I spent a good chunk of time this summer walking around some of Vancouver’s more interesting neighbourhoods, camera in hand. Not because it was a fun thing to do (it was), but because I was being paid to do it by some Vancouver builders. The photos are being used on websites and Facebook pages for some of the new developments going up around the city. My only instructions were to capture the spirit of the area.

Now, five years ago this would never have happened. Jobs like this didn’t exist. But marketers of housing developments have discovered the power of social media, and are using it to reach their target markets, through blogs, Twitter, websites and Facebook pages websites like this one . And as a result I get paid to wander around the city, taking pictures of whatever strikes my fancy. I can’t think of a better way to spend a day.

Here are a few of the thousands of images that I shot this summer. No staging, no flashes or reflectors. Just real slices of life in Vancouver.