January 2008 Archives

Leftovers from someone coffee break - although it looks like they favour tea over coffee.

I don't know what kind of tree this is, but it's had these fuzzy buds on the branches since the leaves fell off.  It's taken me a few tries, but I finally managed to get a decent macro shot of them.

Looking down Yonge Street, from just north of the Zanzibar Strip Club.  I know that Toronto keeps trying to be the New York of Canada, but do we have to imitate the worst, tackiest parts too?

Another flower shot, taken at the Allen Gardens Conservatory on my birthday.

There seemed to be some rather intense discussions going on at the Opera House that night.  No - she wasn't alone.  There were several other people that she was talking to.

Getting off the subway at College Street has changed a lot, since the days when I only went there for Leaf games.  The street is pretty much all new to me, and it took me a little while to get oriented.  I really have to get out more, and wander around the city.

I recommend trying the sandwiches at the Black Camel, just across the street from the Rosedale subway station.  I had the pulled brisket, and it's amazingly good.

I spent part of my birthday at the Allan Gardens Conservatory. Very peaceful place, and, even deep into the winter, lots of blooming plants. It's a pretty cool place, all in all.

I don't know why, but I love to photography the strip club formerly known as the New Broadview Hotel.  This view greeted me as I got off the streetcar at Broadview, and I'm happy with the way the colours in the sky came out.

Not too many people enter from the west entrance, and it's a shame.  The entryway is gorgeous, and as evening approaches, it glows with a warm light, inviting you into the mall.  Don't forget to bring your cash....

I love the rust and texture on the surface of this nightclub sign.

Walking home the other night with my sweetheart, I spotted the shadows on this sign.  I like how they stretch across the wall.

I'm going to have to go around this part of town one evening, to see what the area looks like after dark.  During the day, it's an interesting building.

All day long, the barber sits and waits for people to come get their hair cut.  In between customers, he plays chess with whoever he can convince to play.  But, at night, the shop waits, eerily lit, for morning to come.

When seen at night, in their carhouse, the streetcars seem much smaller than when you're trying to get around them on Queen.  The carhouse was built in 1913, and serves as a garage for the streetcars in this part of the city.

A little late night shinny, at Jimmy Simpson Park.  Gotta do more practicing to get better action shots - I took ten or fifteen shots, and this is the only one I liked.

Loved the contrast on this one - the bright red hand on the dark background.

The look on this guy's face says it all.  I've got a lot of respect for people that can paint.  It's something that I wish I could do, myself.  But I can't, so I wander around with my camera, taking pictures, instead.

Taken from the streetcar, overriding the program mode and suggestions of the camera for exposure, etc.  I like the way this one turned out - I'm going to be playing around more with manual mode as time goes by.

There are two (TWO!) wasp nests hanging from branches of trees on my street.  I used my 75-300 to get this shot, standing directly underneath the nest.  I always wonder - do the wasps sleep all winter in these?  How many of them survive the winter? Is this one abandoned, or still active?  I guess I'll figure all these things out when the spring arrives.

I went for a walk the other day, and came across this guy painting the wall at the Ontario College of Arts and Design.  I've been looking for a red wall, to match the blue one across the street from my place, for portraits.  Hopefully, this remains untagged for a while so that I can get a portrait or two of someone against it.

Everybody finds themselves waiting for the subway from time to time.  I was stuck at Dupont, and decided to see what kind of shot I could get of the signage there.

   
I was amused to see this rider ignoring the arrival of the train, and continuing his reading.  I didn't wait to see if he actually boarded the train, but it looked like he was very involved with his newspaper.  Of course, that's one of the nicer things about living in Toronto - having a subway that runs every few minutes, so that if you miss one, you don't have to wait too long for the next one.

The lighting in my office is all like this.  It's very industrial feeling in the hallways.  I was curious, the first time that I came to the office, to find out if the feel was intentional, or if it was serendipitous.  The space used to be a studio, with tons of animators, and computers all over the place.

I keep seeing these things all over. I never understood the appeal - even when I was only sixteen. These shoes have been on the wire across the street from my work for months, and I wonder who threw them. Was it the owner? Was it one of his "friends"? Or was it someone else?

Taken with the Canon 75-300mm zoom that I picked up to go with my new camera.  It's a great lens for getting candids, even though it feels huge when it's zoomed out to maximum.

I loved seeing the red stems of the plants peeking up out of the snow cover.

It's my little sister's birthday today.  No - I'm not going to tell you how old she is.  But I will tell you that I'm very glad that I have my sister, and that I've missed her while we've been apart.  Here's hoping that you have a great year, Jennifer, and that we can see each other more often than we've managed in the past.

Weeds are less hearty than the trees, but they burst forth every year, regardless.  Seeing them with snow on them is a reminder, to me, that although things end, they also renew, in time.  Also taken on the Leslie Street Spit.

There's something interesting about a tree in winter.  It sits and waits - to all intents and purposes, dead.  But in spring, it bursts forth with new growth, leaves, and buds.  Taken on the  Leslie Street Spit on New Year's day

Somewhere, deep inside that warm, warm coat is my darling fiance.   We went on a photowalk at the Leslie Street Spit (aka Tommy Thompson Park) on New Year's day, after dropping off the rugrats with their mother.  It was cold, and I'd forgotten my gloves, but we got some great shots, nonetheless.

Taken after a snow/rain storm between Christmas and New Year's Eve. The barbed wire is around the parking lot of a former Volvo dealership.

This bulldog met us on our morning walk.  He was very happy to see us, and even more happy to see Merry, our pug.  As we were leaving, he flipped on his back and wriggled his way across the grass to greet us and to get his tummy rubbed.

I found this sign on Eastern Avenue, just east of the railway bridge near our house.  From across the street, I wasn't able to read it, but up close, you can see what it used to say.