I have been working on a long-term photography project based in Vancouver, Canada where I reside. I’ve chosen “No Fun City” as the working title because Vancouver is commonly described by local and international media as a city with “lame nightlife, a lack of music venues, cliquey citizenry, archaic liquor laws, douche bag bouncers, non-stop depressing rain, un-happiest residents and basically a black-hole of boring.”

On the other hand, reputable quality-of-life surveys and indexes have frequently in the past ranked my city as the best place to live in the world. So what explains this contradiction?

After calling Vancouver home for more than 25 years, I feel the need to share a perspective of an insider, to balance viewpoints touted by national and international media. For the past few years, I have attended and documented as many free, open and public events in my city where citizens meet, engage, celebrate and are supposed to have lots of fun.

Even though I am still in the middle of my multi-year coverage, there have been many surprises that provide me with fresh perspectives on my city. What started out as a project to challenge a stereotype has evolved into one that provides with meaning and hope.

However, before this journey reaches its end, I feel it is still premature to draw conclusions on the Vancouver zeitgeist. In the meantime though, certain themes have clearly emerged. The series that I present here contain themes about fear, hope, happiness and justice that will run like story arcs in my completed work featuring major events in the city.