Day 23 - Did’s Pizza
February 27, 2024
Today’s photowalk made my fiancee upset. I don’t blame her. If she told me she had just met a stranger and followed them into the back of a random pizza shop in downtown Vancouver to meet another stranger, I’d be a little concerned too.
Apparently “What camera is that? Can you help me choose a camera?” is my grown-up equivalent of “Hey you want some candy little kid?”
But that was at the end of the day so let’s rewind to the beginning.
Started the day off shooting some photos on the way to meet my friend. I noticed this beautiful ceiling for the first time, snapped a few photos, and then slowly made my way towards the library.
I got there a bit early so began to roam a bit more.
Friend and I met up—her name’s Shina and we set off shooting. She shared that it has been a while since she brought her camera out, which is something I’ve been hearing a lot of from other people as well. I must admit it feels nice to hear that people have been picking up their camera in response to this project.
I’m getting more used to these one-on-one photowalks. At first it felt awkward to constantly transition back and forth between taking a photo and conversation. When I shoot alone, I find that I tend to zone out and find flow; I was not sure how to approach these walks.
It feels more natural now, however, to simply step aside and take the photo I see, and to allow the other individual to also step aside and take their photo. It is also interesting to observe how another person actively takes a photograph.
We ended our photo walk with a quick and delicious bite from a food truck on Granville. I think it was called Mr. Shawarma?
On my way home I think I took two photos that stand out to me. First was this gentleman shooting into an empty retail display. I was very curious what he was seeing since it wasn’t obvious what he would be shooting there, but I wanted to get home quickly so I just snapped this photo and walked by. The second photo is this reflection shot. I just find it incredibly satisfying that this moment just fell into frame, as the makeup ad was one image out of many in a rotation.
Okay so now I was really on my way home; I even stopped recording. But then this person asked me what camera I was using and proceeded to ask me about what camera I think she should buy. Obviously that’s not a simple question for camera nerds so I got into the weeds. While we were talking, she mentioned she was on her way to her friend’s pizza shop, which happened to be in the same direction I was headed. We started walking.
One minute later, we enter said pizza shop and she calls out the owner’s name. No response. One more time. Nothing apart from the hums and whines of the machinery. A third time and the owner finally comes out, a perplexingly jovial yet surly individual who greets me in Korean. He invites us to the back of the shop—for what, I cannot recall, but it seemed interesting so I just followed my new friend’s lead to the back of this pizza shop.
The owner’s name is Did and I must say, he is incredibly fascinating. The details escape me unfortunately—this was near the beginning of the month and my memory is not the best—but the man seems to possess a wealth of experiences and stories. Something about a Leica magazine chapter in Vancouver. Something about 10+ languages. Something about country after country in Europe. And now Did’s Pizza in Vancouver. I can’t wait to go back to try the pizza.
Final shutter count: 8,294
Thank you for reading—I am grateful for the support thus far.
-J