similar field . . . Advertising.   The universe never ceases to suprise me!  I decided to contact the other Bryan. . . something just compelled me.  Apparently he was once through Vancouver himself, has been aware of me for the last few years, and almost called me.    The other Bryan added me to his blog today . . .check it out:        http://giantideasblog.blogspot.com/