Incense 5 & 6

Canon EOS 20D

You can now plot my every move through Facebook. Something else to occupy my thoughts.

Incense 3 & 4

Canon EOS 20D

Returning to this series after a brief departure. I've got two rolls of 36 at the photo lab right now (colour stuff, not the b&w roll I plan on developing here at home once I get my set-up going.

On a musical note, Arcade Fire were on Saturday Night Live last night and although I haven't been overwhlemed by their 2007 release, Neon Bible, I'll have to give it another listen because their SNL performance was one for the ages. Ranking right up their with Nirvana and The Tragically Hip as one of the best SNL performances I've ever seen.

Exuent, Colonel Bishop

Canon EOS 20D

Went to the black and white development and printmaking seminar at Windsor Photo Outfitters last night. Very informative. As it turns out, I have nearly everything I would need to start operating a home darkroom right here in my studio--I've had it for seven years and have never even opened some of the bags of darkroom equipment.

Coming soon: black and white shots developed from 35mm film and printed in my own bathroom!

Epithet

Canon EOS 20D

When was the last time some one called you this? For my money, the single most effective peice of graffiti I have ever seen, notable for its total lack of regard for artistry, gang-affiliation and symbolism. My kudos.

False Alarm 3 (Dupuis, Hawkins, Mio and Bleury)

Canon EOS 20D

Love the names across the bottoms of the jackets. Bleury is a street I lived near in Montreal and it seemed to fit the firefighter on the far right's general aspect.

Tomorrow night, I am attending a seminar at WIndsor Photo Outfitters about black and white printmaking. About seven years ago, a friend gave up on his photography and gave me all his darkroom equipment. I had full intentions of setting one up in my basement, but after talking to a few people, became overwhelmed by the amount of negativity (ha) and resentment that surrounded the setting-up and use of darkrooms. There seemed to be such a preoccupation with the absolute imperviousness to light of the darkroom itself that it eclipsed all enjoyment of the photography itself. Then, after reading some essays by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Paul Strand in recent weeks, I realized that even the great photographers often worked in less than optimal darkrooms because they were artists, not technicians. Their results speak for themselves. So, I may be dragging out all this darkroom equipment cluttered under the eaves here in the attic studio.

Stay tuned for what is likely some of the greatest garffiti to ever transgress public brick, as well as shots from the 35mm rolls from the Canon EX Auto and the Pentax K1000, including some black and whites.

False Alarm 2

Canon EOS 20D

False Alarm 1

Canon EOS 20D

City of Windsor firefighters respond to what turned out to be a false alarm during a heavy snow storm the night of Feb. 13.

Milkshakes in Houndstooth 2

Samsung Digimax 101

Milkshakes in Houndstooth 1

Samsung Digimax 101

Another shot from Colasanti's Tropical Gardens, taken by my four-year-old son, Nathanael. This one is two old timers having a lively discussion about the Colasanti's lunch buffet, which I must say, looked pretty damn good when we were there. Love the Sunday sports coats--these guys came straight from church to get it while the getting's good.

Canopy

Samsung Digimax 101

My four-year-old son Nathanael took this shot at Colasanti's Tropical Gardens--a large greenhouse complex, petting zoo in Kingsville, Ont.--yesterday. Because I was bringing my K1000 and the Canon Ex Auto with me, he wanted to bring the camera I bought him for his birthday back in August. He's getting the hang of it. This shot is my favourite and there are two others that are pretty funny and I'll post over the next couple of days.

Incense 2

Canon EOS 20D

Picked up some 35mm film today. It's getting harder and harder to find professional grade film in this town. I found black & white no problem--some Kodak BW400CN which I put into the K1000. But good colour film is a tough sell apparently. I ended up with some cheap Fuji Superia X-TRA which I probably could've bought at Canadian Tire rather than at a photo outfitters. I did make a good find there, though: The entire Time-Life Photography series, hardbound, 19 volumes, for $23. Some of the stuff is dated, but the sections on composition, art, lighting... that stuff never changes. I saw the same series in a used bookstore last year for $80.

Just watched Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, based on the Rick Moody novel. That and Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale back-to-back is like an essay waiting to happen.

Incense 1

Canon EOS 20D

The Fortress

Canon EOS 20D

The Groomsman

Canon EOS 20D

My brother-in-law, looking like an erstwhile matinee idol, something from a Cassavetes film.

Now that I won't be at the newspaper on a daily basis, I'm thinking about putting the EOS 20D away for a while. I want to use the K1000 and the EX Auto more. I have a hankering for fixed lens, totally manual shooting. One of my goals this week is to pick up some 35mm film and to take the EX Auto in for a tune-up. It's from the late-70's and after laying in a draw in my parents' dinning room sideboard for about 15 years, it lay in the trunk of my friend Pat's parents' car from 1990 to 2000, totally missing the rise and fall of grunge and my Montreal years. Then, after making it's way back into my hands, it lay on a closet shelf beneath a pile of sweaters until about a year ago. Considering how it's a difficult to use camera at best with it's screw-in modular lens mounts and asinine metering mechanism, I think a cleaning and recalibrating is sorely overdue.

That being said, using the 20D I've just taken some intereting shots of incense-infused sticks in an oil-filled glass bauble sitting on a window ledge in our dining room. Those will be up later this week. I'm hoping to keep the photoblog moving--I'm not sure whether to anticipate a slowdown in subject matter, or an over-abundance.

Sarah's Cheesecake

Canon EOS 20D

Something from August. If you, like Sarah, find cheesecake endlessly amusing, you will enjoy this in its black and white presentation.