OUR PLASTIC LIFE
I don’t love the smell of plastic in the morning, I’m sure neither do you. Quite frankly it’s disgusting at any time of the day. It gets into your nose and makes a home for itself. Before you know it, you never knew it was there. Tricky little bastard that plastic is.
But it does do some pretty cool things with light as I have found out this week. At work we have plastic temporarily installed as a structural diaper under the ceiling to prevent the garbage from the new roof installation from falling on our heads. On my way home from work the other day, I noticed a layer of plastic was what was separating me from the driver and I guess, from sharing in each others germs.
I can’t say pre-pandemic I really gave plastic much thought, other than I know we’re supposed to be using less of it to save the endangered species in our lakes and oceans. Isn’t it ironic that in order to save ourselves, we’re producing more plastic in the form of take out containers, grocery bags and cutlery than we likely ever have in the history of humankind.
Back to the cool light. I’ve been experimenting lately with some of Pat’s (@laroquephoto.com) presets that come with his 1 Eye Society subscription and I have to say I really find them a joy to use. I know they’re supposed to be just a starting point but you know that’s what separates the men from the boys (clearly, I’m still just a boy ;). So for the time being I’m just enjoying the ease of clicking a button and having 97% of my post processing done. The “starting point” stuff will come in time.
The second set of images are work I’m doing to emulate a certain Polaroid look as a preset. The process is fascinating to me. The preset completely transforms the image into something different from the starting point. Like the plastic, reality is being distorted, the feeling is now different, perhaps even a different time and place. And maybe in these ridiculous times that feeling of being somewhere else is about as far away as life is going to take us for the time being.
SHOT WITH FUJI X100F
A SAUBLE BEACH THANKSGIVING
My last post was back in June. That’s probably around the same time i last picked up my camera. What are we going to call this… the Covid-19 brain freeze ‘n drought sounds about right. Whatever the reason (really, damned if I know) I just lost all interest in taking pictures.
When I finally did pick up my camera again a few weeks ago, I hoped that the part of my grey matter that registers what all the little dials and buttons do, didn’t completely atrophy like a weight lifters biceps after he’s become a couch potato.
The good news is that maybe this is more like riding a bike than I thought. The basics came back pretty quickly. The harder stuff like using a flash was a little trickier, with some of the missing details only reappearing days later.
Our Canadian Thanksgiving this year was a trip, about 3 hours north west of Toronto to Sauble Beach. The missing element of travel has been a big reason why I haven’t been motivated to shoot. So this was the perfect opportunity to see if there was anything left in the tank.
My mission was made all the more interesting since Pat @laroquephotogram provided his Daido Moriyama presets to me. My creative rebound needed a bit of a push and this was a great help seeing the world through the contrasty perspective of the Japanese master.
Regardless of the results, the passion at least for the time being is back. The Covid-19 brain freeze ‘n drought seems to have abated. Yet another of the many reasons this time of year to be thankful.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PR02, XF35MM F2
LESSONS I'VE LEARNED
Where does art come from? That’s a question I’ve been asking myself lately. I’ve been working at photography for about eight years now and I’m fairly confident I’m getting better at the technical aspects but am I getting closer to making art? And let’s face it, what the heck is art anyway, what’s the litmus test? If it’s something that my mother would gladly hang from her wall, then I guess I’ve been an artist since I was old enough to hold a crayon. So there must be something more to this.
Regrettably I’ve had no epiphany, but I do wonder what happens in the process of making pictures, where it goes from a simple snap shot to something that has more meaning.
I’ve struggled mightily with the technical aspect of making pictures. Maybe my brain is more analog then digital and I should try shooting 35mm film. Perhaps I just need a Leica M4 and a 50mm Summilux nifty 50mm like HCB used and my vision will be suddenly be unveiled ;-)
But I doubt it. I think you either have it or you don’t. So if I’m honest, I would say I have the vision of a B league player. I’ve learned some basic competency, but I lack the drive, the desire and perhaps even the genetic goo to be someone who is truly great at this. My friend and teacher Patrick La Roque (@laroquephotogram) oozes artistic juiciness in everything he does. It’s really a marvel to behold. He can literally turn crap into something that’s beautiful to look at (not literally, for god’s sake).
So where does this leave the B team players like me? Well, you know, I think you have to aspire to something in life right? Maybe there’s some crazy cosmic goodness that comes when someone spends their life trying to reveal the kernel of potential they have. What I’ve learned is that creating pictures and sometimes adding a story to them (just like this one) makes me happy. It “forces” me, if that’s the right word to use, to process the world with the tools that I have available. Those tools are changing all of the time. Sometimes every week. Maybe that’s the carrot. Constant striving, constant self improvement. Breaking off little chunks at a time and sometimes, when I’m really in a good place, maybe I get to publish something that might resonate with not just myself but with others as well.
So I offer myself out there to the world of B players to not give up hope. The award is definitely in the journey itself. No one else may see you as an artist but if art is truth, the mere fact that we’re putting in the effort has its own merits. And when in doubt, just ask your mother. She’ll tell you the real deal.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PR02, XF35MM F1.4
KEEPING IT SIMPLE
I am trying to keep it simple. This week I took a few days off of Instagram to give my brain a rest. I have to say it felt good. Maybe this will become permanent, time will tell.
This website is a nice and simple placeholder for my photography. There’s no soap box, no drama. Just a few pictures now and then along with a story. It works for me at this stage in my life.
There’s no advertising, no SEO and really no great effort other than the simple task of editing a few images and posting them here.
Maybe I’ll add an email sign up at some point but it all seems a bit unnecessary. Frankly, if no one reads this it’s truly not the end of the world. I’ll still have three square a day.
The ego is a funny thing that way. At the gym (in the not so long ago days when we went to gyms) I would go three times a week to work on some strengthening skills. There’s no one to judge you if you’ve done it well or not, it’s really something you are doing by yourself and for yourself.
Photography on the other hand is an art. There’s good and there’s bad. I really want to learn how to do it well, to make things that are pleasing to me and to others. So do I forget about Instagram and focus on this ghost website that maybe no one will see? Or do I put some effort into its promotion. Damn, that’s starting to feel like my day job.
I’m going to get to simple. I’m going to find it. Maybe all the fun is in the journey. Stay tuned.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PR02, XF35MM F2
SUMMER VIBES... FINALLY
In the miracle that is a Canadian spring, we’ve gone from snow a couple of weeks ago to “please god let the air-conditioning be working”. The May-24 weekend brings the lawn furniture out, but the weather is often late to the party.
This past week though, we got off our collective duffs and ordered a couple of new lawn chairs. The fancy kind that swivel. It sounds like endless fun right? With painstakingly chosen fabrics for the custom made cushions that will hopefully arrive in time for the real summer.
When we renovated our home a couple of years ago we made a great effort to uplift our backyard from something where you might get lost because the weeds were growing so high. It’s actually a pretty nice place to hang out these days. It’s not quite the oasis I’ve dreamed of but I think we’re on the right track.
Lying down on our completely weather resistant couch brings back not so fond memories of plastic covered furniture from my childhood home. But with a good book and a glass of wine (or water) it may just be my new favourite after work activity. Pop up the umbrella for a bit of southern shade, lay back and enjoy the lazy vibes.
Since the book I was reading was Kansas City Lightening, the story of Charlie Parker by Stanley Crouch (a terrific biography by the way), I’m pretty sure that some tunes in the backyard might be in order.
The clouds are rolling in as I write this and the weather is due to be on the chilly side this weekend, but for me, I’m definitely feeling those warm summer vibes.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PR02, XF35MM F2
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
SIGNS OF THE TIME
Our regular Saturday routine involves a couple of hours spent in Kensington Market doing our weekly shopping. I’ve likely posted about some of those excursions here. All of our supplies from toothpaste, to bread, meat, fish and fruit and veggies are all done in the market. In the various eateries you can sit down for lunch, stand up for lunch or take-out. So many options.
This is our routine, it’s part of the pulse of our weekend schedule. There’s not many surprises even with the occasional rant from the drug addicts or the buskers belting it out, trying to earn a little cash.
The signs were the canary in the coal mine. Each store front sported its own warning. Don’t come in, come in but don’t sit down. Don’t come in if there’s more than 5 of you. You get the idea.
The signs are up. I hope one day very soon they will all be taken down and we can sit or stand as we like.
Stay safe everyone.
SHOT WITH FUJI X100F
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
THY NAME IS CORONAVIRUS
With half of my wife’s extended family still in China, this years celebration held at Noble Seafood Restaurant was a bit of a quieter affair. My mother-in-law made it safely back from Shanghai a couple of weeks ago but her siblings are currently stuck waiting for the coronavirus epidemic to get sorted out so they can get flights back to Toronto and Sweden.
The vibe at Noble was a few degrees less than the typical new year’s meal. It wasn’t quite as busy or frantic as it might have been. Even a week ago (pre WHO emergency declaration) there were those that figured a celebration at home was a safer choice.
Still, it was decently busy and we united to put on a good show of overconsumption. Good times were had; crab, lobster, fish and abalone with a dash of pig and chicken were on the menu (12 courses in all). Believe me, no one went home hungry. Red envelopes were shared. Next year, we hope that we will all be together and Corona can go back to being the name of an imported Mexican beer. Until then, enjoy the pics and stay safe.
SHOT WITH FUJI X-PR02, XF35MM F/1.4
