FIRE PIT WITH RED BENCH

It rained hard overnight, leaving most of the trees in our garden almost bare. Of course on overcast days the colours are rich, which is a great time to take some Fall photographs. I liked the bright red coloured bench and the dark circle of the fire pit against the pattern of yellow leaves.

FALL FENCE, DOWNTOWN, NORTH BAY

Walked by this fence this afternoon and the colours and textures reminded me of a very beautiful abstract tapestry. Of course this will only last a few days but every year it will reappear in a different variety of colurs and patterns.

FALL, TROUT LAKE, NORTH BAY

Last week a few friends and I went on an afternoon photo trip. It started out with an overcast sky, which cleared within an hour. I did like this scene with the dock and boat. It made for a very good image with a very narrow colour palette reflecting the coming season. 

FIRST FALL COLOURS

This morning I woke up seeing the first blaze of Fall colours in our garden and, like every year, I go through the ritual of photographing this yearly colour feast. It is actually amazing to see this magnificent riot of colour, which for me, as an immigrant to this country, is one of the defining Canadian symbols. 

FINAL DAYS OF SUMMER

Summer is slowly merging into the Fall season. Walking through the old North bay neighbourhoods you start to notice the the first signs of colour in the trees but the gardens are still displaying are wide variety of flowers. Soon the gardeners will be busy getting everything ready for Winter.

UNION JACK, NORTH BAY, ONTARIO

I was surprised to see a Union Jack flying from the balcony of one of the old stately homes here in North Bay. Well it is of course a very historic day for the united Kingdom and whatever the outcome of the vote in Scotland it does spell the symbolic end of the British empire.

FORT HENRI, KINGSTON, ONTARIO

I agree with David Ernest I do like the square format. I loved using my old Rolleiflex and I am happy that the Rolleiflex is back in production.However the price is quite steep, you are looking at about C$10.000, so I don't think I will be buying a new TLR. This image I made at Fort Henri. Its a great site for making this type of architectural pictures.

END OF SUMMER LANDSCAPE

The weather, this Summer has certainly not been great. We had lots of rain and very little sunshine. But every year at the end of the season I love the magnificent riot of colours from the great variety of wild flowers. Of course it also means that Fall will bring its own palette of reds and yellows.

PATIO, GATINEAU, P.Q.

When walking by this patio, I did not think this would be a great place to wile away a nice afternoon, reading a book or simply enjoying the surroundings. I did like the the abstract quality of the composition.

MERMAID, KINGSTON, ONTARIO

Walking downtown Kingston, I spotted this beautiful mermaid in an antique store window. She was beautiful and, if I had the money or the space I would have loved to purchase her. I guess she came either from an old carousel or some other fair attraction.

A GLORIOUS MORNING, NORTH BAY

What a beautiful late Summer day. Early in the morning I walked out to pick up my daily paper and the light was simply perfect. So I went inside to get my camera and just at that moment one of my neighbours came down the road on his bicycle. It could not be better. The cyclist was the strong element giving the image a strong visual impact.

BLUE AND YELLOW, KINGSTON, ONTARIO

Dusk, we are on our way to a small restaurant at the end of this passageway. What struck me was the strong colours of the blue day light on the wall contrasting with the yellow light inside the tunnel.

MURNEY TOWER, KINGSTON, ONTARIO (Revised)

The Murney tower , built in 1846, was part of the British defense system in Kingston. What attracted me were the architectural details of this tower. This tower is open to the public and is actually a quite interesting small museum. 

HISTORICAL HOUSE, KINGSTON, ONTARIO

First I like to thank everybody for all the birthday wishes I received on Facebook, email and telephone. We just returned from a wonderful visit to Ottawa including a two day sidetrip to the wonderful site of Kingston. So here is a small reminder of this trip, one of the many historical houses in the downtown area.The weather was great although you started to feel that fall is just around the corner.  

THE POWASSAN TREASURE MILL, POWASSAN, ONTARIO

Yesterday I visited the Powassan Treasure Mill, which is a vintage and antique store. Its a great place to brows and for photographers a great place to make some great pictures full of colour, textures and patterns. If you get achance go and visit this interesting store.

LAKE BERNARD, SUNDRIDGE, ONTARIO

When I looked at the initial picture,  the famous image The Big white Cloud by Edward Steichen came to mind. He made that picture in 1903 and is quite dark. In this image I wanted to keep more detail but I toned it to recreate the mood of the ealy landscape image by Steichen.

GETTING READY FOR THE HARVEST FESTIVAL

Yesterday we visited Screaming Heads in Burks Falls. There was quite a bit of activity going on and the owner told us that they were getting ready for the Harvest festival. Now it became clear to me what the function was of the various domes and pyramids on the property. These were the frames for the temporary tents where a variety of performances take place. I never realized the size of this festival. It definitely is not a traditonal harvest festival taking place during September and early October. So check out the festival's website to get an idea of this truly fantastic event.

PEGGY'S COVE, NOVA SCOTIA

Peggy's Cove is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Nova Scotia. At sunset everybody watches the sun set behind the lighthouse. But what many people miss is the very interesting rocky landscape around that same lighthouse.I simply prefer the beautiful shapes and textures of the rocks.

WHALE BONE, PEGGY'S COVE, NS

Looking for some negatives I came across a few images from a trip to Nova Scotia. I made this picture at Peggy's Cove. It was a difficult negative to print because of the low subject contrast. The grey whale bone was left against a grey rock. So I scanned the original negative and using a few image programs, the result was a visually quite interesting picture.

DEPARTMENT STORE, CHINA TOWN, TORONTO

This image is just pure colour, patterns and textures, which reflect the noise and the vibrancy of this neighbourhood in Toronto.