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 It has been replaced by the big movie complexes, which can offer more than the simple movie house could.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.