EVENING

Sunset in the suburbs.I took this picture sitting in the kitchen. My intention was to simplify this picture to a few simple forms and still make a visually strong composition.

ABANDONED FARMHOUSE

I found this old abandoned farmhouse near Verner, Ontario. The texture of the weathered wood siding and the old doors was very good subject matter and i made some very nice images of this building.

OTTAWA, ONTARIO

Just returned from a vivit to Ottawa. I took this picture in a small gallery downtown. What attracted me was the texture and patterns from the curtain and the reflections in the glass of the framed pictures.

THE MOMENT OF CLARITY, NORTH BAY

Even in the smaller cities and towns you find grafiti. Most of the work looks the same I would like to see more imagination displayed in the paintings.

FOREST 2

Another abstract image of the forest using camera movement. The only other change is that I inversed the picture to get a negative image with strong black lines. I like the feeling of motion in this picture.

FOREST

Yesterday I started to play with movement. I took some pictures in the wooded area of our garden and simply moved my camera during exposure. The results were more painterly than photographic but I liked some of the results.

OFFICE, MATTAWA RAILWAY STATION

Another view of the old railway station in Mattawa. This picture, if you removed the faxmachine, could have been taken in the fifties.

RAILWAY STATION, MATTAWA, ONTARIO

No passenger train stops at the old Mattawa railway station anymore but the building is still used by the railway company. I took this picture of the former waiting room through the window. The final image is not a double print but the reflection of the outside in the glass.

PEONY

The peonies in my wifes garden are just magnificent this Summer. I guess the mild Winter and the gentle thaw in the early Spring contributed to the great display of flowers this year.

BLACKSMITH SHOP

This is the blacksmith shop at Black Creek pioneer Village. What interested me was the back garden with its abundance of vegetation. I decided to first tone the image and then give it a handcoloured look to replicate a 19 century photographic view instead of using a straight colour photograph.

BLACK CREEK PIONEER VILLAGE

Today I visited Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto. It was a nostalgia trip because I had not been there for at least twenty five years. Its very nice. The trees and the gardens had matured giving the museum a lived in look. in one of the houses I photographed this rather strange arangement of stuffed birds. I made the picture in black and white to give it a nineteen century feeling.

A RAINY DAY

Its raining today. A nice day to stay inside and work on some pictures. This morning I passed a parked truck with a beautiful skull strapped on the front. Of course I had to take a picture because it has been a few days since I posted an image to my blog.

FARM LANDSCAPE NEAR NORTH BAY

Driving along a country road I saw the barn and it felt as if the whole scene came from the twenties or thirties. I knew the picture had to be in black and white but when I started working on the image I turned it into a infrared picture, which, to me, is reminiscent of a photographic style from those earlier decades.

ASTORVILLE, ONTARIO

On the weekend I visited a rural garage and farm machinery dealership with a friend, who was looking for some parts. I wandered around looking at all the old and new equipment. It was quite a collection of very ancient tractors. I made this picture but I had to separate the tractor from the confusing background. The easiest way was to make the image black and white while keeping the tractor in full colour. Here is the result.

RESTOULE, ONTARIO

Walking into the general store in Restoule I noticed the candy display. Just look at the colour and patterns from the boxes and candy bars. no wonder kids are enticed to eating so much of the sweet stuff.

EARLY MORNING LIGHT

Summer is definitely here. This week temperatures reached 33° C. and let me tell you it was hot. a morning mist provided for a romantic summer image.

WINDOW OLD BARN

It has been quite a long time since my last posting. I have been very busy with other interests which will keep me busy for another week. So postings will be somewhat sporadic. As I mentioned earlier I am always attracted to old barns. They are a very good subject matter for photographers. I enjoy the texture of the old and weathered wood also the history of the barns which are rapidly disappearing from the landscape. All that will be left are images.

CHOKECHERRIES IN BLOSSOM

rain today or I should say a fine drizzle. Rain always intensifies colour so driving up the hill, close to my home, I could not resist taking a picture of this Spring scene with the chokecherry blossom.

SPRING EVENING WALK

Early Spring on the trails near my house. The leaves are just starting to come on the trees. A light mist rises from the the pond. I just enjoy walking in the forrest when it is quiet and before the blackflies spoil the fun.

ROCK AND WATER

Design always interests me when looking for picture subjects. here I noticed the two trinangular shapes formed by the rock and the swirling foam.

CREEK IN THE SPRING

A slow shutterspeed turns a simple subject into an interesting image. I always enjoy this time of the year everything looks new and fresh.

CITY HALL, NORTH BAY

Another view of North Bay City Hall. Making the image in black and white and keeping the composition two-dimensional made for an interesting abstract image.picture

EXHIBITION OPENING

Its been a busy week so I negelected to post. Anyway last night I went to the opening of an exhibition of paintings by Jill Boschulte. i loved her work so if you are in North Bay then, by all means, go and see the show.

TROUT LILY

Another sign of Spring here in Ontario is the small and delicate trout Lily. A beautiful flower blooming in our woods in early Spring.

DUTCHMAN'S BREECHES

One of the first plants to flower is Dutchman's Breeches. When it blooms you know that Spring has truly arrived.

SPRING GARDEN

A light powdering of snow made for a nice picture of the garden. Spring is definitely here. When the sun came up everything was back to normal.

CHAMPLAIN PARK, MATTAWA, ONTARIO

No more ice and snow. On a walk along the shore of the Mattawa river I noticed these rocks which seem to have light inside them.