ENGINE 503, NORTH BAY

This morning we took a walk around the construction area for the further development of the waterfront. The people who had the dream about the North Bay waterfront can be very proud. It will look stunning when everything is finished. Part of the plan will be a display of the North Bay railway past. So here is an image of the magnificent steam locomotive number 503.

LANDSCAPE, LORING, ONTARIO

Yesterday we drove through the town of Loring. I had noticed these small buildings a few weeks ago but was not able to take pictures at that time. What the purpose of the buildings is I don't know. They are too small for cottages so I suspect that they are simply sheds used for a variety of purposes.

FLEAMARKET, NORTH BAY

This place has hardly changed since we arrived in this city. when I took this picture last week, my first idea was that this would make great black and white picture but when I started to work with the file I liked the idea of the very subdued colours reflecting a nineteen thirties feeling of this cityscape.

BEHIND MAIN STREET

Yesterday's image of Main Street is the type of picture we like to show to North Bay visitors. Today I present an image of the back of the stores. Actually it is a very interesting view for photographers, looking for textures and designs. Oh yes Krys and Paul are right. This year the black flies are simply ferocious.

MAIN STREET, NORTH BAY

A change fromall the black and white images. Just a simple picture of Main Street here in North Bay. I liked the design of the lines and the variety of the bright colours.

ABSTRACT IN BLACK AND WHITE

 

Walking through a parking lot  I saw this patch of peeling paint. It reminded me of the abstract work by Aaron Siskind, whose work was closely related to the post war American abstract expressionist  painters.I would also like to welcome and thank skinnerspond , who just joined the  followers of my blog.

MILLER BLOCK, 1925

 This image is for Jurgen Mathijssen , who sent me some very interesting pictures he is exhibiting in Holland and also for Bob Morton, who also sent me a very fine image of an alley in the downtown area. I took this picture yesterday afternoon in downtown North Bay. I like the work of Walker Evans and thought,  he probably would have made an image of this old apartment block.

TWO RED DOORS

I made this picture of an alley way behind the capitol theatre in North Bay. The picture had a little too much colour, which did not reflect the mood I was looking for so after some adjustments in Photoshop, using the LAB settings I achieved the final image quality I had in mind.

HOSTA

This morning I took some pictures of a hosta, which is growing  next to our front door. Its no fun going outside to make pictures because the black flies and mosquitoes are just terrible this year. I guess its the wet weather we are having. But I liked the nice photographic quality of this image. Hostas are a very beautiful plant to photograph. The light and the lines of this image remind me of some of the work by Imogene Cunningham, a photographers whose work I always admired.

SAND, NORTH BAY

Its long weekend. Hopefully we will see some sun in the next few days. This picture was made a few days ago near the North Bay Museum where the city is busy landscaping the area.

BARN WITH METAL ROOF

Photography is a little like fishing. You go out for the day hoping do get a good catch. So if you are lucky you can come back with quite a few good images. It does not always work but I hardly ever come home without some good pictures. This week I made a little phototrip in the area and returned with this picture of a barn with an interesting metal roof. It worked best for me in black and white. The textures made this image.

UMBRELLA

It was quite windy Sunday, when I took this picture of the sun umbrella on our deck. It looked to me as if some apparition was looking at the garden. The effect was stronger after processing the picture as an infrared image.

FOUND ABSTRACT

An image which reminded me very much of the great Spanish abstract artist Antoni Tàpies. I could have come up with some esoteric title but no better to call it simply found abstract.

THE OTHER SIDE

I thought that it would be important to show the other side of the same mural. It evokes a much different feeling than the first image I posted yesterday. I like both views and actually they work well together as an overal design.

MURAL, WALKWAY, DOWNTOWN NORTH BAY

Yesterday I photographed this mural along a downtown walkway. I liked the paintings which certainly are better than the nondescript graffiti which you find in most of these types of passages.

WAITING FOR A HAIRCUT

Well, I guess we are back in business. Some of the postings are lost so if John and Bob want to contact me via email, I will be glad to send them a tutorial on how I got the effect in my previous image of the Little Britt Inn. Actually this offer is open to anyone who is interested in how  a specific image was done.

LITTLE BRITT INN

Outside of the inn in Britt I photographed this rather weathered wooden fish. I used a few different techniques to give the image a strong visual impact.

SAILBOAT, BRITT, ON

This weekend our friends Linda and Gunther came for a visit from Southern Ontario. Yesterday we drove to Britt, a small village on Georgian Bay where we  enjoyed a very good  traditional lunch of locally caught white fish and chips at the Little Britt Inn. I liked the idea of the sailboat sailing into the light.

SPRING MAPLES

Everything is almost done in and around the house, a few loose ends to finish this week and then I can spend more time taking pictures. I love this time of year.So here is a picture of the blossoming maples in our garden.

WALKWAY, CANADORE COLLEGE, NB

well the kitchen is finished. I understand the frustration Dave went through with his kitchen. So now I can spend more time on my photography. This morning I walked over to the college and w, walking through the walkway I made this simple black and white image of the shadows on the floor. Again I made it high contrast to emphasize the strong shadows.

DISTILLERY DISTRICT, TORONTO

Again looking through my files, I realize how many pictures I have which I never really printed or have shown on my blog. Pity actually so I am planning to use more of my file images. This picture I made almost two years ago in the Distillery District in Toronto. It was still early in the season, pretty cold to sit outside, which worked out well for this image. The wall is the subject that attracted e and it works well with the pattern of the red and chrome patio furniture.

DINER, SYRACUSE, NY

Sorting through some of my pictures, I came across this image of a diner in Syracuse, which I took last year. All these diners like to reflect the 1950's with nearly always the same iconic figures from that period. What atracted me to this picture is the blending of the wall painting with the tables and seats. You have to look to know what is painting and what is the actual restaurant.

RAIN AND MORE RAIN

We are recieveing quite a bit of rain here in Northern Ontario. Absolutely not a time to go out and take pictures.

BLACK AND WHITE, BLACK FORREST PARK

It as been a busy week, our kitchen is being renovated. I keep my fingers crossed that everything will be finished by the end of the week. So here is black and white image I made last week. I like the rhythm of the trees and the strong graphic impact of the black and white composition.

BLACK FORREST PARK, NORTH BAY

Yesterday was just a great Spring day. That in contrast to last Wednesday when we received up to 20cm of snow. So I went for a little hike in the Black Forrest municipal park not too far from my place. I tried to take this picture using a very slow shutter speed but there was too much light to get the effect I wanted. However, using Photoshop, I was able to get exactly the result I was looking for.

ICE BREAKUP

You would not think that Spring has arrived with a snowstorm blowing outside today. Tomorrow promises to be back to a sunny day with seasonable temperatures around 8 º to 10 º C. I made this picture yesterday with the ice crawling onto the dock here in North bay. The colour image lacks the strong visual impact of the black and white image.

INCENSE HOLDER

On our coffee table we have a rather intriguing small object. It is an incense holder but that is about all I know about it. Obviously it has been used quite a bit, its carved from stone on the back are some decorations and, I guess it is quite old. It is fun to speculate where it came from and what it represents. By the way we bought it many years ago in a store in the Toronto China town area.

BIRDS NEST FERN

Back to my plant images. This is picture of a birds nest fern is a favourite of mine. I like the abstractct quality of the dark lines contrasting with  the beautiful almost sculptural shapes of the leaves.

AGAWA ROCK PAINTING

After my posting of the Mickey Mouse rock painting here in North Bay, I remembered that, in the Summer of 1975, I had photographed these well known rock paintings along the shores of lake Superior. its a pity I took them in black and white but, after scanning the negatives, I simply toned and hand coloured the pictures. These pictures are not as old or as intricate as for instance the controversial rock paintings of Pedra Furada  or the  Australian prehistoric rock paintings  but they are now a tourist attraction, visited and admired by many tourist who travel the north shore of Lake Superior. So maybe a couple of hundred years from now the rock art from North bay will become as famous as the pictures of Agawa bay.
PS If you like graffiti art  check out the work of the grafiti artist BLU Its simply amazing.

WHY ?

I titled this picture "why" because it always amazes and disturbs me when I see the wanton destruction of our natural environment with mindless visual garbage like this. I don't understand why people feel the urge to simply destroy their world. It is actually pretty sad to see this kind of wanton destruction.

PHILODENDRON

Krys and Paul asked me about some samples of  late nineteen century photographers. Actually I should clarify this a little because I include in that the style of photography ranging from the late nineteen until about the early twentieth century. I am thinking about the fine images of Edward Steichen, Clarence H. White and especially Imogen Cunningham This picture is from a plant series I did in 1982 and  I hope I answered your question about the influence on some of my pictures by these great master of the photographic art.

EARLY MORNING FOG, LAKE NIPISSING

A dense fog covered the landscape this morning. We went for a walk along the lake and the skies were just beautiful. It did not last long but I made some nice dramatic images before the fog quickly dis appeared. The sky reminded me of the oil sketches Turner and Constable made of ever changing sea skies.

ROB RACING HIS TRUCK

Yesterday my neighbour and friend Rob told me he was a little disappointed because every day he looks at my blog but I never posted a picture I made for him last year. Rob's big hobby is his Harley Davidson with matching Ford Truck. Last Fall he asked me to photograph him racing the truck. So, to keep my promise, here is the result. Hope he likes it.

Begonia

Today I spent some time taking pictures of a begonia. I wanted to recreate the photographic style of the late nineteen century. So I experimented with some edging but I did not like all the results. This edge, which looks a little like a typical watercolour paper is probably the best one. Tomorrow I'll try some other techniques.

DECK CHAIR

Every day I have to  take pictures.I guess it has become second nature to me. A few days ago it was a dark rainy day but I liked the mood of the foggy garden and deck so I made this simple image of the wet chair and deck. I combined a black and white version with the original colour image, I simply masked the chair to keep the original colour. The result reflects the atmosphere of the wet day.

CONTAINER BUILDING, BURKS FALLS

In Burks Falls a new building is being constructed of old shipping containers. It was quite a colourful subject but I am curious what it will lokk like when the building is finished.

ST.OLAF CHURCH, BEAR LAKE, ON

On our little trip yesterday we came through Bear Lake. At this time of year it is very quiet but I can imagine the Summer is busy with cottagers. The real interesting building in this community  is this old church, which was built in 1876. The light was just right and with the old weathered fence and church offered just the right mix for a very romantic black and white image.

SPRING MONKEY

Driving through Sundridge this morning I noticed the first sign of real Spring. The first Spring monkey was swinging in a tree.

MARK'S VILLAGE RESTAURANT

Its been a busy few days. Just like Dave, we are renovating the kitchen. Also the Winter keeps lingering on so it is not a very nice time for taking pictures. But just to keep my blog going here is a black and white of an old empty restaurant in Burks Falls, which I photographed on my last trip there a week and a half ago.

GRAFFITI, NORTH BAY

A different kind of image today. Over the years I have posted a variety of graffiti on my blog. I simply enjoy looking at interesting expressions in public places. Much of it is not very imaginative but I liked this one because of its complex composition. It has been made by a variety of people who simply keep adding their primitive scribbles to this wall, which makes for a very imaginative picture.

HAIR SALON, BURKS FALLS

It always amazes me when visiting  towns like Burks Falls, how many small local businesses still keep going. Actually in many of these places you will find some very interesting and ,yes inventive successful  companies you will find in these communities. I simply like these towns because they offer me great visually interesting subject matter like this scene, rich in textures and patterns.

MAGNETAWAN, ON

Yesterday my friend Dan and I went on a little photo tour in the Magnetawan area. We came across these covered trees, which someone tried to make them look like reindeer. With the small church in the background I thought they appeared to be some strange, alien guardians. Anyway it made for a fun picture.

CUMBERLAND, ONTARIO

This picture is for Krys and Paul, who obviously enjoy old architectural buildings like this restaurant in Cumberland. David Ernst will enjoy the image because he truly likes rich black and white pictures. I think this building dates from between  1880 and 1890. Personally I find it somewhat overdone and obviously some changes have been made but the overall architecture has been largely preserved.

OAKSTREET, NORTH BAY

Yesterday morning I made this picture of Oakstreet. Of course I made some adjustments by applying tonal mapping to give more impact to this  image.

CHIK GEAR, NORTH BAY, ON

 An empty store in downtown North Bay. I simply liked the textures and shapes of this sad little place.

GROCERY STORE, CUMBERLAND, ON

One photographer, whose work I like, is Ralph Greenhill.  His great interest was photographing the exteriors of the old historic buildings. A subject matter I also enjoy. Its a pity that Greenhill is now largely forgotten. I picked up some great books on old historical buildings all across this province. Hopefully someone will curate a n exhibition of his work.Check out some of his images on the site I linked to his name.

THE FIRST SIGN OF SPRING

Ah, the Winter is coming to the end. The first sign for me is the removal of the ice fishing huts from the lake. Soon the snow will be gone and the warm weather returns.

PARKING LOT, OTTAWA

 

I just returned from another family visit in Ottawa. It would have been great if I could have gone on a photo tour but the weather was just atrocious. On Thursday it started to snow which turned to rain and did it ever, Friday was basically the same weather condition. The rest of the time it was very dark and overcast. So here is a picture I made in a supermarket parking lot. At least the snow is slowly disappearing.

ABSTRACT, BURKS FALLS, ON

Another one of my found abstract artworks. I will be out of town till Tuesday so on my return I hope to have some new images. See you next week.

BUSSTOP, NORTH BAY

We received quite a bit of snow yesterday. Obviously Winter decided that teh season was not over yet. Anyway this morning I passed this busstop and thought that it would make a nice image for my posting today. It was also time to satisfy our black and white fans so here it is.Enjoy.