On this New Year’s Eve, we wish to say thank you. We love highlighting all the great people, businesses and events that make East Van such a great place to live and work. We appreciate all those that share our stories and help our community grow. We wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year and leave you with a few photos from 2015.
What comes to mind when you think of East Vancouver? For a growing number of people whether you are living in East Van, moving to the area or just visiting, the word ‘community’ is most often the first thing that comes to mind. Recent articles such as that in the Globe & Mail in March sets out why young people are leaving the West side. Yes affordability is one issue, but the other is a sense of community, knowing your neighbours and that feeling of belonging. There are, of course, many things that make East Van a great place in addition to community. There is also the culture, art, community based festivals, shopping, live music, the growing craft beer industry, the amazing selection of restaurants and coffee shops and the list goes on. So what we’d like to know now, is what does East Van mean to you in photos? East Van photographer Kyrani Kanavaros is compiling photographs taken around East Vancouver. Kyrani is a professional photographer living in East Vancouver with her husband and twin 8 year old boys. She has featured many local personalities, musicians as well as movers and shakers. What she loves is East Van and as many have said the sense of community she feels living in this area of Vancouver. So what does East Van mean to you? We’d love to see your photos. Tag your photos on Instagram with #KlikEastVan or tag Kyrani on Instagram @Kyrani and well we won’t mind if you tag us Instagram @ILiveInEastVan. There are no right or wrong photos, this is not a photo contest, this is what means something to you. We look forward to seeing your pics.
Photo Credit: Benee Rubin
We thought we would do a little retrospective in photos to highlight some of the many great events hosted in East Van in 2014. It’s been a busy year, there were so many amazing events this year. As to what was popular on our site, we can say it was a great artistic event, beer and spirits, live music & art. Specifically, the iconic Parade of Lost Souls, our write up on the Powell Street Self-Guided Tour, the 2nd Annual Beer Festival at Wise Hall, the Trout Lake Summer Concert Series and, of course, our personal favourite the Eastside Culture Crawl. We hope you enjoy some of the photos from this past year. Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year!
East Vancouver is filled with a wealth of creative energy that is uniquely our own. You see it every day in the music, the art, the photographs, the live theatre, the writings, the comedy and on it goes. During the recent Eastside Culture Crawl, I must say I was in awe of the many talented artists showcasing their work. It inspired me to showcase some of the talent that is among us.
As an animal lover, one photographer that caught my eye with her amazing photographs is Tanya King. She is able to capture that bit of personality in pets that is not always so easy to do. I speak from experience. Having had a Newfoundland dog that came from a family of show dogs, I spent many hours taking countless photos to get just that perfect photo. Although I did manage a few great photos, it was no easy feat. As we move to more digital photographs, we don’t see as many framed or printed photographs.
If you would like that perfect framed picture of your pet, I invite you to check out the work of Tanya King. She manages to take some pretty spectacular shots, being that pets are always on the move and don’t sit quiet and pretty when you want them to. Usually quite the opposite. With Christmas around the corner, I thought giving a gift certificate to receive a session with Tanya would make a wonderful memorable gift for that animal lover. Subtle hint to those family and friends reading this post.
Tanya worked with renowned photographer, Hans Sipma, for 8 years and you will see her photographs in Modern Dog Magazine. Outside of spending time assisting local pet adoption agencies and shelters by donating her time and skills to help animals find loving homes, Tanya does pet photo sessions in her studio. Her studio is located in the Parker Studios, 1000 Parker Street, in East Vancouver. Each session takes about 30 – 45 minutes. You can also have the entire shoot of photos put into one photo book with 25 – 30 images which would also make a wonderful keepsake and fantastic gift. Gift certificates for Tanya’s photo sessions are available. You can find prices listed on her website.
You can see in the photos that Tanya loves animals, it is the only way she is able to take the photos she does. Animals have a very innate sense of who they like and trust. Tanya generally photographs cats and dogs, but will soon be turning her eye to photographing horses. Although, I have included a sampling of her photos here, I invite you to check out her photos online, they are pretty spectacular.
For many, the heart of East Vancouver is ‘The Drive’ as it is fondly known. It is the stretch of Commercial Drive that runs 21 blocks from Venables at the north end to 13th Avenue at the south end. It is one of my favourite destinations in East Vancouver. A few stops I love to make are the First Ravioli Store, 1900 Commercial Drive, for the City’s best fresh pasta. Or for a vast selection of cheese, not to mention hearty sandwhiches made to order at the La Grotta del Formaggio, 1791 Commercial Drive. Every birthday I only ever request one cake and that’s the Saint Honore cake from Fratelli’s Authentic Italian Bakery, 1795 Commercial Drive. If you take a left at Venables and walk a block east to Uprising Breads, 1697 Venables Street, you will find some of the best gingersnap cookies in town. As always, there is a lot of hustle and bustle on The Drive on a beautiful sunny day. This is what it looked like today in photos.
Photo Credit: CreatEveInVan
It was a busy day in the beautiful sunshine at yesterday’s Winter Farmers Market. In case you missed it, here is a sample of what will be in store when they do it all again next weekend, March 30th. Same time 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., same place adjacent to Nat Bailey Stadium at 30th & Ontario. For more information as to which vendors are at the market next week, checkout their website www.eatlocal.org.
CreatEveInVan’s photostream on Flickr.
Murals in and around East Vancouver and a few extra shots.
ILiveInEastVan.com 
