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.
Category: Heart
The category, Heart, is for posts that make us feel.
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.
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…
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.
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.
Street Portraits
I’m not much of a street photographer. Purists say street photography requires a kind of invisibility. You have to capture people unposed. The object is to produce an authentic documentation of life on the street. You’re like a birder in a blind. Or an anthropologist in camouflage. Personally, I find that hard to do. Inevitably, I end up connecting with the people I photograph.
Conundrum
Mixed media artist, David Hynes, has a conundrum. Maybe you’ve seen it. I saw it in the Distillery District as part of Panamania. It’s a canoe with raw hide wrapped taut across the gunwales to form a giant drum.
The Selfie Stick
I read an article (I can’t remember where) that suggested the selfie stick is no longer simply a fad; it’s gone to the next level and has become a cultural phenomenon, whatever that means. I think what the author was getting at is that its presence in our daily activities is symptomatic of deeper cultural rumblings. It captures something of the zeitgeist.
Panamania Scrapbook
Last night saw the close of the PanAm Games in Toronto. Photographically speaking, they’ve been kind of hard to miss; they’ve formed part of the city’s backdrop for months now.
The Straight Up With James
I was shooting in Callaghan Lane, near Dundas & Parliament, when a guy spotted me and came over to chat. Before he went on his way, I asked if he would pose for me.