WAITING FOR SPRING

Today it looks as if Spring will never arrive. We are getting quite a bit of snow, maybe that's an understatement, we are getting lots of it and you almost despair Winter will never end. I remember a book by Andre Norton, whith a story where the season lasted seven years. I hope that this Winter will be gone in less than seven weeks! Anyway this is just apictures of the trails near our house in April. So this image reminds me of the beatiful walks in early Spring. Seeing the first new plants and flowers appear between the still leafless trees.

WINDOW, HUNTSVILLE, ON

One other picture I enjoyed making in Huntsville, is this image of a window. Iliked the contrast of the warm red colur with the cold icicles, covering a plant box with artificial plants.

WALL, HUNTSVILLE, ON

As I explained yesterday, I did not take many pictures in Huntsville but I did photograph some marks on a wall. Initially it did not look very promising when I  viewed it on my screen. I decided it had possibilities so I started with intensifying the colour. It still didn't work so I then used a technique called  tonal mapping. This brought out texture now it looked much better. Simple dodging and burning further enhanced the image and finally I turned the picture into a vertical and this is the result.

STOREFRONT, BURKS FALLS, ON

It was a beautiful sunny day today so we decided to take a little tour. We drove as far as Huntsville, where we had a very nice lunch but I did not get many images. On our way back we stopped in Burks Falls where I had more luck. I liked the strong colours of this little storefront and I definitely will return here because right next to it was another store painted in a bright pink however I could not photograph them together because the street was lined with cars. I guess I will have to return on a weekend.

BREAD MAKING DAY

It was bread making day today, so here is a picture of one of my favourite breads. Its a variation on a recipe from Bernard Clayton's book on French breads and let me tell you the taste is terrific.

WINTER TRADITION

Again, it has been awhile since my last posting. Some other projects are keeping me busy and ,also I guess, the Winter is getting to me. So every year my wife's amaryllis is in full bloom which is about the time for me to start looking forward to Spring time. In this picture I combined a sepia toned image with a colour version of this flower. flower. I liked the result.

LAURENTIAN WOOD, NORTH BAY

It felt like Spring yesterday so we went for a hike in the Laurentian Wood. This area is very popular with birdwatchers and actually to anybody enjoying a walk in the woods. It is a challenging place for photographers who are looking for some grand vistas or beautiful treed trails, but I did get a few interesting images. This picture worked better in black and white than colour so this picture is for the black and white aficionados.

GREEN STAIRS, COBALT,ON

This old silver mine is a landmark in Cobalt. At one time it was part of a butchershop. The butcher used the shaft as a cooler. I was attracted by the green stairs . The combination of stairs, fence and shaft makes for an interesting composition.

SIDE DOOR OLD FRASER HOTEL, COBALT

As I mentioned earlier this old hotel has some very interesting doors. I particular liked this one because of its painterly quality. I promise to post some black and white images later in the week. Cobalt is definitely a historical and visually interesting place.So if you get a chance it is worth a visit.

ROB'S HAIR LOUNGE, COBALT

I hope my friend Rob will appreciate this picture of this barber shop in Cobalt. The door with the "open" sign is the entrance to the Cobalt Legion hall. The composition reminded me of some of the paintings, but without the vibrant colours, by Piet Mondriaan.

OLD TAVERN DOOR, COBALT

I remember, with fondness, visiting this place in the early seventies.It was lots of fun at the time. It closed but now they are hard at work restoring this old historic building. Of course I liked the, lets say the rich weathered look, of the exterior. The main entrance actually has some beautiful colours and textures as do some of the other side entrances.

OLD COBALT, ONTARIO

This morning my wife and I made a trip to New Liskeard. On our way back we stopped in Cobalt the old silver town. It is quite an interesting place with all kind of old and in many cases historical places. It is definitely a town which needs further exploring especially in the Winter. These houses have seen better times but are now used for storage I guess, anyway it is quite colourful.

WINTER IS NOT FINISHED YET

Winter is far from over. Yesterday and overnight we received quite a bit of the white stuff again so today it it is a time of snow shoveling and snow blowing. I am definitely looking forward to nice Spring weather. It can't come too soon.

ROSE

Time for a different picture. The Winter starts to drag on so,looking through the book Flowers by Irving Penn, I thought time for some colour. Of course Irving Penn used some very exquisite flowers while I just had some roses my wife had brought back from the supermarket. I still enjoyed the pictures I took. It is a change of all the graphic black and white Winter scenes.

OTTAWA WINTER

On my last visit to Ottawa I did not get a chance to go on a little photo tour around town, but one place I always visit is the National Gallery. There were two shows my wife and I were interested in one was an exhibit of the gallery's new acquisitions, which is definitely a show the see. Another was a show of British 19th century photographs. This exhibit was a disappointment for both of us. I think there only a few really great images but overall the pictures were maybe of historical interest but lacked great artistic merit. When having lunch in the cafeteria  I took this picture of a beautiful tree in the gallery grounds. It definitely works best in black and white.

WINTER ALLEY WAY

We returned from Ottawa late Tuesday afternoon. It had been a very nice visit but I did not get a chance to take many pictures. So here is a Winter image I made last week on one of our daily trips around town.

FIRST AVENUE, BLACK AND WHITE VERSION

Dave Brown was interested in seeing the black and white version of the picture I posted yesterday. So here it is, I prefer this image but as I said before , I like black and white photographs maybe because of the more abstract quality. I am leaving this morning for Ottawa so I will not be able to post untill I get back next Tuesday.

FIRST AVENUE, NORTH BAY

Yesterday was a very beautiful Winter day. The tree is the subject which I was attracted to but the strong primary colours make this image. I also made a black and white image which I really liked but I could not make up my mind so decided to post the colur picture.

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.

SCHLOSSER'S FARM, POWASSAN

Yesterday I made a little photo trip. It actually rained all day so it was hard to keep my camera dry but the light was so beautiful. The landscapes reminded me of Pieter Breughel's winter paintings. Anyway here is my image of the Schlosser's barn. Happy New year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

I wish all my followers and their families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I am looking forward to your postings and comments in the coming years So I will raise a toast to all of you and thanks.
Mike

EMPTY

I have not posted very many images lately. Well, it is of course a busy time just before Christmas so here is a picture to remind you that its time to finish your last Christmas shopping.

WINDOW, TORONTO

We are just digging ourselves out of a lot of snow. Yesterday and early today we had a major snowstorm coming through our area. So I did not have time to go and spend time taking pictures. This picture is an image I made in Toronto a few weeks ago. Its the little head that makes this image.

TEXTURE

Other things to do  today so I did not spend much time taking pictures. On my walk I took this picture of a rock outcrop. I simply enhanced the texture by turning it into a HDR image. A rather popular process at the moment but It did work well on this picture.

WINTER DUCHESNAY CREEK

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of Duchesnay Creek. This time I took this image from the same spot but prefered to take it in black and white. I liked the textures and patterns of the brush in the lower part of the image contrasting with the snow covered pine trees at the top.

BLACK FORREST WINTER TRAIL

Yes John you are correct. Dan and I made a little photo excursion to the Black Forrest. It was magical walking along the winter trail. This would be an excellent park for x country skiing or snow shoeing. Pity that the city does not plow the parking lot. So it will be difficult getting into the park when we get more snow. I hope Elli that you like this image as much as the yesterdays picture. Thanks for the comment.

BLOWING SNOW

Another picture of our little photo trip. Occasionally a gust of wind would blow the soft snow around. You had to be quick because it would last only a few seconds. The blowing snow would create a fog like effect.

SNOW FLAKES

Yesterday we had our real first snow of the Winter. We received about 30cm of the white stuff and this will stay for the rest of the season. My friend Dan and I went taking pictures of course. It was great to be out and wander through the snow. We got some very fine images.The camera was set at auto focus so of course I ended up with sharp snow flakes and a very impressionistic background.

GARBAGE CONTAINER, TORONTO

You are right David, this type of subject matter offers a lot of visual information. Here I think it is the different pictures stuck onto this container. The  torn images and the red splatters of paint add to a feeling of violence.

TORONTO ALLEY

This image is simply my personal interpretation of random objects and almost inarticulate graffiti, found on a corner of some alley in downtown. Toronto.

STAIR CASE, ONTARIO COLLEGE OF ART, TORONTO

I just returned from my trip to Southern Ontario. One afternoon my wife and I wandered around downtown Toronto. The light was not very good but I managed to make a few images. I liked the contrast of the stairwell and the black trees. I actually increased the contrast of the trees by making the image black and white and then turning the building to its original colour state.