Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place & home

Posts tagged ‘PNW’

Maplewood Flats, Burrard Inlet, Burnaby Mountain, North Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Coast Salish place names, five

Civilization, before colonization

In the District of North Vancouver, Maplewood Flats is a wildlife conservation area including lush green space and a set of mudflats (off-limits to humans). In this image facing east are the following place names, courtesy of the SFU Bill Reid Centre:

•   Stitsma – fishing spot for the Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish) people, an area once abundant in salmon, trout, and crab.

•   Lhuḵw’lhuḵw’áyten – Squamish for “arbutus from which bark is removed in spring”; Barnet Marine Park, formerly Barnet Mill. Now includes all of Burnaby Mountain and Simon Fraser University (SFU).

•   səl̓ilw̓ət – hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ word meaning “waters of Burrard Inlet and Indian Arm”; root word for səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ – “Tsleil-Waututh” place/residence/village in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language, meaning “People of the Inlet.” Land remnant today is Burrard Inlet Reserve No. 3.

I’m grateful to the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples on whose lands I was born as guest. I made the photo above on 16 Jun 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime with the following settings: 1/1000-sec, f/11, ISO1000, and 18.5mm (28mm) focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-lfy.

Port of Vancouver, CenTerm, former Hastings Mill, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Coast Salish place names, four

Civilization, before colonization

•   q̓əmq̓ə́mələɬp in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language of the Musqueam people.
•   Ḵ’emḵ’emel̓áy̓ in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh language of the Squamish people.

The meaning of the words is roughly “leafy maple trees”.

The headquarters for the Canadian Fishing Company (Canfisco) and the massive cranes of the Port of Vancouver’s CenTerm shipping facility provide this present-day picture at the foot of Gore and Dunlevy Streets. Recent history has this location as the home of Stamps Mill (1865, later Hastings Mill). Lining the image at right are the tracks of the Canadian Pacific Railway, connecting the Colony of British Columbia with national confederation and accelerating settler expansion from east to west.

The Sea-to-Sky highway between Vancouver and Pemberton has highway signs with locations printed in English and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh. Vancouver is listed as “Ḵ’emḵ’emel̓áy̓” on signs along route BC-99, even though the physical area defined by the modern city once had multiple indigenous names for settlements and landmarks before colonization.

I’m grateful to the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples on whose lands I was born as guest. I made the photo above on 2 Jul 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime with the following settings: 1/1000-sec, f/10, ISO1000, and 18.5mm (28mm) focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-lfs.

Coast Salish place names, Coast Salish, Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Coast Salish place names, three

Civilization, before colonization

On 18 June 2018, the City of Vancouver changed the name of the north plaza at the Vancouver Art Gallery:

•   šxʷƛ̓ənəq in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language of the Musqueam people.
•   Xwtl’e7énḵ in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh language of the Squamish people.

Both words mean “a place for (cultural) gathering or ceremony.”

The correct pronunciation for these names can be found on YouTube.

I’m grateful to the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples on whose lands I was born as guest. I made the photo above on 29 May 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime with the following settings: 1/500-sec, f/13, ISO800, and 18.5mm (28mm) focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-lf4.

Coast Salish place names, Coast Salish, Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Coast Salish place names, two

Civilization, before colonization

On 18 June 2018, the City of Vancouver changed the name of the front or north plaza at Queen Elizabeth Theatre:

•   šxʷƛ̓exən in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language of the Musqueam people, meaning “place where people are invited”.
•   Xwtl’a7shn in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh language of the Squamish people, meaning “place where people are invited to celebrate”.

The correct pronunciation for these names can be found on YouTube.

I’m grateful to the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples on whose lands I was born as guest. I made the photo above on 8 Jun 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime with the following settings: 1/1000-sec, f/14, ISO1250, and 18.5mm, 18.5mm (28mm) focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-lf0.

Coast Salish place names, Coast Salish, Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Stanley Park, Burrard Inlet, Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Coast Salish place names, one

Civilization, before colonization

Over what is presently called First Narrows is this view southeast towards the green peninsula called Stanley Park, adjacent to Vancouver’s West End and the city centre. On display are various locations in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh languages for the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. The waters of Burrard Inlet are known as səl̓ilw̓ət (“inlet”), from which Tsleil-Waututh is derived and whose name means “People of the inlet.”

I assembled place-names from Musqueam Place Names Map and Squamish Atlas; and from printed sources by Carson et al., Macdonald, Matthews, Suttles, and Waite.

I’m grateful to the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples on whose lands I was born as guest. I made the photo above on 10 July 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime with the following settings: 1/500-sec, f/10, ISO1000, 14mm (21mm) focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-leR.

Spring light over Seattle and the Salish Sea

Above/featured: “Aurora and Mercer” – 4 Mar 2020 (X70).

A favourite place is Seattle, an American city in Washington state, only 2 to 3 hours by car from Vancouver, Canada. For two metropolitan regions close by proximity, their respective evolutions have created very different cities over time. I present below 12 places around Seattle in spring. In this part of the world, there’s every chance for overcast skies and showers, but I assure you of one thing: the light is very good when the sun is out. And when there’s abundant light, I’m all about the superposition of light, shadow, construction, and person.

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My Seattle: NOAA Sculpture Walk

Above/featured: On the Art Walk trail.

In northeast Seattle, the NOAA Art Walk is contained fully within the campus of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Western Regional Center (NOAA WRC), located at Sand Point next to Magnuson Park. Initially, I’d intended only to visit one sculpture from which a “fairly successful” local band got its name. I explored the entirety of the Art Walk on a breezy sunny early-spring morning for an easy peaceful walk on a trail hugging Lake Washington’s shoreline. Over a two- to three-hour period, I encountered only a handful of other visitors, some of whom may have been NOAA staff.

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My Seattle: 10 S-spots, free of charge

In thinking about things to do for free in Seattle, I thought about some of the city’s sights labelled with the letter ‘S’. There’s plenty of alliteration to follow.

I could have listed two obvious choices with the Space Needle and the Smith Tower. They are free to admire from the ground, but both require an admission charge to enter and reach the top of each respective structure for sweeping views of the city.

Here below are other arts and culture spots in Seattle that don’t cost a penny to visit or see; all locations are easily accessible with public transport.

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Seattle Sunday at Ballard Farmers Market

In Seattle, a friend in Ballard recommends a visit to their neighbourhood’s weekly farmers’ market. Despite the forecast for intermittent morning showers, I’m lured by any stroll through a market for bright harvest colours and freshly prepared food.

A slow meander through the stalls, letting curiosity be the guide. Fresh apples and pears here; ripe plump tomatoes there. From an assortment of red and yellow peppers; to an array of yellow and green gourds. Quickly, the appetite is on high alert. Quesadillas prepared fresh from the grill. Hot from the fryer, little donuts sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Happy dogs walking their humans; couples strolling with children; others sitting on the curb for a chat, nosh, and sip.

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My Seattle: Bruce & Brandon Lee, father & son

Honouring the surname

In the mid- to late-1970s, our parents took us to single-screen movie theatres with names like Olympia, Golden Harvest, and Shaw for cinema night to watch movies made in Hong Kong. There were dramas; some high on the melodrama and low on character. Some were historic-period pieces, and there were kung-fu movies for which Dad passed his love to me.

There’s nothing quite like seeing a kung-fu action sequence on a big screen. I was mesmerized the first time I laid eyes on a memorable fight scene set in Rome’s Colosseum, that epic scene observed by little stone dragons between “Little Dragon” himself, Bruce Lee, and Chuck Norris’ character in the 1972 film “The Way of the Dragon“. As a kid, I was proud to have had the same surname as this Bruce fellow, and memories of seeing his on-screen characters prevailing in fights have stuck over time (e.g., “Boards don’t hit back.”)

Tragically, Bruce and his son, Brandon, died too young. I’m certain when I was a teen that I asked where Bruce Lee was buried; my parents didn’t know and in pre-internet days, it was more of a challenge to find those answers. But the mystery has long been solved: Bruce Lee and his son, Brandon, lay side by side in Lake View Cemetery in Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

Despite multiple visits to the city in years past, this particular return trip to Seattle has been decades in the making for a chance to honour a part of my childhood and a part of my heritage. When I find the Lees, my arrival means another answer has been quietly realized. On a crisp bright autumn morning under blue skies, I feel my father’s spirit with me; he never had the chance to come to this cemetery. My lips move without voice, a prayer I utter into the ether, pushing for hope to reach him. Because I know now that this, is also for my Dad.

(Click here for images and more )

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