by Rommy Ghaly | On Saturday night, This is East Van had its book launch party and gallery show at Interurban Gallery at Carrall and Hastings. Over the past two years, Erin Sinclair and Rob Forbes have tapped into East Van’s creativity and charm. This is East Van is their labour of love – a collection of photos submitted by local photographers and handpicked, published, and printed by Erin and Rob. Following last year’s success, there was no shortage of submitted photos to choose from; 1,200 photos to be precise and not just from professionals and amateurs. According to Erin, even grandmothers were sending in cellphone shots and one of the photos picked was taken by a six year old.

What makes the This is East Van project such a compelling one is that it’s real to us. We connect to the stories in the photos because we help to create those stories as community members, business owners, artists, and residents. This is East Van is a storybook and it’s a colourful one of diversity, creativity, and community in one of Vancouver’s most eclectic and charming neighbourhoods.

Interurban Gallery will host This is East Van until July 28th, so be sure to stop by. The gallery will be open Wed – Sat between 12 and 5. The book is available for $45 and Volume 1 from 2011 is on sale for $35. Framed photos from the photographers are selling for $160 each.

EVERYTHING SEEN IN VANCOUVER

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Rommy Ghaly was born and raised in New York. He’s spent the past sixteen years moving around from city to city and country to country, trying (and failing miserably) to find himself. You may see him out in the streets with his cameras taking photos of people he doesn’t know. The results of those adventures can be found at vancouverish.com.

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