COFFEE PERCOLATOR

Winter is a time to look for subject matter around you. Still interested in the work of the Pictorialists,  I photographed this simple still life of an antique coffee percolator on the dresser in our living room and recreated the style of that period in the early twentieth century.

LOCOMOTIVE

And of course we had to go and visit the old steam locomotive. Just when we arrived the wind picked up and it really started to snow. It was difficult getting around the engine because now it is really in storage. The snow was piled up around it and on the other side various items were stored next to the old machine. Anyway we did manage to get some decent images.

COLD STORAGE

These old trains have been sitting in this city storage yard for many. They are slowly deteriorating but hopefully they will be restored and displayed near the North Bay museum. In the blowing snow yesterday they added verry bright splashes of colour in an otherwise black and white landscape.

BLOWING SNOW

This morning my friend Dan and I set out on a little photo excursion. It was quite a bit warmer then it had been the last few days. of course it did not las tlong because it first started to snow then the wind picked up and we found ourselves in a complete whiteout. But we did manage to get some fine images. So all in all it did turn into a good little outing.

WINTER FENCE, ALSACE ROAD

Still too cold to wander outside. Although dan and I were going on a little photo trip to one of our favourite places on Alsace Road in Powassan. But that will have to wait a few days. So again I looked through my negative files and found a few negatives from the same area but I took these in 1990. Just recently I was looking at the early work by the great American photographer Edward Steichen, so I recreated this image in a pictorialist style so very popular around the beginning of the twentieth century.

ONE MORE

I could not resist to post one more last train image. It was a very cold and snowy evening. definitely not very good photography weather. Actually, I used my tripod for the colour picture. The film was simply not fast enough but I also made some black and white images. The light was so low that I really had to push process the film but I did like the end result.

LAST CONTINENTAL TRAIN, NORTH BAY

As I looking through my files, I came across some negatives of the last continental train arriving at the North bay railway station. It was a bitter cold night on January 14, 1990 but many people came to the station to say farewell to the last passenger train coming through this city. It was really the end of a great railway era here in Northern Ontario.

IT HAS BEEN AWHILE

It has been awhile since my last posting. There are acouple of reasons for this delay. The first one is the very cold weather we are experiencing since just before Christmas. So definitely not a great time to wander outside looking for pictures. Because of this unusually cold weather I thought this is a great time to start working on some projects I have been thinking about for some time. It is also time to look through my negative files. Some of my friends have been urging me to post pictures from these files and yes they are right and they are right I am finding many images I simply forgot. There you have it my excuse.

WINTER, PINE TREE

I have posted other pictures of this section of our back garden but just as the famous American photographer Edward Steichen was fascinated with a maple tree on his property, of which he took numerous pictures over the years resulting in a great visual photographic document of this simple tree, I keep taking pictures of this pine tree.

JANUARY THAW

All of a sudden the weather changed. This morning it started with freezing rain but later in the morning when the temperature started to rise above 0ºC it changed to rain. Again not a great time to wander around too much because it was difficult to walk with all the ice on the sidewalks and trails. I did manage to take some pictures in our backyard.

ROCK SCULPTURE

It is still too cold to go out and take photographs. Then I remembered that in the Summer I collected some rocks, which I simply liked for their rich textures and patterns. At the time I had no idea what I would do with these rocks but this week I took a few pictures and decided to make them into some large monumental natural sculpture. It was fun experimenting with these small found artworks.

WINTER BERRIES

I simply liked the bright colour of these berries adding colour to the predominantly black and white winter landscape.

IT'S COLD

This morning when I got out of bed, I checked the thermometer and it showed a temperature of -38º C. I almost crawled back in bed. Definitely not a time to venture outside.

WINTER LANDSCAPE, CUMBERLAND

Another start of a new year, but ithe beginning is rather chilly with temperatures hovering around -30ºC. Not exactly a great time to venture outside looking for pictures. So here is an image I made over the Christmas holidays at the small but wonderful outdoor museum in Cumberland. A simple image of a very textured tree contrasting with a steady rhythm of maples in the background.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Two more days and again it will be Christmas. So I like to wish all my friends a very Merry Christmas and of course a Happy New Year. Enjoy the holidays.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS, ORLEANS, ONTARIO

Last night we took a walk though one of the most decorated streets here in Orleans. Needless to say it was quite crowded but kids simply loved it and actually so did the adults.

WINTER NINEBARK

It has been and still is bitterly cold. Not a good time to wander outside to take pictures. So sitting at my fireplace reading very wonderful book about Chinese art. Looking at some of these very fine drawings I took some pictures of various shrubs in our garden making my own pen and ink images reminiscent of  Chinese drawing styles.

IT IS COLD

Its cold today. This afternoon we went for a short walk and I mean short. The thermmeter read -20ºC but it felt closer to -25º. The lake is definitely frozen, as you can see. I just took a few pictures and then quickly back to our warm home.

SOO,OLD BOX CAR, MATTAWA

On our visit to Mattawa last week, we stopped at the railway yard. There is not much left because most of the railway is now history. In the yard were a collection of old box cars which offered some great opportunities for some wonderful abstract images with  strong textures, colours and patterns.

JUST A HINT OF COLOUR

Busy days before Christmas. Anyway here is another picture from our last photo trip. I made an almost monochrome image with just a hint of colour.

PERSPECTIVE, OTTAWA RIVER, MATTAWA

Yesterday I went on a great photo trip with my friend Gerry. We wandered along the country roads and ended up in Mattawa on the confluence of the Ottawa and Mattawa river. The light was just fine for some good Winter images. We made some pictures of the bridge but when I wanted to go to the covered part on the middle of the bridge, Gerry discouraged me because he was worried that we would be in trouble if a train would come rolling down the track. So we decided to go for lunch before continuing our trip.

WINTER TRAIN

The last few days of November. Well I guess these  are the days before Christmas, nearly always grey and cold. but also very busy days preparing for the annual Christmas season. I made this picture while doing some shopping downtown. Just a little red of early dusk adds some colour to an otherwise monotone landscape.

LATE POSTING

It has been a long time since my last posting. This week has been quite busy, so I did not get a chance to go out and take pictures. I am working on a few other projects. I made this image a few weeks ago and I love the rhythm of the red and green patterns. It reminded me of Paul Klee's theories on music and abstract art.

FIRST SNOW

Today we received our first big snowfall of the Winter season. We made a little tour but at times the snow squalls made driving quite tricky especially on the country roads. I did manage to get this picture which looked like an old pen and ink drawing.

TWO BARNS

I took this picture a little earlier in the week. The two barns show character,so I immediately thought of black and white. Mind you it will work in colour but I will have to explore this landscape further after a first snowfall. So I will be going back there to hopefully get some more interesting images.

EARLY WINTER LANDSCAPE, BONFIELD

This morning I made alittle trip to the Bonfield area. We received a dusting of snow but actually not enough to get some nice early Winter images. The sky was overcast but later in the morning the sun started to appear and just when I passed this landscape the sun put a "spotlight" on the birches and fields. Again I preferred the black and white interpretation over the original colour rendition.

QUARRY

Another picture of my photo excursion to the quary. I like this image because its quite dramatic especially the black and white rendition.

QUARRY NEAR ASTORVILLE, ONTARIO

Yesterday, it was a beautiful warm late Fall day. So I went on a little photo tour to a stone quarry near Astorville. The strong textured shapes of the boulders, which reminded me of the prehistoric stone circles in Europe but also of the great sculptures of Henry Moore. I did get a few excellent images from this trip, which I will post the next time.

CURVES, WATERFRONT, NORTH BAY

This morning I downloaded the beta version of the new onOne software Normally I don't like to advertise products on my blog but I know that people are interested what software I used. The final result of this picture reminds me of the black and white photographs of the British photographer Bill Brand, who is one of my favourite photographers.

REMEMBERING HITCHCOCK

Last week, walking past this house, I thought about the Film Noir movies of the forties and fifties. I especially enjoy the films made by Alfred Hitchcock, even though he was not strictly a Film Noir director. Anyway when I reviewed my pictures I took last week, I remembered the old Film Noir movies and felt that the image reflected the photographic style of these very popular movies.

ABSTRACT, McINTYRE STREET

Today was a typical grey November day, so I decided to post a picture I took a few days ago of some graffiti on McIntyre Street here in North bay. I liked the bright red painted line contrasting with the crack in the wall. In this series of abstract images I concentrated on photographing closeups rather than the full graffiti.

NOVEMBER, LAKE NIPISSING

Another image from yesterdays photo walk. I like very almost minimalist composition but pictures which reflect the mood and atmosphere of the season.

FIRST SNOWFALL, NOVEMBER 2013

All the renovations are finally done. So today I took some time to take some early Winter pictures. Here is an image of one of my favourite spots along the shores of Lake Nipissing. I was quite happy with some of the images I made early this afternoon.

MILLER BLOCK POSTCARD

A few weeks ago I looked at a book of vintage postcards of North Bay and communities in the Nipissing district. It is a beautifully produced book, which at the same time, gave a great overview of the history of this city. The book was compiled and written by Jack de la Vergne, who is a collector of vintage postcards. I tried to buy a copy but Jack informed me that the book was a limited edition of twenyt five copies, which he had made for friends and family. I hope he will publish it in a larger edition but it is a very large book and I think might be too costly for this limited market. Anyway I decided to recreate an old vintage postcard with a modern scene, taken yesterday afternoon.

MAN WITH DOG

We are having some renovations down in the house so not much time to go and take photographs, but by the end of this week everything should be back to normal. Yesterday I noticed this composition of light, shadows and forms, which made me think of images of the photography movement in the nineteen twenties called Neues Sehen or New Vision. The ideas of this movement originated in Europe and the USA. It was also closely tied to the Bauhaus in Germany.

NOVEMBER RAIN

It rain for two days. It was not a great time for going out and take pictures. Actually I do enjoy the dark days of November because of the wonderful moody landscapes. This bright yellow school bus contrasted beautifully with the dark wet landscape.

LOADING DOCK

A miserable grey, wet day, but I did get afew interesting images when I passed an abandoned warehouse. The building itself was not very interesting but it had some very interesting details. I just happened to be reading some poetry by the Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachman and I almost titled this picture after one of her poems "Always Living in Words"

MORNING FROST

It was quite cold this morning but I had to go out in the garden to photograph the frost covered leaves. the original colour image looked fine but I simply preferred the black and white picture, which looked very much like a fine etching.

CLOUDS, NORTH BAY CITY HALL

Yesterday I made this image of the cloudy sky reflected in the glass facade of the city hall. It brought back memories of a modern fairytale by the Dutch writer Godfried Bomans. It was a very good story but a little too much to repeat it in this posting.

OCTOBER, GOVERNMENT DOCK, NORTH BAY

No, this time I did not use my iPad but Perfect Effects from onOne. The drawback with the iPad is the smaller size files. I like to work with larger images and also I want to see if I can copy similar effects using my main computer. I can get some of the effects but others are definitely easier to accomplish on a tablet or iPhone.

AT THE WATERFRONT

Yesterday Bob and Cathy asked me what apps I use to manipulate my pictures on the iPad. Well I use a few of the  many apps I downloaded. So lets start with my most favourite, which is Snapseed, which was developed by Nik's Software. The next one has to be Filterstorm, this is another must have. It allows for very intuitive editing of your images. For black and white I use onOne's app Perfect B&W. A great app but alas not available anymore for iPad or iPhone. You can still get it but only for the Mac computer. What a pity because this is a terrific app. I wont make this post too long, so tomorrow I will talk about some apps I use for some special effects. Two apps I highly recommend, especially if you are seriously interested in this branch of photography is AppAlchemy by Dan Marcolina and his app Mobile Masters Let me know what you think.Maybe I should start a new blog just on Mobile photography.

LAKE NIPISSING, SUNSET PARK, NORTH BAY

As I mentioned before in one of my postings, computers have freed  photographers from the technical restrictions of traditional silver based photography. Lately, the new trend in mobile photography and iphoneography has created an enormous surge in the creation of very interesting directions directions of photographic art. I like to experiment with the new apps to explore new directions in my photography.

SUMAC, OUR GARDEN

The sumac in our garden is changing colour. All the maples have lost their leaves, so this is the last of the bright colours. The image is a bright abstract painting of rich textures.

OAKSTREET, NORTH BAY, AGAIN

Yes, all those years I lived in North Bay, I never noticed the strange architecture of this building. Its funny though.

OAKSTREET, NORTH BAY

Back in North Bay. Yesterday on our regular walk around town, we all of a sudden noticed this unusual building on Oak street. No I did not manipulate the image in Photoshop. New York has its beautiful and elegant flat-iron building but I think North Bay has a similar building, maybe not as architectural beautiful but definitely unique.

CAMERON HOUSE, TORONTO, DETAIL

Of course I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the well known bar the Cameron House on Queen street. I used a detail of the painting on the facade. The painting reminded me of some old pulp paperback cover or movie poster from the fifties.

ALLEY, TORONTO 2

Another image of a Toronto alley way. This painting is really an example of the great artistic quality of some of the street art found in the streets of our cities. Obviously people feel the need to express themselves through images painted wherever there is a blank space like this little passage way.

DARK ALLEY, TORONTO

When I took this picture I was not sure what the result would be. It was very dark and I had no tripod, so I simply increased the ISO to 1600. yes of course I did get a lot of grain or I should say noise but I was amazed at the detail in the image. I also promised to give more information about our visit to the David Bowie exhibit at the AGO. It is a wonderful show, which you should see and experience if you get a chance to go to Toronto. You are not allowed to take pictures otherwise I certainly would have posted an image.

AI WEIWEI, NUIT BLANCHE, TORONTO

We just returned from a great weekend in Toronto, where visited the David Bowie exhibition, more about that wonderful show tomorrow. Saturday night downtown Toronto was very busy because it happened to be the yearly art event Nuit Blanche. The centre piece of this event was the Ai WeiWei 3000 bicycle installation.Difficult to photograph because it was quite dark and of course extremely busy. Needless to say that everybody was taking pictures, so here is one of my images I made that evening.

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL, OTTAWA

I had never visited the Notre Dame cathedral in Ottawa but on our last trip I noticed that the doors were wide open so I walked in and have to say I was simply overwhelmed by the gaudy neogothic interior of this nineteen century church. I am quite familiar with the gothic churches in France and Northern Europe, where the austere interiors are spiritual spaces something lacking in this church. However I did enjoy the exuberant colours and textures.