A WALK IN THE PARK
After a desperately long April, May finally arrived with some much needed sunshine. And finally some good light. I took some website images of my work crew earlier in the week and I was still in a black and white kind of mood.
As soon as Alice arrived home we headed out to the ravine by St. Clair. Funny how this is just a few minutes from our house but I don’t think we’ve walked through the underpass in many years. It felt just a little bit like a wilderness adventure. I’d forgotten how much I miss the feeling of dirt under my feet.
Once out of the ravine we headed further south to Dupont to head back west and home. it was just after 7:00 pm and the LCBO on Dupont was already closed as were all of the restaurants. I noticed the Krispy Kreme on Dupont was no longer opening during Covid-19. And there was no line-up at the Shoppers Drug Mart.
It’s funny the things you notice now, the small subtle changes to our everyday life. It’s like someone pushed the “slow” button. I realize for many people, the feeling is more like the “pause” button”, but that’s still got to be better than the fast forward button right?
The universe no longer feels like it’s being pulled in a billion different ways. It’s still being pulled, but it doesn’t feel like it’s being pulled apart. I hate to admit it but there’s an awful lot to like.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PR02, XF35MM F2
WE LOVE WONTONS
My family loves wontons.
Could the wonton be the perfect comfort food? It’s what we eat when we’re tired and feeling lazy, when we’re under the weather and when we’re jet lagged. It’s the 2:00 am meal at Swatow’s on Spadina when we’re back in Toronto after a late flight in and there’s nothing else that will do but a bowl of steaming wontons and noodles (with a side of deep fried tofu and Chinese greens with garlic).
My mother-in-law is the reigning queen of making wontons and she’s passed down to her daughters and her grandsons the fine art of this delicious craft.
A week or so ago Alice decided that what we needed was wontons. So off we went to a shop on Spadina Ave. for wrappers which may be the only supermarket left in Toronto (or anywhere) where there’s (astonishingly) no limit to the number of people allowed in the store at the same time. Risking ones life for wontons seems to be a bit of a high price but okay, just this one time. Along with the wrappers you’ll need pork and cabbage, (I was never invited into this secret society of wonton makers so I had to ask Alice this) salt, cooking wine, and chopped ginger. Simple, easy and delicious.
And then the actual wrapping takes place. The initiated (not me) sit around the table, sharing in the stories and events of the day and since this is the time of Covid-19 it’s pretty much one story and one event.
The hard work done, now all that’s left is boiling the wontons and putting the desired number in a bowl of steaming hot broth. The actual number of wontons that goes into the bowl is a combination of your hunger level, and your pride. For example, you can’t eat less wontons than your younger sibling. I mean you can, you’re just going to be hearing about it. Forever.
On a good night, many dozens of wontons will be eagerly wolfed down. Stomachs will be patted in satisfaction. The comfort that comes from this simple yet delicious meal will be present on every face in the room. And if you’ve eaten more than your younger sibling or more than your spouse, well congratulations, you can hold your head up high… till next time.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PR02, XF35MM F/1.4
THIS 24/7 CHANNEL
Let’s be honest, there is no escaping this pandemic. It’s truly a 24/7 phenomena.
I woke up this morning thinking it would be a good day to get on my bike. A bit of an escape even though for all I know Martin Goodman Trail by the lakefront be might closed to pedestrians. There’s still a good chance that might happen, but it wound up being a decent bit colder then I was hoping for today. And yes, I’m a big wuss when it comes to cold weather cycling.
Spring might be here but it doesn’t really feel like spring. It’s still mostly cold and the air in the house still feels like winter air. The winter clothes are all still pretty much where they’ve been all winter. And let’s face it, there’s only so many walks you can take in one lifetime and one pandemic.
Still, the sun was out this morning and yes, it was spring light. I’ll leave staring at the CBC & BBC news apps for a few minutes. Just long enough to grab my camera and pretend this will all be over soon. With any luck, maybe in time for spring.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PR02, XF35MM F/2
SHOOTING SQUARE
I’ve no idea how many times I’ve walked along Geary Ave. west of Ossington as well as Dupont St, between our house and Spadina Ave. Certainly dozens of times in the twenty five years we’ve lived in Hillcrest Village.
You know you can walk by the same darn buildings over and over again and never really see them. Having quite a bit of extra time on my hands, last week I set up a photography training session with Pat @laroquephotogram for this morning and his last text to me after I sheepishly admitted to being a stranger to my camera for the last couple of weeks was… “Anyhoo… pick up your camera a little ;)
Now Pat is the not a member of the tribe, but that was the best impersonation of a Jewish mother I could have imagined. The only thing he didn’t add was “would it kill you”? Hey it worked! I finally got off my duff and ventured out the door with camera in hand and Alice at my side.
It was a lovely, not quite spring day. There were line-ups at the Shoppers Drug Mart so Alice could buy emergency bandage supplies (we stopped off at two Shoppers to get the appropriate emergency bandage sizes), a glazed donut and coffee at a very empty Krispy Kreme (cause if the world is ending, what the heck, might as well eat empty carbs), all while I desperately looked for something worth shooting so I wouldn’t be completely empty handed for today’s session.
Well there’s nothing like desperation for energizing your creativity. Building’s that I’ve walked by plenty of times were new again. I changed things up by shooting square, and I was pleasantly surprised at how different the experience of shooting is when you’re not battling a 3:2 ratio.
So here they are. A few desperate images for our desperate times. And hey, if you need any bandages you know who to call.
Stay safe everyone.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PR02, XF35MM F/2
HEAD FIRST
They say the scariest thing is failure. I picked up (with the best of intentions) a small Godox flash and trigger about a year ago. I ordered it on Amazon and I was amazed that it arrived in a couple of days packed as if it was delicate China. I’m not sure how delicate it was, but it was certainly shipped from China. It was eerie how fast the shipping process was. Anyway, I digress. Both units have been sitting somewhere in my house these last 12 months and really, I was going to pick it up and give it a try… sooner or later.
If I was a psychologist I would say this is a phobia of sorts. At least on a half dozen occasions I’ve made a small effort to figure it out, but the great beast that is flash kept pushing those babies back into their pouches and safe in their drawer.
At last, a few months ago, more out of shame than anything else, I finally committing to it as our companies new website was going to need some new head shots and since the owner (me) is supposed to be a bit of a photographer (yeah, right), it just made sense to hire, well me!
So every couple of weeks now I’ve been inching towards learning about flash. Little pieces of the puzzle have been slowly revealing themselves so that now, I think I may actually be able to do this. Not in any professional kind of way but at least it’s not the great beast in my mind that it once was.
These are a couple of shots of my son Solomon who graciously gave me his time while on reading week. I think they are pretty decent. Not great. Certainly not a work of art. But it’s a start. My first head shots. It’s all pretty darn cool.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PR02, XF35MM F/1.4
BEAUTIFUL UGLY BEACH
Beautiful ugly beach. That pretty much sums it up.
These are images from my recent visit in Mount Saint Hillaire, Quebec visiting with Patrick Laroque. After we took pictures of anything and everything in my hotel room that might be interesting, we ventured off to a nearby beach where Pat launches his kayak.
The task was to get close. Pat provided his Fuji XF60 F2.4 lens, a lens I’ve not used before. The light was not very cooperative and to be frank, I couldn’t really get comfortable with the focal length or the subject matter. The beach was also fairly rocky and as I was wearing my Birkenstock’s I was fearful that I’d loose my balance and find my ankle facing a new and unattractive angle (something I’ve regrettably done before).
Yet I’m rather pleased with these images. They are quite unlike anything I’ve done before. I can’t say whether I feel compelled to run out and buy this lens, but it was a lesson well learned. Something about when life gives you lemons I think.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PRO2
ROOM
I have a day job. Lately my day job is getting a little less stressful as I’m learning to delegate and take a step back from the work that’s consumed much of the last four decades of my life.
When I picked up photography in the early teens I had no idea how rewarding it would be. But it’s also a shit load of commitment and hard work; at times more than I have the bandwidth for. And as pros and amateurs know, there are times when there’s not much left in the creative tank.
Enter Patrick Laroque. Pat is my Duracell recharging pack, my photography guru and safety net all in one package. A two day session with Pat is like taking my photographic skills off of life support and putting a 600V electrical signal through my body and brain. The man sees things that mere mortals don’t see.
The images below are from our last session towards the end of August. Since Pat was going through a dose of renovation hell and neither of us wanted to deal with Montreal traffic, we took to taking images in my hotel room at the Manoir Rouville-Campbell. What can I say, with Pat’s magic touch even his shoes are interesting.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PRO2
CURATING COLLECTIONS
Curating this site has given me all kinds of lessons on how to put together a collection of images. Something I would previously have taken for granted actually takes a fair bit of skill and lots and lots of practise.
You would think finding “like” images is a simple process but I’m often surprised by how it looks when done. There’s so many variables from the subject matter, the colors, the shapes and so on. It’s a never ending battle of trial and error.
These are a few from our recent trip to the south of Italy. The images look “warm” to my eye. Not surprisingly, they were taken in July during the hottest time of the summer.
SHOT WITH X100F
IAN MACDONALD WORKSHOP
A big thank you to Ian MacDonald - @ianmacdonaldphotography - for a wonderful 2-1/2 days in mid August. The recent workshop was held in downtown Toronto, beside myself there were 10 other willing photographers.
Always a great experience learning from a new instructor and Ian was a willing and gracious host with lots of terrific tips.
SHOT WITH X100F AND X-PRO2
