This post should have a tag line: Art Event, Or Excuse To Get Wasted?
Author: David Barker
Impressions of Thunder Bay
I’ve never spent much time in Thunder Bay. For me, it’s always been a stopover to somewhere else. But, this year, our daughter moved there to live and now we have reason to visit and explore.
Abandoned Grain Elevator – Thunder Bay
While in Thunder Bay, I paid a visit to the former Saskatchewan Wheat Pool 4A and 4B elevators on Shipyard Road by the waterfront. I have no idea which elevator is 4A and which is 4B. I went in both and climbed onto the roof of the red one.
Highway 17 Around Superior
Photographically speaking, stunning scenery doesn’t do it for me anymore. In the modern world of HDR images, landscapes have taken on a plastic quality. They’ve stopped being interesting. In my view, what redeems landscapes are the other points of interest happening within them.
The All Important Question
Sooner or later, every street photographer has to confront the gnawing question: am I an asshole? Always, there will be people who see you with your camera and accuse you of being a stalker. They call you a pervert or a voyeur.
Playing with MacPhun Software
I recently bought a suite of photo “enhancement” apps from MacPhun. I use the word enhancement in quotes because I feel conflicted about such tools. They make it easy to inflict an endless array of cheesy effects on unsuspecting photos.
Toronto Buskerfest 2015
Here’s a selection of some of my best shots from Toronto’s Buskerfest 2015 which raises money for Epilepsy Toronto. I’ve posted more on flickr.
Artists At Work
I think it’s natural for photographers to have a fascination with artists who work in other media. It’s like bumping into a long lost cousin: “You look like me, but there are things about you that are unquestionably different.” Some people might chalk it up to envy. After all, aren’t photographers merely failed sketch artists and painters?
Glenn Gould’s Grave
As with thousands of other kids who passed through the conservatory program, Glenn Gould was an enormous presence lurking in the background. I was one of those nerdy kids who collected vinyl. I bought everything by David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Brian Eno … and Glenn Gould. I had both releases of the Goldberg Variations, both volumes of the Well-Tempered Clavier, Partitas, Haydn Sonatas, Mozart Sonatas.
Creative Silhouettes
Creative Silhouettes is the name of a printing business that does vinyl wraps. I make no comment one way or the other about the business, since I’ve never used their services. However, I do like the name…
Shooting Bicycles
Here are sample photos of people riding bicycles. Each is shot by a different method, each with a different result. I shot the first image with a fast shutter speed. Both cyclist and background are crisp. I shot the second with a slower shutter speed (1/160) and moved the camera in sync with the cyclist…
Handheld Photos At Night
Typically, when I go out at night, I bring a tripod, shoot long exposures, cityscapes with light trails, people so blurred you can’t recognize them. But sometimes it’s good to break the rules, even if they are only self-imposed. Here are some night shots without a tripod.
Toronto Island
It doesn’t happen often, but every once in a while I get all sentimental and my camera turns to goo as it did when I went to Ward Island for dinner at The Rectory. Maybe it has something to do with all the grass and trees, or the clean air, or the quiet.
Billy Bishop Airport Tunnel Opens
Passengers no longer have to wait for the ferry when they want to catch a flight from Toronto Island. Heather Mallick’s op-ed in the Toronto Star nicely captures the feel of the place: “The pedestrian lake tunnel at Toronto’s downtown Billy Bishop Airport has finally opened at the cost of annihilating the soul, plus $82.5 million.”
The Toronto Zoo
Spent the day at the zoo, the only person there (or so it seemed) who didn’t have little kids in tow. Wandering around with my long lenses, I had to be careful not to be taken for a pervert stalker.