VEGETARIAN BUTCHER, THE HAGUE

Yesterday I was reading a news article about the new vegan breakfast offered by Tim Horton. The popular food chains are offering more vegan food choices. When we visited The Hague, I noticed a vegetarian butcher shop right across from the city hall. What of course attracted my interest was the life size photograph of the butcher on the door. It did not look very inviting. 

THE GROTE KERK, BREDA, THE NETHERLANDS

This is the interior of the church in the city of Breda. this beautiful restored church was built in the middle of the fifteenth century. In the nineteenth century Vincent van Gogh’s grandfather was the minister of this church. Vincent was named after his grandfather.

THE MARKET, BREDA, THE NETHERLANDS

It would be very enjoyable having a cold glass of beer in the market of our old home town Breda on this very hot day.

ROMANTIC STREET VIEW, BRUGES

Walking through a living museum like Bruges, it is very enjoyable to see this type of city landscape. Rich in textures and patterns it invites you to take images which reminds you of the large format pictures of the nineteenth century. 

BRUGES CANAL VIEW

It was interesting that when moving away from the prime tourist areas in the city, that not many people walked along the canals or even in the smaller streets off the main shopping streets. 

BRUGES, BELGIUM

The other city in Belgium we visited was Bruges, also known as the Venice of the North. Its a great place if you are interested in history. In the 15th century this city was one of the wealthiest cities in Europe, which   is reflected in the marvellous architecture.  Of course it is a very busy tourist attraction but well worth a visit. We certainly loved it. 

SHADOWS

Today just a simple still life which I took while enjoying lunch in a Brussels Restaurant. What drew my attantion was the shadow on the walll and combined with the quiet table setting, made for a very simple quiet still life.

TOURBUS, BRUSSELS

In the Summer the cities in Europe are filled with tourists. You see tour busses everywhere weaving their way through the narrow, crowded streets in the popular tourist spots. So I make the bus and the reflection in the windshield my main subject, resulting in a colourful composition of a rich variety  of textured shapes.

SHOE STORE, THE GALERIES ROYALES SAINT-HUBERT, BRUSSELS

The majority of stores at  the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert are chocolate stores. The other store were very high end jewelry, clothing and shoe stores. I was particularly impressed with many of the store windows which were of very minimalist but sophisticated designs. Here is an example of a shoe store window, which showed simply a pair of running shoes. I thought it was quite effective and visually effective.

THE GALERIES ROYALES SAINT-HUBERT, BRUSSELS

Right in the centre of Brussels, you will find one of the oldest shopping galeries in Europe, the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert. This very beautiful shopping arcade was inaugurated in 1847. The initial idea for this project came from the young Belgian  architect Jean- Pierre Cluysenaer, who was a great admirer of the traditional Renaissance architecture. It is a magnificent building and, of course very popular by visitors to the Belgian capital. What a difference with the shopping malls we are familiar with in our country. 

ARCHITECTURE, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

These beautiful warm Summer days are excellent for working on my photographs, while sitting on our deck enjoying the peace and quiet in our garden. So here is another picture I took in Brussels. A city which I think is underappreciated in comparrison to the more famous European cities like Amsterdam or even Paris. Wandering along the streets I enjoy looking at the rich nineteen century architecture of the downtown area. What attracts me are the patterns, textures and colours of the various buildings, which, combined with the various perspectives of geometrical shapes make a fine intricate composition.

MURAL, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

Our first destination on our trip was Brussels. The city is quite interesting with many picturesque neighbourhoods in addition to the well known tourist areas in the down town of the city. Walking down a street, this visually striking  mural contrasted with the more muted colours of the buildings.

SWEET WOODRUFF, GALIUM ODORATUM

A few days ago we returned from a wonderful holiday in Belgium and The Netherlands. But of course it is always great to return to your own home. My wife’s garden is at its very Summer peak. In the back of the garden she has created her own “secret” corner, which is a carpet of flowering Sweet Woodruff. So of course I am posting this image to celebrate our return home.

RUINS, COBALT, ONTARIO

Another picture from the historic town of Cobalt. No, the ruins of the various mine sites are maybe not as famous as the ruins from the Mediterranean or Central and South American civilizations, but they are still very interesting and definitely worth photographing.

THE DANCE

On our trip we also made a short stop in Cobalt. Again we made some fine hotographs. We certainly will be going back for a more in depth exploration of the Cobalt area. Over the years I have made many trips to this old mining town and every time I discover new views of familiar landscapes.

INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE

This was the first picture I made outside the abandoned plant. My original idea was to take a series of black and white pictures but some of course worked better in colour. I am quite happy with this very bleak black and white interpretation of this industrial landscape.

EMPTY

Yesterday John and I went on our first Spring photo trip. We had a great time and came back with many fine images. One of the places we visited was an old  empty factory. It was an interesting place, even if it was almost empty. John and I took quite a few pictures I like this one because of the strong rectangles and the reflected light from the walls. It was a difficult place to photograph because of the lack of light. Both of us were shooting handheld, so we were using very wide lensopenings and high ISO. we were still surprised with the results.

SPRING CLEANUP , FOR DAVID BROWN

Yesterday was a great day for preparing the gardens for the Spring and Summer seasons. It was also a fine day to have my first small fire. I burned some branches cut from the various shrubs. It was hard starting the fire because everything was very wet but it was a wonderful peaceful day.

SPRING BREAKUP

At last Spring has arrived. The ice on the lake is rapidly breaking up and melting. Yesterday and the day before I took some pictures of the last remnants of the ice. I guess it was my personal celebration of ending of the long and snowy Winter.

CALLA LILY

A friend of ours brought us a beautiful canna lily. It definitely is one of my favourite plants. Many famous artists like Georgia O’Keefe, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, just to name a few artists who made many drawings and paintings of this elegant flower and every year I can’t resist photographing this plant, this time in black and white. 

MUSICIANS WALL, NORTH BAY

It has been a long time since my last posting, but after this long Winter, Spring has finally reluctantly arrived . So here an update on the musicians wall by Jeff Marceau on McIntyre street here in North Bay. I had posted a picture titled Gord Downey and Leonard Cohen in October 2017. The wall has been greatly expanded to include many great Canadian musicians and singers.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA

Visited the National Gallery last Friday to see the Paul Klee exhibit. Afterwards we spend some time looking at some of the work in the various galleries. This minimalist artwork by the American artist Donald Judd was quite interesting. It concists of a series of plywood boxes, which worked particularly well for me when photographed in black and white, especially the strong shadows and wood textures.

GARDEN OF DOLLS REVISITED

This Winter is a good time to revisit some of my old photographs. I spent some time scanning a series of negatives which I took many, many years ago. When on one of our photo trips, my wife saw this odd looking garden filled with a variety of dolls. After asking permission we spent some times taking pictures. The place was quite interesting and we returned again to take more pictures. Initially when you see the garden 

WINTER TRAIL

Saturday was a beautiful day forvtaking pictures. It almost felt as if Spring was getting closer. Four of us went out on a little walk along Chippewa creek. Without snow shoes, we had to stay on the track but, even with that restrain, we had a very good time. I think all of  came with some fine black and whit images.  

OLD RAILWAY STATION, MATTAWA

Just before lunch last Monday, we made a little detour to take some pictures of the old railway station in Mattawa. We have visited this building regularly over the years but now it seems that it is coming to its final stage of deterioration. Soon this building will probably disappear. 

WINTERLANDSCAPE, BONFIELD, ONTARIO

Another picture from our Monday morning trip. The light was perfect to create a strong graphic image with a rich variety of textures.

OH, PLEASE NO MORE SNOW

Yesterday John and I decided to go on a morning photo excursion. Neither of us had been interested in wandering around the area because it has been, and still is very cold. But we could not resist the beautiful fine Winter weather, so we left early. However when we started taking pictures, it was very cold, -17C, but we persisted and by lunch time we had some very nice pictures. All in all quite a good day. I could not resist posting his image because I think everybody is now ready for Spring and please nommore snow.

WINTER LANDSCAPE WITH HORSE

High time to post another picture. We have experience some pretty harsh Winter weather, so I have been looking at some older pictures in my files and yes have been scanning quite a few of my B&W and colur negatives. It is quite an interesting experience looking at some of the old files, which bring back memories of old photo trips from earlier times. Looking at your old files you have a different view of some of these older images and you ask yourself why didn’t I print this negative. Over time I learned that it is a good practice to take some time before processing a negative or digital file. 

PAKENHAM, ONTARIO

The last few days have been very cold, this morning our thermometer read -31 C. So definitely not a good time to go outside to take some fine pictures. Thinking about nice Summer weather, I found this picture I took a few years ago along the shores of the Mississipi river in Pakenham, Ontario. Of course it was a beautiful nostalgic landscape so remembering old pictures from around the beginning of the twentieth century I recreated a landscape photograph reminisent of style of that time.

OLD TRUCK, DETAIL

It has been a month since my last posting. My excuse is that we first had the busy Christmas holiday time, then I worked on some other projects and also the weather lately has not enticed me to go out and wander around looking for photographs and another reason of course is simply procrastination. So time to post a picture of my on going abstract photo project. I took this picture in November just before the Winter hibernation. The strong graphic impact of black and white images is still very important to me. Maybe because that is where I started when getting interested in the art of photography and I do miss working in the darkroom.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a great and happy new year.

CHRISTMAS AMARYLLIS

The tradition continues. Every year we have flowering amaryllises as our favourite Christmas flower and every year I take pictures of these magnificent flowers. Sometimes I photograph them in colour other times, like this year, I prefer the black and white interpretation. 

TABLE LAMPS

The few weeks before Christmas are certainly a busy time. So picture taking and posting has been placed on the back burner. But last week I walked into a local business and saw this display of table lamps. Of course I could not resit taking some pictures of these whimsical creations. 

EARLY SNOW FALL

Winter has definitely arrived early this year. Last Friday we had a heavy snowfall. In the morning I went to one of my favourite spots at Kinsmen Beach to take some pictures. I was looking for some very minimalist subjects like the these two trees. The background is not the sky but the dark water of the lake which has not frozen yet. A fast shutterspeed kept most of the snowflakes sharp while my large lens opening allows for the snowflakes close to the camera to be completely out of focus, just to add impact to the image.

NOVEMBER SNOW, BLACK FOREST, NORTH BAY

Yesterday we had another big November snowfall. So I took a little trip up the road to the Black Forest. Walking down one of the trails I saw the wind blow the snow from the trees. I liked the effect but of course I was too late to capture the beautiful grey tones swirling around the trees. I waited for quite a long time, of course it did not happen again and then a man came along the trail with his dog. We were talking when all of a sudden a windburst blew the snow right into the scene. I just snapped the shutter not certain I got my shot. Well I got lucky. Here is the result.

REMEMBRANCE DAY, 2018

Tomorrow is remembrance day and I thought that this poem by Wilfred Owens expresses the horror of war and in particular the anguish and pain of the first world war. A note on the  quote from the Roman poet Horace "It is sweet and fitting to die for your country"

PORTRAIT OF AN OLD TRUCK

Last Thursday Dan, Kirk and I made a return trip to the Burks Falls and Magnetawan area. A few years ago I had photographed an old truck on the road to Magnetawan and of course we had to stop to take pictures of this old work horse. Originally it was an old army truck, we had no idea how old it was and it certainly has not been used for many years. It certainly was a great subject for some good images.

ANTHROPOCENE, NATIONAL GALLERY CANADA

I took this picture two weeks ago after seeing the great exhibition Anthropocene at the National Gallery in Ottawa by the collective of Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier. The show is very powerful and should be seen by anyone even slightly interested in the environment. Edward Burtynsky is not only one of the foremost landscape photographers but also a great environmentalist. I chose this image of elephant tusks. In the exhibition Jennifer Baichwald shows the burning of these tusks from 7000 elephants, which were confiscated from poachers by the Kenyan government. It is a  very powerful and emotional documentary. Two days ago, the WWF published their report The Living Planet 2018 document an astonishing decline since the nineteen seventies of 60% in the size of populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians largely linked to human activity. 
So, if you get a chance go and see this very important exhibition at the National Gallery or the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

RAILWAY STATION, SOUTH RIVER, ONTARIO

Another picture from our photo trip  to South River. I am still looking at the landscape pictures by Don McCullin and also at the photographs of another favourite photographer of mine Joseph Koudelka. Both of them are famous of course for their documentary work but they have made very powerful landscape photographs. Their images are quite dark,reflecting the strong emotional quality of their journalistic work. 

RAILWAY BRIDGE, SOUTH RIVER, ONTARIO

Yesterday was a great day for another photo trip. Gerry and I left early in the morning and decided to go to some of the small villages and towns South of North Bay. The weather started was very nice, a crisp sunny Fall day, but later in the afternoon the sky clouded over. Still we had some time before the rain started and ended up at the railway bridge in the village of South River. Most of the fall colours were gone so I concentrated on getting some good black and white pictures. Returning home both of us came back with some fine images.

ANOTHER VIEW, ABANDONED CHURCH

I think David might like this image of the old abandoned church too. My idea was to recreate a romantic, maybe even a nostalgic view of this old building. It is basically a straight toned print similar to the architectural prints of the nineteenth century photographers. It is a pity that this building is left to simply deteriorate. 

ABANDONED CHURCH REVISITED

After photographing this old abandoned church, I wanted to take pictures later in the season when the trees were changing colour. It was a little disappointing because there were not that many brightly coloured trees around. but I made some fine images. My idea was to create a picture reflecting the feeling of the passing of time. So I used a variety of techniques recreating the old sepia toned pictures with some added colour. The final image is reminiscent of the old autochrome photographs of the early twentieth century.

WAVES (BLACK AND WHITE)

This is the black and white version of yesterday's posting. It is more dramatic interpretation of the than the coloured image. This morning I was looking at some of Don McCullin's dark and somber  images from his forthcoming book Landscapes. His pictures are rich in textures and beautiful lighting. When working in black and white I always look for the same visual elements in my images, strong dramatic light and rich textures similar to McCullin's landscape work.

WAVES

Fall has definitely arrived. Walking along the beach I took quite a few pictures of the waves and dramatic sky. Initially I was thinking this is definitely a scene for black and white of course but when I started to process the picture on the computer I  decided that the final colour image was my favourite. 

DERELICT FARM HOUSE NEAR WARREN, ONTARIO

Photographers are nearly always attracted by old derelict buildings and, I have to admit , that I enjoy photographing these old places. I guess that the attraction is the great richness on textures and patterns. So, when John suggested that we visit this house, which he had photographed a few years ago, I was quite interested in seeing the old place. I was not disappointed so we spend some time photographing this old abandoned homestead. 

LANDSCAPE, SUDBURY, ONTARIO

A few weeks ago I posted a few scanned pictures from my files. In the seventies and eighties I had photographed regularly in the greater Sudbury area. So John and I made a little excursion to see what is left of that really desolate but very interesting landscape. To our surprise most of the area around Sudbury  has changed.The barren rocky landscape has been transformed, which is beginning to resemble the traditional Northern Ontario landscape with predominantly pine trees. John and I found remnant of the old barren landscape  around the Stobey Mine. Its a pity that you are not allowed in on the property because the rock formations are beautiful and we would have loved to wander and explore the landscape. 

LATE SUMMER LANDSCAPE

Going down the street this morning I passed the old Thorn farm property and I just had to stop and walk into the abandoned fields to wander around this beautiful natural garden. It was raining and that created this wonderful soft atmosphere. what a great visual feast.

LOW TIDE, BAY OF FUNDY

I made this picture on a trip to Nova Scotia. it is a scanned image from a  colour negative before I completely switched to digital photography. It is an interesting exploration going through my old files and I will spend quite a bit of time going through all my old files. It promises to be quite atrip of rediscovery. 

YELLOW TRUCK WITH RED MAPLE LEAF

The blue grey colour of the house and the magnificent blue Summer sky with the strong contrast of yellow and red truck, is what attracted me to this otherwise mundane city landscape. I toned the overall colour down to accentuate the brightly coloured new truck.

STILL FOR SALE

This picture is for John and Bob, who both told me that the statue of Christ was still for sale. Last year I posted a picture of the same statue. But I guess the owner could not get the price he would like to get so he is displaying the statue again. I don't think it includes the angle I simply liked the subject and it certainly makes for an interesting garden design.