PORCH, NORTH BAY

The Christmas festive season is over. Our guests have left and , after cleaning up, its time to post another image. Last week I took a picture of this porch. I liked the red and white banners moving softly in the breeze. They added some colour to an otherwise grey Wintery day.

OLD BARN, VERNER

I like to wish everybody who has posted comments and followed my blog a very merry christmas and a great and happy NewYear.

WINTER, LAKE NIPISSING

It is of course still a busy time. Have not gone out to take photographs so Looked in my files and came across this image I made early December 2009. This year , of course we have had much more snow and the lake is frozen. However i liked the picture and decided to share it.

WINTER, MILKWEED

It is quite often the subject, which appears the most uninteresting part of a landscape, which then turn out to give us a very interesting image, full of textures,patterns and colours.

MAILBOX

Just down the road is an old farm. I have posted other pictures of this place but I had to photograph it again in the fog, which was the important element turning this landscape into a beautiful romantic image.

FOG

It was quite foggy today so, of course I had to go and visit some of my favourite sites to take advantage of this weather. I made quite a few nice images but, like this picture, you have to be very careful not to lose the subtle grey tones. It is too easy to go too contrasty, so you simply lose that special atmosphere created by the fog.

SNOW LANDSCAPE, LAVIGNE, ONTARIO

Lots of snow today. Again I am posting a picture from my files, actually going thru my pictures I like many of my older images. I made this picture near Lavigne . Just a touch of colour in an otherwise monochrome landscape gives the image a visual impact.

WINTER LANDSCAPE, POWASSAN

Another image from my picture files. This time a Winter landscape, which I took in 2007. I posted a picture of this farm in colour but I prefer the graphic quality of the black and white interpretation.

WINTER ROAD NEAR PERTH, ONTARIO

Busy times at the moment so I decided to brows my picture files. I took this picture last Winter on a small country road near Perth. I loved the busy textures of the tree and branches reminding me of some of the iprints by the old Japanese print maker Hokusai.

DRIVING HOME

Coming back from our weekend in Ottawa, we drove through some heavy snow squalls. Of course you can expect that at this time of year. While on the road I like to take pictures which are added to my file of road images. It is becoming a quite interesting portfolio.

OLD CAMPER, NORTH BAY

It is a busy time, which has not allowed me to go out and take pictures. Anyway I took this picture a few weeks ago. I have never seen a camper like this one but I liked it so here is the image of this strange vehicle.

STREET ART COMPOSITION, NORTH BAY

It has been a few days since my last posting. It is quite a busy time of course because of the coming holiday season. I did not get a chance to go out on my little photo excursions around town. But here is a picture I took last week. I simply liked the composition so decided to post it.Hope you enjoy it too.

EARLY SUNDAY MORNING

What a difference weatherwise from the last week. This morning I went to get my Sunday paper andd nearly all the snow had disappeared from the streets. It was very foggy but, because of the early hour, driving was easy. there was hardly any traffic . I simply love the muted tones and colours of the misty scenery.

MORE SNOW

We still recieved more snow overnight, thank goodness, not as much as Buffalo, NY received. So to day another snow picture I took yesterday afternoon in downtown. This time I was more interested in accentuating the rhythm of lines and patterns, while still maintaining the feel of the dark wintery day.

SNOW, MAIN STREET, NORTH BAY

It has been a busy time for me, but here is a new posting of a very early Winter day on Main street. Actually the snow has come extremely early and I think we can be looking forward to a very long and cold Winter.

ANN STREET, NORTH BAY

Browsing the photography book section at the university library here in North Bay, I discovered a book by Richard Quinney, an American sociologist, writer, and photographer. I really enjoyed his very personal view on photography in general and of course on his own work. His ideas corresponded with my own views. I can recommend this book to anyone who is seriously interested in the meaning and process of photography 

SURPRISE !

It definitely was a surprise to see so much snow this early in the season. It turned out to be a very nice day. It was sunny most of the morning so I made a few pictures in our garden. The red of the early sun contrasted nicely with the blue shadows. This image  definitely more interesting in colour than the black and white rendition of the same picture.

RAILWAY TRACK, NORTH BAY

Today was another snowday. It did not snow much but just enough to create some interesting textures. I would have liked to see a little more snow to create a stronger contrast but I am happy with the final result of this landscape. The emphasize should be on the track of course so I made a dark print with almost no texture in the background. I was inspired by the landscapes of the Chech-French photographer Josef Koudelka, who published a great portfolio called Chaos with very graphic black and white panoramic images from mainly Eastern Europe.

FORMER ST.RITA'S CHURCH, NORTH BAY

A detail from the former St. Rita's church. I took this picture on one of our city walks. Again, it was a wet and dark day. Walking around the old church I looked for some graphic elements because I decided that image should be in black and white. I think by simplifying the picture to just lines and texture, this would be visually the strongest solution.

UNTITLED,NORTH BAY

Dave, you might enjoy this image as well as my earlier posting of the container. Initially I thought of a title like Dessert Heat but that would be too obvious so I left it untitled.

ALONG HIGHWAY 17

yesterday we went on alittle trip to Sudbury. No I did not atke pictures but on the way back I could not resist taking this picture of the truck in front of us. It was a dark rainy day and I simply wanted to recreate that dark Fall day in this image. I think it worked well.

CONTAINER, NORTH BAY

I could have named this "Abstract" or some other fancy title. But actually it is city landscape art. Actually I really enjoy finding this type of street art.

WINTER ARRIVED EARLY

Yes, winter has arrived early. As I mentioned before our first snowfall came on Halloween and here it is still staying on the ground, but it looks that it will be gone by the beginning of the week. I certainly hope so because I am not looking forward to a long Winter like we had last year.

WAITING

Yesterday afternoon I pickup some groceries at a local supermarket. Coming out of the store I saw this little fellow waiting for his or her owner. I thought about the wonderful dog photographs by the great American photojournalists Elliott Erwitt I am certain he would have loved this well dressed little dog.

GONE SOUTH

We had our first snowfall of the season today. Walking on Fraser  Street today I passed this little, very colourful, subdivision. All the house were empty and of course I knew that the owners were quite smart and had already left for warmer areas like Florida, Mexico or even further.

WELCOME !

Getting ready for Halloween. Tomorrow evening all the ghost and goblins will be out on the annual  trick or treat ritual and , even though it seems we are in for quite a bit of snow, I am certain that it will again be a very memorable event.

ABANDONED

Yesterday I promised to post a picture of the limousine but of course there was none except this old abandoned truck. The late afternoon light gave this scene I richness in colour which I liked. I also would like to promote a new blog by my fellow photographer and friend Dan. I recommend his site because he is a very fine landscape photographer and I am certain you will enjoy his images.

ANOTHER GREAT VACATION SPOT

Cyn G commented on my last posting and obviously likes my choice of holiday spots. Well here is another great place you might enjoy. Ken D wondered where do I find these places, obviously they don't advertise so I simply find them through word of mouth recommendations by my friends.

ABANDONDED HOUSE REVISITED, RESTOULE,ON

In September, 2006 I had photographed this old abandoned house Well, on our little trip I revisited the place and found that the house was reverting back to nature. it looked pretty sad. Soon this image will be the last record of this house.

TWO RED DOORS, NIPISSING, ON

Stopping at a marina in the village of Nipissing, I made some pictures of the boat sheds. The contrast of the red doors and the grey metal of the walls made a otherwise mundane subject into a more interesting image.

APHRODITE OF THE NORTH

On our recent photo trip, John took us to an abandoned house. This house was constructed of concrete and reminded me of the wartime bunkers in Holland and Germany. Inside one of the rooms we found this completely dressed mannequin but without her arms so I named her Aphrodite of the North.

REMEMBERING TOM THOMSON AND THE GROUP OF SEVEN

Yesterday I went with Dan and John on a photo field trip along the country roads. There was still quite a bit of colour and this scene reminded me of the paintings of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven. It is a scene which reflects the image of Ontario.But, While the paintings of the Group of Seven are very good, the problem for me is that their art does not really challenge you. I refer to their work as comfort food for the soul.

FALL, SIXTH AVENUE, NORTH BAY

Rain, rain and more rain but the colurs are of course magnificent. Yesterday afternoon I decided to go and take some final Fall images in the downtown area. The predominant colour now is yellow. I liked this very texture and pattern rich cityscape and still not all trees and shrubs have changed yet. all in all quite a romantic image.

A DARK AND WET FALL DAY

The last few days were weather wise very wet and dark. Actually it is very nice to get great Fall colour images but when I walking along the shores of the lake I made this one simple image. I liked it because of the limited colour range, which resulted in a picture reflecting the mood of these dark Fall days.

FIELDS, FOUR MILE LAKE ROAD

Maybe not as visually spectacular than yesterdays posting but I just like this quiet late Fall landscape.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2014

Its a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend. The lanbdscape colour is now predominantly yellow. reminding me of Vincent van Gogh, who loved the colour yellow.

REFLECTION

This time not a Fall image full of colour but a black and white image of a reflection but very rich in complex forms  and textures.

JUKEBOX, FOR K

This image is for K We had a great week together and we enjoyed breakfast at this traditional diner here in North Bay. So I hope you like it.

END OF THE PARTY

The Summer party is definitely over. The trees are bare and the remains of the party form a thick colorful carpet. Soon the first snow of the Winter season will arrive,  a season, which offers other opportunities for photographers, especially for those of us who like to create black and white images.

ANOTHER VIEW, SUNSET COVE, LAKE NIPISSING

I could not resist posting another image from my trip to Sunset Cove. It almost looks like a theater set. I guess its the light and the dark sky, which are the elements that create this dramatic landscape.

SUNSET COVE, LAKE NIPISSING

It was a very pleasant sunny Fall day, when we went on a little photo tour but by the time we came to one of my favourite spots along the shores of Lake Nipissing, it the grey clouds started to move in. I still made a few interesting images like this rather romantic landscape.

FIRE PIT WITH RED BENCH

It rained hard overnight, leaving most of the trees in our garden almost bare. Of course on overcast days the colours are rich, which is a great time to take some Fall photographs. I liked the bright red coloured bench and the dark circle of the fire pit against the pattern of yellow leaves.

FALL FENCE, DOWNTOWN, NORTH BAY

Walked by this fence this afternoon and the colours and textures reminded me of a very beautiful abstract tapestry. Of course this will only last a few days but every year it will reappear in a different variety of colurs and patterns.

FALL, TROUT LAKE, NORTH BAY

Last week a few friends and I went on an afternoon photo trip. It started out with an overcast sky, which cleared within an hour. I did like this scene with the dock and boat. It made for a very good image with a very narrow colour palette reflecting the coming season. 

FIRST FALL COLOURS

This morning I woke up seeing the first blaze of Fall colours in our garden and, like every year, I go through the ritual of photographing this yearly colour feast. It is actually amazing to see this magnificent riot of colour, which for me, as an immigrant to this country, is one of the defining Canadian symbols. 

FINAL DAYS OF SUMMER

Summer is slowly merging into the Fall season. Walking through the old North bay neighbourhoods you start to notice the the first signs of colour in the trees but the gardens are still displaying are wide variety of flowers. Soon the gardeners will be busy getting everything ready for Winter.

UNION JACK, NORTH BAY, ONTARIO

I was surprised to see a Union Jack flying from the balcony of one of the old stately homes here in North Bay. Well it is of course a very historic day for the united Kingdom and whatever the outcome of the vote in Scotland it does spell the symbolic end of the British empire.

FORT HENRI, KINGSTON, ONTARIO

I agree with David Ernest I do like the square format. I loved using my old Rolleiflex and I am happy that the Rolleiflex is back in production.However the price is quite steep, you are looking at about C$10.000, so I don't think I will be buying a new TLR. This image I made at Fort Henri. Its a great site for making this type of architectural pictures.

END OF SUMMER LANDSCAPE

The weather, this Summer has certainly not been great. We had lots of rain and very little sunshine. But every year at the end of the season I love the magnificent riot of colours from the great variety of wild flowers. Of course it also means that Fall will bring its own palette of reds and yellows.

PATIO, GATINEAU, P.Q.

When walking by this patio, I did not think this would be a great place to wile away a nice afternoon, reading a book or simply enjoying the surroundings. I did like the the abstract quality of the composition.