2010-05-30

Photo of the Week 2010-05-31

Well after a very busy week at work, I decided to stick close to home this weekend and get some things done around the house. I needed to catch up on some sleep so there were no early morning photo treks, no photo treks at all for that matter ... (wow that's the first weekend in quite a while). Here's what did get done ...

The PC got an upgrade to Windows 7 along with a new 500 GB WD Black for the system drive and 4GB of RAM. She's a new girl now !
I've been spending quite a bit of time loading the software and reconfiguring everything to the way I like it. The job's not done but I'm culling out some of the stuff I never used.

Yard work - grass got cut and fertilized. The new spreader works like a charm.

Gardening - all the gardens, back yard, side yard, front yard, were in dire need of attention. The boys had started weeding them for mother's day and I finished the job. Twenty, yes 20 bags of mulch went down after the weeding.

It's dinner time on Sunday and I'm shuttin' it down, cause it's ...

Time to relax

Cheers !
DJE

2010-05-23

Photo of the Week 2010-05-24

On Saturday I went to the McMichael Gallery to take in an unusual exhibit. Following in the Footsteps of the Group of Seven combines photography and the works of the Group of Seven through a selection of photographic images taken by Jim Waddington and his wife Sue, from the same viewpoints where these artists made their now famous sketches and paintings.

The mystery of these locations has always intrigued me. The project undertaken by the Waddingtons has stirred my interest in the the original works and left me with more desire to visit the landscape of Algonquin, Killarney, Algoma and La Cloche for some serious photography ...

Inspired by the concept of painting vs photography (and since I surely cannot paint), I used what tools I have to recreate what I experienced in viewing the exhibit.

badlands (photo & pseudo-paint diptych)


DJE


2010-05-17

Photo of the Week 2010-05-17

vintage mics

I came across these babies in a downtown antique / prop shop on Queen West this weekend while visiting the Contact Photography Festival. There was much to see and photography as we trekked along the street from Gladstone to Spadina checking out the exhibitions in the festival.
I found the Gladstone Hotel and the images displayed there a highlight of the trip. Such a range of styles and subject matter from the photographers exhibited there. Exposure to the work of others is a great way to improve your own ... and there is nothing better than seeing work printed and framed for presentation.
DJE

2010-05-10

Photo of the Week 2010-05-10

Even the horrible weather forecast for a cold rainy spring morning can hold surprises and change to accommodate an undaunted photographer...

After the traditional stop for coffee, tea and such, we were out for a morning walk around the grounds of the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph. Skies were full of rain clouds with small blue patches breaking through just fleetingly. With the weather feeling more like late fall than spring, I was uninspired ... and cold. The walk around the pond had produced some shots of the clouds rolling over the hills, a family of geese with several goslings and raindrops clinging to a variety of plant life.

Walking back to the vehicle we noticed a large opening in the clouds showing the clear blue of morning sky. If we timed it just right, we could make it to the old section of apple orchard...

bathed in sunlight


... the sun poured through the break in rain clouds, lighting the rows of old gnarled trees with their emerging blossoms and wet leaves. This was what I had come for. We were offered 20 minutes or so of strong warm sunlight to roam about capturing the character of this orchard on a hill and then the sunshine was gone...

Had we let the weather forecast keep us home, dry and warm, the experience would have been missed.

DJE

2010-05-03

Photo of the Week 2010-05-03

"look up ... look down ... look all around, look in front ... look behind ... look to the side" ... sound advice anytime when out making images. I found it particularly useful in the Arboretum this weekend while walking through Victoria Woods. I went in search of Trilliums and found Jack In The Pulpit galore, wild violets of course grand patches of Trilliums brightening the forest floor. Looking around, I found this patch of white ones at the edge of a pathway, surrounding a decaying trunk from a fallen tree in the diffused golden light of early morning.

Trillium Pathways