DINER, SYRACUSE, NY

Sorting through some of my pictures, I came across this image of a diner in Syracuse, which I took last year. All these diners like to reflect the 1950's with nearly always the same iconic figures from that period. What atracted me to this picture is the blending of the wall painting with the tables and seats. You have to look to know what is painting and what is the actual restaurant.

RAIN AND MORE RAIN

We are recieveing quite a bit of rain here in Northern Ontario. Absolutely not a time to go out and take pictures.

BLACK AND WHITE, BLACK FORREST PARK

It as been a busy week, our kitchen is being renovated. I keep my fingers crossed that everything will be finished by the end of the week. So here is black and white image I made last week. I like the rhythm of the trees and the strong graphic impact of the black and white composition.

BLACK FORREST PARK, NORTH BAY

Yesterday was just a great Spring day. That in contrast to last Wednesday when we received up to 20cm of snow. So I went for a little hike in the Black Forrest municipal park not too far from my place. I tried to take this picture using a very slow shutter speed but there was too much light to get the effect I wanted. However, using Photoshop, I was able to get exactly the result I was looking for.

ICE BREAKUP

You would not think that Spring has arrived with a snowstorm blowing outside today. Tomorrow promises to be back to a sunny day with seasonable temperatures around 8 º to 10 º C. I made this picture yesterday with the ice crawling onto the dock here in North bay. The colour image lacks the strong visual impact of the black and white image.

INCENSE HOLDER

On our coffee table we have a rather intriguing small object. It is an incense holder but that is about all I know about it. Obviously it has been used quite a bit, its carved from stone on the back are some decorations and, I guess it is quite old. It is fun to speculate where it came from and what it represents. By the way we bought it many years ago in a store in the Toronto China town area.

BIRDS NEST FERN

Back to my plant images. This is picture of a birds nest fern is a favourite of mine. I like the abstractct quality of the dark lines contrasting with  the beautiful almost sculptural shapes of the leaves.

AGAWA ROCK PAINTING

After my posting of the Mickey Mouse rock painting here in North Bay, I remembered that, in the Summer of 1975, I had photographed these well known rock paintings along the shores of lake Superior. its a pity I took them in black and white but, after scanning the negatives, I simply toned and hand coloured the pictures. These pictures are not as old or as intricate as for instance the controversial rock paintings of Pedra Furada  or the  Australian prehistoric rock paintings  but they are now a tourist attraction, visited and admired by many tourist who travel the north shore of Lake Superior. So maybe a couple of hundred years from now the rock art from North bay will become as famous as the pictures of Agawa bay.
PS If you like graffiti art  check out the work of the grafiti artist BLU Its simply amazing.

WHY ?

I titled this picture "why" because it always amazes and disturbs me when I see the wanton destruction of our natural environment with mindless visual garbage like this. I don't understand why people feel the urge to simply destroy their world. It is actually pretty sad to see this kind of wanton destruction.

PHILODENDRON

Krys and Paul asked me about some samples of  late nineteen century photographers. Actually I should clarify this a little because I include in that the style of photography ranging from the late nineteen until about the early twentieth century. I am thinking about the fine images of Edward Steichen, Clarence H. White and especially Imogen Cunningham This picture is from a plant series I did in 1982 and  I hope I answered your question about the influence on some of my pictures by these great master of the photographic art.

EARLY MORNING FOG, LAKE NIPISSING

A dense fog covered the landscape this morning. We went for a walk along the lake and the skies were just beautiful. It did not last long but I made some nice dramatic images before the fog quickly dis appeared. The sky reminded me of the oil sketches Turner and Constable made of ever changing sea skies.

ROB RACING HIS TRUCK

Yesterday my neighbour and friend Rob told me he was a little disappointed because every day he looks at my blog but I never posted a picture I made for him last year. Rob's big hobby is his Harley Davidson with matching Ford Truck. Last Fall he asked me to photograph him racing the truck. So, to keep my promise, here is the result. Hope he likes it.

Begonia

Today I spent some time taking pictures of a begonia. I wanted to recreate the photographic style of the late nineteen century. So I experimented with some edging but I did not like all the results. This edge, which looks a little like a typical watercolour paper is probably the best one. Tomorrow I'll try some other techniques.

DECK CHAIR

Every day I have to  take pictures.I guess it has become second nature to me. A few days ago it was a dark rainy day but I liked the mood of the foggy garden and deck so I made this simple image of the wet chair and deck. I combined a black and white version with the original colour image, I simply masked the chair to keep the original colour. The result reflects the atmosphere of the wet day.

CONTAINER BUILDING, BURKS FALLS

In Burks Falls a new building is being constructed of old shipping containers. It was quite a colourful subject but I am curious what it will lokk like when the building is finished.

ST.OLAF CHURCH, BEAR LAKE, ON

On our little trip yesterday we came through Bear Lake. At this time of year it is very quiet but I can imagine the Summer is busy with cottagers. The real interesting building in this community  is this old church, which was built in 1876. The light was just right and with the old weathered fence and church offered just the right mix for a very romantic black and white image.

SPRING MONKEY

Driving through Sundridge this morning I noticed the first sign of real Spring. The first Spring monkey was swinging in a tree.

MARK'S VILLAGE RESTAURANT

Its been a busy few days. Just like Dave, we are renovating the kitchen. Also the Winter keeps lingering on so it is not a very nice time for taking pictures. But just to keep my blog going here is a black and white of an old empty restaurant in Burks Falls, which I photographed on my last trip there a week and a half ago.