HOSTAS

Every Spring I am amazed and delighted to see how quickly everything grows. Look at these hostas with their beautiful shaped leaves. I could not resist taking some pictures, which I do every year and, amazingly enough, every time I get some visually interesting images. This time I decided to work strictly in black and white to emphasize the lines and patterns.

A BEAUTIFUL DAY

It was beautiful Spring weekend. Walking along te waterfront I simply had to photograph this Christopher Pratt scene. The strong primary colours, the lines of the siding, which, combined, created a strong geometric composition.

URBAN SHAPES, NORTH BAY

When I made this picture, I thought about the paintings of my sister in law Addy Gouverneur, who lives in New Zealand. She loves to paint these very geometrical city abstractions. So I thought she might like this  simple image of textures and shapes.

TWO DOORS

A simple composition but with an interesting, almost two dimensionally, perspective. This creates an illusion that the left door is quite a bit smaller than the front door on the right. 

4 L. MILK BAG, NORTH BAY, ON

The weather has not been very Spring like the last few days. We had lots of rain and pretty cold. I was just looking for some colour so walking down this rather dreary road I photographed this city scape. A scene you would normally simply walk or drive trough but I have to admit I like the final image.

CLASSIC ONTARIO FARM HOUSE

Last Saturday was a beautiful  early Spring day. When I passed this farm  I simply had to photograph this quintessential house, which is a great example of an architectural style called Cottage Gothic. This type of design was quite popular up to the 1950's. 

LANDSCAPE, CHISHOLM TWP, ONTARIO

This railway underpass is now a historical site because the railway here in North Eastern Ontario is now almost just a memory. Canadian National has removed its lines a long time ago and now much of the canadian Pacific rail lines are quickly disappearing. Using my newly purchased software, I decided to give this image a nostalgic looking memory of times gone by.

WHITE WAVE

On my early morning photo trip I photographed this very abstract painting. Obviously it was some graffiti, which had been obscured with black and white paint.It is quite an interesting work of art.

TOM THOMSON'S PAINTING CABIN

Last week we visited the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg, where we went to see the several very good native art exhibits. Of course we were not allowed to take pictures but I could not resist photographing Tom Thomson's cabin. There must be numerous pictures around because I assume that many visitors take a peek through the windows, the cabin is locked, and, just like me can't resist taking a picture. I decided to manipulate the image on my iPad to recreate the feeling of an old period photograph.

NEW PARKLAND, NORTH BAY

I did not know what the purpose is of this little shed. It looks like a transformer station but I simply liked the view of the new expansion being developed for the waterfront park.

NORTH BAY ANNUAL CAR SHOW 2013

Yesterday there were many beautiful vintage cars, trucks and bikes displayed on the Main street of North Bay. This annual event is organized by the downtown improvement area. Of course it is always a popular event. Many people take pictures of the various vehicles. My particular interest is the great details, which are great subjects to make some interesting and unique images.

OLD TRUCK, DETAIL, DISTILLERY DISTRICT, TORONTO

While visiting the Distillery District in Toronto, I photographed one of the old trucks, which are part of the the street ornaments. These old trucks have of course been photographed numerous times so I decided to simply concentrate on a detail, the front of the truck. In  black and white, the old grill and logo has been transformed into an antique Roman gladiator helmet.

STAIRWELL, ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM,TORONTO

Yesterday we visited the ROM to see the photo exhibition "Genesis" by the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. Well all I can say "what an experience" this show is one of the best exhibitions I have ever seen in all my life as a photographer. As I mentioned earlier, Salgado is one of the great photographic artist alive today. If you get a chance to see this show, my advise is simply go. It is an experience not to be missed.

REFLECTIONS

Visited the Art Gallery of Ontario yesterday, we wanted to see the Renaisance exhibition. While enjoying a coffee, I noticed the refelctions. Of course I could not resist experimenting with some of the images on my iPad so here is one of the results. Hope you like it.

NORTH BAY TRANSIT STATION

Another picture I took yesterday on my Sunday morning Spring walk downtown. This image is far more austere than the one I posted yesterday but it has strong design elements, which gives this picture more graphic appeal.

SPRING, MAIN STREET, NORTH BAY

What a glorious Spring weekend. This morning I took a stroll down Main street and made this image of the various patterns and the bright colours, which made it look like some sun-drenched Mediterranean town. Yes I know our colours are not as bright but I simply had to create that Spring feeling..

HOT

Last night I was looking at an old metal tub my wife uses in her garden. It had an old faded label stuck on to one side. So I took some pictures and started to transform it into a glowing sunset.

ANTIQUE KETTLE

This antique kettle has been in my wife's family for a couple of hundred years. We have no idea how old this kettle really is but we love the battered look and the textures. Sitting in my chair I was looking at it and then noticed how together with the light patterns it made a simple beautiful composition.