MONTREAL CITY HALL

While waiting outside the Montreal city hall I took a few pictures. Photographing a landmark, like this building,  is always a challenge because  over the years numerous pictures have been made of this Montreal landmark. I remember that in the nineteen seventies Time Life asked famous photographers to photograph some of the great landmarks of the world. The final results were included in their series on photography.

NEIGHBOURS, MONTREAL, PQ

Walking down a street in downtown Montreal, I had to photograph these two houses. It reminded me of the paintings by Piet Mondraan.But how do you get into the door?

BOULANGERIE, MONTREAL, PQ

One area of cityscapes, which interest me are alleys like this one in Montreal. During this short visit I did not get a chance to walk these alleys. So I definitely have to return to really explore these city backstreets. One artist, whose work I enjoy is the Dutch painter and photographer George Breitner. He was a contemporary of Vincent van Gogh. So looking at his work I liked the atmosphere of his city paintings, which I tried to recreate in this image.

DUSK, ROUTE 20, QUEBEC

Driving to Montreal along route 20. I took a few pictures of the highway at dusk. The sun had almost disappeared but the sky still had a beautiful golden colour. Of course the light was almost gone still I got a few very nice abstract images.

FOR LINDA, CHURCH CEILING, COLOUR VERSION

Linda asked to see the colour version of yesterday's picture of the montreal church. So here it is . Hope you like this version. Personally I think I prefer the monochrome version.

CHURCH CEILING, MONTREAL, PQ

I just happened to pass this church in Montreal, which happened to be open, so I just walked in and took a few pictures. I was just in time because a few minutes later the building was closed. I was most impressed with this very opulent ceiling of the church. The image worked well in colour but the more monotone picture emphasizes the design of the ceiling.

BARN, EASTERN TOWNSHIPS, QUEBEC

On our recent trip to the townships in Quebec I photographed this beautiful barn. I like barns simply for their very utilitarian architecture and the strong textures and patterns of the walls and roof. The visit was too short and we certainly are planning to explore this part of Quebec either in the Summer or maybe better in the Fall after the busy holiday season.

HOUSE, PERTH, ONTARIO

Every time I wander through the towns and villages of Ontario, I keep remembering the photographs of the Canadian photographer Ralph Greenhill . Its a pity that his work is now very much forgotten because his black and white images of nineteenth and early twentieth century architecture are simply beautiful examples of great traditional black and white photography..

BEATLES COUCH, PERTH, ONTARIO

While not exactly a great example of twentieth century furniture design, I still enjoyed this couch while having lunch in a Perth pub and of course I had to record it so I could post it on my blog.

MURAL, VANKLEEK HILL, ONTARIO

we just returned from another visit to Ottawa but this time we spent a few days in the Eastern townships of Quebec. It was a great trip and on our way we stopped at VanKleek Hill, a picturesque town in the eastern part of Ontario. To my shame I have to say I never visited this community before but we definitely are planning to visit it again in the Summer. Two murals show a little of the local history. this is one of them and I will post an image of the other mural in one of my next postings.

BARBERSHOP, PERTH, ON

The picture is inspired by the abstract paintings of the Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondriaan. It is a composition of rectangles. The light and colours are reminiscent in atmosphere of some of the paintings by Edward Hopper.

BLACK AND WHITE TREE, PERTH, ONTARIO

Walking along a street in Perth, I made some pictures of this unusually shaped maple tree. I preferred the black and white interpretation because it really emphasized the shape and textures of this tree.

LOOKS LIKE FUN, PERTH, ONTARIO

Walking along the main street in Perth this afternoon, I simply could not resist taking this picture of a store window display. 

INUIT OWL CARVING

Another subject from around the house. This time a Inuit soap stone carving. This time a different approach. instead of black and white I decided to make a colour image and just like other visual artists I now have the complete freedom to decide the final outcome of my image.

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.