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The bicycle goes to war

November 11, 2010

British Cycle Company, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England.       (click to enlarge) “There is plenty of stern work for cyclists battalions as soon as they are trained to do it–so the time to join is now.” ~Recruitment ad, 1915 Lest we forget, the bicycle played an important part in military operations from the earliest days of […]

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Shooting from the saddle: camera bags for bikes

November 8, 2010

Photo-shoot on the (old) Cambie Street Bridge, Vancouver, 1983 The continuing miniaturization of digital cameras and storage media has eased the burden of carrying photographic gear by bike. Small point-and-shoots are capable of recording quality images. Infuriating shutter-lag (the time between pressing the shutter and image capture) has been significantly reduced. Still, for the cycling […]

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The enduring photograph: past, present, future

November 4, 2010

Granddad, Susan, Nan, 1958 (click to enlarge) Post #2 in the “Pictures & Stories” series: At the World Naked Bike Ride, earlier this year, I noticed everyone seemed to have a camera at hand. Not just those—like myself—prepared to record the event (the nude, after all was one of the first artistic genres to draw […]

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A Hot Topic: Is there a downside to rising temperatures?

November 1, 2010

Preface I wrote this article for Nature Canada magazine (Winter 1999, pp. 26-31), more than 10 years after scientists began openly raising alarm about the threats of global warming. At the same time, an industry-funded public-relations campaign had sprung up to confuse the public and stall policy initiatives designed to address the crisis. Another decade […]

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High on Mount Baker’s Coleman Headwall

October 28, 2010

The weather in October, 1980 was much like we’ve experienced on the Northwest Coast this year, with stable high-pressure systems, blue skies and clear, cold nights. On a perfect day, thirty years ago, I topped off a busy year of climbing on the heights of Washington’s Mount Baker. In 1976, retired photographer and mountaineer Charles […]

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European cyclists take children, groceries

October 25, 2010

Fairfield Bicycle Shop co-owner Tim Unger cycles his recycling (click to enlarge) Letters griping about traffic congestion and demanding bigger and better roads turn up often in the newspaper. Yesterday, the Victoria Times Colonist printed my response to one of them. Victoria Times Colonist, October 24, 2009—Pg. D3 Re: “Congestion a result of bad decisions,” […]

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