JEFF McKENZIE'S GARDEN, NORTH BAY

Yesterday on our walk we came across this wonderful downtown garden. The owner of this garden , Jeff McKenzie, invited us to come and have a closer look. Jeff has done a tremendous amount of work since moving to the property last October. Of course Marianne being an avid gardener, she and Jeff were very busy talking about their hobby. This gave me some time to spend my time taking pictures. It is always difficult photographing a garden because you are trying to translate a three dimensional scene into atwo dimensional image. But I think the picture gives a fairly good translation of Jeff's creation.

BEE TRUCK, POWASSAN, ONTARIO

Last Thursday Dan and I went again on a photo trip in the Powassan area. We quite often make little excursions to this familiar country side.  When driving along Alsace road we spotted this truck wreck but we did not stop. But yesterday I remembered the colourful old vehicle and returned to take a few pictures. The light was just right without strong shadows and highlights. I liked the various textures of the trees and the grasses. The colour contrast between the truck and the green foliage worked well   in this composition.

BIRD HOUSE, TORONTO

 On this cold wet day its a good time to look at some images from my files. I took this picture of a bird house some time ago in Toronto. I forgot all about it because at the time I had other images I preferred but I do like the reflections in the store window which give this picture a mythical quality.

WAVE, KINSMEN BEACH, NORTH BAY

I still have not been taking many pictures lately. We are busy with the garden so I have not been on many photo trips. however a few days ago I did go down to one of my favourite Lake Nipissing beaches, the Kinsmen Beach. What I had in mind was to do a series of images on waves.I like the final result of this first picture and will develop a series of images from the pictures I took that afternoon. 

TRUCK, ANNUAL VINTAGE CAR SHOW, NORTH BAY

Yesterday my old colleague and avid collector Joe, gave me a beauiful book on the history of photography. Looking at the old colour images I thought that it would be interesting to make some of my pictures from last Saturday's car show into vintage colour photographs reflecting the period.

MAINSTREET ANNUAL CAR SHOW, 2016

Yesterday I visited the annual car show on Mainstreet. This year there were a much larger amount of cars. Of course all the cars were beautifully restored but I liked this old beaten up truck, which was obviously "restored" to this decrepit state by its owner. So reflect this old neglected view I made my image look like a picture from the depression era. Similar to the images by the photographers, who worked for the Farm security Administration in the thirties and forties of the last century.

OLD BARBER CHAIR

Yesterday I posted a picture of the JD Barbershop here in North Bay. I forgot to complete the information about the new barber chairs, which replaced the old "antique" chairs. One of these old chairs will be kept as decoration. So here an image of that chair. I think the American photographer William Eggleston would appreciate this barbershop interior.

GETTING A HAIRCUT

It has been quite awhile since my last posting. But yesterday I went to my favourite barbershop to get my hair cut. In my experience its definitely the best barbershop in town. Actually I posted a picture of this shop in October 2010. A few weeks ago the old barber chairs were replaced with new chairs and  an extra chair was added. While waiting I kept myself busy taking a few pictures. 

CEDAR GROVE, ANOTHER VIEW

I could not resist posting another view of the cedar grove. What I like in this image is the illusion of movement. Every time I visit this small cedar forest I enjoy the sculptural quality of the trees, which seem to be taking part in some natural dance performance.

CEDAR GROVE, VILLE MARIE, PQ

What a beautiful day it was yesterday, when my friend Gerry and I traveled to Ville Marie to take some pictures at the site of the old Fort Témiscamingue in Ville Marie. It was very quiet because the site is not open yet. this of course was ideal for taking pictures. for me the most interesting section is the old cedar grove. I simply love the almost mystical atmosphere of the grove. The magnificent shapes of the trees and the light accentuating the textures and form of the trees.   

DUCHESNAY FALLS DRY

I took this picture at the height of Summer when Duchesnay Falls is almost dry, in contrast to the the Spring and fall when the water cascading down the falls is truly spectacular. But I do like the rich textures and shapes of the bare rocks of the dry falls.

FUCHSIA

When Linda Large asked me to post some landscapes from my files, it started a train of thought. Ansel Adams compared photography to music. He explained that the negative is the score and the print is the execution of this score. I think he was absolutely right because if we have a negative or a RAW file for that matter we can always go back and re-interpret the score. So when I scanned a series of images from a fuchsia I made some very different images then I made in 1982, the year I took the pictures. 

LANDSCAPE, SOUTH RIVER

Another classic black and white interpretation of the hydro dam in South River. Again its an older image and this landscape has changed since extensive upgrades to the dam some years ago. 

ABANDONED HOUSE, NEAR VERNER

Linda Large asked me if I could publish some landscape images from my files. well here is one of an old house in the Verner area. I made this picture in 1985 when Jack Shepherd and I were roaming the area looking for good  photo subjects. This house was of course ideal it had rich textures, patterns and shapes. The light was excellent and as abonus a very beautiful sky filled with clouds.

VINTAGE MOTEL AND COTTAGE SIGNS, NORTH BAY

Last week I bought the book "Nipissing" by Françoise Noël. Most of the books on local history lack focus and are simply like a family picture album. This book however I like its well written and above all well designed.  In one chapter Françoise describes a trip along Lakeshore Drive, which in the thirties had many motels and cottages. Several of these places are still in business and a few even have vintage 1950's signs. I should have taken these photographs in the 1970's because, over the years, quite a few of these signs have disappeared. Anyway hers are the most interesting signs, I decided to re-create the feeling of the times in retro fil images. 

EARLY SPRING, LAKE NIPISSING

This week Linda Large asked if people would post a different landscape every day for seven days. I thought this a great assignment but because I have been busy, I was not able to take pictures. But this morning I went down to the waterfront to make some very minimalist photographs of the lake. I particularly liked this image, which was probably inspired by the seascape photographs of the Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto.

SUMMER EVENING, LAKE NIPISSING

This week I had to scan one of my archived negatives when I came across some old images I took quite a long time ago.Well I scanned them because I think our daughters would like to see them. It will remind them of their long warm Summers swimming and playing in the lake. For me its simply nostalgia and of course a looking forward to the coming Summer. I think we had enough of the snow and ice.

WINTER RETURNS

When I woke up this morning I thought I had become Rip van Winkle. I thought Spring had finally arrived. Most of the snow had disappeared but that was just an illusion I guess because today Winter returned with a vengeance. So far I think we received about 40cm of the white stuff and its still snowing. So I guess we have to wait patiently for Spring to arrive.

ROOSTER, NORTH BAY

When I saw this rooster outside my favourite house on Cassels Street, I had to take its picture. A friend of ours collects all kind of pictures, little sculptures, pottery etc. So i thought she would enjoy this proud and curious rooster.

OLD MAPLE TREE, SPRING 2016

On our last photo trip, Dan and I have a few favourite areas where we like to go and we always return with a few interesting images. For this picture I used a hand colouring effect, a technique quite popular with the early pictorialists.