AGW 1

Canon EOS 20D

The Art Gallery of Windsor. See Hors d'ouerves and The Press Conference in the archives for more. I love architecture shots and decided to get some in while amassing my portraits for the feature which I plan on launching in the second week of March. Some shots I need to get off my chest, first.

Frostproof Morning

Pentax K1000

Kodak Portra 400NC

This is the shot that had me thinking "photoblog" before I'd ever heard of "blog". Taken in February 2004, this is the frost on the inside of our bedroom window. Our home is 99 years old this year. The windows are original. When I pulled back the drapes at about 7 a.m., this is what I was looking at.

It's only happened one other time since, and it only happens on the eastern side of the house. I think it's caused by small amounts of codensation getting pushed along like a bead, by puffs of air that whistle through a single spot where the glass meets the frame. I have other shots which illustrate this better. The patterns on my office window in the adjacent room, are totally different.

It's good to be getting some of the K1000 shots up. I finally went through my back-catalogue and scanned in a bunch, spanning 2000-2004.

I found the 95mm lens that goes with the Canon EX Auto. It was on a shelf in Jen's closet, under a bunch of sweaters. My Dad bought this camera in the 70's. I don't think he even knows I have it. It's such a weird screw mount system, with the front and back elements of the modular lenses and fixed (body-mounted) lenses, coming together to complete the optical formula. And there is no aperture in the lenses. It's somewhere in the body.

I want to buy some good film and take the EX and the K1000 over to Detroit to shoot for a day--get some shots of Turkel House.

Jonah, by Nathanael

HP photosmart 735

This is our youngest son, Jonah, at about 18 hours old. This was taken on the maternity floor of Windsor Regional Hospital, Metropolitan Campus, on the morning of May 28, 2005.

I can't take any credit for this photo as it was taken by our oldest son, Nathanael, who was not quite three at the time. He just picked up the camera from the bedside and snapped this shot. When I looked at the output, I was stunned. While sifting through some files last night, I came across it. I'd forgot about the sense of pride and wonderment I had felt when Nathanael pulled this off.

I've raised the levels a bit, as the natural light on the hospital walls made Jonah looked jaundiced. Fortunately, he was not. He was just very purple.

Should be getting my shots taken with the Canon EX on expired Fuji Superia film back on Friday, along with four other rolls, recently found, of Jonah's first few weeks.

Something the Committee Wanted You to See

Canon EOS 20D

Sacre Coeur

Canon EOS 20D

I love this shot. The colour grain in the terrazzo floor is great, as is the article of clothing on the ledge at Mary's feet. The lack of reverence is unbeleivably endearing.

I've been having a tough time with too much yellow in my shots. Yellow that wouldn't go away. I was experimenting with the tungsten white balance setting here, which gives everything a bluish cast. I also switched to the Adobe RGB colour profile, which is what the Post's production department works with. The sRGB may have been part of the problem.

Hors d'ouerves

Canon EOS 20D

I can't help but think "Sesame Street" when I look at this shot, waiting for the guy to take a tumble. This is from the Art Gallery of Windsor Media on Media gala during Super Bowl XL. The food was great, but the event--a cosmic joke with about 200 journalists, print, broadcast and otherwise from around the world, gathered in a single space with no one to observe but each other--kind of fell flat. I saws this guy coming down a hallway from the kitchen and got this shot. I've grayscaled it, too, and am surprised how little effect that has.

Grey Goose

Canon EOS 20D

Super Bowl XL is done. It was a great week for shooting. I have over 500 images to edit. This is my favourite from the weekend. Friday night in downtown Windsor. I took the Canon EX Auto out this weekend, too. I found four rolls of film from when our son Jonah was born in May and took them into the lab. While there, I bought some expired Fuji Superia 400 and put it in the EX Auto. The results should be cool. Look for more non-football related shots from Super Bowl XL over the next few days.

Not to scale.

HP photosmart 735

August 27, 2005: These globes mark the domain entrances at the Toronto Zoo. Another photoblogger had nearly this identical shot on his site. I'd been trying to contact him about using a totally different image by name in a poem I wrote called "Gang-Related Comedy." He never got back to me. When I was a the zoo and saw this, realizing I recognized it from this unnamed blogger's unnamed Web site, I decided to mimic the shot. Still no reply. I've never met him, but from his photos, his friends, and some self-portraits, I suspect he'll resent this. Typical Toronto.