Writings, Reviews, Cultural Criticism
Reviewing the art, I realize how varied migraine experience can be from one person to the next. For example, my migraines invariably begin with visual aura. There are six types of aura, but I’ve experienced only four. Mine start with scotoma (holes in my field of vision where things disappear), followed by tunnel vision, hemianopia (half the field of vision is obscured), and concluding with fortification spectra whose outlines shimmer almost like electric arcs.
I don’t know if it’s official, but Toronto seems to have been renamed. Now, thanks to Drake, I live in The 6ix. According to the Urban Dictionary, the new name refers to Toronto’s original area code—416.
If I were a nature photographer, I’d be out driving through the countryside to view the fall colours. Maybe I’d stay at a hotel in Haliburton so I could be up early to catch the sweet light. But I live in the city and I’m too lazy to plan a big weekend in the countryside.
What a difference seven weeks makes! After February’s Icefest 2015, I walked south to City Hall and shot people skating on the ice rink in Nathan Phillips Square. Seven weeks later, I caught a little girl splashing in the water that remains after all the snow and ice has melted. City workers were cleaning things…
I shot this in the morning as people were going to work. I’m looking south from Front St. beside Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market. They’ve recently replaced the pavement with brick and when it’s a little wet, it produces a lovely reflection.
This is (I hope) my farewell to winter for this year. I took these shots a couple weeks ago, but haven’t got around to posting them until now when the snow and ice are thoroughly melted. I took these shots early one morning in East Riverdale. I liked the way the colours of the play…
First up is classic great blue. He (she?) just stands there doing nothing. Classic great blue is vaguely narcissistic, hoping passers-by will say “Ooo, awww, isn’t he (she?) beautiful?” Next up is reflective great blue. This is a little bit like classic great blue in that he (she?) is doing that narcissistic posing thing. But…
While the rest of Canada descends into a deep freeze, things stay balmy in Victoria. There’s a calm that settles over the waters of the inner harbour, broken from time to time by the sea planes, then still at night.
The entrance to the ROM – Royal Ontario Museum – is a great place to go people watching. People are drawn to the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, so there’s a lot of tourist gawking going on.
There’s a culvert I’ve taken to photographing that is quickly becoming my favourite. It’s a continuation of Yellow Creek on the east side of Mount Pleasant Avenue.
Here’s an image of the Canada Malting Silos at the foot of Bathurst Street in Toronto. They’re abandoned and, I expect, will be dismantled. I’ve often wondered how much beer you could get from those silos if they were full of hops.
Here’s a photo of the Sifto Salt Mine in Goderich, Ontario. I took it maybe 45 minutes before sunset, down at a boat launch where I lay on a small wooden dock so I could get as low as possible to the water.