DINER INTERIOR

Yesterday my friend Rob asked if the food at this diner was any good. So here is an interior view just for him. Yes the breakfast was fine and quite a bit cheaper than the $14.00 the hotel would charge for a similar meal.Of course it was not as fancy as the hotel restaurant but I thought definitely more colourful.

BREAKFAST

I had to spend a few days in Toronto. It was a short visit so I only took a few pictures. as a photographer I always look for interesting scenery, so when I was looking for a place to have breakfast I saw this fine eatery, of course it made for a good urban landscape image.

REFLECTION

I have not posted any pictures lately. I simply did not find any images which I thought would be visually interesting. Today I saw this reflection in the back of a tanker truck and yes it turned into a good image. I post this picture for rmy sister Marijke who just lately discovered my blog. Dus misschien is het tijd om af en toe ook een Nederlandse vertaling te geven. Deze reflectie in the achterkant van een tank wagen heb ik net vanmorgen gemaakt. De laatste tijd heb ik niet veel foto's op mijn blog gezet om de eenvoudige reden dat ik niet genoeg geinspireerd dat komt af en toe wel eens voor.

SECRET GARDEN

One advantage of all the rain we are getting this Summer is that the gardens look very lush and colourful. This part of the garden is my wife's favourite. She calls it her "secret garden".

MUGEI-MUMEI NO-JITSU WU HSIN

This week I photographed this fisher on the dock here in North Bay. What peaked my curiosity was the tattoo on his back. I had no idea what it meant but after a little searching on the net I discovered that the translation simply means "No-Name No Art". It is the motto of the world wide martial arts organization The Black Dragon Temple.

GARDEN TEXTURES

This week I did not get a chance to post any pictures. I have been busy teaching a week workshop on Photoshop Elements. Yesterday I did have some time to take some pictures in our garden. The garden looks spectacular after all the rain we received in the last few weeks. This picture shows the great variety of textures of the hostas and ferns.

BEFORE THE RAIN

At least this rainy weather is good if you like the dramatic effect of cloudy skies, which is ideal for good black and white pictures.

SUPERWIDE

my friend Steve lent me his super wide zoom lens so I could try it out. Normally I don't work with extreme wide angle lenses so it takes some adjusting to get to know the visual possibilities of this type of lens.

WELCOME, AHNIIN, BIENVENUE

Driving through Sturgeon Falls, Ontario this morning, I noticed this wooden statue outside a motel. Of course I had to take some pictures. Its pure folk art.

CLOUD

It looked almost like Summer this morning but by the afternoon the clouds started to roll in bringing lots of rain and thunderstorms.

BARN, POWASSAN, ONTARIO

With all the rain and dark skies we are getting lately I think black and white is the best way to make images reflecting this type of dark unsettling weather.

SWAMP NEAR WASI LAKE

I passed this creek running through a swamp on the road to Wasi Lake. What really caught my eye were the dramatic sky and the reflection in the water. To emphasize the clouds I decided to print the image dark which increased the dramatic aspect of this scene.

SUMMER, WASI LAKE

Titled this picture Summer because that season started today. Actually you might not think so with all the rain we are getting. It feels and looks more like early Spring. However today I went on another of my photo excursions. I came to Wasi Lake near Powassan and got a few nice images. Taking pictures is very much like fishing, you take some interesting pictures but not until you download them do you know if you have images you can get excited about.This image is one I really enjoy.

WALL AND POST

What can I say about this image? I like to simplify the subject to just texture and contrast. So simply enjoy.

POPPIES

The poppies in our garden are magnificent this Spring. Maybe it was the wet weather or the right soil. I just like to photograph them. My wife does the work of course and I benefit of her labour. This time I experimented with a technique I learned from Corey Barker. Photoshop allows you to use a wide variety of techniques which might not be strictly photographic but gives startling visual effects.

WALL ABSTRACT

I always enjoy abstract subject matter, so when I go on a photo tour I simply can't resist making this type of images like this wall in downtown North Bay.

RAINY DAY

We have had quite a bit of rain lately but the dark wet days also bring beautiful colours. I just love taking pictures when the sky is overcast. So here is a picture of our garden which I took this afternoon.

KATE PACE WALKWAY, NORTH BAY

The Kate Pace Walkway is a walking and bicycle path which takes you from the North Bay waterfront all the way to the village of Callander.The landscape varies widely starting along Lake Nipissing then following Chippewa Creek through downtown North bay and going through marshlands close to Callander.

SUNSET, CALLANDER BAY

Thanks Nonie and André for your comments on my picture of Lake Nipissing. Last night I took this image along the lakefront in Callander. I still enjoy black and white photography so , even though I don't use the traditional darkroom anymore, I love making digital black and white prints. Actually I am thinking of running a course strictly on making digital black and white pictures depending on the level of interest of course.

LAKE NIPISSING

It has been a wet month of may here in Northern Ontario. Of course the dramatic skies added greatly to the visual impact of black and white images.