SUMMER TEXTURES

Summer and my wife's garden is at its peak. She loves textures so of course I love taking pictures of all these rich colours and textures. Here is a view of just one small area in the front garden. I think its an appropriate image to celebrate this Summer civic holiday. 

ANOTHER VIEW OF LAKE NIPISSING

What makes this lake so unique is the feeling of space. The light changes offer an unending  interesting images and like this picture, the landscape is a composition of simple elemental components, sky, water and rocks. 

A SAD PLACE, DOWNTOWN NORTH BAY

Downtown North Bay has become a very sad and depressing area. On our walk yesterday I noticed how quickly the place has deteriorated. Its very neglected and dirty. Then, to top it off, walking back to the car we noticed this swastika prominently displayed on an apartment window. Having been born in occupied Holland, whose parents have lost family and friends during that horrible time, this symbol creates some very strong emotions in me. 

TRAIN ENGINE 503, NORTH BAY

It saddens me to see the old steam train engine deteriorating in one of the cities storage areas. This train should be placed at the museum because otherwise I am afraid that soon this piece of history will be lost.

APPROACHING THUNDERSTORM

Turning into our street after returning from lunch this afternoon I saw this magnificent cloud formation over the summer landscape. It looked quite spectacular so of course I had to stop and take some pictures. It definitely called for  a black and white image to emphasize the great cloud formation.

DRAMATIC SKY, LAKE NIPISSING

This morning I was looking through my files looking for an image wanted to work on when I came across this picture, which I took last October. It looked interesting so I thought let me work with this picture. So here it is as a composition its very simple but the sky gives it drama. 

ASSEMBLING THE WATERFRONT SCULPTURE, JULY 1991

Yesterday I promised to post a picture from my photo story on the making of the waterfront sculpture. It took more than thirty area workers to make the various components for the artwork. Here Michèle Lapointe and René Rioux are hard at work finishing their sculpture.

LE DROIT À LA DIFFÉRENCE (DETAIL) , NORTH BAY

What a beautiful day we had today. So this morning we decided to go for a walk along the waterfront. The clouds were simply monumental and when we got to the sculpture on the waterfront we realized that this Summer it was exactly twenty five years ago that we met the artists MichèleLapointe and her partner René Rioux. During that Summer we had a wonderful time together discussing art and politics of course while enjoying good food, wine and chocolate. I took many pictures and I might post some of them in the coming days.

PINK, BROCKVILLE, ONTARIO

Rain today, something we or I should say the garden  needs very badly. So a good time to look at some pictures I took a few weeks ago in Brockville. I love wandering through the streets of towns and cities. The urban landscape is a subject which fascinates me. This is a simple reflection in a store window. The juxtaposing subjects can create some very interesting effects, which are open to the viewers interpretation.

POND, LAURIER WOODS

Noon on a Summer day is not the best time to take landscape photographs. The light is harsh creating strong contrasts in the scene. But that of course is the challenge to still make a visually interesting image. In this case I concentrated on textures, colour and reflections. I don't know if it really worked but for me it has the feeling of a warm Summer day.

LAURIER WOODS, NORTH BAY

Yesterday I took a walk through the Laurier Woods, a conservation area in the the city of North bay. It had been a long time since I visited the trails. The weather was glorious and I simply enjoyed the walk. I met a few hikers and even a group of mothers who were enjoying a picnic with their children on the trails.This conservation area is definitely worth a visit.

WATSON'S GARAGE, CUMBERLAND, ONTARIO

In this image I wanted to recreate a vintage picture of the nineteen thirties. An impression of a Summer day in less busy times. of course it is only a nostalgic impression of  an imaginary peaceful time. 

MER BLEUE BOG, OTTAWA

Last Sunday we visited the Mer Bleue Bog conservation area in Ottawa. Its a magnificent nature reserve in the greater Ottawa area. It definitely is worth further exploration and if you have never visited the bog I would urge you to go there.

PRINT SHOP, CUMBERLAND HERITAGE VILLAGE MUSEUM

I have been away in the last few weeks but again it is time to post some fresh  images. This picture I made last week at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum It is a small museum but it also is one of my favourite places to visit.  Walking into the museum printshop is quite a nostalgic experience for me. A long time ago when I was studying at the art college in my then home town I had to take a course in printing, which I enjoyed very much. But just like photography, the printing profession has changed also. Gone are the days of the old lead type and letter presses everything is now all  computer generated. Luckily the skills are still preserved by artist crafts people keep producing beautiful hand crafted books using the old printing methods.