SUMMER EVENING, LAKE NIPISSING

This week I had to scan one of my archived negatives when I came across some old images I took quite a long time ago.Well I scanned them because I think our daughters would like to see them. It will remind them of their long warm Summers swimming and playing in the lake. For me its simply nostalgia and of course a looking forward to the coming Summer. I think we had enough of the snow and ice.

WINTER RETURNS

When I woke up this morning I thought I had become Rip van Winkle. I thought Spring had finally arrived. Most of the snow had disappeared but that was just an illusion I guess because today Winter returned with a vengeance. So far I think we received about 40cm of the white stuff and its still snowing. So I guess we have to wait patiently for Spring to arrive.

ROOSTER, NORTH BAY

When I saw this rooster outside my favourite house on Cassels Street, I had to take its picture. A friend of ours collects all kind of pictures, little sculptures, pottery etc. So i thought she would enjoy this proud and curious rooster.

OLD MAPLE TREE, SPRING 2016

On our last photo trip, Dan and I have a few favourite areas where we like to go and we always return with a few interesting images. For this picture I used a hand colouring effect, a technique quite popular with the early pictorialists. 

IT'S SPRING

Last Fall I explained to our young grandsons that there are elephants in the North Bay area and that they were leaving to go South for the Winter. Of course they would not believe me so I sent them a picture with a herd of elephants going down the college trails. well this morning the first group returned, even though it was foggy and drizzling. So here is the proof that Spring has definitely arrived.

URBAN ABSTRACT, POWASSAN

Walking underneath the old railway bridge, I photographed the concrete wall across the road. I photographed this last year but decided to show the whole landscape. Of course I intensified the colour contrasting the wall with a almost monochrome landscape. I also added some grain as a visual element. By the way the colours are real but of course not as pronounced as my final rendition.

CN RAILWAY BRIDGE, POWASSAN, ONTARIO

Yesterday Dan and I made a little trip to the Powassan area. We took pictures at some of our favourite places and then drove into the town to make some photographs of the old CN railway bridge. I posted some pictures last year but every time you visit the same subject you see it differently and of course your interpretations change. 

CHRIS' MAN CAVE, CALLANDER, ONTARIO

The sign on the door of this cabin reads Chris' Man_cave. I think many guys would love to have a cabin on the shores of a lake. This one is being restored and I am looking forward to see it when its all finished. I made the image into a sepia toned picture and the added some colour accents to give it contrast. 

ICE FISHING HUT, CALLANDER, ONTARIO

For me, one of the truly first signs of Spring is the return of the ice fishing huts. It is a glorious sunny day, so i drove down to Callander and photographed some of the ice fishing huts. many of these huts are like three dimensional art works. Like this one with its bright colours, shapes and textures reminding me of a Mondriaan abstract painting.

WAVE, LAKE NIPISSING

Last week I had to scan in some old negatives and when I came across this picture I simply had to scan and share it on my blog. I took this picture in the Summer of 1982. So quite some time ago. Over the years I have accumulated quite a few negatives and it is fun to revisit my old files. Its actually i very interesting journey looking at these old  negatives and rework them digitally. I find that I get some very different interpretations of these pictures.

TEMBEC PAPER MILL, TEMISCAMING, PQ

Last Saturday, a couple of my photo friends and I made a photographic trip to Temiscaming in Quebec. We had a nice very early Spring day. There was still a lot of snow and ice but we did have a great trip. I did not get many images but I did make a few interesting pictures of the Tembec paper mill.

DRAMATIC SKY, LAKE NIPISSING

It has been a busy week. Last Friday my computer crashed, which took me  a few hours to fix. On Saturday, while taking a short cut through the Kennedy gallery I discovered,to my surprise, that the gallery had a small exhibition on three photographers. There were some very wonderful black and white images by Ruth Thib, Jack Shepherd and some of my colour images. Two of the photographs had faded badly and also had received some water damage. Its a pity they had not informed me but I replaced these images with two digital prints. I still liked the three Lake Nipissing images.. So today I scanned in one of the negatives. The result is not the same as the image in the gallery but I was quite happy with this result.

LATE WINTER STORM

Surprise, we all thought that this Winter was going to be a very mild season but in the last few days nature reminded us that Spring is simply not around the corner. I think we received a record amount of snow in a very short period. I have been quite busy snow blowing and shoveling trying to keep our drive way passable. I just keep reminding my self that Spring will be arriving soon.

ICE FOLLIES 2016

This month the sixth biennial Winter art exhibition Ice Follies is on display on lake Nipissing. It is an interesting show but I was a little disappointed with the overall quality of the work. However I did manage to get a few interesting images of the displayed art installations.

WINTER STORM

Last Wednesday I went to the waterfront to take a few pictures at the Ice Follies art installations. I just walked out on to the frozen lake when the storm hit. The weather turned pretty miserable but I managed to get a few interesting images. Needless to say I was glad to get home. Yesterday I spent quite few hours cleaning our drive way. But Spring will arrive soon I hope.

DOGSLEDDING

One activity I enjoyed was dogsledding. It was a new experience for me and it I loved it. It is an activity I will definitely do again.

LE CHATEAU MONTEBELLO, QUEBEC

Last week we spent four wonderful days at the resort hotel Le Chateau Montebello. Its a magnificent
building. According to the information its the largest log building in the world. It was built in 1930. Construction took just four months, which in it self is quite impressive. Ten thousand cedar logs were imported from British Columbia. Thirty five hundred people worked round the clock. Even today that would be quite a feat.

CANADIAN CO-OPERATIVE WOOL GROWERS, COLOUR VERSION

A few days ago I posted this same image in black and white but a few of my friends asked me to show the colour version. So her is the original colour view.

CCWG BUILDING, CARLETON PLACE, ONTARIO

Another image from the inside of the CCWG building. It is an almost abstract image of strong lines and shapes. I prefer the colour version of this picture even though initially I wanted to make the final image in black and white. 

CANADIAN CO-OPERATIVE WOOL GROWERS, CARLETON PLACE, ONTARIO

Last week I visited the Canadian Co-operative WoolGrowers company in Carlton Place. Actually I wandered into their huge warehouse and processing plant by accident. It is an amazing place located in the old Canadian Pacific Railway workshop and roundhouse, which was used  by the railway from 1890 till 1939. The WoolGrowers Co-operative moved into the building in 1940. They process over three million pounds of wool every year. It's an amazing operation and I could have spent a few days simply exploring and photographing the place.