Took many photographs again this year while on the civic affairs beat.
Time for a look back.
I’ve chosen a variety so as not to feature a whole gallery of politicians gesturing at microphones; unfortunately, those images are aplenty because of the nature of my job, which involves a lot of time at city hall.
I’ve always been a reporter first and a photographer second, meaning I rarely have time to set up a separate portrait of a person or create a more dynamic image; asking questions in a scrum while trying to frame up a person can be a challenge.
At the same time, the double duty works for the most part and ensures I’ll always have a fresh image to go with my story — and hopefully entice you to click on a link, or headline on a Glacier Media website and read my latest file.
A big thank you to readers who did just that in 2024.
Here’s a selection of photographs from the past 12 months that resonated with me…
An event such as the Women’s Memorial March in the Downtown Eastside is always difficult to cover — not so much because of the logistics of capturing images of people while they march, but for the obvious reason of why it exists.
Sensitivity and respect are key.
The photograph I chose to lead this year-in-review is of the crowd as it walks north on Main Street, before turning left on Alexander Street and continuing through Gastown and other parts of the Downtown Eastside.
To capture this shot, I picked a spot on the overpass that goes over the railway tracks to CRAB Park. I immediately spotted the man with the sign featuring Mona Lee Wilson, and focused on him as he got closer in the frame.
I have some tighter shots of him, but chose this photograph to show the size of the crowd.
I took many photographs that day, and have included two more here:
And this one below was taken at the beginning of the march:
Others photographs from the march can be viewed in my original story, which featured Michele Pineault. DNA belonging to Pineault’s daughter, Stephanie Lane, was discovered on the Port Coquitlam farm belonging to serial killer, Robert Pickton.
CRAB Park
Like previous years, I spent a fair amount of time in the Downtown Eastside in 2024. Many times, I visited the CRAB Park encampment. While on my way there in April, I came across the aftermath of a fire that destroyed a man’s recreational vehicle. I spoke to Ed and he told me what happened. He was lucky to escape the fire, but in doing so injured his head, which is evident in the photograph below.
In March, I captured this image and many others as residents of the CRAB Park encampment moved their personal belongings from the waterfront peninsula. Another event where sensitivity and respect were key when trying to tell a story via an image. Purposely chose this photo so as not to fully show the man’s face.
East Hastings
To me, this photograph almost looks staged — as if I spoke to the two police officers and the city worker, and told them to turn their backs to me and stand still. Far from it. My goal that day was to capture an image that told the story about the VPD’s overtime costs for escorting city crews on East Hastings Street.
By chance, I spotted the trio and others making their way up the street. I quickly parked my car along the strip, jumped out and fired off as many frames as I could. If you look closely, you can see a person sleeping under a structure outside the Carnegie Centre. Thought this image best told the story.
Police Chief Adam Palmer
I’ve taken many photographs of Police Chief Adam Palmer, but none like this one. He was at city hall, where council had just approved the 2025 budget. Palmer was outside the council chamber taking questions from media. He was listening to a reporter’s question when I took this shot. Lighting is always a challenge in the lobby, but plenty of lights from television crews helped me capture the photograph.
Mayor Ken Sim
This is not the best photograph I’ve taken of Mayor Ken Sim. But I included it here because I think it captured his mood best on a day that he had just announced a transition team to dissolve the elected park board. Photo is grainy, light wasn’t great and framing could have been better. That’s why I didn’t include it in my original story, but what the heck — I like the image.
Ah, yes — the mayor’s personal gym. Much better shot than the previous one. This was one of those days where I got to city hall super early because I anticipated Sim’s gym was going to be a story; Coun. Pete Fry had tweeted an image the previous night.
When I arrived in the city hall parking lot, I texted the mayor’s chief of staff and told him I was going to be writing a story. I wanted to get a comment from Sim. Turns out the mayor got to his office at 6 a.m. to participate in a call with officials in Ottawa.
I was invited up to his office, where he not only answered questions about the gym but agreed to pose for photographs. I forgot my flash, so the mayor was good enough to let me use a ring light that he had nearby. Big story that day.
Park board
This is a photograph of Brennan Bastyovanszky, the chair of the elected Vancouver park board. If you’ve followed the news around the park board, you would know Mayor Ken Sim wants to abolish the board. Bastyovanszky, now an independent commissioner, was a member of the mayor’s ABC Vancouver party before the news broke. As you can see in this photograph, he remains defiant and continues to fight to keep the board. Here, he is in a poorly lit room at city hall as part of a town hall on the topic. Three of his colleagues — Scott Jensen to his left, Tom Digby behind him and Laura Christensen, hidden behind his right arm — also spoke that night.
Remembrance Day
Teresa Mew’s father was Frank Wong, a veteran and one of the founders of the Chinese-Canadian Military Museum. After Wong died at 94 in 2013, Mew wanted to keep her father’s legacy alive and volunteered with the museum, which is located in Chinatown. She helped organize a program to feature veterans on banners to mark the 100th anniversary of the Victory Square cenotaph. I used a flash here on what was a rainy, windy day. Took several images, and actually used another one for the story. But I like the framing of this one, too.
Asahi baseball legend
I loved taking this photograph of Koichi Kaye Kaminishi. I’m a big fan of baseball — and a big fan of Vancouver history. Plus, it’s not every day that you meet a 102-year-old former member of the Asahi baseball team. The glove and ball are mine. I got to city hall before Kaminishi was to be recognized by city council. I spotted him on the main floor of city hall, and wanted to take his portrait. He agreed. Didn’t have much time, so I quickly moved a chair into a hallway. He sat down with the ball and glove, and smiled. Then he was off. Took more photographs of him during the proclamation.
Life savers
This was another quick shot. It was taken in March at the Roundhouse Community Centre after the annual police and citizen commendation awards hosted by the Vancouver Police Department. Richard McDonald and Gary Connell saved a drowning man in False Creek. They look like longtime buddies in this photograph, when in fact they only met during the rescue.
Ice hockey
Another good news story and photograph; hard to believe, I know, but not every story I tell is of the doom-and-gloom variety. Quite an incredible story here — the guy in the middle is PNE employee Mike Nasr.
In what was a truly remarkable set of circumstances, hockey players Harry and Jayson Louie both ended up in ambulances in two separate emergencies, almost two years apart on a Wednesday at around the same time of day.
Harry, 77, was hospitalized on Feb. 16, 2022, and Jayson, 52, on Feb. 21, 2024.
In both cases, they had just finished their ice time. And, in both cases, teammates and Nasr came to their aid. Captured this image of the trio after a news conference.
'Micro-weddings'
And then there was the day I launched my career as a wedding photographer…Not really. But I wasn’t anticipating being the photographer at the wedding of James Watson and Caroline Cheah. But that’s kind of what happened. Aside from the photos snapped by family with their phones, I was the photographer — with no flash! Photos grainy. The story here was about “micro-weddings” at city hall. I thought I’d be taking photographs of a wedding photographer taking photographs of the bride and groom. Still, I enjoyed the challenge, and James and Caroline were great.
Resilience, courage
Firefighter Christopher Won and his wife, Marie Hui, were more than gracious with their time in sharing a very personal story: Won lost his leg to flesh-eating disease while on vacation in Asia. I took this shot as the couple was crossing East Hastings Street, near Nanaimo Street. Thought it best helped tell the couple’s story, which is one of resilience and courage.
Honour guard
Daryle Van Horn was a longtime Vancouver firefighter. I attended his celebration of life in February, where his wife Desiree and family were present. That’s Desiree to the left of the frame, watching as the Vancouver Fire Rescue Services honour guard enters the clubhouse with Van Horn’s hat.
Van Horn died on Jan. 22 after he chose to accept what was an inevitable outcome for a person paralyzed by multiple systems atrophy, or MSA, a rare degenerative neurological disorder that effectively shuts down the body.
Van Horn had earlier been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a condition that caused him to retire in November 2020. Doctors diagnosed him with MSA in April 2023, which led to a rapid decline in his health.
Ken Sim's office
Another one of Mayor Ken Sim. Chose this photograph because it shows him in a different light — literally. Had his director of communications hold my flash to bring some mood to the photograph. The street signs in the background represent the neighbourhoods where Sim has lived as a Vancouverite. I used the photo for a question-and-answer piece.
East Van Cross
I recall having a conversation many years ago with artist Ken Lum about the Monument to East Vancouver. The piece hadn’t been installed yet, and I’m not sure if the present location was mentioned in that interview. Anyway, now there are plans to possibly relocate the East Van Cross — as it’s more commonly known — from the corner of East 6th Avenue and Clark Drive. Found out about this news late on a Wednesday, spoke to councillor Mike Klassen and had an email exchange with Lum. Didn’t have a photograph to go with the story, so set up my camera on a tripod that same night to capture this image. It was super foggy, so not as clear as I would have liked it. But no time to go on another day or night.
All photographs by Mike Howell
