Today’s image was taken at the fountain in the middle of the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto. It was taken with a Nikon F2 35mm camera (and I think with a zoom lens). It’s normally pretty busy around the fountain, but at this moment, at least on this side of the fountain, this man was alone.
Masks are interesting things. Sometimes meant to hide or obscure, in a performing sense they can channel energy and personality into a performance. In this image, the actress is definitely using the mask to channel the energetic and creative spirit that her made her a lot of fun to work with!
Ilford HP5+ is a film that I’ve never had luck with in 35mm; it’s always been just too grainy when I develop it. And that was certainly true with the latest roll, so for this image I decided to bow to the inevitable, and accentuate the grain with some post processing. I captured this image at Ashbridges Bay in Toronto, while waiting for a model to show up; it was a very grey September evening, and this part of the beach was certainly not busy.
I had a shoot in Toronto’s High Park last week with a model named Caitlin. She described herself as shy, but I sensed thoughtfulness and depth: in this image below, I believe I captured her not just looking at a sunset, but seeing and thinking.
I find when shooting people I always like to get in close. This is normally the way to go when taking people pictures, but it is important to also be able to take pictures from some distance, to make the background and setting a more important part of the image. This is what I was trying to do in this image, taken last weekend at HarbourFront in Toronto, in gorgeous late afternoon light.
Last Friday, I took part in the PAB 2011 Content Walk. The idea was to walk around central Ottawa with cameras, audio recorders etc. to create content and tell stories. The weather rapidly became the story, changing seemingly every ten minutes, but mainly rainy. We spent some time outside, and I got some pictures taken around the canal locks, but soon we had to retreat to the safety of a pub. The weather got steadily worse, but in the basement of the pub we were having a great time. We got some great light and my favourite is the image below. I had to push the film to E.I. 1600 but in this context I don’t mind the grain.
As a born-again agnostic, I feel a bit conflicted when making images with religious themes. I am still drawn to religious architecture and some liturgical music, but right now that’s as far as it goes. The image below is from the Dome cathedral in Cologne. I was drawn by the atmosphere, ritual and sense of history, but that’s about as far as it goes right now.
Another deviation from the usual time-warp. This is a photo I made this past Saturday at a Toronto Photo meet-up at an Orchid show here in Toronto. I left the digital gear at home, and went strictly old-school. Mamiya medium format with Macro lens, Kodak Ektar 100, no lights, just a tripod. There’s just something about using film for flower macro work; organic materials for an organic subject perhaps?
I am trying out Ilford Delta 3200 Professional film, one of the fastest black and white films you can get. When I was researching online on what developer to use, I was amazed at the variety of opinions, and just how tricky it is to get this film “dialled in” in terms of exposure and processing. My first try was using D-76 developer at a 1:1 dilution, which was not completely successful in terms of graininess. When shooting available light (or available darkness!) subjects though this is the kind of film stock I will need to master, so I have one more roll, and I will try another developer next time. The fun is in the discovery though!
My Third Eye 