TRADITION, OUR GARDEN

It is a yearly tradition to take pictures of our garden. I simply love the Fall colours and each year I can't resist photographing the garden. So here is my yearly Fall garden impression.

SCAFFOLDING, OTTAWA

There is a lot of construction work going on at the National Gallery. Of course, when I go to Ottawa, I always make a short visit to the gallery.I liked this view of all the scaffolding, which made a rich abstract pattern of lines and shapes. This worked particularly well in black and white.

BARN NEAR MUNSTER, ONTARIO

I agree with you Cathy, it is a pity to see these old buildings disappear. It would be nice if some of those old log barns could be preserved. Maybe at some local open air museum like the one in Cumberland.

ABANDONED FARM INTERIOR, OTTAWA

Last Winter I posted a picture of an old log farm near Ottawa, actually it is situated within the city limits. This time I photographed the interior of the old house. The floors were in a deplorable state so I simply took the pictures through the windows. The final result were a set of fine images, rich in texture, colour and shapes.

FALL POND, ASHTON, ONTARIO

We returned yesterday from a trip to Ottawa. I did take a few promising pictures. Yesterday was a very darkand wet day but I managed to get a good picture of this pond with the first signs of the Fall season. The scene reminded me of a rich tapestry of patterns and colours. It is a handheld shot so I had to use a high ISO setting simply to freeze the ripples in the water. 

COLOUR ON A GREY DAY, NORTH BAY

It has been raining quite a bit in the last few days but when I walked by this house in downtown North Bay it cheered me up. I simply loved the exuberance of the bright colours and patterns.

FALL CLEANUP

Again its been awhile since my last posting. The main reason was a problem with my external hard drive, which holds my pictures. It simply stopped  working. Of course I have a backup but I neglected to duplicate my images from the last few weeks. Not very smart of course. I tried everything to get the drive working again. Then, all of a sudden it came to life. Of course I was quite happy. In the mean time I purchased a 3TB drive and now all is well. This picture I took a few days ago when my wife started on her anual Fall ritual, the cleanup. The fun part for me is burning all the dead branches she had trimmed from the various shrubs and trees. The smoke filtered light created this rather romantic image but I love it.

CAGED, TORONTO

Walking along a downtown street in Toronto, I photographed this wooden elephant on display in a store window.He looks rather sad don't you think.

HONEST ED, TORONTO

When we were in Toronto, we had to visit Honest Ed's before it would be closed permanently. It had been decades since we had been there and it actually had not changed that much. The same cheap merchandise was still on sale. I particularly liked these bizarre looking figurines.On second thought, maybe I should have bought one.

ELEVATOR, TORONTO

One morning I stepped into the hotel elevator, during our Toronto trip, when I saw this great sunset right in front of me. Of course I could not resist taking a picture of this imaginary landscape. 

AII WEIWEI EXHIBITION, TORONTO

Yesterday we visited the Ai WeiWei exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario. It is a wonderful show which exceeded our expectations. To use our granddaughter's words " its awesome aand very cool". Ai WeiWei is definitely one of the most important artists of the early twenty first century. So, if you get a chance, go and see this great exhibition.

THE FIRST UNMISTAKABLE SIGNS

This morning while walking along the lake I photographed the first unmistakable signs of the coming Fall. I did not post much this week because I received my new small camera, the Leica D-Lux 6 and, as with every new tool, it takes time to familiarize yourself with all the various functions. Each camera is slightly different. I am getting used to it and I am very pleased with the results. The lens is simply superb.

SERVICING ONTARIO, FIELD

It has been a few years since I visited Field, a small community not far from Sturgeon Falls. It saddens nme to see the slow deterioration of many small towns here in northern Ontario. But surprisingly many of these same communities are very resilient and I have noticed new businesses opening up and are doing quite well.

CITY TRAIL, NORTH BAY

It amazes me how many walking trails you can walk in this city. We walked this lovely small trail though a neighborhood not far from our home. It follows a small creek where I made this picture.

McINTYRE STREET, NORTH BAY

What attracted me to this subject of strong simple shapes but what made it interesting was the way the various wires and shadows created an overlay of a variety of triangles turning this picture into a complex and interesting composition.

SUMMER, TILDEN LAKE, ONTARIO

It has been a very busy week, so I did not get a chance going out to take pictures. So far the weather has not been great although we had a few days with beautiful cloudy skies. I took this picture at our friends place on Tilden Lake. Its asimple image of rich patterns and strong colours.

GARLIC

My wife left some garlic on the kitchen counter. I loved the textures so I made this simple black and white still life. You don't have to go very to find interesting subject matter.

DOCK, GARDEN VILLAGE, ONTARIO

This is a picture from our last Friday's photo trip to Garden Village. This time I emphasized  the mood of the landscape by reducing most of the detail unlike an earlier posting of the same scene. By simplifying the picture to light and deep blacks I dramatized the approaching rainstorm. 

ALUMINUM BOAT

A simple image of a very damaged aluminum boat. My interest is again working in black and white. Even though I don't make prints in the traditional way I still love the almost lyrical quality of black and white pictures. 

CLOUDS

Last week David Ernest had asked me what program I used to make my black and white images. Well I use the program onOne perfect Photosuite. I am getting more proficient in the use of the various programs but I still have much to learn. For this picture, which I took last week when the skies looked so dramatic, I started first with the Perfect Effects 4 program. I liked the result but then decided that maybe a B&W image would give me the result I was looking for. so there you have my explanation David.