Dennis Martin, artist, musician, teacher, hunk.  

Jennifer Martin, gorgeous. And without a scrap of makeup, FYI .. 

Jennifer and Dennis Martin, still sweethearts after all these years. 

CN tower from downtown Toronto 

One of Ricardo's sunset Toronto skylines. 

Eek! Autumn is around the corner. 

What sort of hawk is this? Any birders out there? 

Argh! I've been running around like a mad thing. Post-processing a zillion photos. This isn't one of them. This is another shot of the hawk Ricardo and I saw a few weeks ago. Look at his claws, whew. 

Went to a great gallery opening tonight, Mike Parsons. He has the *hugest* body of work you can imagine. With some pieces the size of walls. Insanely intricate black and white urban visions of some hellish town that looks a lot like Toronto. ;-) Also some amazing New York pieces which I covet madly. If anyone's interested in seeing the show, call (416) 504-7604 

The Art of Parkour

What is Parkour? I'll quote the Toronto Parkour website to answer that.  

Parkour is the art of displacement. Forward movement.


(quote)"To displace" as in the defintion of Parkour, you have to move fast, efficiently with fluidity, with purpose, the right mindset, and with a goal. Imagine for a second being chased by a lion. By practicing Parkour, you are taking these instincts and movements you would have while being chased, and training them to be faster, higher, and more efficient for when you use them. When you are proficient enough in Parkour, you can overcome any obstacle in front of you.


These principals of parkour come from the French army and from herbertism. David Belle, the father of this discipline, took the lessons from his Dad and Grandfather; the ideas of moving quickly, with a goal, with fluidity, molded them into a non-army everyday training method. This method that was created in turn not only makes you expand your body and mind, but frees you from the everyday constraints set forth in our environment, and parallels with your everyday ups and downs in life.
(endquote)

photo credit, Alex Tsiboulski. .

Parkour, an interesting new phenomenon that's hitting Toronto. My son, flying through the air.

Here's the rub, though... CBC News was there to document the Parkour movement and a couple of bicycle police came by and started handing out $250.00 tickets to the kids. To kids. That's a huge amount. For "climbing in a park not meant for climbing" or something like that.

Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows I have a lot of respect for the law and the officers who uphold it, and a lot of my friends are cops but I have to say, in this case, give me a break. These kids are running and climbing and enjoying life and doing something healthy and non-criminal. They're not hurting anyone.

Where do the teenagers play? We have kiddie playgrounds for tots, we have senior centers for the elderly, the 20s-40s can afford to go to gyms etc... where do the teenagers go? They're thrown out of everywhere. Malls, schoolyards, everywhere is off limits. Now they can't even enjoy parks. I don't get the logic.

Why not encourage them doing something healthy and clean instead of penalizing them?

End of rant. ;-)

(photo credit goes to Alex Tsiboulski.  

This is Wilson Quist. I was shooting for a fitness studio opening soon, and when the shoot was done, Wilson was gracious enough to sit for a few extra shots. Really like this one. 

Sarah Veigh 

Mallory 

I wonder how Sarah Veigh is doing? 

Paul and Vince of Remisys 

Margot Rejskind, conductor with the pearl earring. ;-) 

Why dogs are better than cats 

Toronto sculptor, Charles Buchanan, Ricardo's shot. 

Formation 

One of Ricardo's action shots of the unit 

Police mount Keith with P.C. Kris McCarthy on board, thinking twice before walking through one of the obstacles at the competition last week. 

Well, you know I'm busy when I'm too busy to blog. Finally coming up for some air after a crazy month. Strolled through Kensington Market to get my fix of King's Cafe delights and managed to drag my older son along by dangling my camera in front of him. This is one of his shots. 

Bike shop 

Marketware