OLD RED GARAGE

You are correct david I am trying different approaches to make my images visually slightly different. I see myself and of course other photographers as printmakers. So doing my series on North Bay I gave this picture the look of an old picture and then simply add colour to part of. This creates a visual contrast not only in tonal and colour values but also in time.

ABSTRACT

Surprisingly this image looks like an abstract painting but it actually is cracked pavement. I photographed it this morning on my daily walkabout in the city. The white is simply salt  along the cracks. Of course I played around with the picture in Photoshop but I simply used a variety of blending modes with different layers to get this final effect.

WAITING FOR SPRING

I noticed these signs behind a construction trailer ready to be used as soon as the Winter ends and road construction can start again. The red and orange shaped formed a nice abstract pattern.

LITTLE MONSTERS BUS

You are absolutely correct David. Malls are very empty and lonely places. I think cathy said it too very sad and lonely. So for both of you I post this image of the same mall.

MALL PARK

I first thought about naming this picture " Mall Landscape" but I decided that it resembled a park. What a desolate and sad place. But I could not resist making an image of this empty artificial landscape. 

SQUEEZED

This image symbolizes what is happening to our natural world. Nature  is  very quickly being destroyed by human habitat and wasteful activities. Of course I am certain the tree grew after these houses were built but I like the symbolism of this picture.  

RED FENCE

Not a great spectacular landscape but just a urban backyard. What attracted me of course was the red fence superimposed by the bare branches of the shrubs in the foreground. The red fence ads a nice contrast to the wintery scene.

SCHOOL YARD, NORTH BAY

On our walk yesterday we passed a schoolyard with some very colourful decorations of fishes along one side of the schoolyard fence. On other parts the fence is decorated with flowers and butterflies. It added a nice splash of colour to a cold wintery cityscape.

TWO GOURDS

This time a black and white image of two gourds I photographed earlier. They are at least twenty years old and look very sculptural. I like the shapes but also the surface textures. They work very well in colour but I think I prefer the strong contrast of the black and white.  

GOURDS

The iPad offers a wide variety of manipulating an image. It inspires me to experiment with my photography but I am not so happy with the overall image quality. However I photograph the same subject with my digital camera and then using photoshop I can get the same result as with the iPad but with far more control over the result.

"AUTOCHROME" AZALIA

It is a good time to explore some different image ideas. Slowly I am starting to see the amazing possibilities of the Apple iPad. I downloaded a variety of photography apps, some of which are quite amazing. Looking at some old Autochrome pictures  I have tried to recreate this visual effect with my iPad and then refined it a little in Photoshop. I like the result and will definitely keep exploring these techniques.  One photographer I always admired is the British fashion photographer Sarah Moon. Her work is very reminiscent of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century photography including much of her colour images. 

COUCH, WINTER, NORTH BAY

On my walk in the downtown area yesterday, I took a picture of this couch. I liked the textures of the tree and the couch. Again I used a variety of processes to get this old box camera image.

COFFEE TABLE STILL LIFE

I thought david and david would enjoy this new print I worked on today. These are just some objects on our coffee table, which I used for this simple still life. Then, again, I started to manipulate the image using some of the filters in Photoshop and some plugins combined with a few actions. I simply like the result.

RAVEN

It is rather miserable weather out there so this is a good time to experiment with different techniques. I took some pictures of our raven sculpture, which was made by Amy Switzer, an Ontario artist who lived for a few years in the North Bay area. Using different filters and backgrounds I made this final image, which I really  enjoy. It definitely will make a fine print.

WINTER SHED, NORTH BAY

An almost abstract image of an old shed. The shed is secondary to the overall composition which is dominated by the jagged lines of the small tree and the pattern of the trees and leaves in the background.

WINTER BACKYARD

A very abstract interpretation of a Winter backyard. I could have named it "Waiting for Summer". But I was most interested in the various shapes and the rhythm of lines.

THREE TREES

I have been experimenting with my iPad. I like the wide variety of effects you can get with the various apps but the picture quality is not that great so I simply am trying to get similar results using photoshop. It takes some time but result in some excellent visually interesting images.

CHAIR, LIGHT AND SHADOW

The last few days have been very cold so not a good time to walk around outside taking pictures. Instead I did some studies of the light and shadow inside. Having to find subject matter in your own environment simply forces you to find the essence of the subject. 

WINTER TREE

It has been very cold the last few days. It snowed quite a bit on Friday but I went for a little neighbourhood walk. The tree in this image explodes right across the picture.

WINTER CITYSCAPE WITH RED HOUSE

Another picture of my on going series of Winter cityscapes. Its a theme quite often painted by members of the group of seven. What I enjoy is the shapes of the various trees and of course the strong red colour of the house contrasting with the more subdued tones of the Winter garden.

BLUE GARAGE DOOR

I liked the contrasting red and blue colours in this composition. It looks like a simple image but it has a rather complex composition made up of a wide variety of symetrical and organic shapes.

OAK TREE IN WINTER

Oak trees tend not to lose their  leaves in Winter. Today we had lots of snow and of course I had to go around another neighbourhood to take pictures. I simply liked this scene with the tree. The warm colours contrasted with the cold white Winter.

SHADOWS

I eliminated the earlier posting by accident so here I go again. I agree with David photography has changed considerably with the change from traditional silver based processes to a digital medium. The changes are enormous not only in process but even more in visual perception.Today I downloaded a great app allowing seamless changes to images. Bob Morton asked the name of the app so simply click on the link and enjoy.

OLD MILL PUB, ASHTON, ON

On our Christmas visit to Ottawa, I went for lunch with Lawrence,our son in law, to the old mill pub in Ashton. It is a very cosy and comfortable pub. The food was fine and the beer very good. I learned via the internet that the place might be haunted but i did not encounter any ghost only a very amiable publican and friendly local customers. I did notice these two strange characters outside the main entrance. Maybe they are there to ward off any ghosts.

TWO TRAVELERS, CARLETON PLACE, ONTARIO

 I titled this image "two travellers". I saw them sitting outside of the door to the same antique store from yesterdays posting. I think that they are nice pieces of folk art. Pity they are left outside.

ANTIQUE STORE, CARLETON PLACE,ON

Needed some colour today, so here is a picture of a strange antique store in Carleton Place, a town close to Ottawa. I took this picture a few days before Christmas and still no snow. It was pretty cold though and I hope to explore the town in the Spring.

HERITAGE HOUSE, NORTH BAY

Winter has definitely arrived. Yesterday I went on a short walk in another North Bay neighbourhood. It was quite chilly but I made a few images, like this picture of a house built around the turn of the last century. I just read an interesting little article about New Year's resolutions for photographers.  I have to agree with the photographers view. Taking pictures every day is some thing I have done since I started to take pictures. Equipment is not that important but knowing how to use it and of course above all knowing how to see.

WINTERSCAPE, NORTH BAY

With the fresh snowfall I continue taking pictures in the older part of the city. I enjoy walking the lanes between the house. Here the dark pattern of the trees is the prominent feature of this very busy composition.

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY CANADIAN LANDSCAPE

On our visit to the Ottawa are I noticed two things. First no snow and secondly the increase of solar panels around the farms in the area. I also wish everyone a very happy New year.

WINTER HWY 17

We returned yesterday afternoon from our Ottawa Christmas visit. We had a wonderful time with our daughters, sons in law and of course our grandchildren. I did not take too many photographs, just a few for the blog. Wednesday we had our first major snow storm of the season. The weather was beautiful yesterday but the driving conditions were rather scary. The road surface were pure ice and of course the traffic was quite busy. Not much fun for the driver but we made it home safely.

NO SNOW YET

We still don't have snow. So here is a picture I took at the beginning of the year. I will be away till after Christmas so I wish everybody a very happy Christmas and of course a great New Year. I will be posting again when I return.

WINTER, LAKE NIPISSING

Rain, rain and more rain today. It certainly does not feel like Christmas. So here is another picture I made a few days ago along the shore of my favourite lake.

BIRCH TREES, WATERFRONT TRAIL, NORTH BAY

It was rather late in the afternoon when I tried to photograph some birch trees along lakefront trail. The exposure was too long but i really liked the painterly effect when I saw the image on my screen.

FREEZE UP LAKE NIPISSING, ON

From the day we moved to North Bay I was fascinated with the unending visual possibilities offered by Lake Nipissing. You can keep photographing Lake Nipissing  at any time of year or even day and discover that each image will show a different aspect of this beautiful lake.

LAKE NIPISSING II

Lake Nipissing is slowly starting to freeze up. Walking along the beach I thought about a photograph I saw in the Guardian newspaper. It was the most expensive image ever sold. It was a photograph by the German photographer Andreas Gursky, titled Rhine II . The picture sold for a whopping $4.3 million. So I thought I'll title my picture Lake Nipissing II. Well, I guess I will not sell this picture for a similar amount.But you never know.

SUNSET PARK AGAIN

This image shows the end of Fall and the beginning of Winter. Its still just a dusting of snow but soon everything will be covered in a think white blanket. 

CEDAR TREES, SUNSET PARK, NORTH BAY

Thanks Peter and moremiles for your postings yesterday. I agree that the view of the wintry lake might looks a little dark but I like the dark grey Winter skies, which make for strong graphic images. So today a colour picture of the same area but now in colour. Hope you like this one. By the way, it was bitterly cold with the wind blowing over the lake.

WINTER, LAKE NIPISSING

The Winter has definitely arrived. The weather has been cold but grey. The last few days we started to get some snow flurries so this morning I took a few pictures along the shore of Lake Nipissing. I did not stay long because the wind was very chilling.

ANOTHER DOOR, FREDERICTON, NB

These are the dark days before Christmas. Not a great time to go out and take pictures. Also of course it is a busy time with all the preparations for the festive season. Luckily I still have a few interesting images from our trip. I have a special interest in doors. Maybe its the mystery of not knowing whats behind them. Again here I am also attracted by the various textures and shapes.

COUCH, FREDERICTON, NB

While Visiting a gallery in Fredericton , I loved the elegant shape of this couch in one of the rooms. The bright red contrasted very nicely with the pastel colours of the rainy outside.

BIRCH TREE, WINTER GARDEN

My first Winter image of the season. We had our first snowfall of the new Winter season. I simply took this picture of our front yard with strong patterns of various shrubs and of course the birch tree as the central focal point. I always like the pen and ink effect of the branches contrasting with the white snowy background. It reminds me of Chinese and Japanese ink drawings.

BARCODE, FREDERICTON, NB

I noticed this strange painting on a wall in Fredericton. I looked like a barcode but I just loved the abstract painterly quality. So of course I had to photograph it and here is the final image.

GARDEN ART, NORTH BAY

Last year I posted a picture of a house, which belongs to John Weiss, a well known North Bay artist and educator. Yesterday John gave us a tour of his property.  I loved his garden' which  reflects his great artistic imagination. John decorates his garden with a wide variety of different objects, like some very nice metal garden sculptures or he simply used found natural items like these skulls stuck on walls or on trees and bushes.

DOOR, FREDERICTON, NB

It was a rather drab grey day in Fredericton so rather than taking some pictures of the old and historic buildings, I concentrated on the little alleyways downtown. This picture reminds me of the work by some of the American Abstract Expressionists.

OLD CEMETERY, FREDERICTON, NB

It was a very grey day when we arrived in Fredericton. Luckily it did not rain so we took a walk through the old downtown. Smack in the centre of town we found this old cemetery  dating back to the early part of the nineteenth century. Of course I had to make a few pictures and again felt that black and white made a visually stronger image.

OLD RAILWAY STATION, BATH, NB

This was the old Bath railway station, which now has been converted to apartments. It looked a little sad so I combined a sepia image with the original colour to subdue the tone of the picture.

LAUNDRY, BATH, NEW BRUNSWICK

It has been a few days since my last posting. The time before the snow arrives is a sort of an in between time. So I have not been on little photo trips. Anyway I still have some good images from our New Brunswick trip. Here is a picture I took when driving through the little town of Bath along the St. John river. I brought back the colour of the laundry, which nicely contrasts with the toned black and white image.

OLD HOUSE, NEW BRUNSWICK

I liked this old house. It definitely has character. Of course it is rundown and neglected but it still shows the remnants of a wonderful place when it was newly built.

COLOUR AND PATTERNS, NEW BRUNSWICK

What struck me when I passed this place how colourful it these buildings were. Most of the houses are simply painted white. Of course this makes for strong black and white images. What makes this picture is the different patterns and the brightly painted porch.

BUILDINGS, HWY 104, NEW BRUNSWICK

This picture, which I made in a small village along HWY 104 in New Brunswick, reminded me of pictures made by Paul Strand who visited the Gaspè in 1929 and again in 1936. What I liked was the strong geometric shapes of the composition.