BLACK AND WHITE VERSION, LOCOMOTIVE 503

Here is the black and white version Dave of yesterday's picture. Its a much darker and grimier image than the colour version. My wife commented that it reminds her of Darth Vader.

FRONT VIEW LOCOMOTIVE 503

Last night I went with my friends Bob and Rob downtown on a little photo excursion. Of course we stopped at the old steam locomotive 503 to photograph this engine and , even though I had already posted a black and white picture of the same locomotive, I simply had to post this view reflecting some of the power of this remnant of the glory days of the steam train.

WALL ADVERTISEMENT, NORTH BAY

Another image with quite strong colour saturation and contrast. I have seen this old wall ad since we came to North Bay. It has faded quite a bit so time to preserve it. What appeals to me is the simple but effective composition of this image. Actually it fits in nicely with yesterday's image of the ventilation outlet.it would work well in black and white but again I prefer the strong primary colours.

VENTILATION SYSTEM

I don't know what it actually is but I liked the abstract quality of the various shapes combined with the  strong impact of the primary colours.

FOR SALE

There are quite a few parts missing but with a lot of dedication maybe this truck could be come a show stopper at antique car shows.

CLOUD, BLUE AND YELLOW

It has been quite a few days since I posted a picture. In the last week we had a heatwave, which was not a great time to wander around outside taking pictures. But yesterday the pleasant Summer weather returned so here is an image of my ongoing project of photographing city scapes around North Bay.

HEATWAVE, LAKE NIPISSING

We are in the middle of a heatwave. So here a picture of the lake early this morning. A nice breeze made the walk quite pleasant.

STORE SIGN, NORTH BAY

When I took this picture I knew it could only really work as a black and white image. When working on the picture it reminded me of the work by the Russian  Alex Rodchenko, who was one of the most influential  artists of the twentieth century.

LANDSCAPE, NORTH BAY

Having no point of reference makes it difficult to have an idea about the size of this hill. Actually it is part of the new waterfront park extension, which is being developed this Summer.

OLD MILWAUKEE BILLBOARD, NORTH BAY

Seeing these billboards at various places around town, I thought I had been teleported back to the fifties. The feminist revolution of the sixties and seventies had not taken place yet and sexism was still rampant. Then I realized no this is the twenty first century and we simply regressed. All very sad actually. The picture reminded me of an old quite famous picture by Walker Evans called "Houses and Billboards, Atlanta 1936" . Obviously we have not progressed.

STRONG MAN, COUNTRY FOLK ART

A few days ago we visited Leisure Farm in Sturgeon Falls to pick up some fresh strawberries. It was simply too hot o pick the berries ourselves so we bought some baskets. At the entrance of the driveway I had to photograph this strong man, which was a great example of simple country folk art.

CHRYSLER, 1931 HOOD ORNAMENT

Last Saturday I visited the Carp antique autoshow. One car in particular was definitely my favourite. It was a 1931 Chrysler Deluxe Coupe. Everything on this car was authentic. The owner, Mr. Norman Legault, told me that he had spend years restoring it and still was not finished. I really liked the various details and had to make a picture of the hood ornament, which is an excellent example of 1930s design.

MUSEUM OF NATURE, OTTAWA

Were back from our family visit to Ottawa. Of course I did not get a chance to take many pictures but one day, it was a very rainy day, we some time with the little ones in the Canadaian Museum of Nature. So here is one image from that excursion.

GARDEN TEXTURE

First I like to wish everybody a very happy Canada Day. I will be in Ottawa  till next weekend. Our garden is very textured and I decided to show this in black and white, which emphasizes textures.

ROOF OF OLD CABOOSE, NORTH BAY

Yesterday I revisited the site with the old trains. To my surprise I noticed that the first steps have been taken to restore the old trains and obviously this caboose. Actually this morning I had to stop for  a large transport, which was moving the caboose to the ONR workshops. I liked the unusual view of the old caboose roof. The sky by the way was dark with the occasional sun appearing between the dark clouds. it mad for a dramatic but quite abstract image.

ANOTHER VIEW

 Another view of the new Education Centre Library here in North Bay.

NEW LIBRARY

Last week the new North Bay Education Centre library was officially opened. The old one was definitely insufficient and needed to be replaced by a very modern new facility. Today we visited the brand new building and it is impressive. So here is the first picture, I will be posting a few more to give you my impressions of this new library.

NEEDS SOME RENOVATION

As I said in yesterday's posting, we like subject matter with character. Well when you walk around the older areas of downtown North Bay, you will see  a few houses in this rather decrepit state of neglect. You will also see quite a bit of renovation going on and it is nice to see people moving into the downtown area and restoring these old homes.

NEAR ARNSTEIN, ON

Driving along Hwy 522 I noticed the old car sitting near an abandoned house. I guess, as photographers, we are attracted to this kind of subjects because visually it shows the textures and patterns which add to the character of the old house and car. Again I preferred to make a black and white image. Colour for this scene is nice but it lacks  the strong impact of the monotone image.

STORE WINDOW, NORTH BAY FLEAMARKET

nostalgia might be a better title for this picture. Its a display of two very iconic figures from the 1950's I felt the image should be in black and white reminiscent of the photographic style  from that period.