Olny srmat poelpe can.

Cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was
rdanieg.

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch
dnoe at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers
in a wrod
are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be
in the
rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it
wouthit a porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the
wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling
was ipmorantt!
 

Ok, and what better way to start the new year, but with a new secret place to guess. This time I'm going to add the stipulation that you cannot be related to me in any shape or form.. since my family has guessed the last two. For the person who can tell me where and what this triangle is, a free photoshoot in my studio. I have no idea why I'm doing this. I need more photography work like an Inuit needs more snow. I just think it's a fun idea. Only one clue to start, it's in Toronto. Good luck. 

The Gimp. After a 4 hour shoot at Spectrum Studios this is my feet, looking gimpy on the dashboard of the car. Ricardo took a foray out to get some sun, the first in a month, and I was content to sit with the car window open and just soak it in. 

Alastair Eng 

If you look down the right side of the page you'll see I updated my links. Top of the list is an ancient links page I created years ago when I obviously had far too much time on my hands. I spent an hour this morning, going through it and combing out the deadlinks, so go ahead and waste some time there. But I'm warning you, you might never come out again. Beware of soda constructor especially. ;-) 

It's always a pleasure to shoot Alastair in my studio because I always get a free concert.  

Alastair Eng, Toronto cellist 

Winter vines 

Up at the crack of dawn today, to take my niece Mallory to the hairdresser to get her looooooong hair chopped off. 

She's donating her hair to a company that make wigs for kids with cancer. For more info on that, depending on what city you're in, just google the words hair/cancer/wigs/and the city you live in. We went to a local salon and then got in touch with these people. 

snip snip 

The unveiling 

And the finished product... ta da 

Mallory... hey! That's my coat! (don't worry, it's fakefur) 

Trying to direct these two is like trying to herd cats, only more complicated. That's my sister, being no help whatsoever, in the background. 

When you shoot family members, around here anyway, it turns into a marathon session of giggles and tears of laughter. My mom Trees (on the right) and her sister Rie, visiting from Holland. My mom is 80 and Rie is 85. Something about those Dutch genes. Eesh. 

Tante Rie. 

This is as normal as they get. In fact, the only shot they weren't laughing like ten year olds. Out of 50 shots!?! 

Corrine and Levi, photoshoot for Gramma Lily in New York City. 

Can you imagine the hearts she broke? 

I am in awe of Vincent van Gogh. 

Urgent 

And where was I today? Take a guess. Myself and a zillion other hapless citizens. 

Clue number two. 

The "R" was broken off, making this a perfect blog shot. How about that? An "URGENT CAKE" facility, for those of us who didn't get enough sweets at Christmas?

Anyway, that's where I was. Standing in line at the not-so-urgent care clinic which was overflowing with people today. Next time, I'll believe my family doctor when he says it's tendonitis. Who knew it hurt that bad for so long? Sorry Dr.Jim.

This should also put to rest the question "Do you take your camera EVERYWHERE?" The answer is, pretty much, yes. And yes I'm determined to post a photo a day, no matter what.  

Urban design, built to crumble. 

Shopping carts 

Sitting, waiting, watching my foot swell up. 

Oh Canada! Post. I can't remember the last snail mail letter I wrote. 

Now, I finally get to post some of my pre-Christmas shoots that had to stay under wraps for various surprise prezzies.  

Draya, b&w 

Sisters 

Mischa and Andraya 

Little girl blue 

Monisha and Paul 

Paul G. 

More ephemera. Strange and disturbing cigar box art. What do fifty little orphans have to do with selling cigars? And is one of them actually holding one? Eesh. 

This is what comes of limping around with too much Christmas cheer and no tripod. I always make fun of men and their "I don't need no steenking map" mentality.. but I'm guilty of the "I don't need no steenking tripod" school of thought. Oh well, it makes for some interesting shots anyway. My back garden last night. 

Merry Christmas, happy holidays. Stay safe, keep warm and enjoy your friends and family, they're the most precious gift of all.. 

One of the best things about Moulann is, that besides being an accomplished pianist and amazing singer, she is a born actress and will do anything if you point a camera at her. ;-) 

Moulann 

Moulann 

Moulann 

Feeling frustrated at no shooting .. so digging through my favourite shots. Moulann. 

The good old days. ;-) when we were much more easily amused. My foot is too painful and swollen to put a boot on, so no new photos to post these days. :-( 

Did I mention I love ephemera? More than a hundred times you say? Tsk. 

Just purchased an amazing CD set from Lunagirl.com, about a zillion bits of ephemera all scanned to disc. Yesterday I spent an hour going through one CD alone. Overload! But delicious overload. There's a big folder of antique theatre headshots. This was the weirdest of the bunch. And I thought "over-photoshopping" was a modern-day malady.
 

Eye of SHiva. Usually I get this urge midwinter, this craving for bright colours, but because the snow came so early this year, I'm already getting fed up staring at whiteness. So I bundle off down to Kensington Market, the most colourful place I know. 

Eye of Shiva bags. 

Kensington alleyway 

Visited the "Hey Apathy" gallery in Kensington today. (above) Great new space! You absolutely must see this body of work. If only I had more walls I'd buy more. Mike Parsons, you're the best! 

Frozen pup waiting for someone. 

House of Spice in Kensington 

Limes in Kensington Market 

Okay, another mystery photo. If you guess it, and live near enough to get to my studio, I'll give you a free photoshoot. First one to guess correctly, that is.  

Stopped by Stan's house for a quick visit today.  

Stan's cat, Monty, who turned into a female, sort of overnight. 

Tiny window in Stan's hallway. 

Got a sweet photo in my email today, from Sgt Arlene Fritz of the Toronto Police Mounted Unit. She went out to visit one of the retired police mounts, Lancer. He's about 28 years old and living the life of luxury on a nice farm outside of Toronto. He looks happy and healthy (and hairy, with that big winter coat) 

Cello matrix 

More messing about in photoshop. 

Playing with turning a photograph into a comic-book illustration. This is Luka. 

And made into a poster.  

Drew 

Drew just got a tattoo on his calf. It's a bass clef (musical note) with a rose twined around it.  

Andrew Baughn, Toronto cellist.  

Cello. It always amuses/fascinates/worries me, looking at his hands. They're covered in scars from rock-climbing, boxing, parkour, whatever. If it were up to me, I'd keep those hands in two big oven mitts, like George Costanza in that Seinfeld episode! 

My son Drew and his cello. 

Spent an hour tonight, playing in photoshop. 

More messing about in Photoshop 

Ah cripes. Found an amazing little photoshop action that does this to a photo. Neat! 

Snow, snow, and more snow. 

Snowy horizon 

It was a carbon copy of last Sunday. Very overcast, very dull light, no shadows whatsoever, wet flurries. In otherwords, bleh. 

Snow rushes 

Trees in the snow 

Digital post-it notes? What next? 

Saplings in the snow, duotone. 

Last week, walking down to the lake at Colonel Samuel Smith Park. Frosty cold. 

Went to a really great Christmas party today, with loads of old friends and new friends. Mountains of delicious food and good company. Thanks Dave.
I talked my son Drew into standing on the chair and taking this wide angle shot of the table. It was huge!

Here's something that happened though. While we were all bustling in the door, taking off coats and boots etc I noticed this older man knocking his boots off and rubbing his hands, smiling at everyone. Since there was a chance there might be someone at the party I didn't know, I just sort of assumed he was with someone else. But then people were looking at me to introduce my friend.

After a bit of "and who are you?" with smiles and outstretched hands we all began to realise that he didn't belong to anyone at all, (I think the major clue was that he said his name was Kokomo Joe from Mexico) but had just followed the crowd going in the door. No one was rude to him but we nicely escorted him back outside. After about five minutes we started second-guessing our actions. Should we have let him stay? Maybe he was hungry? Was he lost? Did he have dementia? Should we have given him some food?

After what happened to our Min in England I thought that I would be more aware of another person's confusion. Maybe he really wasn't confused. I don't know. Possibly living in the city too long makes you jaded. 

Our host, David, looking well pleased with his party. 

My son, foiling the paparazzi. 

Very old friend, Peter Coulter, chatting up Mallory, my niece. 

And Athena, who makes our little world run smoothly. We're lucky to have her in our lives. 

And this is Ricardo, after two glasses of wine. Are you reading this Kate? They stuck a shrimp to his head. Too bad I missed that shot. 

Luka, today's shoot. 

Luka, Toronto model/actor. 

Luka 

And of course, me, with too much time on my hands, taking Luka into fantasyland. 

My dog, Cooper, trying to hide his face so no one will know this is him being forced to wear fuzzy red reindeer antlers. 

Was happy to be invited to the Toronto Police Mounted Unit Christmas party today. Yummy food and delicious home made sweets, even olle bolle which are Dutch fried pastries. Mmmm.. sort of like tim bits but nicer. Anyway, this is Staff Inspector Carl Davis getting a farewell prezzie from the unit. He'll be leaving after six and a half years at the Mounted. Everyone wished him luck in his new posting. 

Lining up for some of those Christmas treats! 

Jim Davis and Dorothy Keith, two of the staunchest supporters of the Toronto Police Mounted unit. 

When Richard runs off with my camera and I'm stuck with his and the wide angle lens, this is what a city skyline shot ends up looking like. Where's the skyline you ask?? Get a magnifying lens! That teensy dot in the distance is my camera! 

Thrilled to bits with my latest eBay purchase. Two disks chock full of hundreds of vintage posters and adverts. From Lunagirl.com 

Every red-blooded Canadian male knows what this sign is.  

So many tools, so little time. 

One of those Homer Simpson moments.. "Mmmmmmm...wrench!" Richard, mugging it up in the spanner aisle. 

Plastic Santas looking sinister. 

The joys of tools. 

Slice of ice and golden city. 

Mallards 

It was duck day today. Saw this little guy down by Humber bay, not a clue what sort of duck he is. 

Harlequin duck. No! Wood duck! 

Here's little Harlequin (doh, Wood) duck getting dive- bombed by a skyrat (a seagull). 

Blur of ducks in the water under the bridge. While it is technically possible to freeze motion and get every last water droplet etched in sharp detail, sometimes it's fun to let motion just happen and get interesting shots like this.  

Humber Bay 

Bullrushes against the snow 

I love hockey! (not one of my shots, but borrowed from a fansite) 

When winter first hits I run out there all full of steam, shooting stuff like this because it's such a novelty after 8 months of greenery. 

There were all sorts of these insects strolling through the snow today in the woods. Strange. 

It was snowing like mad today. Which gave all my shots a dingy washed-out look. No contrast at all.  

I love Boyd Park Conservation Area in Vaughan. It's so close to the city but there's old growth forest and such a sense of serenity. Too bad it's in danger of being bull-dozed. 

Cress still growing in the little stream that runs through Boyd. 

Ricardo, walking through Boyd Conservation, looking very tiny against the old growth trees. 

Snowy thicket 

Snow 

Line of trees against a winter sky 

Walking through a snowy wood. I mark this as the second time Ricardo has humped his camera and gear for miles without even taking it out of the bag. 

Snow fence 

Is it huge or is it tiny? Is it a macro shot? Or not? If you can figure it out, I'll give you a free shoot. 

Bleachers in the snow 

Twisted wire in the snow. 

My boots. Leather is not good for wet snow. Or wet snow is not good for leather. Take your pick. Either way, I got wet feet. 

Skaters 

Down at Toronto City Hall tonight, watching the skaters on the ice in the square. The people on the bench are static and visible, the skaters are moving so quickly they're invisible. Eerie effect. 

Yo Yo Ma's Music Garden, all lit up for Christmas.  

Christmas lights on long exposure. 

Toronto rush hour 

Luis Ochoa dropped by with his new CD. I love seeing my work like this, it's really fun. Jackie Spicer at the InkTank did the design. 

Cimarron I'm terrible with the scanner, too lazy to read the manual. The original looks much better than this.

To me, like most people I suppose, seagulls are pretty much flying rats. They're annoying, loud and, taking it one step further than rats, they poop on my head. But for some reason in the last two weeks I've taken about a hundred seagull shots. Mainly because they keep invading my space when I'm shooting, but somehow I'm finding myself liking the shots. Help! 

I really like city streets. It's just chaos, especially in rush hour. 

Spent a frozen hour by the lake, trying to get an interesting skyline shot after sunset. Hopeless. 

Every morning when I wake up I see this image beside my bed. Decided to finally photograph it. It's from a glass bowl full of stainless steel balls. 

Snowy morning 

Out the back window this morning. Snow, snow and more snow. 

Magnolia came to the studio with her older sister Scarlett. I grabbed this shot while Scarlett was changing. 

Water turns to gold in the harbour. 

A close crop of the reflections in the water. Shot with a very long exposure. 

Some shutterbug lurking in Kensington. 

Pigeons roosting above the street on Dundas. 

Down by the lake near Dufferin Street the city is building 750 metres of new breakwall to replace the existing old one. At a cost of 250 million or something insane like that. Anyway, this shot looks like the middle of the North Sea or something. Brrrrr.. it was so cold. 

Me, messing about. 

Little alleyway shot. I guess it's me, trying again to prove to Ricardo that there is, if not beauty, then at least interest in the most mundane scene. Not sure if I succeeded, but I keep trying. 

Dufferin Street sight. 

Royal Conservatory of Music, my son Drew going over his cello fingering in his head for a very important meeting. 

I am eaten up with jealousy about this drawing. No one has ever drawn me a picture for my birthday! :-( This drawing, for me, is such a distillation of love. Even the colour. You're so lucky Mick! For anyone who didn't get the invite the first time around, go visit quasi states. Excellent writing and illustrations. Whimsical, wicked and witty. 

I was working in photoshop one day last year and somehow this image of my dad ended up in the window of this abandoned house. I think it is an apt combination. Sad but true, they're both empty shells. 

Madame Butterfly 

Last night's shoot, Christina. 

Toronto singer (opera) Christina Natalino. Really lovely person. 

Went to a great surprise birthday party last night. Dennis Martin turned 60, which, if you look at the photos seems impossible to believe. Great food, great friends, great music!
And there's more party pics here at this other blogspot..  

Jennifer and her niece, having a good laugh at one of the Dennis shots. 

The table was covered with lots of old band shots of Dennis and his various groups through the years. The Rhythm Rockets, The Little Girl and the Dreadful Snakes, the BackBeats.. can't remember the rest! 

Dennis and his brother Lee, who flew up from the U.S. with his wife Pamela to surprise him. 

Yikes. I just re-discovered fractal images. Computer generated graphical representations of numbers generated by fractal equations, Richard explains. Whatever that means, Anne says. ;-) Anyway, amazing stuff. This one is from a site called infinite zoom.

Charlene Chartrand 

Candi McNeil's dream.