OLD SAWMILL, CACHE BAY

Time to post another picture. Lately I have been going through some of my old negatives and I came across some pictures I took many decades ago. These are the remains of the old sawmill in Cache Bay. It reminded me of a book I read in my late teens by the British explorer Percy Fawcett  and  his quest in finding the lost city Z, as he named it, in Mato Grosso in Brazil. Nobody knows if he ever found it because he disappeared in 1925. The fictional character Indiana Jones was loosely baseed on Percy Fawcett.

WINTER, SCREAMING HEADS

Time to post another picture. Christmas time is a busy time, but, together with my friends John and Gerry, We took a photo excursion to Screaming Heads. It was a grey Winter day which I like because it allows for some very fine moody photographs like this picture I took of the strange house looking like some fairytale haunted house.

MINER'S HOME TAVERN, COBALT, ON REVISITED

On our return to North Bay last Sunday, I took the opportunity to revisit the Miners Home Tavern again. When I photographed this place at the end of September, I planned to go back to retake the same scene but with snow. I was lucky that Sunday afternoon the snow came almost as ordered which gave me the chance to take this Wintery grey landscape. I think I did capture the mood of Winter in the image.

HAILEYBURY, ONTARIO

It has been awhile since my last posting. Last Sunday Dan, John and I conducted a small workshop as part of our exhibition, which closed that day. So I thought to post this image taken downtown Haileybury. Actually I would call the picture a photo illustration because I manipulated the image using Photoshop and Luminar4, two programs I use extensively.

FALL GARDEN

This weekend I returned to using my iPad again. It has been awhile since I used my tablet to work directly on my photographs. In a few weeks I promised to conduct a short workshop in Haileybury  on manipulating your images using the iPad. Actually it is quite enjoyable using the various apps to create some interesting results. 

RED MAPLE

Right across from our driveway, is a magnificently coloured maple. The Fall is my favourite season. It has of course a lot to do with the great display of colour. Nature is displaying its bright palette reminding us of the austere black and white Winter season.  

PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE, TEMISKAMING ART GALLERY

For information on opening times check the gallery’s website  https://www.temiskamingartgallery.ca/

MINER’S HOME TAVERN, INTERIOR

Here a picture inside the tavern. I liked the three dimensional art depicting a miner and a view of   Of course I simply love all different types of folk art and this is quite good. Anyway we definitely are planning to visit this tavern again.

MINER'S HOME TAVERN, COBALT, ON

After delivering our photographs for our upcoming show next at the Temiskaming Art Gallery in Haileybury, John and I spent some time taking pictures of course. On our way home we stopped in Cobalt and visited the historic tavern, the Miner's Home Tavern. We had never stopped at this pub but it was definitely worth a visit and on future trips to Cobalt we certainly will visit the tavern again. 

FIXING THE ENVIRONMENT

Today people all over the world are marching for urgent action  to the climate change crisis. This picture shows what we are doing to prevent the this catastrophic environmental problem.  

NATURAL WILD FLOWER GARDEN

This morning I took some pictures at the former Thorn farm property at the beginning of our road. It is a stunning and exuberant display of late Summer wild flowers. What a pity that this wild garden will certainly disappear when some developer buys this property.

ABANDONED SILVER MINE, COBALT, ONTARIO

Visited an abandoned silver mine site in Cobalt. It is an intriguing place when looking at the depth of this mine, which came in operation in 1907. You think about the harsh, appalling working conditions of the men mining the silver. Cobalt is hoping to see a revival of their short colourful and thriving silver mining industry if the exploration for cobalt proves to be viable.

MANNEQUINS

Found these two mannequins in a store window in Alkmaar. I was intrigued by their unusual looks. So I had to take their picture of course. Nothing spectacular but a fun image.

SUMMER LANDSCAPE

So far the Summer has been beautiful. On Saturday we made a little trip in the Powassan area.  This is the time of the flowering of various wild flowers turning the fields into great natural gardens. This time the goldenrod are colouring the landscape golden yellow while the great cloudy sky  added a rich pattern of textures to this Summer landscape.

HAPPY AND MELLOW

Walking along one of the busy downtown streets in Amsterdam, I noticed this happy guy standing inside a convenience store. Of course I had to take his picture and he did not object. so here is the picture of one very relaxed customer.

DUTCH LANDSCAPE WITH WINDMILLS

When we were staying in Alkmaar, my wife’s cousin came to pick us up in his boat. So boating along this canal we were floating through a very typical Dutch landscape reminiscent of a Jacob Ruysdael painting.   

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.