DAVID BOWIE,DOWNTOWN NORTH BAY

On Sunday we took a little walk downtown and when I said a little walk, that is exactly what it was Even though the sun was shining, it still was bitterly cold. So i did not get many pictures except this image of another mural of a famous musician and artist David Bowie. I like to see these portraits of musicians on the walls of downtown. It might be a great idea to see more of them. Maybe it could be expanded to include portraits of Canadian visual artists and writers.Well it's just a thought, which could be spruce up the downtown area.

ABANDONED BLUE

Another image from Saturday's trip. This time I preferred a colour version. The subdued colours gave the image the Winter cold feeling of the day and of abandonment of the place.

ABANDONED

Yesterday John and I went on our first photo trip of this year. We decided to visit an old abandoned industrial site. I had never been there but as soon as I wandered around the place I was thinking of the work by the German conceptual artists and photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher. The site is a great place to photograph. We regretted not bringing snow shoes but I am certain both of us will be returning there in the Spring to explore the site more thoroughly.

WINTER LANDSCAPE, POWASSAN, ONTARIO

This is a picture I took many years ago in a time when photographers used film. I still miss using the traditional silver based processes. Digital photography allows you to have a much greater control over the final look of the image, but the result is that so much of photographs today are technically exquisite but lack meaning and are visually quite boring.

WINTER FOG, LAKE NIPISSING

While looking for some pictures in my file I came across the image of a lonely ice fishing hut in this wide expanse of lake Nipissing. I took this picture a few years ago after a Winter thaw. The dark patches on the lake is smooth black ice. The fog, the textures and the general mood of the landscape is what inspired me to make this image.

CALLA LILY

The last few days the weather has been very mild, which gives us the illusion that Spring is just around the corner. Of course everyone knows that this is simply wishful thinking. So i started to do a series of pictures of a Canna lily. I really like this, in my view, an old fashioned plant. It has, in addition to its elegant shaped flowers, a very graphic shape.

MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

Another picture from my files. I took this picture almost a year ago when visiting the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts to see the Chagall  exhibition. I still like taking Black and White pictures although I use my digital camera exclusively. I still miss working in the darkroom but ,in my opinion, by working my computer I avoid using chemicals, which is quite a bit better for the environment.

THE STURGEON FALLS CATTLE AUCTION 1976

Yesterday I posted a picture of the Highway bookstore, which is now just a memory. Today a picture of another event, which also is now just a memory. I am talking about the weekly cattle auction in Sturgeon Falls. In 1976 I wanted to try out a new fast colour negative film, Kodacolor 400. This was the fastest negative colour film made by Kodak. So every Monday afternoon I would go to the cattle auction. It was a great social event. Many people would visit the auctions and outdoor farmers market. In addition to the actually cattle auction, you could go to an auction selling a wide variety of merchandise ranging from clothing to tools. Outside you could buy clothing, apples tools and kitchen utensils. It was quite a social event. But this market and auction is long gone. I still miss it. Luckily I have many images to keep the memory alive.  

REMEMBERING THE HIGHWAY BOOKSTORE

Today would have been a great day to make a trip to visit the Highway Bookstore in Cobalt. But this famous bookstore has been closed for quite  few years. all that's left are the fond memories of countless hours browsing the rich collection of new and old books and a few pictures. Not all is lost because the small Cobalt bookstore The White Mountain Publications still continues publishing of books by local authors. So if you visit Cobalt, you still can brows for books at this small bookstore.

ST.JOHNSBURY, VT

Winter is the season for reflection. At my age its getting a little too difficult to wander around town and country looking for interesting images and ,actually, it's a wonderful time going through your files and discovering that you have many fine pictures which you simply forgot about. So her is one of those pictures, which I took a few years ago when we made a trip to Boston in the early Spring. I photographed this dog in the picturesque town of St. Johnsbury in Vermont, inside the town's information centre. So time to look for some other good pictures and memories of past photo trips.

UNTITLED, MONTREAL, PQ

Time to start posting again. I am working on putting a portfolio of my abstract images which I have collected over the years. These pictures are simply random fragments of various details, which I see and simply interest me. I have to agree with  the American art historian Kirk Varnedoe, who said "The less there is to look at, the more important it is that we look at it closely and carefully. This is critical to abstract art. Small differences make all the difference."

BOOKWUS GHOST MASK, NATIONAL GALLERY' OTTAWA

Time to start posting to my blog again. It has been a busy time visiting Ottawa and taking care of some projects in the last two weeks but now everything is back to our normal routine. We did get a chance to visit the National Gallery, where saw the  2017 Canadian Biennal.We very much enjoyed the exhibition I particularly liked this powerful Bookwus Ghost mask by the First Nation artist Beau Dick, who was a hereditary Chief from the "Namgis First Nation in British Columbia. . The description explained that a mask is only "activated" during some of the Kwakwak a'wakw ceremonies

WINTER, MAIN STREET, NORTH BAY

Today was a big cleanup day after yesterday's massive snow fall, but last night I looked at another of my images from yesterday morning and of course could not resist posting another picture of main Street in the Winter storm. This picture is a different interpretation, which I think shows the Winter condition even better than yesterdays.

FIRST WINTER STORM

Well, we certainly  will have a snowy Christmas. Today we got our first major snow storm of the season. I had to go downtown, which was quite a trip. Of course I had to mtake afew pictures and I mean just a few. This was the view of Main Street at about ten o'clock this morning. Of course not much traffic and certainly very few pedestrians. I was glad to be home and now time for some clean up.

WINTER DANCE

I titled this picture Winter dance because it looked so much like a joyous celebration of the arrival of the Winter. Of course I could have named it "admiring my work" because the sculptor is sitting on the bench resting after several hours of work, creating his snow sculpture. Actually the art work depicts a crown, but there is definitely a feeling of dancers enjoying the event.

KING STREET, NORTH BAY

What a difference in weather between today, snowing, and yesterday, sunny, when I took this picture walking downtown. The two house and the two cars look, at first glance, similar. The almost similarities was what attracted me to this simple cityscape.

EARLY SIGNS OF WINTER

Last week Gerry and I went on a little photo excursion around the different North bay parks and beaches, photographing thew first signs of the coming Winter season. It was a good time to concentrate on some  black and white images. Here is a picture showing the ice starting to form along the lake shore.

EARLY WINTER SNOW

Yesterday we had our first snow of the Winter. Of course I had to go and take my first pictures of these early winter landscapes. Every year it is a photographic ritual making our first Winter images of the new season. So this time I tried to bring a visually more interesting pictures and use a variety of techniques to re-create this autochrome view of Sunset Park here in North Bay.

NOVEMBER TRAIL

Across from our house I photographed this decaying tree. It took me some experimentation to get the result i was looking for, which is a style reminiscent of some of the Art Nouveau illustrators. I especially like Arthur Rackham. I think I this image comes quite close to his illustration style.

THE LAST OF THE FALL COLOURS

Most of the leaves are gone. A few days ago I made this picture at the Kinsmen Beach here in North Bay.. Most of the trees are bars with just a few remnants of colour left. Nature is getting ready for the snow and ice season.