EASTEND VARIETY STORE REVISITED

We are having some very fine Fall weather, which,of course, is a great time to make more evening photographs. Last January I posted an image of this variety store so I thought it might make an interesting night shot. Don Amyotte was taking a break and offered to move away so I could get a picture of just the store but I asked him to stay because him relaxing against the post made just added a different dimension to this image.

JD BARBER SHOP, NORTH BAY

This is the barber shop where I go to get my hair cut. It is always crowded with old men like me who come for a quick hair trim. The price is good and the two lady barber are very pleasant. This image reminds me very much of a scene for some play set in the forties or fifties.

THANKSGIVING, CANADA

Its Thanksgiving day in Canada, so I wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.

CAR WASH AGAIN

You are right david I do enjoy taking pictures with a wide angle. Yesterday's image was made with a 28mm but I used a 13mm wide angle for this shot. I like taking pictures at night because you really don't have a good idea what the final result will be. A good example is this nondescript car wash. It was very dark and I simply had no idea what the  image  would look like.

SQUEEKY CLEAN CARWASH, NORTH BAY

This year we are experiencing a very nice Indian Summer, so last Friday evening I decided to visit some spots I was interested in photographing at night. The scene was very dark but to my surprise the picture came out quite colourful.

RECOLLET FALLS, FRENCH RIVER, ONTARIO

Last Tuesday my wife and I hiked a beautiful trail to the Recollet Falls on the French river. The falls were named after the Recollet Fathers, who used the French river to get to their missions in Huronia in the early 17th century. It was a picture post card  Fall day, maybe not a day to make great pictures but certainly worth the hike.

OLD DOOR, TROUT CREEK, ONTARIO

A simple image this time. I just liked the rough textures of this old wooden door. Using my D80 handheld and a ISO of 100, I just had enough shutter speed at 1/25 sec to get a reasonable sharp image. Of course if  had used my tripod it could be sharper but I was still happy with the result.

BEACH, WATERFRONT, NORTH BAY

It is a beautiful Fall day so this morning I went for a walk along the beach at the waterfront. I noticed this rust seeping into the lake. It probably comes from an old industrial site or from the railway which runs parallel to the lakefront. Wherever it comes from, it is a mess. Of course the subject is quite colourful so it translates into an visually interesting image. Bob Morton asked me to include some more info on processing.  I made this picture with the Canon G11, ISO speed 80, exposure time 1/200 sec, F-stop f/8 and focal length 6.10 mm. Because I teach Photoshop Elements, I tend to use it quite a bit. Actually I just downloaded the latest version, Elements 9.0, from Adobe . It has some very nice features, which I am trying at the moment.

SAMMY'S CORNER FOODSTORE

In contrast to my last posting of the Trout Creek General store, I thought I would like to show an image of Sammy's Corner's friendly neighbourhood store in the city of Ottawa.

GENERAL STORE, TROUT CREEK, ONTARIO

Trout Creek is a community which is slowly dying. Ever since the main highway has bypassed this place, and some of the other small towns in this area in the same predicament, are losing business. Job opportunities are very  slim so most of the young people are forced to leave the area. This General Store is one of the few remaining businesses.  Some technical information about this picture. I photographed it with my G11. This camera has some definite problems. It shows a very pronounced barrel distortion and chromatic aberration problems. So keep that in mind if you are interested in this camera. Other problems I will discuss in some of my next postings.

ROCKIN' JOHNNY'S DINER 2

Yesterday's picture was made with my new Canon Powershot G11. I have made quite a few images with this new camera and start to learn its flaws. In a next posting I will tell you my opinion about this product. This picture was made with my trusted Nikon D80. Anonymous asked me if I could give some more technical details of my pictures. Its actually a good idea so here it is. Starting with the ISO rating, which was 100 , exposure time 13 seconds, used a tripod of course, lens opening F: 8 and focal length 10 mm equivalent to 15mm on a 35 mm camera. The previous image was taken with a rating of 80 ISO, exposure time 6 seconds, lens opening F: 56 and a focal length of 18mm.

ROCKIN' JOHNNY'S DINER, OTTAWA

Just returned from my visit to Ottawa. No it was not a vacation but lots of fun. A new grandson Ewan has just joined our family. We had a wonderful time looking after our first grandson Callum. Of course I did not spend much time taking pictures, except of course lots of pictures of Ewan. One evening I just had to take some pictures of this diner. It is only open in the daytime but I still thought it was a good subject for some interesting evening images.

FENCE POST

For the next few weeks I wont be able to post because I will be out of town and I don't know if I will have access to the internet or more actually if I can use photoshop. I'll give it a try otherwise I will be back in a few weeks.

EVERS HOTEL, TROUT CREEK, ON

I can't resist posting another black and white picture of the empty Evers Hotel in Trout Creek. I hope that David Ernst enjoys this image like he did yesterdays image of the same hotel. Glad to hear from you David it has been quiet awhile.So keep in touch.

OLD HOTEL, TROUT CREEK, ONTARIO

Last night my friend Gerry phoned from far away Russia. At one point in our discussion I mentioned that I had been to Trout Creek to take some pictures. Gerry remembers Trout Creek quite well because he grew up in that area. So here is a picture of the old hotel, which has had its glory days I guess.

RAILWAY TRACK

The shape of this railway track detail reminds me of a modern sculpture. Again I prefer this black and white image over the coloured one.  

EARLY FALL DAY

It feels like the early arrival of the Fall season today. It has been quite wet and cold the last few days. I am hoping we will get some more warm sunny days soon. it looked like a fine late Summer morning when we went for a stroll along the lake. Very quickly though the dark clouds moved overhead and we just made it home before the rain. Here is my interpretation of the approaching rain coming across lake Nipissing.

TROUT CREEK, ONTARIO

I made a little photo tour this morning and ended up in Trout Creek. Since the new highway bypasses the town, not many people visit the place anymore. In actual fact when walking around you can see the town is dying. The old hotel is closed and not much activity is visible. Its all rather sad but maybe some new ideas will be able to revive the area. This picture is a detail of the abandoned hotel. There are still some very good images to be made here.

RAILWAY CROSSING

Sometimes a landscape like this is visually far stronger than in colour. I am also exploring black and white again and find that working digitally is not so much different than working in the darkroom. Looking at the work of some of my favourite photographers inspires me to make strong monochrome images.

EARLY MORNING MIST

Another image made with my new camera. I was looking for a small camera with enough versatility to make quality pictures. Because sometimes I simply don't want to carry my backpack with my DSLR and lenses which can be a nuisance when you just want to go for a walk or simply doing gsome sightseeing.