Magalie Travels: February 2010

In it to end it!

{This is a twin post to the one on my other blog - I just want to spread the word!}

Ginger, Travis' mom (and my future mother-in-law!) is in her 20th year of surviving breast cancer. She is an incredible woman and to celebrate this huge milestone she has decided to participate in the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer. Her team, the Blessed Breasts (great name, no?) will be walking 39 miles over the course of two days to raise money and bring awareness to the cause. Their fundraising goal currently sits at $18,000. That's no small feat!

If you would like to donate to the cause, please visit the Blessed Breast's fundraising page - here you will find the team's info. Simply click on a team's member name to read their story and donate!

Vancouver, showing off

How amazing is this? And of course, it's just a block from my house! I just love how Vancouver is making herself pretty & cultural to welcome the world for the 2010 Winter Olympics. I wish that these could stay!

We, by Jaume Plensa (part of the Vancouver Biennale)

Vectorial Elevation, by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (part of the Cultural Olympiad - CODE)

The fun part about the Vectorial Elevation piece (aside from the fact that it looks amazing and is on display non-stop from dusk 'til dawn) is that you can design your own pattern on the website! You can design, preview & dedicate at your heart's content! For those who can't make it in person, you can also watch the light show on the live cam.

What an honour!

One of the things that I love about flickr is that you never know who will take a look at your photos. I have most of my photos on a Creative Commons license, which means that people are free to use my images as long as credit is given and that the pictures are not used for profit.

I received an email last week from a publishing house in Paris, asking if they could use one of my picture in their upcoming guide book. I have to say that most often when I get these types of request it is for what I consider to be some of my most mediocre images, but this time it was different. They were asking about one of my favourite photo from Hong Kong, and not just for any book. It turns out that the publishing house, Viatao, creates incredible guide books that encourage sustainable world travel. How perfect is that? That is what every world traveller should aspire to, and so I responded that I would be honour to have them use my image for their upcoming Shanghai guide (as if it matters that my image is from HK!).

Well, if that wasn't a big enough of an honour, they responded that they intend on using the photo for - wait - the cover of the book! I was just floored, and excited. I can't wait to get my copy!

Until then, here is the photo that is getting published: