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.