INTERIOR, SCHOOLHOUSE

As promised, here is a colour image of the inside of the old schoolhouse. I was really surprised to see that the place had not been stripped bare.

AGAIN ABANDONED SCHOOLHOUSE

Its true Bob, I guess the world always had colour. Its not that I don't like colour but I still love black and white. I think in this case for instance a black and white interpretation makes for a visually stronger image. It is a very utilitarian building but architecturally quite interesting with the returning eaves, which add a nice decorative touch to the side of this little school. I promise tomorrow I will post a colour image  of the interior.

ABANDONED SCHOOLHOUSE, NEW BRUNSWICK

On our way to Fredericton, our GPS directed me on to HWY 104. It took us through some very interesting back country of New Brunswick. We passed this empty schoolhouse abandoned  in the country side. Its actually a very nice building in its architectural simplicity.I decided to present it as a black and white image, which would reflect the era better than the colour version.

REMEMBRANCE DAY, 2011

 Today is Remembrance Day so I thought it appropriate to post this image of the North Bay war memorial. I took this about a month ago when the leaves were still on the trees. I liked the contrast of life with remembering those who sacrificed their lives.

EMPTY HOUSE, NEW BRUNSWICK

Driving through New Brunswick on the only sunny day of our drive through this province. I could not resist taking pictures of this typical Maritime style house. I liked this view the best. Using my 10mm lens and I think it just gave it that extra twist to an otherwise rather mundane subject.

XTRATA SMELTER, IMAGE # 2

Another image of the same smelter. I would have loved to wander around but of course I had to take my pictures through the fence. I like this wider view with the various patterns and the heavy lines from the pipes leading to an almost singular point in the picture. Hope you enjoy this.

XTRATA SMELTER, NEW BRUNSWICK

It has been a busy week for me. I had to deal with a sudden medical problem but I have recovered enough that I can start posting again. Here is a picture of the Extrata smelter in New Brunswick. I liked the various textures and patterns of this plant. So I had to stop and photograph through the fence. I used my trusted canon G11 and I think I got I nice black and white image of the plant.

A BEAUTIFUL FALL DAY

What a beautiful Fall day. It is not very often that we get this kind of warm sunny weather so late in the season. So here is a very simple picture of seagulls enjoying the sun. I liked the soft pastel colours of the sky and water.

APPLE TREE L'ÎSLE AUX COUDRES

I am still working my way through the pictures of our trip. This apple tree was in the garden of the old mill in L'Îsle Aux Coudres. When I took the picture I already had the idea in mind to make it look like an old Autochrome image. It turned out slightly different because when you start working with a picture new visual avenues open up. I liked the final result, which you see here. 

WALL PAINTING, QUEBEC CITY

We arrived late in a very wet Quebec City. After dinner, we took a quick walk through the old city. I took a few pictures so here is one of a quite famous or popular mural. I simply liked the contrast of the lit painting with the dark street.

COUNTRY ROAD, NEW BRUNSWICK

As I mentioned earlier, the weather on our trip was not the greatest. We had a few nice days but most of the time it was cloudy and of course lots of rain. I liked the coming of Fall mood of the image. I had stopped to take a picture of the tree with the fields but just as I clicked the shutter this flock of birds flew right in front of me. Bonus of course. It added a nice element to the picture.

ABSTRACT, QUEBEC CITY, P.Q

This is detail of a wall I photographed in Quebec City. I always like to photograph abstract subject matter like this beautiful coloured surface. I have a very interesting book by Jonathan Miller, Nowhere in particular. It is a collection of his photographs and his notes on a variety of subjects. His introduction is especially interesting because it deals with what Turner called 'pictures of bits' but , like Miller, I am interested in these negligible fragments and details.

BUILDING SUPPLY STORE, GASPÉ, P.Q

It was a very miserable day when we traveled through the Gaspé. Definitely not a great day for photographs  but I made a few pictures i liked. Adding just a speck of colour to this black and white picture simply creates , what Andreas Feininger would call visual impact.

OCTOBER SKY

I could not resist posting this picture of Lake Nipissing, which I took late yesterday afternoon. For me the sky and the colours of the landscape really gives the feeling of late Fall. It has been very wet and dark but we still have some nice days to finish the last work in the garden before the first snow arrives.

FERRY TO RIVIÈRE DU LOUP

From Charlevoix we crossed the Saint Lawrence river to Rivière du Loup. The weather was miserable with dark gray skies and of course lots of rain. It looks as if I coloured part of a black and white image but actually this is exactly what it looked like during the crossing.

INTERIOR, CHAPEL, L'ISLE-AUX-COUDRES

This is the interior of the chapel of yesterday's posting. For me, it feels like literally stepping back in time. We had those roadside chapels in Holland but now they have to be closed if you did not want to eiter see them vandalized or robbed.

ROAD SIDE CHAPEL, L'ISLE AUX COUDRES

Driving along the highway on the island you will pass quite a few of these small roadside chapels. They have been immaculately restored.

WINDMILL, L'ISLE-AUX-COUDRES

L'Isle-aux-Coudres is a small island in the Saint Lawrence near Baie Saint Paul. It is a beautiful island and one of the attractions are the two flour mills, a windmill built in 1836 and a watermill on the same site from 1825. I think that the wind mill needs some more restoration work.

RAIN, PARKING LOT, NORTH BAY

The last few days the weather has changed from beautiful warm sunny days to very wet grey conditions. Of course Fall has truly started. Yesterday I sat waiting in the car. Rain pelting down, which transformed the view of the boring  parking lot seen through my water covered windshield into a nice abstract image.

FOR SALE, BAIE SAINT PAUL

Krys and Paul are absolutely correct, Baie Saint Paul is a lovely place. I photographed this building, which at the moment houses a art gallery but could have been transported from Louisiana even from South America. It is a heritage house but I suspect that it will need lots of renovations.

COUNTRY ROAD, CHARLEVOIX

After a very nice Thanksgiving weekend time to post another picture. Again I opted for a black and white over the colour version of this landscape. The image has far more impact in monochrome. Colour is nice but it simply lacked drama.

DOWNTOWN, BAIE SAINT PAUL

This Thanksgiving weekend was definitely one perfect weekend to remember. Norman Rockwell would have been very happy.today the picture is a detal of one of the many galleries in downtown Baie Saint Paul.Its the light and shadow combined with the various shapes and patterns which makes this image.

THANKS JOHN

Thanks John for your very gracious comment. I thought you might enjoy this very pastoral Charlevoix landscape. The magnificent cloudy sky is what makes this image. Black and white was my  first choice, remembering what David Ernest said one time " black and white is poetry" and I have to agree. Anyway have a great thanksgiving weekend everybody.

CHARLEVOIX BARN

buildings always attract me. I think it is not just shapes and textures but the human stories and history, which intrigue me.

ANOTHER BLACK AND WHITE

I simply liked the patterns of the reeds along the shore line but I was not interested in just making a straight black and white. Simply changing contrast , resulted in an image  with strong visual impact.

DETAIL, BARN, CHARLEVOIX, PQ

Another black and white, or actually a sepia toned, picture of a detail of the old barn in Charlevoix.

ABANDONED BARN, CHARLEVOIX, PQ

A black and white picture for a change. Actually when I saw this barn along the highway, I realized colour would not work with this scene. It has rich textures and patterns best translated as a monochrome image.

DOWNTOWN BAIE SAINT PAUL, PQ

The main street in Baie Saint Paul is very colourful. Most of the businesses are either art galleries or restaurants with a sprinkling of  small boutiques and gift-shops. The problem for the photographer who would like to  take pictures of the interesting buildings is of course the bumper to bumper parked cars which block the view. In this case I simply included the car giving a measure of scale to this dollhouse type building.

ON THE FERRY TO L'ISLE-AUX-COUDRES

During our trip we had quite a bit of rain but you could get some rather dramatic landscapes like this one from the ferry to L'Isle-aux-Coudres. A small but very beatiful little island off the coast in Charlevoix.

SHIPWRECK, BAIE SAINT PAUL

This picture is for David, who told me about this old beached ship. It must have been there for decades and of course it atracted quite a few people taking pictures and , just as I, wondered about what happened.I decided to post this picture of the front of the ship. I think it made a stronger image than simply photographing the whole boat.

ALONG THE BEACH, BAIE SAINT PAUL

Baie Saint Paul is situated on the St. Lawrence River. I made this picture along the beach which offers the photographer some quite interesting views.

ARTIST WORKSHOP, CHARLEVOIX, PQ

Driving along a country road near Baie Saint Paul we noticed this group painting the Charlevoix landscape. Artists and art are very prominent in this area. Actually at the information centre in Quebec City we were told that  the Charlevoix district  is the most painted landscape in Quebec.

DAVID, BAIE SAINT PAUL, PQ

A new posting. After a two week hiatus time for another image. My wife and I returned yesterday from a two week trip to Quebec and New Brunswick. I think the best part of the trip was our stay in Baie Saint Paul in the Charlevoix area of Quebec. Our friend Dan told us how much he enjoyed the Charlevoix and boy he was absolutely right. I had booked a room at a B&B called Terreciel without really knowing anything about the place. Well let me tell you it was a great experience. David and Nicolas are the owners, who are the most the delightful hosts. Actually David runs the B&B. He is also a great baker, who serves you a terrific breakfast  in the morning. He makes his bread at an heritage bakery connected to the historic flour mill in Baie Saint Paul. So if you have never been to Baie Saint Paul and plan to visit it stay with David and Nicolas, I guarantee you will quickly become friends with these two very amiable guys. Check their website on my links.

OBJECT, NORTH BAY

It has been a very busy last week. We had visitors so I did not have much time to take pictures let alone post some.o today I am posting another image in my series of objects, like the chair, I showed earlier. What this object is I simply have no idea but it intrigued me. While working on this series I discovered the work of a well known Norwegian photographer Øyvind Hjelmen, whose work I really like.Anyway as of tomorrow I will not be able to post much because my wife and I are going on a two week trip to the Charlevoix area in Quebec. Hopefully we will see some whales.

CHAIR, NORTH BAY

I am working on an occasional series of images using different techniques because I feel it is necessary to keep expanding and developing my photography to simply make the work I am interested in.I also like to welcome Karen to my group of blog friends. Hope you will enjoy my various postings Karen.

BARBER CHAIR, NORTH BAY

A few days ago I had my hair cut at the Red's Den for Men barber shop. Michelle, the owner and barber, is a great conversationalist, which made it quite a fun experience. She still owns the old chair, which she inherited  from the previous owner but it is now simply part of the decor. In other words the chair is retired. I told her I had a picture of the old store, which I took ten years ago. The barber shop was closed at the time so I took the photograph through the window. So here is that old image of the barber chair, still used, waiting for a client.

7TH AVENUE AND CASSELLS STREET, NORTH BAY

This house is always changing its "decor" so is a very good subject for interesting pictures. I don't know how the neighbours feel about it but I can guess.

ROCK AND LICHEN, LAKE NIPISSING

I simply liked the textures and lines in this rock formation along the shore of lake Nipissing. The  strong contrast of the black and white image has more impact than the colour version.

CORNER STORE, OTTAWA

Corner stores are  one of my favourite subjects. On my walks through the neighbourhoods of Ottawa I had to photograph this quite interesting store.

RIDEAU STREET, OTTAWA

Rideau street is a place with its own character. It is a little seedy but I love all the various little stores and establishments. Some of the older buildings still show some of their past glory although many could do with some extensive restoration. 

LANDSCAPE, CUMBERLAND, ON

What intrigued me is what is hidden underneath all that growth.

STEPS, PHOTOGRAPH, TEXTURES, OTTAWA

Lines, textures and photograph formed a simple butt interesting perspective. I liked the cobblestones and the rextured wal of the old building. The photograph is, I guess, part of an outdoor exhibit of images displayed around this courtyard.

DANCING BEAR, OTTAWA

You can see this dancing Bear sculpture by the Inuit artist Pauta Saila in a Byward Market courtyard in downtown Ottawa. I just love it because it is an expression of sheer joie de vivre.

CAR SALES MAN, GATINEAU, PQ

Driving through the Gatineau area in  Quebec, I noticed this large sculpture of a car salesman outside a car dealership. Of course I had to photograph this marvellous piece of folk art.

INTERIOR, WATSON'S GARAGE

Two books with photographs by Ralph Greenhill, Rural Ontario and Ontario Towns, started my interest in the architecture of Ontario. So I like photographing interesting buildings in cities and towns including of course the various open air museums like the one in Cumberland. This photograph shows the interior of the old Imperial garage. I tried to recreate the time period in this image by using a subdued colour palette.

WATSON'S GARAGE, CUMBERLAND HERITAGE MUSEUM

Aother image from my visit to the Cumberland museum. According to the information provided by the museum, this garage is the oldest surviving example of an Imperial Oil service station. It dates from around 1920 and came originally from Cumberland. I also like to welcome a new blog friend "moremiles" to my blog.

CUMBERLAND HERITAGE VILLAGE MUSEUM

Well, I am back. Last week we spent again some time in Ottawa. This time I did get a chance to take a few pictures. Last Friday I visited the small outdoor museum in Cumberland. It is definitely worth a visit and surprisingly it was not very busy. This allowed me to look at all the buildings. this old house, the Dupuis House, is the oldest structure of the museum. it was built in 1820 and moved from Orleans to its current place in 1984. I loved the quiet scene and the light was just perfect. It rained off and on during the day which made for quite dramatic skies.

YOU ARE BEING WATCHED

I will not be posting for a few days so here is an image I have been experimenting with in Photoshop. I like to try different visual effects strengthening graphic image impact.

RED'S DEN FOR MEN

What attracted me in the first place is the title of this barber shop.I took this picture early one Sunday morning. Of course I made a few changes in Photoshop to give the image a vintage look. First I tried black and white but it definitely has more impact in colour.

WINDOW WITH CURTAIN, NORTH BAY

Well it was a great long weekend so time to post again. This time an image of I guess an empty house we, Rob, Bob and I, passed last week on our little evening excursion. I am attracted to  older  houses. I like the weathered look of these buildings, which makes me wonder about the history and human stories of these places.