CHURCH, POINT ALEXANDER, ONTARIO

this weekend i was again back in Ottawa. Did not take pictures but visited a very good photo exhibition at the National Gallery of work by the Montreal photographer Angela Grauerholz. On my way back I stopped to photograph this little Presbyterian church in Point Alexander. As I wrote a little earlier in one of my postings, I got interested in the small wooden churches you find all over the area. However I was not happy with the straight and simple pictures of these buildings and was looking to present them in a more visually interesting way. After seeing Angela Grauerholzer's work I   liked her approach so I emulated her technique in my image you see posted today.

COMMUNITY HALL, LAVIGNE, ONTARIO, 1970

Occasionally I get requests for old photographs. I have to search through my files to find this picture of ,I guess, the old community hall in Lavigne, Ontario. It was our first Summer in North Bay so we would get out as often as we could to explore the country around us. This building burnt down a few years after I took this picture, so this is probably one of the last visual records of this place.

STOREFRONT, SOMERSET STREET, OTTAWA

Another picture on Somerset street in Ottawa. Just a simple colour image of clothing on the side walk.

MAPLE TREE, OTTAWA

I have  often been on Somerset street in Ottawa but only this weekend I noticed this maple tree wedged between these two buildings.

GARAGE, NORTH BAY

Every small or large city in Canada has a street lined with car dealerships, garages, fast food outlets etc. Lakeshore Drive in North Bay is no exception. It is a great place for a photographer because it is a challenge to photograph the rather ordinary subject matter in a visually interesting way. What attracted me here was the strong colour contrast of this garage.

OLD GARAGE DOOR, NORTH BAY

Simple, almost abstract subject matter always attract me. Maybe its my interest in painting but I just had to photograph this door.

KING PUT, NORTH BAY

Sunday morning, all is quiet so I could get some nice pictures of this well known miniput here in North Bay.I liked the waving bear with his bulky shape and his nice blue suspenders. Oh this picture is for Blake, I hope he enjoys this image.

BUTTON MAN, JULY 1970

It has been awhile since my last posting. This week someone phoned me regarding an old photograph I took in 1970. The button man was a well known figure around North Bay. I made this image at a downtown Summer craft market. Ever since this picture has been quite popular but it has been almost ten years since selling a print. While looking through my old negatives I found many I should scan in over the next little while.So expect a few nostalgic image from a few years back.

SUMMER

Last day of teaching today. It has been a very busy week but very enjoyable. After today I can get back to making my own pictures again.

BLACK FOREST PARK, NORTH BAY

This week has been a busy week for me but I did take the time to visit a small park here in North Bay. I was not aware of this park until I noticed a sign at the entrance. Its actually an area used in the 1930s by lumber companies to grow white pine seedlings. The city acquired this place. It has some nice trails with stands of white pine. In 2006 the park lost many trees after a big storm swept through the area.

DE LUXE TAXI, NORTH BAY

What attracted me in this urban scene is the various shapes with the colour of the sky returning in the blue door but the real contrast is the red car prominent in the image.

FENCE, NORTH BAY

Again I have neglected my blog so time for a new image. I made this picture walking downtown and liked the form and texture of this mesh fence in a empty space in downtown North Bay.

ALONG THE SHORELINE

Lately I have not been out taking pictures. For the next few weeks I will be busy making preparations for my Summer Artsperience course, which runs from the 5th of July till July 9. There is still time to sign up I still have a few places left so if you are interested you can sign up on line. Just follow the link to Artsperience.

CAR MASCOT, NORTH BAY

Yesterday I had to photograph this mascot when  I noticed it in the back of a car at the North Bay waterfront.

RESTOULE, ONTARIO

On my recent trip to Restoule, I made another photograph of the abandoned house, of which I posted a picture in September 2006. I guess its time to demolish whats left because it has deteriorated quite a bit since the time I made the earlier image.earlier

ST.ALBAN ANGLICAN CHURCH, RESTOULE

This beautiful little church is in the village of Restoule. I had noticed this church earlier but I did not like the light so I returned to photograph it. There are many of these particular type of churches all over this area and again this would be an important project preserving these churches in pictures before they disappear.

AMABLE DU FOND AGAIN

As I promised yesterday, here is another version of the same image but this time in colour. I prefer the black and white because I feel it is visually richer with strong textures and patterns.

AMABLE DU FOND

A few days ago I made a little trip to the Amable du Fond river in Eau Claire. I am still working on my theme of water . This image worked well in colour but I prefer the black and white interpretation. Tomorrow I'll post the colour image so you can decide yourself which you like.

THE DRIVER

Lifeshighway will enjoy this view of the cart's driver and yes she can use this image for her Yard Art blog

RUST IN PEICES

A few weeks ago I had seen this "yard art" but did not have a chance to photograph it at that time. So last week I went to Callander to make some pictures. It was difficult to photograph because it was placed next to a hydro pole. This restricted the angles you could take good overall image of the art work, though I was able to get a few nice closeups.

AGRIDOME, BONFIELD, ONTARIO

Jim Dow is a photographer, whose work I really enjoy. I feel an affinity with his images from the book Marking The Land, in which he documents the folkart in the North Dakota landscape. Traveling around Northern Ontario you find the same type of subjects in the Ontario landscape and , just as Jim Dow did in Northern Dakota, I photograph the same type of subject matter before it all disappears.

BRAM VAN LOON

Just another picture of Bram on the road. This is for Rob, Dave and Stephanie who obviously enjoy  and admire the adventure of Bram.

ON THE ROAD

Last Friday I went out to take some pictures, I had noticed an older hiker walking down the highway towards North Bay. For the next hour and a half I spent taking my pictures. On my way back I noticed that the guy was still walking so I thought let me ask if he needs a ride. Well his little flag told me he was Dutch so I stopped and offered to take him to North Bay. But he politely declined explaining that he was walking all the way from Halifax to Vancouver then he told that last year he walked from Halifax to Ottawa and this year the next phase would take him from Ottawa to Thunder Bay. I invited him to stay over night at our place when he arrived in the city, which he accepted. He arrived a few hours later and stayed with us till today. Bram van Loon is 69 years old, he carries  a 60 Lbs backpack and has been doing this kind of trips for many many years. Before he came to Canada he had walked all across New Zealand. He traveled most European countries all on foot. We had a great time listening to his stories and anecdotes. So we wish him a great trip and hope to see him again in our home.

MORE ON REFLECTIONS

This is where my idea on the reflection series began. Last week, on our photo trip, we saw this stream and of course I took a variety of pictures of the water etc. But I was not satisfied with the result so the next day I went to another little stream I had noticed a few month earlier and the pictures from that trip came closer to waht I had in mind.

PAWN SHOP, NORTH BAY

Another picture of my North Bay series. This is a well known pawnshop on Mainstreet here in North Bay. I like the big shape of the O balanced with the blue of the sky and the focal point of the guitar on the strong structured wall.

LIGHT, WATER, TREES

Another image from my photo trip yesterday.

WATER ART

Yesterday when we went out to take pictures, we made some images of a stream. I was interested in the ripples and reflections, which gave me some interesting pictures but I knew that the water reflections could be explored much further. So today I  went back to another little stream which I had seen earlier. well here is the one image of this interesting subject. I did not manipulate the image, except slightly intensify the colour.

WETLANDS

Yesterday my friend Dan and I went on a short morning photo trip. We concentrated on the wetlands near Restoule. I always like the patterns and rhythms of the waterplants.

ALLEY, NORTH BAY

Time to show a nother image from my series on downtown North Bay. This is a simple almost abstract picture of rectangular shapes and texture.

MONASTERY POND

Last Friday morning I made a trip to the nearby arts campus of Nipissing University. This campus is the original site of a monastery which a few years ago was bought by the university. Over the last few years I have made some nice images around this monastery.This picture shows the reflection of the pine trees while at the bottom you notice a stream of pollen floating along the surface.

LOW WATER LEVEL, LAKE NIPISSING

It has been awhile since my last posting. I have been busy with some other projects so my blog got seriously neglected. I promise to post more regularly. I made this picture last night  and it is amazing how low the water level of Lake Nipissing is. These rocks are normally under water but now you can walk quite a distance on to the lake.

FIRE ESCAPE, NORTH BAY

I am still working on my North Bay project. A simple composition of patterns made by the fire escape shadow. Eliminating colour puts a stronger emphasize on the various shapes and textures.

MOTHERS DAY SURPRISE

This picture is for all my friends who left North Bay. Look what you are missing. As a mothers day surprise we are getting a nice layer of fresh snow today.

OLD ODEON THEATRE, NORTH BAY

As in most small towns and cities in Canada, the old movie theatre is well past its glory days. It has been replaced by the big movie complexes, which can offer more than the simple movie house could. This theatre has obviously seen better days but it is a symbol of the decay of the inner core of our cities and towns.

HOUSES, OAK STREET

I simply liked the textures and surfaces in this scene of houses and apartments on Oak Street. The background is simply the siding of a tall building. This makes the houses look like a stage set.

LUCKY 8, NORTH BAY

Oakstreet in North Bay is in my opinion the strangest street in this city. It is a thorough street with lots of traffic but most people just drive through it without paying much attention to the visual environment of the street. Most of the businesses face the main shopping area. The Lucky 8 tries to attract customers on Oakstreet. I don't think that this could be successful.

CECIL'S , NORTH BAY

Today I continued with my series on North Bay.This is Cecil's Eatery and Beer Society, a very popular bar and restaurant here in North Bay. It has been a hotel, bar and restaurant for many decades. Rob Greenfield took a very good picture of the same building in the early seventies and the only addition is the two balconies which were not part of the original design.

LOG CHURCH, NORTH BAY

It is a cloudy day with rain showers today so I thought this is a good time to go through my old negatives. Actually I was looking at the picture I posted a few days ago about the abandoned church and remembered the first time I went out with some of my evening students to photograph the church. It was in October 1972. It was a very dark day with the first snow squalls of the coming Winter. The old elm trees were cut the next year. Dutch elm disease killed these beautiful trees. Anyway I made a few nice images that day.

OLD FARM HOUSE, EAU CLAIR, ONTARIO

A few days ago I drove to Eau Clair, a small community in Calvin Township. Eau Claire is well known for a beautiful Gorge on the  Amable du Fond river. If you ever are in this area then you certainly should visit the falls.
On the way I photographed this old farm. I like these clapboard buildings and decided to present it as a black and white because it reminds me very much of similar rural scenes from the twenties and thirties.

ABANDONED CHURCH, NORTH BAY

This week I returned to an old site here in North Bay, where I had taken some good images of this old log church. After many years I found this church in a very deplorable state. A pity actually because this building is probably one of the oldest churches in the area.

ALONG HEMLOCK ROAD, POWASSAN

As Rob already explained in his last posting,  We, that is Rob, Bob, Bill and I went on a little afternoon photo excursion. Our last sojourn was quite a few weeks ago to Mattawa. This time we traveled some old country roads. I took a few pictures and even though I liked the scene I decided to make a strong, contrasty  black and white image. With a sepia tone and grain added I think this gave the image just the visual twist it needed.

DRUGSTORE, MAINSTREET, NORTH BAY

Just to show Rob that yes there are some people around on a Sunday morning. Actually during the week you don't see that many people walking around the downtown area. The main reason I decided to take pictures on Sunday is simply so I can see the downtown stripped of all the parked cars and trough traffic. It is the only time you can see what the centre of the city really looks like.

PICNIC TABLE, NORTH BAY

I think John Minkowskyj will enjoy this picture. It is similar in perspective and view to the earlier picture of "Sunday Morning, North Bay".

PEARLS, MAINSTREET, NORTH BAY

The sunlight made for very colourful but also strong contrast between shadow and light. Walking on the the shadow side of the street I noticed the festive colours reflected in this store window.

SUNDAY MORNING, NORTH BAY

It is a beautiful warm, sunny day so I went out to take some photographs downtown North Bay. Over the years I have worked on a series of North Bay cityscapes. Today I made some good photographs which I will post in the next few days.

FIRST ROCKY, LAKE NIPISSING

The water level of lake Nipissing is still very low. So yesterday I made some pictures of the rocks along the shore. These rocks are normally covered by the lake.

LAUNDRY

This is the house with the garage door I posted earlier. I like the unusual architecture but the colour image did not do  justice to the view I had in mind. So I turned it into a black and white image, which I toned and added the colour.This created the mood I was looking for.

GARAGE DOOR, NORTH BAY

Walking by this drive way I just had to take this picture of the old camper parked in front of the garage with the painted door. The art work is by John Weiss, a well known artist from the North bay area.

HIGHLANDER BREW CO, SOUTH RIVER, ON

As a rule I don't endorse or promote businesses on my blog but I make an exception for the new Highlander Brew Co. in South River. Brian Wilson and his wife Jennifer opened a small craft brewery last July. I admire their gutsy entrepreneurship  for this endeavor. I visited the brewery yesterday afternoon and was welcomed by Brian who gave my wife and I the grand tour. We tasted their great Scottish ale and let me tell you it is worth a trip to get a great beer.

FISHING HUT, LAKE NIPISSING

It has been quite some time since I posted an image. Well, it has been very busy with family and friends visiting us since Easter. Now it is back to normal. I can spend more time taking pictures and hopefully I will be back posting regularly. The lake is now officially free of ice, which is here in North Bay the real start of Spring, although it was quite cold and dark today. The warm sunny weather will return next week. So here is a picture of an abandoned fishing hut, a reminder of the Winter season.