ONTARIO NORTHLAND RAILWAY

What a miserable wet day. Everything was grey and wet. Black and white was the only way to record the mood of the day. Driving over the railway crossing I noticed the tracks, the puddles and the old part of the Onatio Northland Railway repair shops. Perfect.

OLD HOME NORTH BAY, ONTARIO

While this house is not particularly interesting from an architectural viewpoint, I do like the unusual porch and balcony. The leaves and almost bare trees give this image a feeling of the approaching winter season.

SURPRISE IN OCTOBER

It was a big surprise this morning to wake up to a blanket of fresh snow. It is only middle of October and Winter is coming very early. Hopefully it will melt soon. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

END OF AUTUMN

A very cold and wet day. The first snow fell this afternoon. A reminder that Winter will be here soon. The trees have nearly all lost their leaves, there are still a few trees in full colour.

FIGURINE

Again, it has been a few days since I posted a new image. The weekend has been very busy with visitors and yesterday friends helped me split wood for the Winter. Today is a dreary wet Fall day so I made this image of a little figurine on our coffee table. I think it is an old chinese incense holder. What or who the little figure represents I don't know but he looks somewhat scary.

SASKATOON BERRY

The Fall colours in Ontario are always spectacular. In our garden we have a beautiful Saskatoon berry bush. I love the very bright red of this shrub. So here is a picture celebrating Fall.

STREET, QUEBEC CITY

This picture is for Rob. I know how much he enjoys France and the streets in old Quebec City is very reminiscent of cities and towns in France. Enjoy Rob.

STREET IN OLD QUEBEC CITY

I have been busy this week so I neglected my blog. Monique asked me for more pictures of Quebec City. Here is another street scene in the old city. You can find some very interesting murals depicting the history in various locations.

VIRGINIA CREEPER

Fall colours are at their brightest right now. Here a picture of the Virginia creeper next to the front door.

ABANDONED HOUSE, RESTOULE, ONTARIO

Old abandoned houses always intrigue me. I wonder about who built and lived in the place and what were their stories. This old place in Restoule is ready to collapse but it still has a story to tell.

WOLFE LAKE, NEAR COMMANDA, ONTARIO

I made this picture on a recent phototrip around the area. Wolfe lake is a small intimate lake. I have made quite a few interesting pictures of that particular lake.

SCULPTURE, QUEBEC CITY

You will see many sculptures around the old city. I particularly liked this one.

POSTERS, QUEBEC CITY

Another street scene but in this image I combined colour and black and white in one picture. I simply did this to add contrast.

DUSK, QUEBEC CITY

Dusk in Quebec City. On our way to dinner I took this typical old Quebec City street. This picture is for Lawrence. I thought he might enjoy this view.

ROOFS, QUEBEC CITY

I just switched to the new Blogger Beta. It does not work well with Picasa so I will have to figure out how that works.In the mean time here is another image from my Quebec City trip.

GALLERY, QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC

Last weekend my wife and I visited Quebec City. It had been quite a few years since we had been there. Much has changed since our last trip. It is a marvelous city with lots to see and do. I tried to avoid taking the traditional tourist pictures instead I looked at details, things you would normally walk past. The weather was fine but the lighting rather flat because of the overcast skies. Anyway I will be posting some of my impressions over the next few days.

PANORAMA, LAKE NIPISSING, ONTARIO

A few weeks ago I received a book on the work of the Chech photographer Josef Sudek. I like his work and especially his panoramic images of Prague and the Chech countryside, so here is a panorama of my environment lake Nipissing.

LANDSCAPE, CHISHOLM TWP, ONTARIO

Another picture of my photo trip yesterday. The trees were planted so close together that they transformed in a massive dark shape.

MAINSTREET, POWASSAN, ONTARIO

Visited Powassan today. Powassan is a nice country town close to North Bay. On Mainstreet I photographed this local landmark. Its a beautifully restored store.I thought it was worth a picture.

A BEAUTIFUL LATE SUMMER DAY

It was a beautiful late Summer day. A great day for hiking. I took this picture on my walk along the shores of Lake Nipissing.

PINK HOUSES

I noticed these "pink" houses in a new housing development near Ottawa. It always saddens me when I see how good farmland gets destroyed to build housing. I realize that people have to live somewhere but I think that we could come up with better solutions to our housing problems.

FIRST FALL CLEANUP

Today we started our annual Fall ritual of burning the garden debris. After the big storm in July, in which we lost ten big trees, we have to clean up quite a bit. So this Fall we will have a few fires to enjoy.

METAL ROOF, PARRY SOUND

Another "minimalist" image. Walking along the waterfront in Parry Sound I noticed this metal roof. It fits very nicely into my theme of simplifying the picture.

PARRY SOUND, ONTARIO

Yesterday I visited Parry Sound on Georgian Bay. Its a very pretty little town but I concentrated more on small abstract details like this concrete wall then photographing the town. The pictures I made were very simple. I like pictures which are based on the principle "less is more".

PARKING LOT, ORLEANS, ONTARIO

While talking about architecture, I feel, while there are some beautiful and innovative buildings, that much of our visual surroundings are mindnumbing. Just look at this little tree against this wall. How sad and how boring.

CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY

I enjoy good architecture, not only historical but also contemporary buildings. This image is the entrance to the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Ottawa.

BALCONY, OTTAWA, ONTARIO

Walking though Ottawa I noticed this beautiful balcony. Its definitely an architectural gem. Jo-Ann would like to know hwere this balcony is located. Well it is part of the building where you will find a very nice art gallery, the Jean-Claude Bergeron Gallery, at 150 Patrick Street. Go and have a look.

WALKWAY, NORTH BAY

Thanks for your comment on my cloud picture Jo-Ann. Hope you will enjoy this picture of a walkway in North Bay. I posted a picture earlier of the same site but I think this one is better. The perspective and the strong colours make this image while the white wall and blue colour of the sky give it an almost mediterranean flavour.

APPROACHING RAIN STORM

We have had quite a bit of rain this month. Of course the clouds were great. I like cloudy skies because it adds drama to otherwise visually mundane landscapes. Tee Jay asked if this image was taken near Verner. he quite correct the picture was made on the road between Cache Bay and Verner.

SUMMER, LAKE NIPISSING, ONTARIO

Lake Nipissing always looks different. I love taking pictures of the lake any time of the year.Hope you like this summer view.

NEAR NOELVILLE, ONTARIO

I took this picture on the westarm of Lake Nipissing near Noelville. The light gives a rich texture and shape to the rocks and trees.

RIBBON GRASS

sitting in the garden I noticed the texture of the ribbon grass against the dark almost mysterious background of the trees.

OLD MAPLE, SOUTH RIVER, ONTARIO

Noticed this old tree in the Tom Thomson park in South River. I loved the shape and texture.

OPEN HOUSE

Seeing a sign like this makes me curious why people would put such a sign at their door. It certainly doesn't look as if they are eager to sell the place. Just wondering

RED CAR

An ordinairy scene in small town Ontario. What attracted me was the bright red of the car.

NICHOLSON LOCK, RIDEAU CANAL

This picture of the Nicholson Lock is for my friend Rob who knows the area quite well. Again I made this picture in black and white. It is a complex image with intersecting lines and shapes.

OLD BRIDGE, RIDEAU CANAL

The locks on the Rideau Canal watersystem are quite interesting because this historic system is still in use today. I just like the old bridges and locks. I felt that black and white rather than colour give a better impression of these sites.

MERRICKVILLE, ONTARIO

It is always a challenge to photograph in a popular tourist area. I concentrate on details rather than buildings, although some of these can be visually very interesting . This image is of the floor in a block house built in the early 19th century as part of the Rideau canal system, in Merrickville Ontario. I noticed the texture of the wood marked by the shoes of hundreds of visitors to this site.

SMITH FALLS, ONTARIO

My last posting was quite a few days ago. I was out of town for the long weekend and just returned this afternoon. It was afamily visit but I still found time to take some pictures. I was not familiar with the area South and of Ottawa. Some of the towns were blessed with nice old architecture, which made them very attractive for tourists. Others looked rather dismal because they lacked the very things necessary to bring people to your town. Like many of these communities they have lost their industries and all thats left are empty and abandonded buildings. These places attract me because I find that you can get some interesting pictures.

SAWBLADE CASE

Walking around a small country sawmill I noticed this sawblade case. Its a simple subject of texture and shape. The original picture is in colour but I prefer the black and white image.

BOWLS

Taking a picture is a question of selection but what triggers the interest in a specific subject. I saw these bowls in a winery in Southern Ontario simply took the picture. What intrigued me? Was it he light , the bowls or the design? I only start looking at my pictures seriously after I return home and see the images on my monitor. I guess the process is similar to the painter who makes sketches and then develops the ideas further in the studio. Anyway just some thoughts on the process of making a photograph.

NIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIO

I just returned from visiting friends in Southern Ontario. Of course we did a wine tour, which was great, and then made a brief stop in Niagara Falls. It was very hot and very busy. Instead of taking pictures of the obvious, there are enough pictures of the falls so that subject did not interest me too much. I concentrated on subjects with strong design, so here is a black and white image of lines. Actually the tourists looking at the falls make this image.

RAIN

It rained today and it was rather cool. After the hot weather we had for the last few days the cooler temperature was quite a relief. So here is a picture of raindrops on daylily leaves. Hope you like it.

ROCK PAINTINGS, NORTH BAY, ONTARIO

Not far from our home is a rockcut on the access road to the college and university. Of course this wall is a prime target for the students to decorate with their grafiti. Each year a new crop of students just paint over the previous "artworks". The result is quite interesting and I wonder if this rock will become a prime tourist attraction in, say about, three hundred years like native rockpaintings now.

HAYFIELD, CORBEIL, ONTARIO

I made this image because it reminded me of the traditional pictorial photographs so popular in the earlier part of the twentieth century. The composition follows the formal rules of composition but it makes for a very peaceful landscape.

CAMPER, CALLANDER, ONTARIO

An old trailer parked on a street in Callander, Ontario and Danny's meatshop made for an interesting image. I think its the various shades of blue which makes this picture.

COBDEN, ONTARIO

This picture is for Marie-Aline and Jo-Ann. Both enjoyed my picture of the approaching storm so I hope they will enjoy this picture of the abandoned mill in Cobden. I photographed the mill baout half an hour before I took the storm image. No Marie -Aline I did not use an HDR technique to enhance the colours. I did intensify the effect because when I looked at the image when I came home, it lacked the drama I experienced so I simply played with the picture till I felt that the image reflected my impression of the subject at that particular moment. I hope I answered your question.

APPROACHING THUNDER STORM

Returning from Ottawa we got caught in a very bad thunderstorm. I took this picture just outside of the small village of Cobden midway between Renfrew and Pembroke on the Transcanada highway. A few seconds after I made this image , the rain came down in sheets.

CALLANDER HERITAGE MUSEUM

Two windows at the small Callander Heritage museum are covered with two interesting little paintings based on old photographs. Shadows from the trees and the sunlight made this good image.

SLUSHIE

We are in the midst of a heat wave.Temperatures hover around 35�C. Add to that the humidity and you will be looking for any releaf like icecream.