OLD FARM HOUSE, EAU CLAIR, ONTARIO

A few days ago I drove to Eau Clair, a small community in Calvin Township. Eau Claire is well known for a beautiful Gorge on the  Amable du Fond river. If you ever are in this area then you certainly should visit the falls.
On the way I photographed this old farm. I like these clapboard buildings and decided to present it as a black and white because it reminds me very much of similar rural scenes from the twenties and thirties.

ABANDONED CHURCH, NORTH BAY

This week I returned to an old site here in North Bay, where I had taken some good images of this old log church. After many years I found this church in a very deplorable state. A pity actually because this building is probably one of the oldest churches in the area.

ALONG HEMLOCK ROAD, POWASSAN

As Rob already explained in his last posting,  We, that is Rob, Bob, Bill and I went on a little afternoon photo excursion. Our last sojourn was quite a few weeks ago to Mattawa. This time we traveled some old country roads. I took a few pictures and even though I liked the scene I decided to make a strong, contrasty  black and white image. With a sepia tone and grain added I think this gave the image just the visual twist it needed.

DRUGSTORE, MAINSTREET, NORTH BAY

Just to show Rob that yes there are some people around on a Sunday morning. Actually during the week you don't see that many people walking around the downtown area. The main reason I decided to take pictures on Sunday is simply so I can see the downtown stripped of all the parked cars and trough traffic. It is the only time you can see what the centre of the city really looks like.

PICNIC TABLE, NORTH BAY

I think John Minkowskyj will enjoy this picture. It is similar in perspective and view to the earlier picture of "Sunday Morning, North Bay".

PEARLS, MAINSTREET, NORTH BAY

The sunlight made for very colourful but also strong contrast between shadow and light. Walking on the the shadow side of the street I noticed the festive colours reflected in this store window.

SUNDAY MORNING, NORTH BAY

It is a beautiful warm, sunny day so I went out to take some photographs downtown North Bay. Over the years I have worked on a series of North Bay cityscapes. Today I made some good photographs which I will post in the next few days.

FIRST ROCKY, LAKE NIPISSING

The water level of lake Nipissing is still very low. So yesterday I made some pictures of the rocks along the shore. These rocks are normally covered by the lake.

LAUNDRY

This is the house with the garage door I posted earlier. I like the unusual architecture but the colour image did not do  justice to the view I had in mind. So I turned it into a black and white image, which I toned and added the colour.This created the mood I was looking for.

GARAGE DOOR, NORTH BAY

Walking by this drive way I just had to take this picture of the old camper parked in front of the garage with the painted door. The art work is by John Weiss, a well known artist from the North bay area.

HIGHLANDER BREW CO, SOUTH RIVER, ON

As a rule I don't endorse or promote businesses on my blog but I make an exception for the new Highlander Brew Co. in South River. Brian Wilson and his wife Jennifer opened a small craft brewery last July. I admire their gutsy entrepreneurship  for this endeavor. I visited the brewery yesterday afternoon and was welcomed by Brian who gave my wife and I the grand tour. We tasted their great Scottish ale and let me tell you it is worth a trip to get a great beer.

FISHING HUT, LAKE NIPISSING

It has been quite some time since I posted an image. Well, it has been very busy with family and friends visiting us since Easter. Now it is back to normal. I can spend more time taking pictures and hopefully I will be back posting regularly. The lake is now officially free of ice, which is here in North Bay the real start of Spring, although it was quite cold and dark today. The warm sunny weather will return next week. So here is a picture of an abandoned fishing hut, a reminder of the Winter season.

SUNSET PARK, NORTH BAY

Took this picture yesterday afternoon. I just liked the terxtures and lines of the trees and rocks.

SPRING, LAKE NIPISSING

The unusually mild Spring combined with a Winter without much snow resulted in a very low water level on the lake. Most of these rocks should be underwater. Well this weekend we expect some rain which will hopefully bring the water level back to normal.

CLAY BIRDS, WATERFRONT, NORTH BAY

I just came back from a very cold , short trip along the waterfront here in North Bay. My wife had told me someone hung small clay birds in a tree along the walking path. Of course being curious I had to go and check it out. Maybe there was anice image to be made. So here is a view of these birds. I don't have an idea who made them but maybe someone out there looking at my blog can tell me the name of the artist.

TWO DOORS, THORN'S FARM

 

I could resist stopping off at my favourite farm, which is just down the street where I live. For the last few weeks I had noticed the doors and especially the steps. It looked like an interesting image with lots of strong textures of  the walls. In my opinion the picture is visually stronger in black and white but I will post the colour image tomorrow just to show the difference.

GREEN STAIRWAY

I had not been taking pictures at night for quite some time, so when I went out to do the picture of Dent's store I started to walk around and yes I got interested in making some more night time  images. The colours are very different when photographing with  street lights only. So when I noticed this green coloured stairway I simply had to take this image. The contrast between the green of the stairway and the warm tones of the surrounding area gives this picture  a strong visually  impact.

CLOSING

Last week I heard through the "grapevine" that Dent's Camera Store will be closing at the end of this month. It will be a loss for the North Bay photographic community but it is understandable if you are trying to compete with the large electronic chain stores or with the internet. It is sad to see the small independent retail stores closing because it is too hard to compete.

DUNDAS STREET, TORONTO, ONTARIO

John Minkowskyj is right, the area around the art gallery of Ontario is quite photogenic. These houses are the ones reflected in the gallery`s façade. Some of these houses need some fixing up but they still are very lovely.

ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO, TORONTO

Last night my wife and I returned from a quick two day visit to Toronto. The purpose of the trip was a visit to the yearly Canada Blooms garden show, which was a great disappointment and to see a show of etchings by Lucian Freud and Rembrandt. We enjoyed the exhibition but came to the same conclusion, Rembrandt was the better artist. It would take a separate posting to explain why we felt that way. Outside the gallery I photographed this refection in the stunning new facade by Frank Gehry. That alone is worth the visit to the AGO in Toronto.