vancouver fashion and portrait photography

The month of February has come to an end with the successful completion of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. The city of Vancouver transformed into a welcoming stage for the world to enter and athletes to compete in. The days after this extraveganet event may not compare to the weeks before but the memories will blaze brightly ahead.

The gold medal winning performance that Vancouver presented as Olympic host city will not be forgotten, for the good or for the bad. Here is a look into the highlights of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

The city of Vancouver went through some structural changes in its anticipation of hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics. One major change was the addition of the Olympic Athlete's Village, which during the games would be home to over hundreds of athletes. The Australian team ran into a bit of trouble with the city of Vancouver because of its Kangaroo flag, but the situation was resolved and the flag was allowed to fly.

Another additional to the Greater Mainland was the building of the Richmond Oval for the speed skating events that would take place during the Olympics. This massive structure was beautiful in design which could be seen in its intricate wooden roof, built from salvaged wood affected by the devastation of Canadian pine beetles.

Static Photography had the chance to get into the Olympic spirit with a winter excursion tour in Prince George, with fellow Vancouver citizen journalists including Rebecca Bollwitt. The tour included a speed skating lesson, dog sledding adventure, snow shoeing tour, the BC Cup cross-country race and the Coldsnap Music Festival. 

The Olympic torch relay for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics was the longest one in Olympic history. Covering most of Canada, the Olympic torch relay lasted 106 days in total. 

Lots of excitement followed the Olympic torch along its journey through Canada. Various celebrations were set-up in cities throughout the country, including Prince George and Whistler. The large scale celebrations included speeches, dancers and music. Mayor Gregor Robertson welcomed the torch into Vancouver when it arrived at City Hall. 

The final destination of the Olympic flame was a larger than life torch cauldron that was settled on the water front of Vancouver's harbor. This large structure was kept mostly secret to the city of Vancouver, by a large fence that was eventually moved for better viewing. Wayne Gretsky ran the last leg of the torch relay and lit this cauldron in a grand finale closing of the opening ceremony. 

Some unfortunate city decisions in their massive beautification of Vancouver included covering up some amazing street murals, painted by Vancouver artists. Such a mural was covered on Beatty Street which was a long standing piece of art in Vancouver's creative community. Local effort was collected to create a new mural for the street. 

There was large opposition to the 2010 Winter Olympics coming to Canada and Vancouver in general. Many funds were pulled from other area, including arts funding and education funding, to pay for the most of the Olympics. Many communities have suffered greatly because of these  drastic cuts. 

There were many demonstrations once the 2010 Winter Olympics were underway in Vancouver. Police presence, anti-anti-Olympic protestors and even bagpipers were present to exercise various forms of public expression during the demonstrations. 

The 2010 Cultural Olympiad was planned as a complimentary cultural line-up to the regularly scheduled athletic competitions. First the time in Olympic history, the 2010 Cultural Olympiad had a digital edition, called CODE, which focused on presentations of creative digital media installations. CODE had four parts: Canada CODE, CODE Motion Pictures, CODE Screens 2010 and CODE Live.

The 2010 Cultural Olympiad launched over 60 days of programming in the end of January as a cultural complimentary scheduling of highlights in the theatre, dance and music communities. The opening weekend included a two day performance of choreographer Elizabeth Streb's new masterpiece 'STREB:RAW' which brings to the stage the pushing limits of human flight. 

Livecity venues were set-up in downtown Vancouver so that the public could enjoy watching Olympic sports during the day and dance the night away to free scheduled concerts. Matisyahu, whose song 'One Day' was chosen as NBC's Olympic coverage song, headlined one of the evening concerts at Livecity Yaletown-Vancouver. There were Livecity venues in both Vancouver and Whistler, so no matter were you were you could enjoy the free fun! 

Canadian fans came in from all corners of the country and even the world for the Olympic celebration that was taking place in Vancouver. Many showed their national pride for Canada by wearing Team Canada sweatshirts and hats, and carrying large Canadian flags around. The intensity of the country's pride was felt everywhere in the city! 

Aboriginal communities and culture is a large part of Canada and especially Vancouver's history. Vancouver is settled on Coast Salish Territory, so respectfully VANOC curated a large part of the Olympic celebration, mascots and icons to include relevance to the Aboriginal culture. Whether it was having the diversity of Aboriginal communities showcased in the opening ceremony, to the Olympic mascot Miga the Spirit Bear, to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics icon being an inukshuk, the culture of Canadian Aboriginal communities were seen throughout the entire event.

Athletes from all over the world have trained for their participation in the 2010 Winter Olympics. They continued their training and warm up, even after their arrival in Vancouver, so as to give their best performance possible. 

Olympic fans can get very creative when dressing up for out and about in the city. From the little Quatchi ever, to this beautiful red and white feather headdress, to even the satirical Canadian super hero, these fans decorated themselves with the energy and excitement of the Olympic Games. 

Static Photography had the chance to attend a few of the Olympic sporting events. Having tickets to any Olympic event was a coveted position and so we were grateful for our opportunities! Kris Krüg was able to photograph the very fast women that competed in the Speed Skating long track 500m at the Richmond Oval. 

Every athlete's dream was to be able to stand on the Olympic podium with a medal in hand. The nightly Victory Ceremonies were a massive celebration of Olympic proportions. Excitement was in the air as the athletes received their medals and confetti exploded in the air. Here athletes from South Korea and Japan receive medals in the Men's Long Track Speed Skating 500m event. 

The Whistler Sliding Centre was built to hold the Olympic competitions in bobsled, skeleton and luge. Marked by sad controversy at the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics, this venue was modified and continued to hold competitions safely. 

It is universally known that hockey is Canada's most beloved sport. The start of the men's hockey in the Olympic sports line-up brought out the true Canadian spirit, as fans pined to see who would win the coveted gold medal. Here USA vs. Norway play one of the first of many games in the early qualifying rounds. The Canadian men's team went on to win the Gold medal in this event. 

Women's hockey may not be as overtly popular as men's hockey but hockey fans just love hockey, no matter who is playing the game. One of the opening games in the entire Olympic event was a women's hockey game of Canada vs. Slovakia where Canada won the game in a world record breaking score of 18-0. The Canadian women's team went out to win the Gold Medal. 

A wonderful revolution in these Olympic Games was seen in media coverage with a mixture of new and old school media working together. The biggest outcome of this revolution was the announcement of the IOC's official Flickr group. While having held onto tight copyright regulations in the past, the IOC has begun to embrace photo-sharing from fans, especially in relation to their Olympic experience. Here you see an accredited photographer, with a Flickr sticker on his lens, shooting inside an Olympic venue.  

Many fans have been capturing their experience on their own, whether shooting from their digital or video camera and documenting their Olympic experience in a surge of citizen journalism. Many unaccredited media houses, including the BCMC, True North Media House and W2 Culture and Media House, gave space and access for revolutionary media journalists to cover the Olympic Games.  

No matter if you are a wee one from the USA, a face-painted young one from Canada or Canada's self-proclaimed number one fan Premier Gordon Campbell, the Olympics gave everyone a place to show national pride for their country. 

The world loves Johnny Weir. Bright-eyed, talented, fashionable and the quoted 'Lady Gaga' of figure skating, USA figure skater Johnny Weir was in the constant spotlight during the 2010 Winter Olympics. 

There is not a doubt in anyone's mind that Canada delivered a gold medal winning performance in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. In the last night of the Olympic Games after the closing ceremony, the streets of Vancouver were flooded with fans celebrating the many victories of the previous weeks. Even in the last possible moment, the country was still shining in pride.

The Olympics may be over so if you have missed any the Olympic action as it was happening, or just care for a revisit, make sure to check out our other Olympic photo essays from the month of February: 

British Columbia prepares for the Opening of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics 

With Glowing Hearts Canada welcomes the World to Vancouver 2010 Olympics

Fans, Sports, Flags, Pride, Fun - Vancouver 2010 Olympics is Rockin'.

Thanks to the LA Times for publishing our Olympic photo essays!