Housing activists took to the streets again today in downtown Vancouver. Their objective was to surround the LiveCity Downtown Olympic celebration site with a wrap of red banners and to then allow the public to paint their own messages to the Canadian government. According to their Facebook event page they used “142 red tarps and 1700 feet of messaging calling for an end to homelessness in this country”.

Some of the banners were staged as blank canvasses for others to voice their own messages.

Under an agreement with the Vancouver Police, at approximately 3 pm the entrance to LiveCity was peacefully blocked for 60 seconds.

The first week of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics is officially over and the excitement is just growing! From all over the world, thousands of people have flooded into Vancouver for the first week of sporting events. The entire downtown area of Vancouver has been transformed into the likes of an Olympic Host City, with flags and Olympic rings everywhere! Kris Krüg from Static Photography has had the chance to experience some of the Olympic sporting events first hand, whether it be the actual competition or the awards ceremonies. We still have a just over a week left in the Olympic craziness but we wanted to do a quick photographic recap of the opening week.Come see what we saw for the first week of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games!

The official Olympic flag has flying high in all of the venues of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, including BC Place, Canada Place and the Richmond Oval. The Olympics bring out flags from all around the world, with fans wanting to show their country’s pride wherever they are.

Canada fans have been flooding the Olympic Games to show their support for their country and their athletes. Tagged with canada temporary tattoos, Canada flags or official Olympic gear, Canadian fans are in full force at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

South Korean speed skater Tae-Bum Mo won the gold medal in the men’s short track 500m. Each of the Olympic medals are one-of-a-kind designs, with their engravings taken from a larger piece of aboriginal art and their waves meant to represent organic landscape of Western Canada. Fact: these medals are among the heaviest Olympic Medals from any games.

The real medals amongst the Olympic fans are seen during the coveted pin trading sessions during the Games. Small medal pins are made for everything imaginable and often there are very rare ones in the mix. People come from all over the world to trade olympic pins, some dating back to the early 70s.

Fans come in all sizes and the small ones are no exception in their excitement over the Vancouver Winter Olympics. These kids were found waving their American flags in the Whistler Village.

This Whistler track was built especially for the Vancouver Winter Olympics in mind. Housing the bobsled, luge and skeleton races, this track has been under some controversy with its design, but with modifications was approved for competing during the actual Olympics.

Even Olympic athletes sometimes a fall on the course! During the men’s luge doubles competition, the team from Slovakia that took a spill at the end of their course run. Luckily this mishap ended with a smile on the athletes’ faces.

It is always an exciting moment when you can hold your Olympic event tickets in your hands. Here Static Photography studio manager Danielle Sipple holds two tickets to the women’s 500m speed skating event.

Canada was represented strongly during the Women’s 500 m Speed Skating competition at the Richmond Oval. The effortlessness that these skaters put into the sports is phenomenal. They are literally running on ice at top sprinting speed!

South Korean speed skater Lee Sang-Hwa won the gold medal for the Women’s 500 m race at the Richmond Oval. Many fans were out in support of South Korea, with huge Korean flags in hand. The crowd went nuts when Lee won the gold medal.

The influx of media at the Olympic sports events is huge! The media pit at all the events is filled with accredited photographers with the largest lens around. This type of gear is needed for the intense close-ups that are desired from sports photography.

Vancouver has been trying to bring all the amazing adventures to be had in BC and even Canada, right to your fingertips. The Olympic hub has been Robson Square, with the Ice Skating Rink, BCIMC, BC Pavilion and more are located. To top off the festivities, Eco-tours from Whistler has set-up a 170m zip line across the square. What a way to see the city of Vancouver!

Amazing artists and musicians have been flooding to the streets to showcase their talent, right there in front of you. Otherwise known as buskers, these talented performers will do live painting, perform music or even magic right on the street. Large events like the Olympic Games have brought a lively variety of entertainers to the streets.

During the Vancouver Winter Olympics, there are LiveCity sites set up to allow fans to have the Olympic experience for no cost. Large screens show the sports competition during the day and the medals ceremony in the evening. At the end of every night, LiveCity hosts a concert with some of the best musical acts. Matisyahu, who is behind the Olympic’s theme song ‘One Day’, played at the LiveCity Yaletown sight to a rained-on but happy crowd.

Hockey is a big event in Canada as it is deemed our national sport. So hockey played during the Olympics is a really big event! Here the USA vs. Norway men’s hockey event in one of the earlier games of the line-up

Zamboni: such a silly word for such a silly machine. This ice cleaning machine is definitely needed for most of the events during the Vancouver Winter Olympics. There was a bit of delay in the early start of the Olympic Games when the only zambonis in Vancouver broke down. Luckily a quick replacement from a neighboring city solved the ice problem!

There are fans from literally every country in the world at the Vancouver Olympic Games. Here are two French fans, walking through Whistler Village.

The rivalry between Canada and the USA is pure insanity! Often fighting like close siblings, American fans and Canadian fans definitely have a lot of pride for their respective countries!

This awesome little snowboarder was fresh off the mountain when he encountered his excited dog. Celebration can come in all forms even if it is just hugging the ones you love. This first week has just flown by in a big whirlwind of events and people, but Static Photography is very excited to see what comes of the second week in these games. Our best bet is that the gold medal men’s hockey game night is going to be insanity in Vancouver. Check back next week for our final recap of the last week of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics!

Colbert was greeted by a sea of red mittens and both American and Canadian flags.

Advertised to start at 9:15 am, the show didn’t begin taping until 10:30. And while the line-up began well before 6 am, the shoddy queue management (by Colbert’s security, park rangers, and, for some reason, the VANOC smurfs) meant that audience members who arrived late got much closer to the stage than those who (in their very orderly Canadian-way) waited their turn in the self-formed line. My advice for tomorrow is, unless there is a major change in how they handle the crowd, you shouldn’t bother showing up too early.

Before the show began, Mr. Colbert joked around with the audience and even had his own Olympic torch handoff from an audience member. He deadpanned, “you’re never going to see this thing again”.

His first guest was Michael Buble (Celine Dion without the white jumpsuit, he called Buble). They sang a duet consisting of the words of the Canadian national anthem set to the music of the American national anthem.

His second guest was Mike Eruzione, who scored the winning goal against Russia in the ’86 hockey finals.

The final guest was Bob Costas. They shared a few roasted marshmallows and after the interview, at the crowd’s request, Mr. Costas rode the moose.

Vancouver is filled with energy now that 2010 Winter Olympic Games has officially started. The last week has been filled with the excited fervor of the last month and anticipation of the upcoming weeks. Here is a photographic look into the last week of adventure and celebrations, before the officially opening of the Games in Vancouver.

The Olympic torch was carried downhill on the Blackcomb mountain by world champion and olympiad Steve Podborski. Steve won a bronze medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Currently he is part of the VANOC and works within International Relations.

Premier Gordon Campbell seemingly is Canada’s number one fan. Campbell has travelled around Canada for the entire length of the torch relay. Here he is handing out coveted British Columbia Olympic pins to fans at the Whistler Torch Celebration.

Vancouver is part of the Coast Salish territories and has a Four Host First Nation welcoming committee as part of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. Willie Lewis, dressed in a traditional Aborginal outfit, was part of the Whistler Torch Relay Celebration.

Static Photography had the chance to hang out in Whistler for the weekend with Chris Wheeler who had been following the torch relay through all of Canada. We had the chance to do some zip trekking with him! Our longest run was 2200 m.

The Olympic Torch had an extended route through all of Vancouver with the relay going through all of the neighborhoods in Vancouver. The Vancouver city council accompanied by Mayor Gregor Robertson welcomed the torch when it came to City Hall.

Vancouver Olympiad Lori Fung, with her gold medal, was present when the Olympic Torch came to the Vancouver City Hall. Fung was the first gold medalist awarded in the sport of Rhythmic Gymnastics during the 1984 Summer Olympics which were held in Los Angeles, CA.

Iain Black welcomed the public to the opening of the VX Forum in Vancouver, BC. Black is Minister of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development in Canada and is pictured here with Nadia Nascimento and Dave Olson of Invoke Media which is the parent company to twitter-based application Hootsuite.

This is the first Olympic Games where people are full-on involved with technology and the internet. Many fans often have out their own cameras to capture their memories themselves. With this sort of documentation present for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, some of the best Olympic news coverage will be coming from the internet!

There are many different pavilions popping up all over Vancouver with all sorts of awesome installations and displays. This is a touch screen graffitti media installation in the DigiBC part of the BC Pavilion. Here one of the creators is having fun creating some interactive art.

Mayor Gregor Robertson has been a very busy man during the preparations for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Here he is outside of the W2 Media and Culture House in the DTES. He was the speaker at the ribbon-cutting of this independent media house which opened to the public.

The beautiful Olympic Athlete Village sits on the waters’ edge of the False Creek. There was a bit of controversy when the athletes from Australia hung up their official Aussie flag, which is a copyrighted image. Despite some grievances with the IOC, Vancouver fought to keep the flag up!

Bombardier, the company who designed the Olympic Torch for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, also designed the Olympic Line, a train that runs from the Main Street Skytrain Station to Granville Island. Bombardier has given Vancouver two of their streetcars, on loan from Brussels, Belgium. The Olympic Line is a 60 day demonstration project so get a ride while you can!

Visitors have been packing into Vancouver from all over the world for the 2010 Winter Olympics. This group of women associated with Ukrainian team were photographed on their way into the Opening Ceremony on February 12th.

Another type of visitor that has been sighted in Vancouver is the increase in public security, with the influx of police from other provinces. These police officers are in fact from four different Canadian provinces!

It was very exciting to watch the crowd gather for the Opening Ceremony at the German Saxony House. The place was packed with locals and visitors for the three hour televised event. Of course, everyone went nuts when the Canadian team was ushered into BC Place.

The biggest secret of the 2010 Winter Olympics was the identity of the person who was to light the final torch in Vancouver during the official welcoming of the Games. Wayne Gretzky ended up carrying the torch from BC Place to the final outdoor giant torch at Waterfront station in a great fanfare. The night ended with a fireworks-filled sky. The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games have only just begun. The city of Vancouver has ahead of it three weeks of events and celebrations! This is only the beginning so make sure to check back for more photographic recaps from Static Photography! In case you missed it, here is our first photo essay about 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Thanks to Vancouver Access, Culture at the Olympics and the LA Times for republishing our first 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics photo essay!

After the unveiling of a 45-foot banner under the Cambie Bridge this morning, a rally was held at noon at Pigeon Park in Vancouver to draw attention to the rampant homelessness of the Downtown Eastside.

A few hundred people marched down Hastings and around the block before taking over an empty lot nearby where they started pitching red tents. The group said they plan to continue putting up red tents on vacant lots downtown to bring as much attention as possible to their cause. Up to 24 people will live in the first tent village around the clock while the 2010 Olympics are in town.

The gathering was peaceful and non-eventful compared to Saturday’s violent Olympic protests on Georgia Street.

The site of the first red tent village, put up by an autonomous Downtown Eastside coalition, is in the shadow of the gentrified and re-opened Woodwards building. The lot, at 58 West Hastings Street, is currently owned by Concord Pacific.

A large banner was unfurled from the Cambie Bridge today in Vancouver demanding “Homes For All”. The sign was put up by the group sponsoring the Olympic Tent Village whose slogan is “No More Empty Talk, No More Empty Lots”. The group is putting on a press conference at noon in Pigeon Park to announce their village of red tents that will be used to draw attention to the plight of the homeless on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

The Cambie Bridge and the banner overlook the Athlete’s Village, which will be turned into market-rate condos after the Olympics but is also slated to contain a few hundred subsidized units for lower-income renters.

[UPDATE, 8:50 AM] That was incredibly short-lived. In the time it took for me to upload the photos and make this post (about 30 minutes), the banner and the tents flanking it have been removed.

[UPDATE, 9:50 AM] According to this press release about the banner drop, the RCMP and ISU agreed to allow the banner to hang. Maybe the agreement was that they would allow them to release it but then it would immediately be removed? And here is the main site for the Red Tent Organization.

[UPDATE 10:00 AM] I spoke with Red Tent Media Coordinator, Am Johal, on the phone who confirmed that the banner was allowed to be hung for a pre-arranged period (20 minutes) as a media event to kick-start the Red Tent campaign.

A few of the organizers assisted in the placement from the seawall below.

An anti-Olympics protest called the 2010 Heart Attack turned violent today in Vancouver as black-masked marchers clashed with over 200 police.

The protest started calmly at Terminal Station on Main street. The entire block was surrounded by police on bikes and in cars, both marked and unmarked.

Bike patrols accompanied the protesters down Main street and soon blocked traffic for the march.

The vandalism began with local newspaper boxes and this VANOC-marked vehicle.

The protest headed down Georgia street and left a wake of overturned newspaper boxes and traffic barriers.

A ladder was stolen from London Drugs.

The first windows were broken at the Hudson Bay Company.

The TD Bank on Georgia street was hit.

A VANOC-marked vehicle was told to quickly turn around as the marchers approach. The passenger continued to take photos.

A line of police on bicycles was positioned on Georgia street and Thurlow avenue but quickly fell back to their reinforced stand at Georgia and Denman.

The first clash between protesters and police.

The real violence erupted at the police stand on Denman.

Some sources say over a dozen arrests were made. The march regrouped briefly on Robson street but the violent aspect had either been quelled or removed from the scene.

The Poverty Olympics torch, made from a toilet plunger and plastic bag.

The same group responsible for this morning’s torch relay disruption in Vancouver staged their first major protest of the 2010 Olympic Games this afternoon downtown. Starting in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery, the crowd of one to two-thousand people marched slowly to B.C. Place before facing a tense stand-off with police that lasted over an hour.

The protesters and the police were at an impasse as the rest of the Olympics crowd filed into B.C. Place for the Opening Ceremonies behind them. There were a few brief skirmishes and push-backs between the two groups but no major violence erupted and the protest groups dispersed willingly around 7:15 pm. Vancouver Police said two officers were injured with flying objects and one was sent to hospital with a shoulder injury. One protestor was taken into custody, facing a charge of assault.

One to two-thousand protesters gathered downtown at the Vancouver Art Gallery to stage the largest yet of the Vancouver 2010 Anti-Olympic protests.

Vancouver Police watch as the protest moves slowly down Georgia street.

Lines of police in front of B.C. Place and the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games Opening Ceremonies are flanked by a row of mounted police on horseback.

The protesters face off with police in a stand-off that eventually ended with the crowd dispersing.

A possible side effect from the constant boat and jetski patrols in False Creek?

Photo courtesy of Glynis Cawdell.

Pro-Olympics supporters wave Canadian flags in front of the torch processional being stopped on Hastings street by anti-Olympics protesters.

The 2010 Welcoming Committee‘s protest and disruption of the Olympic Torch Relay in Vancouver stopped the torch in its tracks for over 10 minutes this morning at 9:20 am at Hastings Street and Cambie. The protest seemed to encompass a wide range of anti- slogans including anti-racism, anti-tar-fields, and of course, anti-Olympics. A few also came out that were pro-Marc-Emery and openly demonstrated their particular form activism in front of the Vancouver Police.

After 10 to 15 minutes of tense stoppage and a close range face-off between protesters and police, someone made a decision to re-route the torch relay back on to Pender street and then back to its planned route. The Olympic torch runner has probably never run so quick as they did rounding the corner to get off of Hastings. Police then moved in on horseback to disperse the crowd.

Protesters gather at Hastings and Cambie a few minutes before the torch arrives.

2010 Welcoming Committee organizer, Lauren Gill.

Protesters start to blockade Hastings street.

The Mounted Police force moves in for crowd dispersal as the Coca-Cola torch trucks wait behind.

The torch is diverted from its planned route back on to Pender street.