SCHLOSSER'S FARM, POWASSAN

Yesterday I made a little photo trip. It actually rained all day so it was hard to keep my camera dry but the light was so beautiful. The landscapes reminded me of Pieter Breughel's winter paintings. Anyway here is my image of the Schlosser's barn. Happy New year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

I wish all my followers and their families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I am looking forward to your postings and comments in the coming years So I will raise a toast to all of you and thanks.
Mike

EMPTY

I have not posted very many images lately. Well, it is of course a busy time just before Christmas so here is a picture to remind you that its time to finish your last Christmas shopping.

WINDOW, TORONTO

We are just digging ourselves out of a lot of snow. Yesterday and early today we had a major snowstorm coming through our area. So I did not have time to go and spend time taking pictures. This picture is an image I made in Toronto a few weeks ago. Its the little head that makes this image.

TEXTURE

Other things to do  today so I did not spend much time taking pictures. On my walk I took this picture of a rock outcrop. I simply enhanced the texture by turning it into a HDR image. A rather popular process at the moment but It did work well on this picture.

WINTER DUCHESNAY CREEK

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of Duchesnay Creek. This time I took this image from the same spot but prefered to take it in black and white. I liked the textures and patterns of the brush in the lower part of the image contrasting with the snow covered pine trees at the top.

BLACK FORREST WINTER TRAIL

Yes John you are correct. Dan and I made a little photo excursion to the Black Forrest. It was magical walking along the winter trail. This would be an excellent park for x country skiing or snow shoeing. Pity that the city does not plow the parking lot. So it will be difficult getting into the park when we get more snow. I hope Elli that you like this image as much as the yesterdays picture. Thanks for the comment.

BLOWING SNOW

Another picture of our little photo trip. Occasionally a gust of wind would blow the soft snow around. You had to be quick because it would last only a few seconds. The blowing snow would create a fog like effect.

SNOW FLAKES

Yesterday we had our real first snow of the Winter. We received about 30cm of the white stuff and this will stay for the rest of the season. My friend Dan and I went taking pictures of course. It was great to be out and wander through the snow. We got some very fine images.The camera was set at auto focus so of course I ended up with sharp snow flakes and a very impressionistic background.

GARBAGE CONTAINER, TORONTO

You are right David, this type of subject matter offers a lot of visual information. Here I think it is the different pictures stuck onto this container. The  torn images and the red splatters of paint add to a feeling of violence.

TORONTO ALLEY

This image is simply my personal interpretation of random objects and almost inarticulate graffiti, found on a corner of some alley in downtown. Toronto.

STAIR CASE, ONTARIO COLLEGE OF ART, TORONTO

I just returned from my trip to Southern Ontario. One afternoon my wife and I wandered around downtown Toronto. The light was not very good but I managed to make a few images. I liked the contrast of the stairwell and the black trees. I actually increased the contrast of the trees by making the image black and white and then turning the building to its original colour state.

WINTER TRAIL

Last Friday afternoon I walked the trails in the Black Forrest Park here in North Bay. It was snowing lightly, the light was very soft which I liked. I made this picture without a tripod and because of the very low light I had to shoot at 800 ISO. This gave me quite a bit of noise but instead of trying to suppress the noise I added more grain to the image. I liked the final result which has an almost painterly effect. I won't be around for a few days, actually I will be gone for most of the week, so on my return I'll resume my postings.

WINTERSTORM

Last night we visited our friends Bob and Pat, who had invited us for dinner. Of course, the weather, as quite often happens in the Winter season, turned quite ugly that afternoon and we had our first big Winterstorm . Cars and buses were stuck on the road, the light you see at the beginning of the driveway was a truck trying to get on the road. However we made it and had a wonderful evening. ,  So I posted this picture to thank Pat and Bob for a great dinner and, best of all, great company, which included Bob's neighbours and friends Rob and Marsh, who unexpectedly also dropped by.

TRAIL ANGEL

At the end of a trail along lake Nipissing I photographed this small garden angle. Actually the angle was just inside a garden next to the trail.

UNION TAXI

Rain, rain and more rain that is the weather today so again, a good time to look at some old images. I like this picture because of the complex perspective created by the different geometrical shapes.

DE LUXE TAXI, NORTH BAY

Actually this picture is quite old but I am making a print portfolio of night pictures I took in 1983, quite a long time ago. I forgot about all these negatives I had and now with the Winter season ready to start, it looked like a good project to work on when it is dark and gray and you simply don't feel like going out taking pictures.

SILVERCITY CINEMA, OTTAWA

I liked the gaudy quality of this cinema complex in Ottawa. it was a very dark gray day when I made this image, very similar to our weather we are experiencing this last few days.

HILSIDE LAKE, NORTH BAY

Within the North Bay city limits you will find quite a few small lakes. I discovered this site over the weekend and made quite a few images at this spot. Dave will enjoy this view and probably look back with nostalgia at his time here in North Bay.In the next few days I will post some more pictures of this small lake. Also this weekend four more people became followers of my blog. So thank you and welcome Marcela Gramatic , Fabricio Vieira , David McGrievey and Leovi

DUCHESNAY CREEK

When I saw this landscape, it reminded me of a large painting, I can't remember the name of the artist, which I really liked. The random lines of the shrubs and the texture of the yellow grasses  made very a very abstract   composition.

NOVEMBER

We are in the dark days of the Fall season. While cleaning up around our garden I saw these puffballs on an old log. This simple natural still life which symbolized for me the end of the season.

CAR WASH

It is a habit of mine to nearly always carry a camera with me just in case I "see" a picture. So going through the carwash inside my car I took a series of images. There were a few I liked so here is one of them. Hope you enjoy it.

WATER, BLACK AND WHITE

What attracted me was the abstract quality of the ripples and the reflections of the trees. I preferred the black and white image over the colour rendition because it simply made a visually stronger picture.

BLACK CREEK, TROUT LAKE, ON

Last Sunday I made some more pictures along the little Black Creek near Trout Lake. It was gray day but excellent weather for photographing running water.

LIGHT AND SHADOW, NGC

This picture is for the black and white aficionados. I always visit the gallery when I am in Ottawa. For me it is a very inspiring building. The NGC is having a great exhibition of the work by the Israeli architect Moshe Safdie who designed this building. The man is a genius in the way he uses light and shadows in his structures.

CEILING NGC, OTTAWA

No it is not a painting but the ceiling in a lobby of the National Gallery of Canada. The glass ceiling looks through a small pool on the second floor just above the lobby.I simply increased the contrast to emphasize the black and intensified the colours.

GUITAR PLAYER, OTTAWA

Obviously they are restoring or adding an addition to this old building on the corner of bank and Somerset. I gueess they are trying to safe part of a trompe l'oeil mural.

COLOURFUL STREET, OTTAWA

Just returned from another weekend visiting family in Ottawa. Friday afternoon I made a little phototrip in the downtown area. I took this picture in the Bank street area and just loved the various coloured shapes with the joyful painting of, I guess a sunflower.

HALLOWEEN BRIDE

Many people have decorated their front garden with a variety of Halloween displays for the upcoming Halloween this weekend. I noticed this bride and just had to take her picture.

THE VICTORY SHOP, NORTH BAY

Another night image showing the Victory Shop. This is almost a historical site because this store was founded by the IODE to collect all kind of stuff to send overseas during the second world war. It still is a second hand store which uses the proceeds to support a wide variety of organizations.

TAMARACK

This afternoon I passed this very nice late Fall scene just off Hwy 522. The tamarack were a beautiful gold colour. The colour  image turned out to be too much like a nice postcard so to make it more interesting I combined a sepia toned picture with the original colour shot. It soften the colour then I just emphasized the yellow of the tamarack. Some people asked me for an tutorial on the Russell Brown method of turning a picture into black and white. Just email me and I will send you the info and the black and white action.

ELVIS, OTTAWA

Walking along the streets of the Westboro shopping area in Ottawa, I could not resist taking a picture of Elvis, painted on a door of a club.

NGC INTERIOR, OTTAWA

David Ernest asked me yesterday if I use the  black and white setting on the camera or translate my colour images into black and white using Photoshop. I prefer the latter method because it gives me more choice. I made this picture on a very dark and rainy day so I had to use a high ISO rating, resulting in quite a bit of noise. I turned the colour image into black and white with Russell Brown's method using two Hue/Saturation layers. If you are working with the full Photoshop CS3 to CS5 look at Russell Brown's Photoshop Laboratory Experiments. He is quite corny but the tutorials are excellent.

TRAIL WALK

Another image from the Cranberry trail. The trail is very nice but difficult to photograph . What I mean is that it is hard to make pictures which look different from the usual nature shots. I did like this black and white which actually is a reflection in a water pool along the trail.

TRAVELIN' BEARS

This weekend our friends Gunther and Linda from Welland, came for a visit. We had a very nice time and went for a walk on the Cranberry trail in Callander. When we returned we noticed these little bears strapped to the back of a jeep, parked next to our car. Of course I had to take a picture for the blog.

BILL BOOTH STORE, NORTH BAY

Now for all you North Bay  nostalgia fans an old picture, made in 1976, of the Bill Booth store. It was torn down a long time ago but many people have very fond memories of the place. It was a pity they did not save the front because it was small enough to be placed in the North Bay Museum. Enjoy.

DEMARCO'S CONFECTIONERY, NORTH BAY

This is another famous store in North Bay. It has been in operation for many decades and has not changed that much in the time that I have been in North Bay.

EASTEND VARIETY STORE REVISITED

We are having some very fine Fall weather, which,of course, is a great time to make more evening photographs. Last January I posted an image of this variety store so I thought it might make an interesting night shot. Don Amyotte was taking a break and offered to move away so I could get a picture of just the store but I asked him to stay because him relaxing against the post made just added a different dimension to this image.

JD BARBER SHOP, NORTH BAY

This is the barber shop where I go to get my hair cut. It is always crowded with old men like me who come for a quick hair trim. The price is good and the two lady barber are very pleasant. This image reminds me very much of a scene for some play set in the forties or fifties.

THANKSGIVING, CANADA

Its Thanksgiving day in Canada, so I wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.

CAR WASH AGAIN

You are right david I do enjoy taking pictures with a wide angle. Yesterday's image was made with a 28mm but I used a 13mm wide angle for this shot. I like taking pictures at night because you really don't have a good idea what the final result will be. A good example is this nondescript car wash. It was very dark and I simply had no idea what the  image  would look like.

SQUEEKY CLEAN CARWASH, NORTH BAY

This year we are experiencing a very nice Indian Summer, so last Friday evening I decided to visit some spots I was interested in photographing at night. The scene was very dark but to my surprise the picture came out quite colourful.

RECOLLET FALLS, FRENCH RIVER, ONTARIO

Last Tuesday my wife and I hiked a beautiful trail to the Recollet Falls on the French river. The falls were named after the Recollet Fathers, who used the French river to get to their missions in Huronia in the early 17th century. It was a picture post card  Fall day, maybe not a day to make great pictures but certainly worth the hike.

OLD DOOR, TROUT CREEK, ONTARIO

A simple image this time. I just liked the rough textures of this old wooden door. Using my D80 handheld and a ISO of 100, I just had enough shutter speed at 1/25 sec to get a reasonable sharp image. Of course if  had used my tripod it could be sharper but I was still happy with the result.

BEACH, WATERFRONT, NORTH BAY

It is a beautiful Fall day so this morning I went for a walk along the beach at the waterfront. I noticed this rust seeping into the lake. It probably comes from an old industrial site or from the railway which runs parallel to the lakefront. Wherever it comes from, it is a mess. Of course the subject is quite colourful so it translates into an visually interesting image. Bob Morton asked me to include some more info on processing.  I made this picture with the Canon G11, ISO speed 80, exposure time 1/200 sec, F-stop f/8 and focal length 6.10 mm. Because I teach Photoshop Elements, I tend to use it quite a bit. Actually I just downloaded the latest version, Elements 9.0, from Adobe . It has some very nice features, which I am trying at the moment.

SAMMY'S CORNER FOODSTORE

In contrast to my last posting of the Trout Creek General store, I thought I would like to show an image of Sammy's Corner's friendly neighbourhood store in the city of Ottawa.

GENERAL STORE, TROUT CREEK, ONTARIO

Trout Creek is a community which is slowly dying. Ever since the main highway has bypassed this place, and some of the other small towns in this area in the same predicament, are losing business. Job opportunities are very  slim so most of the young people are forced to leave the area. This General Store is one of the few remaining businesses.  Some technical information about this picture. I photographed it with my G11. This camera has some definite problems. It shows a very pronounced barrel distortion and chromatic aberration problems. So keep that in mind if you are interested in this camera. Other problems I will discuss in some of my next postings.

ROCKIN' JOHNNY'S DINER 2

Yesterday's picture was made with my new Canon Powershot G11. I have made quite a few images with this new camera and start to learn its flaws. In a next posting I will tell you my opinion about this product. This picture was made with my trusted Nikon D80. Anonymous asked me if I could give some more technical details of my pictures. Its actually a good idea so here it is. Starting with the ISO rating, which was 100 , exposure time 13 seconds, used a tripod of course, lens opening F: 8 and focal length 10 mm equivalent to 15mm on a 35 mm camera. The previous image was taken with a rating of 80 ISO, exposure time 6 seconds, lens opening F: 56 and a focal length of 18mm.

ROCKIN' JOHNNY'S DINER, OTTAWA

Just returned from my visit to Ottawa. No it was not a vacation but lots of fun. A new grandson Ewan has just joined our family. We had a wonderful time looking after our first grandson Callum. Of course I did not spend much time taking pictures, except of course lots of pictures of Ewan. One evening I just had to take some pictures of this diner. It is only open in the daytime but I still thought it was a good subject for some interesting evening images.

FENCE POST

For the next few weeks I wont be able to post because I will be out of town and I don't know if I will have access to the internet or more actually if I can use photoshop. I'll give it a try otherwise I will be back in a few weeks.