LAKE NIPISSING BOAT TRIP

Yesterday afternoon I went with my wife and my sister on a Lake nipissing cruise. The weather was not the greatest but it was very enjoyable. Actually, in all the years we lived here in North Bay I never went on a cruise aboard the Chief Commanda but I certainly plan go again.

ALMONTE PUPPET FESTIVAL

This weekend I visited Almonte, a town near Ottawa. It is a very picturesque place and I noticed that all the stores displayed puppets as a promotion for their upcoming international Puppet Festival, which will take place on the ninth and tenth of August. Here is an example of these puppets. Canadians will recognize Don Cherry a very popular hockey commentator on Canadian television.

GATHERING STORM

The Summer, so far, has been rather wet and cold. Today we had a little bit of sunshine but across the lake a big thunderstorm was rapidly approaching Sunset Park where we were enjoying the afternoon. Yesterday my sister arrived from Holland and I hope the weather will become more Summerlike so she can enjoy a very pleasant Canadian Summer holiday.

DELPHINIUMS

Just photographed these beautiful white delphiniums in my wifes garden. I made the picture in black and white because this garden stillife reminds me of the Victorian era gardens.

LA VASE RIVER PORTAGES, NORTH BAY

Time for a new posting. Again it was a busy week with preparations for next weeks course and other chores. I had to post a landscape along the Lavase portages. On Monday evening, the city council will approve a 60-metre buffer zone between the historic La Vase portage and a proposed quarry operation rather than the 120-metre zone recommended by the council’s community services committee. This of course wil destroy much of the natural environment of the historic portage because of noise, dust and an unsightly skyline. Obviously the mediocre minds of the members on city council are far more impressed with short term financial profits than with the long term gain of a pristine natural setting, which would enhance the enjoyment for this and future generations.

CAROUSEL, NORTH BAY WATERFRONT

This weekend our nine month old grandson came for a visit. We took him on his first carousel ride, which he greatly enjoyed. North Bay has two carousels designed, carved and constructed by a group of volunteer carvers and artists. This carousel is the smaller of the two but shows a variety of typical Canadian animals. It is truly a community effort and great fun for the children and adults too by the way.

PARKING LOTS, NORTH BAY

The picture show the holding ponds for the run off water coming from the newly built parking lots at the Educational Centre here in North Bay. I think creating huge parking lots show a lack of foresight. It simply destroys the natural setting around the complex. Instead they could have built a parking garage or better still develop a bettre transit system.

GARDEN

A few weeks ago, a former student asked me if I still had the slides of a bizarre and somewhat disturbingly decorated garden I photographed many years ago. So I looked through my old files and yes I found the slides. The problem is that at the time I used AGFA slidefilm, which did not age very well but with the help of Photoshop I am able to rescue them. Looking at them again I think that the pictures are still quite disturbing but also interesting.Here is a sample image of this series. If someone is interested in seeing some more just let me know and I will post some additional images.

STRIP MALL, NORTH BAY

In the last few years I have really become interested in the urban landscape. This little strip mall here in North Bay is a subject I like to photograph. It intrigues me how these businesses can be profitable.

ASPHALT MANDALA WITH YELLOW

I just like to thank Kuluth for joining my followers list. I am glad you enjoy my pictures. I called this image asphalt mandala because that is what it is but I could have named it cosmic mandala, which would be a little more mystical and pretentious.

CLOUDS

Nearly always I take my camera along wherever I go. Making pictures is just a second nature. Many people have a problem finding good subject matter but if you look around you then you learn that interesting images will present themselves.

CARP FARMERS MARKET

Saturday we visited the farmers market in Carp. I liked the variety colours and patterns of these radishes.

WEEKEND IN OTTAWA

Time for another posting. My wife and I returned last night from a very enjoyable fathersday weekend in Ottawa. Sunday afternoon we soent the afternoon on a roof patio in the market area, watching the people, enjoying a nice glass of wine and of course some very pleasant conversations. The weather was just great so all in all a very relaxing time with our family.

ABANDONED FUEL TANKS

In the same area where I photographed the old truck I took some pictures of these old fuel tanks hidden between the foliage of some trees.

GMC TRUCK

First of all I would like to thank Annie Miniscloux for her surprise posting. It has been a long time since I heard from you so I hope that we will keep in touch. I photographed this abandoned truck in the North Bay Public works yard. Maybe it is a symbol of what is happening to the General Motors Company. It could be possible to fix up this rusting truck but it would take a lot of money and definitely not worth it.

OLD SHED, NORTH BAY

Down the street is an old neglected shed. The peeling paint makes for some very interesting textures. So this morning I decided to see if I could make some interesting images of this very simple subject. So here is af pictures of the old shed.

IT'S DONE !!!

Well, the renovations are finished. All thats left is moving all the "stuff" in its place. That will take a few days but I am very happy with the final result.I used a 10 to 20 mm wideangle lens, which of course gives some distortion.

CATTLE AUCTION REMEMBERED

With the renovations finished, the big job is putting everything back in its place. Of course while sorting everything you find all kind of stuff you forgot about. This pictures is from an old photo series I did a long time ago on the cattle auction in Sturgeon Falls. The auction disappeared a long time ago so these images are just the memories left behind. It was actually a good document so I started to scan the negatives. Lets see what develops after I am finished.

SIMPLY A ROCK (revised)

First I would like to thank Lydia Peever and Andrew Livitt for following my blog. Nonie asked me if I could show her how to resize her images so they will fit on the screen. She has some difficulty reducing the size of her pictures. I will be glad to send her and anybody else who has problems resizing a short tutorial on this topic. Simply send me an email.

ANOTHER SNOW IMAGE

This was the view when I went to pick up my morning paper. I posted this additional image because Nonie had asked me for information about my Summer course on Photoshop Elements. The course will run from July 13 until July 17. Check the link on the right for more information.