ABANDONED TRUCK REVISITED

The weather has been too nice to be working inside on my pictures in my digital darkroom.I had posted a picture of this old truck covered in snow in April and promised I would go back to photograph the same truck in the Spring. The landscape looked different and I thought almost as abandoned as the the old artifact. The final result is best in black and white, reminding me of the old pictures from the American Farm Security photographers in the depression years of the thirties.

SOLOMON'S SEAL

The garden is waking up. A couple of days ago I made some pictures of this very graceful Solomon's Seal. The unfolding leaves created a very simple, but visually, beautiful  sculpture, which translated in a black and white image, suggesting some classic Chinese or Japanese ink drawing.

ABANDONED, COBALT, ONTARIO

The building is of course not really abandoned because it is still used for storage but obviously it is not inhabitable. A few days I was thinking, its time to make a photo excursion up North again. Cobalt is a fascinating place with a rich history and every time I go there it has changed. Maybe simply in my imagination but there is a feeling of a certain community vitality. This picture I made two years ago. I had photographed this building before so , looking at the image I thought that it would work best in monochrome and here is the result. It looks like an image made in the thirties by Walker Evans, a photographer whose images of the cities and towns in the USA inspire me.

SPRING CREEK, TEXTURE

Another detail of our Spring excursion along the small creek. I am not interested in photographing water in slow motion to get this, what I call, the cotton wool effect. It looks nice but I think the effect has been overused. I like detail and texture, so I photograph with a very fast speed, which freezes the motion creating rich detail. The effect in the image is quite reminiscent of the detailed night images of the the milky way at night, but in addition I also have the motion of the water.  An effect I enjoy.

SPRING CREEK

Last Monday Dan had invited Gerry and me on a small photo excursion along a private trail. It was a glorious Spring day. No black flies yet to interrupt our walk along a small creek. We pend a few hours taking pictures of the rapids. I concentrated on the textures and reflections of the water because I found the sunlight too harsh, which created too much contrast on the white waves of the rapids But we will return on a day when the light is much softer.

KLOMPEN (CLOGS)

Spring has truly started so instead of spending time on my photography , it was time for cleaning up and working outside in the garden. But I did spend time on going through more of my old negatives. I found some very old negatives which I took in 1960. At that time I visited a clog maker or klompen maker in Dutch. It has been such a long time that I can't remember exactly where I took the pictures. Scanning and processing the images takes quite some time but it is bringing back many memories. The clogs are made from poplar or willow wood. In this picture the painted clogs are left outside to dry. Now back to working on the rest of the pictures.

DRIFTWOOD FOR PAUL KELLY

Last Friday evening we went to the opening of Paul Kelly's exhibition at the Kennedy art gallery here in North Bay. It was very wonderful to see Paul and his wife Susan again. The show was very a surprise for me because Paul has gone back to his roots in design and colour theory. It isa show worth seeing so, if you are in North Bay just go and have a look. Paul was telling me how much he likes my black and white photographs. So, i have gone back to my roots in black and white photography and scanned in the very old negative from 1974 when I was interested in the bleak landscape around Sudbury.When first walking into the landscape was the almost surreal environment. The rocks were all black and pitted caused by the sulfur released during the smelting of the ore. All the trees were gone of course except the dead wood laying strewn all over the landscape. But as I mentioned before in some earlier postings, the city of Sudbury has been doing and amazing job restoring the landscape.

SAND AND WATER, SPRING RUNOFF

Sorry David but I have to disappoint you this time. Yesterday I took my car in to have my tires changed, so I took a walk into the area behind the garage. It is actually a large are of disturbed land. Walking through the parking area I had to jump over different little streams of melt water and of course I could not resist photographing the sand ripples and the textures of sand and gravel. When I worked on the image it looked to me more like flames than streaming water. Anyway here is the final image.

ICE BREAKUP, LAKE NIPISSING

At last Spring has started, although today we still had some snow but at least the ice is starting to break up. This morning I made a little excursion along the shore and made a few interesting images. The light was very nice and was able to get a few dramatic pictures. The black and white images were visually more dramatic than the colour versions. Of course, lately I have been quite interested in black and white photographs. This picture reminds me of Bill Brand's dramatic landscape photographs.

CEDAR, ROCK AND LICHEN

This was an image I really enjoyed working on. What intrigued me was the old cedar, which had grown all around the rock. Time had added the rich texture of the old dead tree and the lichen all over the rock surface. The subject would have greatly interested Edward and Bret Weston, two photographers I greatly admired. Way of working with a picture is quite fluid. I simply try different techniques using Adobe Lightroom then transfer the image to Photoshop and Adobe Camera RAW then into On1 Photo Raw then back into Photoshop for some final tweaking of the image till I am satisfied with the result. Do I know exactly all the steps I have gone through to get the image I am satisfied with? Well no only the general workflow. So no exact process.

HWY 599 NEAR OSNABURGH HOUSE

Another negative from my trip in North Western Ontario. We were staying in a camp on Pashkokogan Lake near the First nation's reserve Osnaburgh House, which is on HWY 599 just South of Pickle Lake. At the time, that part of the highway had not been paved so it was quite dusty. What struck me was the abandoned stuffed toy animal, sitting forlorn on the side of the road. The whole scene was covered in dust and the negative was quite flat. I had taken some closeups of just the animal but never printed this negative. Looking at it again I preferred this overall view better than the closeups. As I said, it was a difficult negative to work with but after working on the image in Photoshop, I am quite happy with the result.

BEACH, LAKE ST. JOSEPH

This picture is from some photographs I made many years ago when I was invited by a German geologist to accompany him on an exploration trip in north Western Ontario. This particular image was made when we were checking various sites on lake St. Joseph.It had some very interesting landscapes. I think Moremiles and David would have appreciated that trip. I took only black and white film on this trip and it is interesting to work again with these old negatives. Ansel Adams always said that the negative is the score and the print the interpretation of that score. I totally agree with that analogy. So now working on the computer my interpretation is quite different from my earlier prints.Again, working on the computer is very similar to working in the darkroom.

CONISTON, ONTARIO-1989

A last image of the Coniston area. This image is for John and David because both of them enjoyed the rock landscapes I posted. This is an overview of the landscape as I saw it in 1989. Much has changed for the better in the Sudbury area, as I already mentioned before. It would be interesting to go back to the places I photographed to see the changes and maybe it is still possible to find some of the original bleak landscape. But we will find out this Summer at one of our photo excursions.

ABANDONED FARMHOUSE

Another old negative, but this time a colour negative of an old abandoned farmhouse I photographed quite a few years ago. The colour image lacked the dramatic atmosphere of a black and white picture. I never printed it before but when I found the negative and after scanning and processing the photograph, I wondered why I forgot about it. I gave it a slight warm tone reminiscent of the old warmtone papers so popular in the twenties and thirties.

COLOUR AND TEXTURES, CONISTON, ONTARIO

This picture definitely can only be in colour. I tried a black and white version but it certainly lacked the impact the textures and colours added to the visual richness of the image. I have not been back to the Sudbury area for a long time, but thsi Summer I definitely plan to return for another promising photo excursion.

LANDSCAPE, CONISTON, ONTARIO

Sorting through my old negatives I dfound a series of pictures I took in 1989 during a phototrip to Coniston near Sudbury, Ontario. The landscape was quite sparse, lacking trees which had disappeared from the landscape because of the mining activities in the Sudbury area. Since that time big changes have taken place with reforestation of the Sudbury landscape. But at the time it was a great place for photographers. The rock formation were impressive and actually quite colourful. The original negatives were made on colur negative film, however I am still quite interested in the graphic aspects of black and white photography and the strong forms and textures made the landscape eminently interesting for a photographer interested in classic black and white images.

WEATHERED TREE TRUNK, PEI BEACH

Searching through my old negatives is like opening a treasure trunk full of memories and also finding some long forgotten great images. This picture I took during our various holidays in Prince Edward Island. This old tree trunk on a beach was beautifully sculptured by wind, sand, water and sun, which had transformed it into the skeleton of some great unknown prehistoric creature.

PEGGY'S COVE, NOVA SCOTIA

Last Summer we visited Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia. The small fishing village is one of the iconic sites in Canada. I think what makes this place so unique is the magnificent landscape. This was our second visit to Peggy's Cove, when I made quite a few images of the very beautiful rock landscape around the village. So while I am still working in black and white, I decided to post an earlier picture I took on our earlier visit. It is a scanned black and white negative. The film I used was Ilford HP5 which was one of my preferred film types. I like the grain pattern of this film and actually, when I am processing my digital images I nearly always add grain, simply because I like the visual  effect.

NOSTALGIA, DEMARCO'S, NORTH BAY

This North bay landmark has been closed for a few years but many people have very fond memories of this neigbourhood confectionery. I have posted other pictures of this store but they were colour images. This time I am posting a black and white version of a negative I made in the early nineties. Maybe, using the word nostalgia in the title,  refers not only to the actual picture of the store but also to me enjoying working in black and white again. No I am not making the print the traditional way. The computer allows me to get the same result without the use of environmentally harmful chemicals.

WINTER TRUCK

John had photographed this old truck before, so he made a little detour to see what it looked like covered in snow. Like many other photographers I enjoy photographing old cars and trucks, especially when they have not been restored sitting abandoned in some field or forest. The attraction is of course the rich textures and the discoloration. But it goes further I think.It is has to do with  remembrance and also a reminder of our own aging process.This time I  surrounded the print with a wide white border, which adds to the visual impact of the image.The split toning accentuates the cold Winter atmosphere of the landscape.

WINTER, SUNSET COVE

More snow, the Winter continues in the Spring. But it was a beautiful sunny day so John and I went out on a little photo excursion.We stopped at Sunset Cove on the South shore of Lake Nipissing. The light was quite harsh, which created strong shadows. For this landscape it worked well, forming an abstract pattern similar to paper cut out art. Adobe just issued an upgrade for Adobe Camera RAW and I am quite impressed. I think if you are working in Black and White then this is the most elegant photoshop plugin to achieve the best result.

SPRING SNOWSTORM

On Wednesday we were hit by a powerful snowstorm. I hope this is the last one of the Winter season. I did not go outside but took a few pictures in our garden. To capture the blowing snow I used a fast shutter speed. The result was an image which looked like an etching. Still working in black and white I decided to use a very subtle split tone in the image. The photo imaging programs  allow for a much greater control of this process than when split toning  in the traditional darkroom.

MAKING MAPLE SYRUP

What a surprise this morning, Winter has returned with a vengeance with lots of snow. But this is a good time to think and work with black and white images using the computer. Last week I reread a book on the transition from the traditional darkroom to digital. The book "darkroom to Digital" by the British photographer Eddie Ephraums is quite good. The book describes Eddy Epphraums his switch to digital black and white photography. He explores the differences but also the similarities. I agree with him that if you are comfortable working in the traditional darkroom, you will discover that working digitally is very similar. Of course, since the publication of the book, digital technology has made great strides but the basic techniques are still applicable. The writer expresses my similar view, when he says " Our transition to digital can simply involve a switch from one type of darkroom to another, or it can focus on issues of sel-expression. Either way ... black and white lives on.

DAVID BOWIE,DOWNTOWN NORTH BAY

On Sunday we took a little walk downtown and when I said a little walk, that is exactly what it was Even though the sun was shining, it still was bitterly cold. So i did not get many pictures except this image of another mural of a famous musician and artist David Bowie. I like to see these portraits of musicians on the walls of downtown. It might be a great idea to see more of them. Maybe it could be expanded to include portraits of Canadian visual artists and writers.Well it's just a thought, which could be spruce up the downtown area.

ABANDONED BLUE

Another image from Saturday's trip. This time I preferred a colour version. The subdued colours gave the image the Winter cold feeling of the day and of abandonment of the place.

ABANDONED

Yesterday John and I went on our first photo trip of this year. We decided to visit an old abandoned industrial site. I had never been there but as soon as I wandered around the place I was thinking of the work by the German conceptual artists and photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher. The site is a great place to photograph. We regretted not bringing snow shoes but I am certain both of us will be returning there in the Spring to explore the site more thoroughly.

WINTER LANDSCAPE, POWASSAN, ONTARIO

This is a picture I took many years ago in a time when photographers used film. I still miss using the traditional silver based processes. Digital photography allows you to have a much greater control over the final look of the image, but the result is that so much of photographs today are technically exquisite but lack meaning and are visually quite boring.

WINTER FOG, LAKE NIPISSING

While looking for some pictures in my file I came across the image of a lonely ice fishing hut in this wide expanse of lake Nipissing. I took this picture a few years ago after a Winter thaw. The dark patches on the lake is smooth black ice. The fog, the textures and the general mood of the landscape is what inspired me to make this image.

CALLA LILY

The last few days the weather has been very mild, which gives us the illusion that Spring is just around the corner. Of course everyone knows that this is simply wishful thinking. So i started to do a series of pictures of a Canna lily. I really like this, in my view, an old fashioned plant. It has, in addition to its elegant shaped flowers, a very graphic shape.

MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

Another picture from my files. I took this picture almost a year ago when visiting the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts to see the Chagall  exhibition. I still like taking Black and White pictures although I use my digital camera exclusively. I still miss working in the darkroom but ,in my opinion, by working my computer I avoid using chemicals, which is quite a bit better for the environment.

THE STURGEON FALLS CATTLE AUCTION 1976

Yesterday I posted a picture of the Highway bookstore, which is now just a memory. Today a picture of another event, which also is now just a memory. I am talking about the weekly cattle auction in Sturgeon Falls. In 1976 I wanted to try out a new fast colour negative film, Kodacolor 400. This was the fastest negative colour film made by Kodak. So every Monday afternoon I would go to the cattle auction. It was a great social event. Many people would visit the auctions and outdoor farmers market. In addition to the actually cattle auction, you could go to an auction selling a wide variety of merchandise ranging from clothing to tools. Outside you could buy clothing, apples tools and kitchen utensils. It was quite a social event. But this market and auction is long gone. I still miss it. Luckily I have many images to keep the memory alive.  

REMEMBERING THE HIGHWAY BOOKSTORE

Today would have been a great day to make a trip to visit the Highway Bookstore in Cobalt. But this famous bookstore has been closed for quite  few years. all that's left are the fond memories of countless hours browsing the rich collection of new and old books and a few pictures. Not all is lost because the small Cobalt bookstore The White Mountain Publications still continues publishing of books by local authors. So if you visit Cobalt, you still can brows for books at this small bookstore.

ST.JOHNSBURY, VT

Winter is the season for reflection. At my age its getting a little too difficult to wander around town and country looking for interesting images and ,actually, it's a wonderful time going through your files and discovering that you have many fine pictures which you simply forgot about. So her is one of those pictures, which I took a few years ago when we made a trip to Boston in the early Spring. I photographed this dog in the picturesque town of St. Johnsbury in Vermont, inside the town's information centre. So time to look for some other good pictures and memories of past photo trips.

UNTITLED, MONTREAL, PQ

Time to start posting again. I am working on putting a portfolio of my abstract images which I have collected over the years. These pictures are simply random fragments of various details, which I see and simply interest me. I have to agree with  the American art historian Kirk Varnedoe, who said "The less there is to look at, the more important it is that we look at it closely and carefully. This is critical to abstract art. Small differences make all the difference."

BOOKWUS GHOST MASK, NATIONAL GALLERY' OTTAWA

Time to start posting to my blog again. It has been a busy time visiting Ottawa and taking care of some projects in the last two weeks but now everything is back to our normal routine. We did get a chance to visit the National Gallery, where saw the  2017 Canadian Biennal.We very much enjoyed the exhibition I particularly liked this powerful Bookwus Ghost mask by the First Nation artist Beau Dick, who was a hereditary Chief from the "Namgis First Nation in British Columbia. . The description explained that a mask is only "activated" during some of the Kwakwak a'wakw ceremonies

WINTER, MAIN STREET, NORTH BAY

Today was a big cleanup day after yesterday's massive snow fall, but last night I looked at another of my images from yesterday morning and of course could not resist posting another picture of main Street in the Winter storm. This picture is a different interpretation, which I think shows the Winter condition even better than yesterdays.

FIRST WINTER STORM

Well, we certainly  will have a snowy Christmas. Today we got our first major snow storm of the season. I had to go downtown, which was quite a trip. Of course I had to mtake afew pictures and I mean just a few. This was the view of Main Street at about ten o'clock this morning. Of course not much traffic and certainly very few pedestrians. I was glad to be home and now time for some clean up.

WINTER DANCE

I titled this picture Winter dance because it looked so much like a joyous celebration of the arrival of the Winter. Of course I could have named it "admiring my work" because the sculptor is sitting on the bench resting after several hours of work, creating his snow sculpture. Actually the art work depicts a crown, but there is definitely a feeling of dancers enjoying the event.

KING STREET, NORTH BAY

What a difference in weather between today, snowing, and yesterday, sunny, when I took this picture walking downtown. The two house and the two cars look, at first glance, similar. The almost similarities was what attracted me to this simple cityscape.

EARLY SIGNS OF WINTER

Last week Gerry and I went on a little photo excursion around the different North bay parks and beaches, photographing thew first signs of the coming Winter season. It was a good time to concentrate on some  black and white images. Here is a picture showing the ice starting to form along the lake shore.

EARLY WINTER SNOW

Yesterday we had our first snow of the Winter. Of course I had to go and take my first pictures of these early winter landscapes. Every year it is a photographic ritual making our first Winter images of the new season. So this time I tried to bring a visually more interesting pictures and use a variety of techniques to re-create this autochrome view of Sunset Park here in North Bay.

NOVEMBER TRAIL

Across from our house I photographed this decaying tree. It took me some experimentation to get the result i was looking for, which is a style reminiscent of some of the Art Nouveau illustrators. I especially like Arthur Rackham. I think I this image comes quite close to his illustration style.

THE LAST OF THE FALL COLOURS

Most of the leaves are gone. A few days ago I made this picture at the Kinsmen Beach here in North Bay.. Most of the trees are bars with just a few remnants of colour left. Nature is getting ready for the snow and ice season. 

GORD DOWNIE AND LEONARD COHEN MURAL, NORTH BAY

On Saturday I heard about a mural, which was painted to commemorate two of our most beloved and famous Canadian musicians and poets, Gord Downie and Leonard Cohen, in downtown North bay. So of course I was eager to see it and photograph the painting. It is quite a good contribution. However it is painted on a wall in a small walkway, which is a pity I would have liked to see it in a more visual space in the downtown area.

STREET ART, NORTH BAY

Sunday mornings are always my favourite time to walk around the city. There are very few cars to obstruct the scenes I am interested in. I had seen this little alley earlier in week but it was of course packed with cars. yesterday morning only this truck was left. Actually it makes the image more interesting because it adds visual impact to this image.

GREEN AND BLUE DOORS

On one of our latest photo wanderings we revisited a favourite place of ours, which is one of the marinas on the South shore of Lake Nipissing. The old boathouses offer a wealth of interesting subject matter, like these colourful and richly textured details of a few boat sheds.

FALL, THE SOUTH RIVER, ONTARIO

Another great photo trip on a glorious fall day. Dan, Gerry and I decided to retrace our last trip to Restoule Provincial Park. On the way we first stopped off at the South river in Nipissing. Walking down a little trail I came upon this interesting scene. The boat and the dock were in the shade which was quite blue in stark contrast with the sunlight trees across the river. It was still early enough to have a slight fog rising above the water. 

STORMY LAKE, RESTOULE PROVINCIAL PARK

Another picture from last Thursday's photo trip. This time a view from the dock in Restoule park. I decided to post a black and white image, which I like because , even though colour is missing, it still depicts the season.

RESTOULE PROVINCIAL PARK

Last Thursday, Dan, John and I made another photo tour in the area. It was a perfect picture taking day, although the colours were definitely not at their peak. However we visited a variety of our favourite places including of course the beautiful Restoule Provincial Park. All in all we had a great day.

END OF THE SEASON

It was a grey, rainy day yesterday, when I walked along the empty government dock. . The Chief Commanda will be finishing the Summer season this Thanksgiving weekend before moving to Callander, where it will go in dry dock for the Winter.