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“Surrey Through My Lens” proudly shares authentic photo essays that showcase what it is really like to live in and visit our community from a range of perspectives.
“Born and raised in Surrey, this city is part of my DNA at this point. With the exception of a few years during which I moved away for university, I have always called Surrey home and was glad to move back after I finished school.
One of my favourite things to do in Surrey is explore coffee shops. Each neighbourhood has at least a few distinct, locally owned coffee shops that are absolutely worth checking out and supporting. It’s also always great fun to explore Surrey’s parks – there are so many that I feel like I’ll never be able to see them all. I often reflect on the city’s slogan, the “City of Parks”.”
“It’s impossible to photograph Fleetwood without a stroll through Fleetwood Park. A true reflection of the neighbourhood in which it resides, Fleetwood Park is serene, functional, and all around pleasant. Through my lens, Fleetwood looks like home.”
Recommendations from the Discover Surrey Team:
Offering an extraordinary blend of urban, suburban, and rural landscapes, here are a few of the Discover Surrey team’s recommended spots in Fleetwood:
“Some would say that Fleetwood is the most suburban neighbourhood in Surrey, which is itself mostly suburban. Life in Fleetwood almost makes you forget that you’re living in one of the largest cities in Canada. The Fleetwood Community Centre, pictured here, reflects that friendly, community-focused lifestyle that awaits anyone who chooses to call Fleetwood home.”
Recommendations from the Discover Surrey Team:
In addition to having a distinct international urban flair, Fleetwood also has a strong connection to the animals that call the area home (urban or wild!):
“Nanyang is the perfect community grocer. Independent and family owned, Nanyang embodies the diversity of Surrey. Surrey is home to hundreds of thousands of people of Asian-origin (myself included), and Nanyang offers the opportunity to not only buy authentic food and ingredients from our countries of origin, but also to try new things. I walked out of Nanyang Asian Supermarket with grocery bags full of food from Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and India. The experience of walking up and down the aisles looking for both new and familiar products felt like a smaller, year-round Fusion Festival.”
“I told a friend I would be photographing Cuatro Coffee and he responded with “they are a Fleetwood staple”. Family owned since 2014, Cuatro Coffee is renowned as one of the best cafes in Surrey. There is care and thought behind everything, from the deliberate selection of locally-roasted Timbertrain Coffee to the cute illustrations on the chalkboard signs. Don’t just take my word for it though – Cuatro was recently ranked by Yelp as one of the top cafes in all of Canada.”
“I like to think of photography as a form of time travel. Images capture and save moments in time. Surrey has changed so much in my lifetime and continues to change year over year. By photographing Surrey, I am creating an earmark with which we can measure our progress in 5, 10, or 20 years.”
Recommendations from the Discover Surrey Team:
Located in the heart of Surrey, Fleetwood’s vibrant community is full of life and activity; these are a few of the Discover Surrey team’s recommended spots:
Check out the other lenses on Surrey’s six neighbourhoods – we’ll be releasing a new feature every two weeks from November 16th, 2022 to January 25th, 2022. Click the link below to learn more about the project and find the galleries for the other neighbourhoods.