If you’re unaware of the love of the game of ice hockey by pretty much every Canadian with a pulse, then you’ve had your head buried in the sand. You need only look at the reactions to both the women’s and the men’s ice hockey finals at this year’s 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics to understand the passion for the sport that is felt here. I guess you could liken it to the Brazilian’s and their soccer…

Anyway, the Hockey Hall of Fame which is located in the architecturally impressive Brookfield Place on Yonge Street in down town Toronto, is an impressive museum of the game described on the official website in the following way:

Home of the Stanley Cup and the best of hockey, you can DO IT ALL… AT THE HALL. Guests can take shots at real-time goalies; stop the shots of Gretzky and Messier; call the play-by-play of some of hockey’s greatest goals; view hockey flicks in one of our two theatres; get up close and personal with the Stanley Cup; explore the largest collection of hockey memorabilia in the world – all of this plus so much more!

The major draw card, of course, is the opportunity to have your photo taken with the holy grail of hockey – the Stanley Cup which is located in a stunning old bank vault along with all the other major trophies from the NHL, but we also had the opportunity to do and see some other cool stuff like:

• The full historical Winter Olympic Medals Collection
• The opportunity to touch Crosby’s 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics gold medal winning puck
• Chris did a stella job at calling some play-by-plays of some hockey’s greatest goals and…
• Chase Peyton round and round in circles!

Good fun all around and it was really cool to be able to check it all out with the lads.

Here’s the pics. Enjoy.

The basic idea behind Flickr user “Balakov’s” clever set of images is to take a selection of history’s most famous photos and recreate them using LEGO characters and other blocks in such a way that the original scene may be replicated and photographed using macro lenses.

Here’s just a quick selection of what’s on offer in the series:

To view the entire collection, visit Balakov’s “Classics in Lego” Flickr set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/balakov/sets/72157602602191858/

I spent about 20 minutes photographing a few small groups of goslings (of the Canada Geese variety), and gave the HD video function of the “7D” a bit of a workout taking a couple of minutes of video. Returning home I somehow managed (thanks @jordanbehan for the help) to fumble my way around iMovie ‘09 for the first time and came up with the edited video you can view below.

Basically, the Lens Blog is looking to recruit thousands of amateur and pro photographers from around the world and have them take and instantaneously submit online a single photo next Sunday at the given time which represents something important in their lives drawing from arts and entertainment, community, family, money and the economy, nature and the environment, play, religion, social issues or work. In doing so, the New York Times will thereby be capturing, “this singular instant in whatever way you think would add to a marvelous global mosaic; a Web-built image of one moment in time across the world.”

What does this mean for my photo-savvy readers out there who want to get involved? Well the time requirement across the globe is going to look a little something like this:

Sunday, May 2nd at 3pm UTC:

• Vancouver, Los Angeles, Seattle – Sunday 8am
• Toronto, New York, Boston – Sunday, 11am
• London, Dublin – Sunday, 4pm
• Cape Town – Sunday, 5pm
• Dubai (For you Karen) – Sunday, 7pm
• Perth – Sunday, 11pm
• Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne – Monday, 1am

A bit rough for those on back home on the east coast of Australia I have to admit. Click here for a list of other cities.

What to do once you have taken your shot?

Within minutes of taking your shot at the appropriate time around the globe on Sunday, May 2nd, you should submit your image to:

submit.nytimes.com/moment

(the link should be active at 15:00 U.T.C.)

You’ll be asked to categorise your image by location and subject, and provide a suitable caption. The images will then be indexed and published on the Lens Blog and on NYTimes.com, and you’ll be able to browse through them by country, subject etc. And then the really cool bit, some of the better efforts will be featured in a special gallery on The Lens blog. That would be a highlight for any level of photographer for sure.

So mark the time and date down in your calendars happy snappers! This is a really cool idea and one that I hope you’ll all get involved with.

It’s amazing to think that the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic organisers had difficulties with a lack of snow up at Cypress not 2 months ago, considering the awesome coverage they have up there right now. With that in mind, I somehow managed to squeeze out roughly 6 hours of boarding right across the resort’s 2 mountains and loved every minute of it.

Towards the end of the day I headed down into the “Bell Power Park” in the hope that some crazy talented skiers and boarders would slide through and launch themselves off the various jumps and table tops providing me with the opportunity to grab some shots. I can’t say that there were too many people coming through, but I did get the chance to talk to the resident park maintenance guys who were more than happy (HUGE THANKS GUYS!) to strap on their boards and throw down a few mad runs for me so that I could walk away with at least something.

How do I know? Well, talented Flickr photographer and obvious Star Wars fan boy “Stéfan” has spent the past year creating a photo journal (of sorts) recording the outrageous movements of a pair of Darth Vadar’s protectors as they went about their daily business in modern suburbia.

Stéfan’s project titled “Stormtrooper 365″ kicked off back on April 3rd, 2009 and concluded just last week on April 4th, 2010. I’ve been following him closely during that time as he has contorted and posed his little flexi Stormtrooper buddies and their friends in order to create a number of “little-people-in-a-big-world” creative and amusing shots.

The full 365-day gallery (see below) is fantastic and has kept me amused for many an hour over the past year. Below are a couple of my favourite shots, and the entire gallery which you can view full-screen is featured after that.

I guess the next logical step is for some creative little bugger to come along and provide witty speech bubbles for each of the shots. It’d be a big project, but a really good one! Any takers???

Developed by Laura Brunow Miner, an editor, blogger, designer, photography lover and, given the popularity and uniqueness of the Pictory site, a bit of a visionary.

In her own words, the Pictory website was born out of the desire to create a, “showcase for people around the world to document their lives and cultures.”

Anyone can submit one large, captioned image to each of Pictory’s editorial themes. I’m editor, designer, and founder Laura Brunow Miner, and I will select a few dozen of the best items from each theme to appear in each showcase.

Why just one photo? I want you to pick your best image — and, it’s really interesting to compare work from different contributors on the same topic. Other sites offer photo essays and bodies of work from one photographer, but I want to help a diverse group of people put together collaborative photo essays.

As well as featuring a number of completed ‘essays’ such as:

• San Francisco – 29 Portraits, 1 City
• Life Before Your Eyes
• Overseas and Overwhelmed – 25 Stories of Culture Shock

there are currently a number of showcases open for submissions including “The One Who Got Away”, “Local Delicacy” and the one that peaked my interest “Portrait of a Place: London”.

Diving into my own personal collection of images, I looked for one that I could throw a solid couple of sentences behind, and one where my words would really shine through in the photo itself. Rather than simply post the image I finally settled on, I thought I’d walk you through the process I took to submit my photo and story – my ‘Pictory’.

STEP ONE: Register

Registering was pretty simple. Select a username and password, and provide a few simple details.

STEP TWO: Submit your image and story

Sounds easy enough. And it is. Upload an image that’s 1,000 pixels wide and less than 10MB in size, give your image a title, and write 2 or more sentences about the topic that is supported by your submitted image. Add a few more details about yourself (that’s where you get to give your website etc a bit of a plug), and you’re all set to go.

STEP THREE: Preview your submission

Like all good submission engines of this nature, you get the opportunity to have a gander at the final product before you commit to hitting the “Submit” button. That way, you can go back and make changes if necessary.

STEP FOUR: Submit your submission

Once you’re happy with your image and story, there’s only one thing left to do. Hit the “Submit” button. In doing so, you’re presented with both a “successful submission” message and an email notifying you of the receipt of your material.

STEP FIVE: Cross your fingers and sit tight

The email you receive suggests that it may be a couple of weeks before you hear if your “Pictory” has been chosen to appear in the relevant showcase. My fingers are crossed in the hope that my submitted image gets a run in the upcoming “London” showcase. In the meantime, I’m going to soak in with interest, all that my fellow photographers have to offer on this great site that I’m really glad to have found!

Laura, who clearly has a real gift when it comes to clean, attractive online design and layout, has created a beautiful creative environment for any photographer out there looking for something different from the likes of Flickr and the hoards of online photographic communities available nowadays.

If you’re interested in getting involved on ‘Pictory’, here’s the list of upcoming submission deadlines:

• Local Delicacy (JAN. 27TH, 2010)
• The One Who Got Away (FEB. 10TH, 2010)
• Portrait of a Place: London (FEB. 24TH, 2010)
• Learning from Our Elders (MARCH 10TH, 2010)
• Spring Break Stories (MARCH 10TH, 2010)

To give you a decent example of what I’m talking about, check out the awesome ‘100 Days in Glacier National Park‘ website which documents 100 days of wildlife and nature photography in the beautiful Glacier National Park in Montana, USA.

Your photos could win you the photography holiday of a lifetime in Papua New Guinea and a Nikon 5000d digital camera and twin lens kit.

Just imagine the unique photo opportunities that await you in PNG, truly one of the most unspoilt and unexplored places on earth. Open your lens to the friendly culture, inspiring landscape or spectacular sea life, document and publish your journey to the world as part of this amazing prize!

It’s simple to enter and your photos can be taken anywhere, not just in Papua New Guinea.

I am reliably told that the voting process is such that it provides a more level “playing field” and gives everyone a far better chance of taking out the amazing main prize on the actual merit of their work – hence, “A Better Photography Competition“.

So what are you waiting for? Go to www.pngphotojourneys.com, sign up, submit your shots and see how you go. Sadly, as a non-resident of Australia I am unable to enter. But I encourage you all to give it a shot if you think you have what it takes!

While I concentrated on the wealth of red, orange and yellow foliage for the majority of the day, my journey also took me past a great new public art display called “A-Maze-Ing Laughter” on English Bay beach by Chinese artist, Yue Minjun.

Further, journeying into Stanley Park led me to a stunning tree lined avenue featuring a thick carpet of fallen leaves – the best traditional “Fall” scene I came across all day.

Finally, I spent around an hour snapping away on the sidelines of a rugby game at Brockton Oval. Just like last time I was out that way, the decent quality game ended up becoming a great opportunity for me to get in some sports photography practice. I’m not sure who won in the end, but the “Rowing Club” home team were a couple of tries up at half time.