VICTORIA CAFE, ALMONTE

Today I was trying out a variety of colour to black and white actions. I am interested to see which actions would work in Photoshop Elements. In the new version of Elements you can use actions created in the full versions of Photoshop. There are a wide variety of actions you can download from the net but, I discovered, that not all actions will work. This image was created using an action called LAB action. I liked the result the overall sepia tone is just right and I particularly enjoy the rich tones of this picture.

AYLMER, QC

At last another posting, again it has been a crazy time for me. Last week I finally finished framing all my pictures then I had to leave for Ottawa again for a short family visit. happily I did have some time to spare so i could roam around taking pictures. Anonymous asked for some information about the exhibition in Callander. Well, the show is open even though the official opening is not until the 19th of September. So if you want to attend the opening you are hereby invited or you can just go and enjoy the pictures now.

GETTING READY

Just getting all the pictures ready for our show in Callander. I still have to finish some matting and framing then ready to hang the show next week. I will post more detailed information in acouple of days.

NEAR POWASSAN, ONTARIO

I could not resist posting another wildflower image. I wonder what Vincent van Gogh would have made of this view.

WILDFLOWERS

Finally I spent yesterday afternoon taking pictures. This time of the Summer is very beautiful with the landscape fulls of colour from all the wildflowers. My wife gathers a large bouquet of grasses, goldenrod, tansy and asters, which, when dried, will be a reminder of Summer in the long Winter season.

HARLEQUIN

This Summer has been a very busy time for me. First the renovations downstairs followed by a variety of visitors and to top it off I am working on a show at the Alex Dufresne Gallery in Callander Ontario. This picture is actually for our friend Linda. The little sculpture was made by an old friend Mieke Coppens Frehe. My sister brought it for me from Holland where I had left it. Mieke made this harlequin after a trip we had made with a group of fellow students through France in the Summer of 1958.It was a very memorable trip and this piece was made after we visited Vaison la Romaine in the south of France. The harlequin was the "master of ceremony" at the finale of a great festival in the town, which ended in the old Roman amphitheatre.

SUMMER REFLECTION

I took this picture a few days ago along a trail close to my home. Looking at the image on the computer I started to just play around with it and here is the result. Hope you like it.

EARTH ART

I took this picture yesterday afternoon at the catchment pond at the end of the new parking lots. I don't know the function of the small dam but it reminded me of work the earth land artist Robert Smithson, who made some very famous "landscape as an object" art in the seventies.

PUPPETS UP!

Well, I promise, this is my last puppet image for this year. I can't say I won't post another one next year because I enjoyed the festival so much that, the next time, I will go back for the full weekend. I would like to thank Highton Ridley for becoming a follower of my blog.

AGAIN THE ALMONTE PUPPET FESTIVAL

I decided to visit the International Puppet Festival in Almonte. It looks to be a fun weekend.

ELORA GORGE

On Saturday we visited Elora. It is of course very much a tourist destination but definitely worth visiting. We had a drink on the deck overlooking this spectacular gorge.

WHEAT FIELD, ST.JACOBS, ONTARIO

I just returned from a trip to Southern Ontario. This picture was made just outside the famous farmers market in St. Jacobs.

LAKE NIPISSING BOAT TRIP

Yesterday afternoon I went with my wife and my sister on a Lake nipissing cruise. The weather was not the greatest but it was very enjoyable. Actually, in all the years we lived here in North Bay I never went on a cruise aboard the Chief Commanda but I certainly plan go again.

ALMONTE PUPPET FESTIVAL

This weekend I visited Almonte, a town near Ottawa. It is a very picturesque place and I noticed that all the stores displayed puppets as a promotion for their upcoming international Puppet Festival, which will take place on the ninth and tenth of August. Here is an example of these puppets. Canadians will recognize Don Cherry a very popular hockey commentator on Canadian television.

GATHERING STORM

The Summer, so far, has been rather wet and cold. Today we had a little bit of sunshine but across the lake a big thunderstorm was rapidly approaching Sunset Park where we were enjoying the afternoon. Yesterday my sister arrived from Holland and I hope the weather will become more Summerlike so she can enjoy a very pleasant Canadian Summer holiday.

DELPHINIUMS

Just photographed these beautiful white delphiniums in my wifes garden. I made the picture in black and white because this garden stillife reminds me of the Victorian era gardens.

LA VASE RIVER PORTAGES, NORTH BAY

Time for a new posting. Again it was a busy week with preparations for next weeks course and other chores. I had to post a landscape along the Lavase portages. On Monday evening, the city council will approve a 60-metre buffer zone between the historic La Vase portage and a proposed quarry operation rather than the 120-metre zone recommended by the council’s community services committee. This of course wil destroy much of the natural environment of the historic portage because of noise, dust and an unsightly skyline. Obviously the mediocre minds of the members on city council are far more impressed with short term financial profits than with the long term gain of a pristine natural setting, which would enhance the enjoyment for this and future generations.

CAROUSEL, NORTH BAY WATERFRONT

This weekend our nine month old grandson came for a visit. We took him on his first carousel ride, which he greatly enjoyed. North Bay has two carousels designed, carved and constructed by a group of volunteer carvers and artists. This carousel is the smaller of the two but shows a variety of typical Canadian animals. It is truly a community effort and great fun for the children and adults too by the way.

PARKING LOTS, NORTH BAY

The picture show the holding ponds for the run off water coming from the newly built parking lots at the Educational Centre here in North Bay. I think creating huge parking lots show a lack of foresight. It simply destroys the natural setting around the complex. Instead they could have built a parking garage or better still develop a bettre transit system.

GARDEN

A few weeks ago, a former student asked me if I still had the slides of a bizarre and somewhat disturbingly decorated garden I photographed many years ago. So I looked through my old files and yes I found the slides. The problem is that at the time I used AGFA slidefilm, which did not age very well but with the help of Photoshop I am able to rescue them. Looking at them again I think that the pictures are still quite disturbing but also interesting.Here is a sample image of this series. If someone is interested in seeing some more just let me know and I will post some additional images.

STRIP MALL, NORTH BAY

In the last few years I have really become interested in the urban landscape. This little strip mall here in North Bay is a subject I like to photograph. It intrigues me how these businesses can be profitable.

ASPHALT MANDALA WITH YELLOW

I just like to thank Kuluth for joining my followers list. I am glad you enjoy my pictures. I called this image asphalt mandala because that is what it is but I could have named it cosmic mandala, which would be a little more mystical and pretentious.

CLOUDS

Nearly always I take my camera along wherever I go. Making pictures is just a second nature. Many people have a problem finding good subject matter but if you look around you then you learn that interesting images will present themselves.

CARP FARMERS MARKET

Saturday we visited the farmers market in Carp. I liked the variety colours and patterns of these radishes.

WEEKEND IN OTTAWA

Time for another posting. My wife and I returned last night from a very enjoyable fathersday weekend in Ottawa. Sunday afternoon we soent the afternoon on a roof patio in the market area, watching the people, enjoying a nice glass of wine and of course some very pleasant conversations. The weather was just great so all in all a very relaxing time with our family.

ABANDONED FUEL TANKS

In the same area where I photographed the old truck I took some pictures of these old fuel tanks hidden between the foliage of some trees.

GMC TRUCK

First of all I would like to thank Annie Miniscloux for her surprise posting. It has been a long time since I heard from you so I hope that we will keep in touch. I photographed this abandoned truck in the North Bay Public works yard. Maybe it is a symbol of what is happening to the General Motors Company. It could be possible to fix up this rusting truck but it would take a lot of money and definitely not worth it.

OLD SHED, NORTH BAY

Down the street is an old neglected shed. The peeling paint makes for some very interesting textures. So this morning I decided to see if I could make some interesting images of this very simple subject. So here is af pictures of the old shed.

IT'S DONE !!!

Well, the renovations are finished. All thats left is moving all the "stuff" in its place. That will take a few days but I am very happy with the final result.I used a 10 to 20 mm wideangle lens, which of course gives some distortion.

CATTLE AUCTION REMEMBERED

With the renovations finished, the big job is putting everything back in its place. Of course while sorting everything you find all kind of stuff you forgot about. This pictures is from an old photo series I did a long time ago on the cattle auction in Sturgeon Falls. The auction disappeared a long time ago so these images are just the memories left behind. It was actually a good document so I started to scan the negatives. Lets see what develops after I am finished.

SIMPLY A ROCK (revised)

First I would like to thank Lydia Peever and Andrew Livitt for following my blog. Nonie asked me if I could show her how to resize her images so they will fit on the screen. She has some difficulty reducing the size of her pictures. I will be glad to send her and anybody else who has problems resizing a short tutorial on this topic. Simply send me an email.

ANOTHER SNOW IMAGE

This was the view when I went to pick up my morning paper. I posted this additional image because Nonie had asked me for information about my Summer course on Photoshop Elements. The course will run from July 13 until July 17. Check the link on the right for more information.

MAY SNOWFALL

What a surprise. We woke up to a snowstorm early in the morning. It was quite a sight to see snow covering the plants and flowers. I had to go and look for my snow brush to clean my car of about five centimetres of snow but its what you can expect here in Northern Ontario.

ALMOST FINISHED

Today's picture is an image of light and shadows. As I explained earlier, I have not have much time to concentrate on my photography. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. This week all the downstairs renovations will be done. Of course now I will need time to sort and move all the "stuff" back into its place. That will take another few days.

CHIPPEWA CREEK SPRING WALK

This morning I went for a walk along the Chippewa Creek trail here in North Bay. I could not resist photographing this almost iconic Spring scene.

SPRING BLOSSOM

Again I am back on line. Last Monday I returned from a nice Victoria weekend in Ottawa and discovered that my brand new computer had given up the ghost. It took till today before I was able to get it fixed. The motherboard was defective so it was replaced and working great. The renovations are going well. Next week we hopefully see the end of all the construction.

RENOVATIONS

Just a little explanation why I have not been posting more pictures. At the moment we are doing some major renovations in our house. It has been going on for the last four weeks but hopefully will be finished by next week. Obviously I have not been spending much time on my blog or on taking pictures.

SPLIT TONING

Anonymous asked if I had used the Virtual Photographer plugin to manipulate the image Back Again. No I did not but I used the Easy.filter curves filter. Again this is a free plugin which is an excellent curves filter. Try it. In this image I used another set of plugins, Grant's tools. These tools offer curves, channel mixer, colour channels and masking, features normally not available in Photoshop Elements.

THE BAMBOO SHADOW ON THE BOARD IS DARK AND CLEAR

Thanks for your comment Jo-Ann. Yesterday afternoon I noticed this paint and shadows abstract on the side of my neighbour's garden shed. It reminded me of a Chinese ink drawing so I used a line from a poem, On the Lake, by the Chinese poet Bai Juyi (772–846)

BACK AGAIN

At last I am able to post again. Last week my computer stopped working altogether. I ran a virus check but the software could not find anything. Actually I think there was a virus because the computer slowly died down. One program at a time. I had been thinking for some time that I should get another computer so this was the clincher. This morning my new toy arrived. It is quite a bit faster than the old one of course I still have to load most of my programs on this one so that will keep me busy for the next few days. By the weekend I will be fully operational.

SPRING BIRCHES

Yesterday was a beautiful Spring day. Of course there are no leaves on the trees yet but we also don't have the blackflies either. So here a simple image of a stand of birches along a nature trail.

MAPLE SYRUP FESTIVAL, POWASSAN, ONTARIO

Yesterday my wife and I visited the Powassan Maple Syrup Festival. It was a very enjoyable event. I like these country festivals, where you will meet friends and others you had not seen for awhile. In the last decade or so Mennonite families moved into the area and are now quite prominent around town and have become an integral part of the community. I photographed this group of young women who were watching some of the events. What attracted me was the shape of the traditional hats. While the Mennonites live a very traditional lifestyle, I thought it interesting that the clothing was made of polyester rather than wool or cotton.

BLUE AND YELLOW, NEW YORK

The blue tire and yellow painted scribbles on the pavement made an interesting abastract image.

BROOKLYN BRIDGE, NEW YORK

This morning I downloaded the updated version of the VirtualPhotographer plugin. It is an excellent plugin which offers an almost unlimited amount of effects. Here is a sample I made using this amazing free filter set. Try it you will love it.

ANOTHER VIEW

This is just another view of yesterday's landscape. I like the dark brooding atmosphere of this scene. It reminds me of some of the paintings by Turner.

EARLY SIGNS OF SPRING, LAKE NIPISSING

The first signs of Spring start to appear. The ice is still on the lake but is rapidly disappearing with the first warm days of the season.

OLD CEDAR TREE OTTAWA

Time to post again. It is a very busy time around the house. last week we had to move all kinds of "stuff" from the basement. This morning the contractor came to start some extensive renovations. At least the weekend was very enjoyable with all the family celebrating Easter. Hopefully I will get a chance to get out to do some photography but I suspect that the next few weeks will be chaotic.

CRABAPPLE TREE, PINNEYS POINT, OTTAWA

It is still Winter here. Over the weekend we received lots of rain, which changed to snow. It feels like February again. So I thought let me post this graphic image of the still bare crabapple tree. Enjoy.

CEDAR TREES, PINNEY'S POINT, OTTAWA

Another picture of my rainy walk along the Ottawa river. Its a simple image of just textures and colour.

RAIN, OTTAWA RIVER

Spent some time in Ottawa again. Last Monday I went to Pinhey's Point on the Ottawa river. It was avery wet and dark day but I like walking in that kind of weather. The colours are rich and warm. Ochers and dark blues are the predominant hues.