On the Trail

This past weekend was my Scout troop's fall camp—held again this year at Camp Manitou, near Milton, Ontario, Canada. It is located near the Bruce Trail and some great hiking.

The main highlight of the camp was our six hour hike along the Bruce Trail from Twiss Road to Crawford Lake and back, following the outcrops of limestone and shale which form the Niagara Escarpment. Lots of rocks and trees, but not just "any" rocks and trees. At almost 500,000,000 years old, the craggy limestone cliffs, crevasses and caves are ageless. If only they could speak to us.

Wisdom of the Ages

For the most part, trees which are dead or are dying are left to fall along the trail. These two trees have most likely been marked for cutting, and will probably be left to rot near where they stand.

Two X's

The cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment are known for their ancient trees—some of which can be as old as five hundred years. I was attracted to this particular stump, lifeless and completely devoid of bark, and appearing to sit on the rocks.

A Tree Lived

Amongst the dead trees are birches, and their bark can be easily removed and used to write notes for fellow hikers.

Birch Bark Warning

An Honour

My dear friend Janet Langdon is a genealogy and history buff who has led walks for Heritage Toronto, Toronto Field Naturalists and Jane's Walk.

It was during Janet's Dawlish Ave: Garden Suburb meets Automobile Suburb walk—part of Jane's Walk 2009—that I photographed her father. As a longtime resident of the street, Robert Langdon gladly contributed to Janet's walk—telling stories of living on the street, as well as sharing memories of former neighbours. It was an enjoyable afternoon for Mr. Langdon.

Robert L

Robert Langdon passed away a week-and-a-half ago. I was honoured when Janet asked if she could use my photograph of her father as part of his memorial.

Sherilyn, Andrew and I attended the memorial service for Mr. Langdon this past Saturday at the Lawrence Park Community Church in Toronto. The sunlight in the sanctuary was gorgeous. The organ music was inspiring. The eulogy was engaging. I was again honoured when the Rev. Ken Gallinger stated that my photo of Mr. Langdon captured the essence of who he was.

Rocket Man

My good friend Michael Mitchener, a self-proclaimed transit geek, is showing his photographs and paintings of Toronto's streetcars in his exhibit Love & Rockets at Voulez-Vous Café, 1560 Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The opening last Thursday night was very well attended by a multitude of friends, neighbours and art lovers. Mike did his best to chat with all of the guests.

Mike and Marley

Voulez-Vous Café is fairly dark, or at least too dark for my "not so fast" Fujifilm lens and my middle-aged body. Shutter speeds of 1/15, 1/9 and 1/3 of a second are a little slow for handheld photography.

Lit by Five Bulbs

The band Sang Bleu performed French jazz at the opening. The lead singer entertained the guests with her emotional singing.

Chanteuse

The trumpet player for Sang Bleu was excellent. She managed to keep moving, and provided lots of opportunity for motion blur. I hope you enjoy the blurriness as much as I did making it.

Trompette Bleue

If you get the chance to make a trip to the Queen Street East and Coxwell Avenue area during the month of November (2011), drop in to see Love & Rockets.

Love & Rockets

The Unforgotten

Today is Remembrance Day, and the annual East York Remembrance Day Ceremony was held at the East York Civic Centre, East York, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 

What better opportunity to spend more quality time with my Scout troop. Our members joined the 236th Toronto Scout Group, the Royal Canadian Legion, Toronto Police Services, Toronto Fire Services, Army Cadets, and Air Cadets, in marching down Coxwell Avenue to the East York Cenotaph. Shooting into the sun, with the marchers backlit, posed some shooting difficulties. I managed to get a half decent shot of the 236th's Cub Pack flag.

Cub Pack Flag

Numerous wreaths were laid in front of the East York Cenotaph by community representatives (veterans, politicians, police and fire services, etc.). Two of our third year Scouts (Colin and Gareth) had the privilege to place a wreath on behalf of Scouts Canada. There was one generic "Lest We Forget" wreath for anyone wishing to participate in the ceremonies at the last minute. I decided to concentrate my shooting on this wreath.

Lest We Forget

Marilyn Lawson-Dickinson was one of four Honour Guards from the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 10's Colour Guard who stood at the cenotaph. I desaturated and warmed-up the photo of Marilyn, in the hope of giving it more of a timeless feel.

This is the third year which I have photographed one of the honour guards.
2009 | 2010

Honour Guard 3

Four bright yellow Harvard planes, from the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association and the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, flew over the ceremonies. I struggled with Fujifilm camera to capture them as they flew over. The second shot was captured using the camera's digital zoom. When processing the shot in Photoshop Elements, I cranked up the saturation and darkened the sky around the planes. I am quite happy with the resulting unrealistic photograph.

Four Harvards

Off to The Royal

I went to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair* with my Scout troop earlier this week. As they are old enough to not require constant supervision, I got out my camera and set up my tripod.

The Scouts and I seemed to enjoy the chickens, ducks, geese and assorted poultry. I found them more than a little frustrating to shoot--as they moved quickly about. My poor Fujifilm point and shoot struggled to focus and keep up with them. I decided that I would have to live with shallow depth of field, blur and the general impression of being out of focus.

Cooped Geese 

Whilst looking for something interesting to shoot and still thinking of poultry, I stumbled upon a display of chicks. Cute, fluffy, yellow chicks. Time to use the super macro feature on my camera. Get in real close. As I mentioned to Georgette on Flickr: "They were actually quite scary up close--with their beady black eyes and long beaks."

Chick Fluff

One of my favourite subjects from past visits to The Royal is the cleaning/washing/showering area, where the cattle are brought in for a good scrub. I didn't get any shots of water spraying about this year, but I did manage to capture the stare of a steer[?].

Bovine Gaze

The butter sculpting lady was in the refrigerator working on her art. I was able to photograph her as she was about to move a tray/platform containing three intricate butter trees. Amazing work, and fun too.

Butter Treeos

And of course, there were the displays of the largest and the tallest, the perfect and the ideal. I took some photos of the gigantic pumpkins and the glowing apples, with the results not being very interesting. However, I did take some shots of perfect prize winning cobs of corn. The results were ordinary and rather uninteresting. Converting to black and white, and adding some colour (toning) in Photoshop Elements gave it new life. The kernels look three dimensional.

Prized Cobs

* "The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, colloquially called The Royal, is an annual fall fair in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which takes place over two weeks in November. Inaugurated in 1922, and originally housed in the Coliseum, on the grounds of Exhibition Place, the event has expanded to also take up the Direct Energy National Trade Centre, and remains an important exhibit for livestock breeders."
Wikipedia

This is my first blog posting. Kinda fun. Kinda frustrating.