Sometimes, friends will just drop out of your life completely. Its not sad - people change. People grow. And that is never a sad thing. I think the last time I explored this little park was with my old friend - lets call her Sasha. No wait, lets call her Sandra. I like Sandra better. Anyway, Its been almost 4 years since the last time I was at this little park. Time sure does fly.
I think the first thing I noticed about this place was the amount of vegetation that grew in the last 4 years. I clearly remember being able to see the ground where I was walking pretty easily back then. Now, there are trees blocking the way. It feels more adventurous I suppose. Wearing sandals was the worst idea ever.
I brought my D800 (the picture below was taken with my Oneplus) and the newest lens I own - a 20mm 1.8. Its my first time really using it. With the product shots (Like the Evora, T-shirts) I am usually shooting with a 55mm 2.8 macro. The 20mm has too much distortion for product but I love wide shots for scenery when I am traveling.
As the Ken Rockwell review suggested, its insanely sharp. Like insanely - even at f1.8. And it is small compared to the 16-35mm f4. I am so glad I went with the 20 prime instead of the 16-35.
I took an Evora along for the walk. I didn't actually throw it at all, but the purple is a good contrast for the forest. It is funny though, years ago CLYW had a video contest with "Canada theme" as the challenge, and I filmed it here. I won a gold and red splash Peak for it (Ironman edition?). I wish I still had it. That thing was bad ass.
I walked for a bit longer along the path until I found the stream. This was in the CLYW video from back then.
If you follow the stream, it leads to this brutalist monstrosity. This didn't change much since the last time I was here - I remember hopping around on the bricks in the past before as well. More graffiti than before I guess.
I think the last time I was here with Sandra we got covered in mosquito bites because we didn't wear bug spray. I didn't learn my lesson. I look back at it now, and it is weird how okay I am with how everything happened. We just knew each other so well because we grew up together from a young age.
This plant looked so out of place. What the hell.
Anodized titanium sure looks pretty. Its always so different than aluminum anodized that we are so used to seeing. Anyway thats where my journey ended. I essentially walked back where I started at the bridge. TLDR; Don't get hung up on old friends, anodized titanium yoyos are pretty, and the 20mm f1.8 is a baller ass lens. Cant ask for more!
It has been nearly 4 months since Ive been in Japan, and 5 months since I left Toronto. Writing that out makes it feel short but in reality it feels like forever ago. The last launch of the Plastic Peak was an overwhelming experience. I felt so grateful to work with CLYW, a company I grew up with. When the World Yoyo Contest hit I didn't know what to expect, but I had started noticing a feeling of burn out after grinding out so many yoyo related projects and in a weird introverted way I was a bit reluctant to go.
CLYW is a Canadian brand that started in 2006. I was 14 at the time when I watched this new brand unfold on the Yoyonation forums. They released their first yoyo named the "Peak" with 50 pieces retailing for $85. Today, that yoyo has used asking prices north of $2500 making it one of the most insanely rare and expensive yoyos to date. This "OG Painted Peak" featured a custom painted surface by a Canadian airbrush artist named Levi. Overtime as the Peak was impacted or dinged, the paint would chip off meaning there are only a handful of units in the world that survived in mint unused condition. Later versions would be released in more durable anodized finishes, but these first 50 "OG Painted Peaks"cemented CLYW into yoyoing history.
This one will interesting - since mine and Augie's relationship go a far distance back. Its also kind of a weird story of how like minded free sprits will seemingly eventually cross roads no matter how unlikely that is.
Growing up in what I like to call the golden area of competitive yoyoing I was blessed to be inspired by yoyoers with so much unique style. These players helped me stay hooked in yoyoing and I often wonder if I would have even stuck with it without them. Players like Yuuki Spenser, John Ando, Eric Koloski, Paul Han, Shinji Saito and of course Augie Fash were some of my favourites. Before there was a yoyo "meta" all these yoyoers had their own 1A style which is why I think fondly of this era.
Jeffrey Pang
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