SNOW

We received quite a bit of snow last week. I like the soft light on snowy days. When I took this picture I simply could not avoid getting some snow flakes on the lens but I decided to post this picture because it adds to the atmosphere of the day.

BACKYARD TREES

I always liked the paintings by the Canadian artist Albert Franck. He loved painting the alley ways, backyards and house in the downtown Toronto neighbourhoods and , I should add, nearly always in the Winter. When I started walking around the streets and back alleys here in North Bay, I can understand his attraction to this type of Winter cityscapes.

WALKING HOME, COLOUR VERSION

Last night my wife and I had a little discussion about my black and white picture I posted yesterday. She prefers the colour version so I post this picture for her and you can decide which version you prefer. Yes Rob you are right, this is Fourth Avenue halfway between Fisher and Wyld Street.

WALKING HOME

This is a typical Northern Ontario scene. A group of students walking home from school. I liked the pattern of the branches and the shapes of the trees. For me it works better in black and white than colour. It could also be that I am biased towards black and white, especially for Winter pictures.

WINTER FLOWER BOX

This image is actually for my friend Gerry, who is working in a very wintery Russia. I took this picture yesterday afternoon on one of my little walks around the streets of North Bay. The flowers should cheer him up when he sees this Winter flowerbox.

CP RAIL YARD, NORTH BAY

I could not resist posting another image of the old CP rail yard in North Bay. Rob Greenfield had posted a picture of the same yard  way back in 2006. So this picture is for Rob. On another note, this weekend I read an amazing story about a great street photographer working in Chicago, who never published or exhibited her photographs. John Maloof, a young  real estate agent bought her negatives and prints at an auction for $400. When he started to look at the negatives and prints he realized that he had bought the work of a great artist. Anyway, those of you interested in black and white photography, I would urge you to check out John Maloof's blog  and you will be amazed at the work of this , till now, unknown artist.

WINTER 1971, NORTH BAY RAIL YARD

It has been quite cold the last few days and it definitely is not a time to wander around looking for pictures. But this is a good time to go through my files and scan some Winter images from the past., pictures I have never printed but now look quite interesting seeing how everything changes in such a relatively short time. North Bay was a very important railway town with large yards and repair shops, all of which has disappeared quite a few years ago. I think Dave Brown, and many others, can remember how it looked like in the early seventies. It looks quite different now.

COUCHIE POINT, NORTH BAY

David Brown posted a picture of his old Minolta camera and wrote a beautiful and nostalgic comment about his camera. So I started to look back at my old black and white negatives with very similar feelings about my time spent in the darkroom developing film and making prints. Of course I enjoy working digitally but it is not exactly the same. However looking at all my binders full of negatives I think it is a pity to just leave them while there are some really good images hidden in all those files. So this picture is for Dave Brown and also David Ernst who loves black and white images.

OLD TRUCK IN COLOUR

As promised, even though it is  a few days later, here is another image of the same truck. This time however I made it a colour picture. It is fun to see how many different interpretations you can make of one simple image. Personally I prefer the black and white picture. It is visually stronger but of course others might disagree with that.

OLD TRUCK

The weather has not been very nice in the last few days, so when I looked at some of my older images, I came across this picture of an old truck body, which was "parked" in the Distillery District in Toronto. it was a very good image to try some different techniques with Photoshop  Elements. I know I could do this in the full version of the program but because I might be running another Elements course this Summer I thought this was a good time to try it out. Here is a black and white version of the picture, tomorrow I will post a colour image of the same truck.

AMARYLLIS BULB

It was pretty cold this morning so not exactly a great time to go out looking for pictures. The amaryllis in our living room is starting to grow. I liked the textures of the bulb then after processing the images I prefered the black and white over the colour versions.

LAKEVIEW GROCERY, NORTH BAY

Believe me, it was cold this morning, -22C, but I did go out to take a few pictures. Mind you I did not stay out for very long but just enough to take a few pictures of the Lakeview Grocery store. Just to add this to my series on small neighbourhood stores. I like to photograph it again at night but I think I'll wait till Spring.

WINTER HYDRANGEA

Walking by the Lutheran church here in North Bay, I made this simple picture  but I liked the texture of the walls contrasting with this hydrangea. It works better in black and white. The tonal values are stronger when simplified from colour to a rich gray tone image.

MORE NORTH BAY TUSCANY

This image is for Krys and Paul so they have an idea of how the house looks. As you mentioned, it is someone's idea or fantasy about classic Italian architecture. In June 2007 I posted a picture of the house but it had not been finished I guess but ,after all it is someone's realization of their dream house.

ITS NOT TUSCANY

Over the years I have seen this house transform from a simple early twentieth century home into a exuberant Italian fantasy. It changes continually and , even though North Bay is not Tuscany, the house adds colour to the black and white Winter season.

SPYING

Walking through one of the downtown streets, I felt some eyes following me. Actually it was a poster of Harry Potter on a window. So, of course, I had to take the picture.

WEEKEND PAPER

My wife and I are still from a generation, who enjoy reading a printed newspaper rather than flipping through a digital version on the computer or iPad. So this morning I watched my wife reading her weekend paper and I liked the composition so made a nice black and white image.

WORTHINGTON STREET, NORTH BAY

This house has always interested me and have photographed it several times.This afternoon I took a walking tour around the centre of North Bay and came up with this image. It worked well in colour but I think this picture is definitely better in black and white.

CYCLAMEN

Well its Winter again so today I spent some time making a variety of images of a cyclamen. I simply needed some colour. This picture is actually for Krys and Paul who are enjoying my blog so I hope they like this image.Thanks for your postings.

NATURAL BIRD FEEDER

Just a quick posting on this first day of the year. On my resent little photo trip I photographed this sunflower by left  the farmer as a natural bird feeder. Needless to say that the birds quickly finished this treat. I simply liked the shape and colour of the stalk contrasting with the monochromatic landscape.