Here are a couple photos I took because I wanted to capture a general feeling, only to discover well after the fact that I’d captured something else in the photo that completely undermined the feeling I was after.
Author: David Barker
Macro Shots of Bugs in Dew
I picked up a new macro lens, a 100mm Canon f2.8 whatever, and spent each sunrise last week on the paths behind the Toronto Evergreen Brickworks.
Men’s Clothing Store Poster On Bloor
This poster came down last week. It was on the south-facing wall of the new Holt Renfrew Men’s clothing store on Bloor Street. (In case you need to know, like for some trivia game, Holt Renfrew is ultimately owned by the Weston family.)
Ravines In Toronto
I grew up in Willowdale near a ravine and a nameless creek that flowed into the Don River. I played in that ravine. Pheasants flew out of it and strutted through my back yard. Weird shit happened down there, too.
Poem: (M)ass Media Culture(?)
My cultural moment came and went. Now the useless pendant chafes my neck, brings to mind remaindered analytic books whose theses chased the waddling ass that lapped me on the straight-away. I let it pass and listened to their twaddle. The blubbering cheeks squidge on. Their route? I couldn’t say. There was an instant, back…
Kirk Newman’s Community
Standing on the southeast corner of Manulife’s Corporate headquarters in Toronto is a bronze sculpture called “Community”. It’s creator is Kirk Newman.
Shop Window – Holy Merchandise
4 June about 3 o’clock someone came to store and stolen holy merchandise. He run away very fast but he put the bicycle on the road I have experience 3 time this year (same man) I forgive again I want to return bicycle but he did not come back I report police station / Police…
Graveyard Kitsch
After writing a piece about Barthes’ principles of studium and punctum and how I read them in light of Milan Kundera’s meditation on kitsch, I went for a bit of a photowalk through Toronto’s St. James Cemetery. I like walking through cemeteries.
Barthes’ Studium and Punctum
In his Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes introduces the notions of studium and punctum to help us think about photographs. While far from the last word on photography in this post-structuralist postmodern world of ours, and (as Geoff Dyer cautions in his forward) while far from the last word even in Barthes’ own thinking, nevertheless the…
It’s Nae to Scottish Independence
The ballots have been counted and it’s confirmed: Scotland won’t be leaving the UK any time soon. With that in mind, I thought I’d conclude my Scottish-themed series of posts with photos from London.
Graves in Scotland
Well, today’s the day! Scotland votes on the independence question. The fact that my final post in this Scotland series is on graveyards should not be taken as a subtle commentary on the Scottish referendum. I merely thought it fitting that the last in the series should relate to death.
Museums in Scotland
In Scotland, just about every church and castle counts as a museum. For this post, I highlight museums that aren’t churches or castles. Here are photos from four secular museums in Glasgow and all of them are free.
Is Scottish Graffiti Different?
So here’s the question: is there a distinctive Scottish style of graffiti which would justify a distinctive Scottish country? Or is its style of graffiti simply part of a globalized hegemonic free-trade graffiti that you could find anywhere, whether on NYC subway cars or under Iraqi bridges?
Forth & Clyde Canal
There’s no point posting photos of Edinburgh & Glasgow without also posting photos of the thing that joins them, namely the Forth and Clyde Canal. The Canal, completed in 1790 and restored 200 years later, cuts across the Scottish lowlands, joining the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde.
Photos from Glasgow
If Edinburgh is “high”, Glasgow is “low”. If Edinburgh is art, Glasgow is graffiti. If Edinburgh is culture and politics, Glasgow is industry and commerce. You probably see a pattern by now.