GARDEN

A few weeks ago, a former student asked me if I still had the slides of a bizarre and somewhat disturbingly decorated garden I photographed many years ago. So I looked through my old files and yes I found the slides. The problem is that at the time I used AGFA slidefilm, which did not age very well but with the help of Photoshop I am able to rescue them. Looking at them again I think that the pictures are still quite disturbing but also interesting.Here is a sample image of this series. If someone is interested in seeing some more just let me know and I will post some additional images.

STRIP MALL, NORTH BAY

In the last few years I have really become interested in the urban landscape. This little strip mall here in North Bay is a subject I like to photograph. It intrigues me how these businesses can be profitable.

ASPHALT MANDALA WITH YELLOW

I just like to thank Kuluth for joining my followers list. I am glad you enjoy my pictures. I called this image asphalt mandala because that is what it is but I could have named it cosmic mandala, which would be a little more mystical and pretentious.

CLOUDS

Nearly always I take my camera along wherever I go. Making pictures is just a second nature. Many people have a problem finding good subject matter but if you look around you then you learn that interesting images will present themselves.

CARP FARMERS MARKET

Saturday we visited the farmers market in Carp. I liked the variety colours and patterns of these radishes.

WEEKEND IN OTTAWA

Time for another posting. My wife and I returned last night from a very enjoyable fathersday weekend in Ottawa. Sunday afternoon we soent the afternoon on a roof patio in the market area, watching the people, enjoying a nice glass of wine and of course some very pleasant conversations. The weather was just great so all in all a very relaxing time with our family.

ABANDONED FUEL TANKS

In the same area where I photographed the old truck I took some pictures of these old fuel tanks hidden between the foliage of some trees.

GMC TRUCK

First of all I would like to thank Annie Miniscloux for her surprise posting. It has been a long time since I heard from you so I hope that we will keep in touch. I photographed this abandoned truck in the North Bay Public works yard. Maybe it is a symbol of what is happening to the General Motors Company. It could be possible to fix up this rusting truck but it would take a lot of money and definitely not worth it.

OLD SHED, NORTH BAY

Down the street is an old neglected shed. The peeling paint makes for some very interesting textures. So this morning I decided to see if I could make some interesting images of this very simple subject. So here is af pictures of the old shed.

IT'S DONE !!!

Well, the renovations are finished. All thats left is moving all the "stuff" in its place. That will take a few days but I am very happy with the final result.I used a 10 to 20 mm wideangle lens, which of course gives some distortion.

CATTLE AUCTION REMEMBERED

With the renovations finished, the big job is putting everything back in its place. Of course while sorting everything you find all kind of stuff you forgot about. This pictures is from an old photo series I did a long time ago on the cattle auction in Sturgeon Falls. The auction disappeared a long time ago so these images are just the memories left behind. It was actually a good document so I started to scan the negatives. Lets see what develops after I am finished.

SIMPLY A ROCK (revised)

First I would like to thank Lydia Peever and Andrew Livitt for following my blog. Nonie asked me if I could show her how to resize her images so they will fit on the screen. She has some difficulty reducing the size of her pictures. I will be glad to send her and anybody else who has problems resizing a short tutorial on this topic. Simply send me an email.

ANOTHER SNOW IMAGE

This was the view when I went to pick up my morning paper. I posted this additional image because Nonie had asked me for information about my Summer course on Photoshop Elements. The course will run from July 13 until July 17. Check the link on the right for more information.

MAY SNOWFALL

What a surprise. We woke up to a snowstorm early in the morning. It was quite a sight to see snow covering the plants and flowers. I had to go and look for my snow brush to clean my car of about five centimetres of snow but its what you can expect here in Northern Ontario.

ALMOST FINISHED

Today's picture is an image of light and shadows. As I explained earlier, I have not have much time to concentrate on my photography. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. This week all the downstairs renovations will be done. Of course now I will need time to sort and move all the "stuff" back into its place. That will take another few days.

CHIPPEWA CREEK SPRING WALK

This morning I went for a walk along the Chippewa Creek trail here in North Bay. I could not resist photographing this almost iconic Spring scene.

SPRING BLOSSOM

Again I am back on line. Last Monday I returned from a nice Victoria weekend in Ottawa and discovered that my brand new computer had given up the ghost. It took till today before I was able to get it fixed. The motherboard was defective so it was replaced and working great. The renovations are going well. Next week we hopefully see the end of all the construction.

RENOVATIONS

Just a little explanation why I have not been posting more pictures. At the moment we are doing some major renovations in our house. It has been going on for the last four weeks but hopefully will be finished by next week. Obviously I have not been spending much time on my blog or on taking pictures.

SPLIT TONING

Anonymous asked if I had used the Virtual Photographer plugin to manipulate the image Back Again. No I did not but I used the Easy.filter curves filter. Again this is a free plugin which is an excellent curves filter. Try it. In this image I used another set of plugins, Grant's tools. These tools offer curves, channel mixer, colour channels and masking, features normally not available in Photoshop Elements.

THE BAMBOO SHADOW ON THE BOARD IS DARK AND CLEAR

Thanks for your comment Jo-Ann. Yesterday afternoon I noticed this paint and shadows abstract on the side of my neighbour's garden shed. It reminded me of a Chinese ink drawing so I used a line from a poem, On the Lake, by the Chinese poet Bai Juyi (772–846)