ABSTRACT, BURKS FALLS, ON

Another one of my found abstract artworks. I will be out of town till Tuesday so on my return I hope to have some new images. See you next week.

BUSSTOP, NORTH BAY

We received quite a bit of snow yesterday. Obviously Winter decided that teh season was not over yet. Anyway this morning I passed this busstop and thought that it would make a nice image for my posting today. It was also time to satisfy our black and white fans so here it is.Enjoy.

WAITING FOR SPRING

Today it looks as if Spring will never arrive. We are getting quite a bit of snow, maybe that's an understatement, we are getting lots of it and you almost despair Winter will never end. I remember a book by Andre Norton, whith a story where the season lasted seven years. I hope that this Winter will be gone in less than seven weeks! Anyway this is just apictures of the trails near our house in April. So this image reminds me of the beatiful walks in early Spring. Seeing the first new plants and flowers appear between the still leafless trees.

WINDOW, HUNTSVILLE, ON

One other picture I enjoyed making in Huntsville, is this image of a window. Iliked the contrast of the warm red colur with the cold icicles, covering a plant box with artificial plants.

WALL, HUNTSVILLE, ON

As I explained yesterday, I did not take many pictures in Huntsville but I did photograph some marks on a wall. Initially it did not look very promising when I  viewed it on my screen. I decided it had possibilities so I started with intensifying the colour. It still didn't work so I then used a technique called  tonal mapping. This brought out texture now it looked much better. Simple dodging and burning further enhanced the image and finally I turned the picture into a vertical and this is the result.

STOREFRONT, BURKS FALLS, ON

It was a beautiful sunny day today so we decided to take a little tour. We drove as far as Huntsville, where we had a very nice lunch but I did not get many images. On our way back we stopped in Burks Falls where I had more luck. I liked the strong colours of this little storefront and I definitely will return here because right next to it was another store painted in a bright pink however I could not photograph them together because the street was lined with cars. I guess I will have to return on a weekend.

BREAD MAKING DAY

It was bread making day today, so here is a picture of one of my favourite breads. Its a variation on a recipe from Bernard Clayton's book on French breads and let me tell you the taste is terrific.

WINTER TRADITION

Again, it has been awhile since my last posting. Some other projects are keeping me busy and ,also I guess, the Winter is getting to me. So every year my wife's amaryllis is in full bloom which is about the time for me to start looking forward to Spring time. In this picture I combined a sepia toned image with a colour version of this flower. flower. I liked the result.

LAURENTIAN WOOD, NORTH BAY

It felt like Spring yesterday so we went for a hike in the Laurentian Wood. This area is very popular with birdwatchers and actually to anybody enjoying a walk in the woods. It is a challenging place for photographers who are looking for some grand vistas or beautiful treed trails, but I did get a few interesting images. This picture worked better in black and white than colour so this picture is for the black and white aficionados.

GREEN STAIRS, COBALT,ON

This old silver mine is a landmark in Cobalt. At one time it was part of a butchershop. The butcher used the shaft as a cooler. I was attracted by the green stairs . The combination of stairs, fence and shaft makes for an interesting composition.

SIDE DOOR OLD FRASER HOTEL, COBALT

As I mentioned earlier this old hotel has some very interesting doors. I particular liked this one because of its painterly quality. I promise to post some black and white images later in the week. Cobalt is definitely a historical and visually interesting place.So if you get a chance it is worth a visit.

ROB'S HAIR LOUNGE, COBALT

I hope my friend Rob will appreciate this picture of this barber shop in Cobalt. The door with the "open" sign is the entrance to the Cobalt Legion hall. The composition reminded me of some of the paintings, but without the vibrant colours, by Piet Mondriaan.

OLD TAVERN DOOR, COBALT

I remember, with fondness, visiting this place in the early seventies.It was lots of fun at the time. It closed but now they are hard at work restoring this old historic building. Of course I liked the, lets say the rich weathered look, of the exterior. The main entrance actually has some beautiful colours and textures as do some of the other side entrances.

OLD COBALT, ONTARIO

This morning my wife and I made a trip to New Liskeard. On our way back we stopped in Cobalt the old silver town. It is quite an interesting place with all kind of old and in many cases historical places. It is definitely a town which needs further exploring especially in the Winter. These houses have seen better times but are now used for storage I guess, anyway it is quite colourful.

WINTER IS NOT FINISHED YET

Winter is far from over. Yesterday and overnight we received quite a bit of the white stuff again so today it it is a time of snow shoveling and snow blowing. I am definitely looking forward to nice Spring weather. It can't come too soon.

ROSE

Time for a different picture. The Winter starts to drag on so,looking through the book Flowers by Irving Penn, I thought time for some colour. Of course Irving Penn used some very exquisite flowers while I just had some roses my wife had brought back from the supermarket. I still enjoyed the pictures I took. It is a change of all the graphic black and white Winter scenes.

OTTAWA WINTER

On my last visit to Ottawa I did not get a chance to go on a little photo tour around town, but one place I always visit is the National Gallery. There were two shows my wife and I were interested in one was an exhibit of the gallery's new acquisitions, which is definitely a show the see. Another was a show of British 19th century photographs. This exhibit was a disappointment for both of us. I think there only a few really great images but overall the pictures were maybe of historical interest but lacked great artistic merit. When having lunch in the cafeteria  I took this picture of a beautiful tree in the gallery grounds. It definitely works best in black and white.

WINTER ALLEY WAY

We returned from Ottawa late Tuesday afternoon. It had been a very nice visit but I did not get a chance to take many pictures. So here is a Winter image I made last week on one of our daily trips around town.

FIRST AVENUE, BLACK AND WHITE VERSION

Dave Brown was interested in seeing the black and white version of the picture I posted yesterday. So here it is, I prefer this image but as I said before , I like black and white photographs maybe because of the more abstract quality. I am leaving this morning for Ottawa so I will not be able to post untill I get back next Tuesday.

FIRST AVENUE, NORTH BAY

Yesterday was a very beautiful Winter day. The tree is the subject which I was attracted to but the strong primary colours make this image. I also made a black and white image which I really liked but I could not make up my mind so decided to post the colur picture.