ST. RITA'S CHURCH, NORTH BAY

This church was built in 1913 and was a very important  focal point for the Italian community in North Bay. The church has been sold and will be turned into a residential building. The church is not a great architectural gem but has great historic value for the community.I made a very classic black and white image, with strong textures, shapes and lines contrasting with the natural form of the cedar tree.

GARDEN WITH BEAN STALKS

Today I continued with my photoseries on the various neighbourhoods here in North Bay. You hardly ever notice all the details when driving through the streets but when walking you notice all the innteresting aspects of a neighbourhood like this small vegetable garden lined with beanstalks, which includes old iron rods. 

FIRE ESCAPE, NORTH BAY

Still experimenting with my iPad. I tried to recreate the visual quality of pictures made in the middle of the nineteenth century. It gives the image a different visual dimension.We are now so used to the beautifully exposed and focused pictures so I am moving into another direction where the technical quality becomes almost secondary to the visual of a picture

LIGHT AND FORM

This morning I was again experimenting with my iPad. This time I downloaded some pictures from my computer to the iPad. Last week I walked into my room and noticed a backlit light on the cabinet. It looked quite interesting so I made some exposures. Not until this morning did I really look at the images and then made some changes with a few photo apps. I liked the result and decided to post it today. Hope you like it too.

BACKYARD, NORTH BAY

Walking through the different areas here in the city, you always find someone who, in an otherwise very well looked after neighbourhood, you see houses which are totally neglected. The backyard is full of junk and even outright garbage. The owners obviously don't care about the neighbours around. 

HOUSE, NORTH BAY

I always passed this house on my way to work but never got around to photographing it.It has a rather unique architectural style which gives the place a very personal and interesting design. In other words, I simply like this house.

EASY CHAIR

Looking for pictures around town I came upon this chair, which was left between a variety of vans and trucks. Not an inviting place to take it easy.

PEELING PAINT DETAIL

Last night I was looking at a book with pictures by Bret Weston. I love his strong black and white images of his  detailed abstract photographs of cracked paint surfaces and of course the beautiful pictures of sand dunes. This  in addition to his landscape photographs.

IMAGINARY LANDSCAPE

This is another image from our last Friday's trip to the sandpit. The picture is a straight shot of rust and fading paint on the side of an old abandoned truck. I did not manipulate the image except doing some traditional dodging and burning. 

OLD PONTIAC

One more picture of old cars. I simply love these beautiful vehicles. This weekend I was looking at the pictures in the New York Times and what struck me was the way they are printed in that paper. The colours are quite subdued unlike what we are used to in other papers, which prefer a much more intense colour saturation. So here I made my image in warmer tones closer to the visual quality of the NYT.

CAR ORNAMENT

Its not only the overall design of these antique cars but also the beautifully sculpted hood ornaments . 

ANTIQUE CAR SHOW, NORTH BAY

Yesterday we visited the antique car show on Main Street here in North Bay. I just love to see the old model cars from the early to mid twentieth century. The designs are beautiful like this old Packard, which is beautifully restored. All in all it was a very enjoyable event. 

DETAIL, SANDPIT, NORTH BAY

Yesterday, my friend Dan and I made a little photo excursion to the sandpit where I made some interesting pictures of an old crusher. We were just in time because the owner is cleaning up the place. The crusher is gone and just yesterday he was in the process of removing and old truck. So I guess we will be visiting this place before everything is removed. This photograph is not upside down the trees at the bottom of the picture are simply reflected in a pool of water underneath an old van.

RUNNING WATER 2

Another abstract  image of the little stream. Its the simple black and white interpretation which enhances the water patterns.

RUNNING WATER

One of the trails, close to my home, crosses a small stream. Its not a particularly impressive little creek but I liked the texture of the water running over the rocks, which gave me a few nice black and white and colour abstract images.

BRICK PICTURE

I like to find this type of abstract images. A nice picture of brick carefully framed in a beautiful textured frame.

BIRCHBARK WITH LICHEN

The work is all finished so now back to my usual type of photography. I found this piece of birch bark, which made a great subject for some very nice almost abstract images.

ALMOST FINISHED

One more day of work and then its all done. Well now our work starts when we have to redesign and replant our garden. So here is a picture of what had to be done to replace our septic bed for those of you who have no idea what type of work was being done to our backyard. 

EARLY MORNING BREAK

Work started very early today. The garden has been transformed into a hugh sandbox or maybe they are creating a zen garden.Who knows. By Friday we will know how much our garden has been transformed.

ALL DUG UP

What a mess. We are in the process of replacing our septic bed. The garden is all dug up and looks like a real mess but by the end of the week everything will be ready for replanting.