The Harvest by Gord Barker

          The Autumn colour season has pretty much peaked or is peaking now. As I did a morning photo walk up to the dam here in Paris, I couldn't help but be astounded at the beauty of the colours illuminated by late October morning light. I've made fall photographs dozens of times in this location but I never grow tired of it.

     My fall colour season this year has been somewhat limited. About three weeks ago, l fell ill with a virus (possibly covid) that knocked me out of commission for time that I had booked for a few day trips for colour shooting. Although I'm over the illness now, I have pretty much had to limit my Autumn photography exploits to the local scene. I don't mind too much. The local scene is pretty amazing!

     Like the farmers who work the surrounding countryside, every Autumn I too participate in a kind of harvest. The sheer beauty of the season lends itself to being captured in camera. I  mean if there ever comes a time when I can't make some decent photos in the fall, I think that I'll sell the cameras and take up basket weaving!

      Beyond the photos, however, is a harvest of a different kind. It's a spiritual thing. It's impossible to walk through an Autumn forest or contemplate an Autumn scene without experiencing a sense of awe at the sheer beauty of the colours. The tranquility and wonder of an Autumn morning is never wasted on me. Ultimately, I'm a better person just for the simple act of experiencing it.

    So every year I do a series of Fall colour photographs. I have received some criticism for taking them. "Gord's out doing Fall colour pictures again." Guilty as charged. But, perhaps what I'm doing is not harvesting a series of colourful images, but the feelings of serenity, wonder and awe that I experience while I'm taking them. Perhaps those feelings are the most important harvest of all. 

            ...more later 

       

    As usual, if you like what you see here, feel free to hit "Like" and share on the media platform of your choice.

     

Passing It On by Gord Barker

     For the past year or so, my son, Greg has had an interest in photography and visual imaging in general. He was an avid gamer and the interest started with him editing gaming footage for his on-line friends.

    While I was in Spain earlier this year, he purchased his first serious camera, a Canon RP with a 24-105mm zoom lens. Until that acquisition, he was using a Canon M3 that I had passed on to him when I went to the Fuji system.  So for he has created some pretty impressive images and has joined the Paris Photo Collective. 

Greg winning the Golden Lens Cap award at a meet-up of the
Paris Photo Collective

    Our approach to image making is very different and definitely reflects a generational change in our pursuit of the craft. Greg is a product of the digital age. For most of his life he has had access to computers and the powers inherent in them. To that end, he is far more adept than I at the use of post processing to enhance his images  before final presentation. Give him almost any image and he can work magic with it. 

   

    I, on the other hand, started my photographic journey in the days of film where the prevailing mantra was "Get it right in camera!" Getting it right in camera was necessary to avoid hours in a darkroom trying to salvage an image. The mantra still serves in the avoidance of spending time in front of a computer screen working in post processing programs like Lightroom or Photoshop. Rather than denigrate each other's approach to the craft, we celebrate the differences as strengths. As previously stated Greg is a wizard at post processing while I am more proficient at camera handling. With a little input from both sides of the photographic process we are able to generate some great images. Working together, we are in the process of creating our own little photographic dynasty. It's always better if individuals can share in creative work and learn from one another in the process.                                                                                                        

     Both Father and Son currently have photos on display as part of the Paris Photo Collective Show at the Dog-Eared Café. https://www.dogearedcafe.ca/ It's the first public show of the group. If you're in the Paris, On. area, check it out if you can.

         ...more later

    

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Summer of '23

     Summer is drawing to a close. By the time this blog post is published, we'll be one week away from the Labour Day weekend. I know that Summer doesn't officially end until September 22nd, but Labour Day is generally considered the end of the season.

     I was initially going to say that my summer has been kind of nondescript. I mean, after my trip to Spain in the spring, I haven't really taken anything that could be considered a long summer vacation. But, in looking back over the events of the last few months, I realize that my summer has consisted of a series of small events and weekends where I've had the opportunity to enjoy my time and also make some  good photographs.

    I've been spending a fair bit of time in Hamilton, On. It's a city with which I have a strong affinity. I like the fact that it has a strong working class atmosphere coupled with a great arts community. It also has some awesome architecture and a parks and  trail system that is second to none. It's a place where I can photograph a gritty street scene, some great architecture and a beautiful sunset over the harbour  all on the same evening. It's  a street photographer's paradise.  

                                              

    

  

                

On a very nice afternoon, I was also lucky to visit my old stomping grounds of Cambridge On.

     On another day we took a day trip up to Owen Sound On. where we made the short hike in to Indian Falls.

                                                    And, of course I've done a few pictures of life here in Paris, On.

     So, all things considered it's been a pretty good summer and soon I'll be into autumn, my favourite time of the year. 

     As always, I'm going to keep on making the pictures and cranking out blog posts. Stay tuned. Interesting times ahead!

...more later 

     

The Trains In Spain

     It's a beautiful spring morning and we are aboard a Renfe high speed train whipping through the Spanish countryside. We are on our way to Cuenca, an incredibly beautiful town about 170 km. southeast of Madrid. Our travel time on the train will be just under an hour. Yup, they're that fast!

    We had caught the train in the early hours at Atocha train station in Madrid. Within a few minutes we had left the city and were cruising along at an average speed of about 280/290 km/h. I can't get on a train without thinking of my Dad. I am the son of a railway man. My Father was a conductor / brakeman on the Ontario Northland Railway. Fifty-one years after his passing, his kid is riding a train in Spain with speeds that reach over 300km/h!  I only wish that he could have experienced this ride. He would have loved it! 

    Early in our time in Spain we had visited the Museo del Ferrocarril (Railway Museum) in Madrid. It is a very cool place! It is located in the former Delicias Station opened by King Alfonso XII and Queen Maria Christina in 1880. 

    On the day that we were there, the museum was hosting a flea market with lots of vendors selling a wide variety of merchandise. I thought it was a great idea. It provided a source of interest for those who may not be as interested in trains as railway nerds like me. Also, near the front of the museum, a solo trumpet player was laying down some very cool jazz. Not your typical railway museum! The old station train shed provided some interesting lighting and I had a great time making photographs of a subject I love in both colour and black and white.

    

  My interest in trains and all things railroady goes back to when I was a kid. Quite often I would receive books about trains as gifts at Christmas or for my birthday. Usually these books featured pictures of trains from around the world. I remembered seeing a picture of a Spanish Talgo train in one of them. The Talgo was a very cool streamlined design for its time. It caught the fancy of kid growing up in small town Northern Ontario. It was a bit surreal to finally see the train in a railway museum in Madrid more than fifty years later.

 

     After our day in the amazingly beautiful town of Cuenca we caught a high speed evening train back to Madrid. At the end of the coach was a screen featuring information about the the train, including its speed. I managed to snap a picture as it topped out at over 300 km/h. 

   

As I stepped of the train on our return to Madrid, I noticed a distinctive logo near the doorframe of the coach.

You guessed it . "Talgo."

In the words of the late great Harry Chapin, "All my life's a circle."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yjxWfyxpqY

...more later

Yup! It's Late by Gord Barker

    Okay, I know it's late! For some reason, I thought that I had an extra Saturday to get this post done. Yeah, some day I'll learn how to read a calendar! In addition to that, I discarded the original idea that I was going to use. This resulted in a state of writer's block. After that the demands of the day job interfered and...   Enough excuses! I'm late to the deadline and I apologize profusely.

    That being said, the writer's block is still there and I've got readers who want me to produce something! Okay. Here goes!

............Long pause...............................Very long pause.....................................................

    Perhaps the toughest part of being a photographer and blogger is meeting deadlines. Back when I was a commercial photographer in the dinosaur days of film, I worked under one very strict adage, "Clients don't pay for excuses!" They want high quality work and they want it delivered on time. Period!                                                                                                                      

      A while back I had a conversation with a photographer who operates a local studio. I remember her saying to me, "You're lucky. You get to shoot whatever you want whenever you want." In a way, she was right. I don't rely solely on photography or writing to pay the bills so, to that extent, I guess that I'm a freelancer in the truest sense of the word. 

     But to achieve any success in the creative world, I have to be my own toughest critic. Ultimately, I'm working for the most critical client  of all. Me! 

     Strangely enough, not having a paying client can actually make meeting deadlines more difficult. I mean my deadlines are self imposed. Financially, I'm not paying a penalty for not meeting them. It can be far too easy to tell myself that no one really cares if I'm a little late or if I don't publish at all. I mean, no one is paying me for this stuff. 

    But the reality is that I'm being paid with something far more valuable than money. What I'm getting is real appreciation and loyalty. My readership may be a small one, but they look forward to the blog posts and photos that I put out. I try to consistently publish on the last Saturday of each month. I once wrote and published a blog post on a friend's coffee table when I was out of town for the weekend. Fortunately, I had a pretty good idea and enough photos stashed on my cell phone to pull off that little stunt!

     I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've got to try a little harder to consistently get the work out on time. I owe it to my readers. And, as someone who enjoys creating this stuff as much as I do, I also owe it to myself.

...more later 

     

     

     

    

   

    

    

     

    

Spain

    It's April 25th and I'm on a United Airlines Boeing 767-300 at about 34,000 feet somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. Next stop, the airport at Newark, New Jersey where we have a brief layover before catching a short flight to Pearson International in Toronto. In the seat beside me, my significant other, awesome travel companion and best friend is dozing comfortably. I write a short entry into the travel journal that I've fished out of my camera bag.

    I didn't want to come home. I know, I know. It's a conversation that has been overworked so much that it has become cliché. Friend or work colleague, "So how was your vacation?'' Answer, "Not long enough!" 

    But this time it's different. I really didn't want to come home. I firmly believe that I could happily spend the rest of my life making photographs and writing blogs in Spain. The place is that amazing! It's a profound change for a die hard Canadian boy, born and raised in Northern Ontario, the very heart of this country!

     What makes Spain amazing to me is the inherent beauty of the country. It's everywhere. On my first day there, I felt a bit  overwhelmed. But the longer that I was there, the more I came to accept this beauty as integral to what makes Spain what it is. In order to really appreciate beauty one need not be overwhelmed by it, but come to be at peace with it in a positive way. As I neared the end of my time there, my feeling was not so much a euphoric "Wow! This place is amazing!" (which it is) It was a more of a feeling of profound happiness and  gratitude that I had the opportunity to experience such an amazing place. 

    From the standpoint of a photographer, it caused me both joy and grief. Quite simply, I took too many pictures. So many that, upon returning home, I choked the drive of my laptop and was unable to edit the photos I had taken. For the past month, I've been in the process of editing down all the photos on my overworked laptop and transferring them one by one to a remote hard drive.  A month later and I'm just now at the point where I can open up editing programs like Photoshop and Lightroom. That being said, I apologize for the delay in getting these pictures out there. 

Plaza Mayor, Madrid, Spain

Palacio De Comunicaciones, Madrid, Spain

Roman Aqueduct, Segovia, Spain

 

     

Cuenca, Spain

Cuenca, Spain

While touring about in Cuenca, we came across this guy playing some beautiful Spanish guitar and singing. He asked if I played guitar and insisted that I play for him. Trust me when I say that things went from Spanish Flamenco to poorly played Bob Dylan really fast!

   

      Once again, I thank everyone for their patience in waiting for me to start getting some of these photos out there. Needless to say, there will be more posted on social media and in a few more entries to this blog. This is just the small tip of a very large iceberg! Spain is one the most beautiful places I've ever been and its effect on me was profound. There's a lot more to come.

                ...more later 

The Social Facet of Photography By Gord Barker

     I think that photography as a form of creative expression has a strong appeal to the individualist. Fundamentally, the act of making photographs is just me behind a camera making creative decisions within the technical capacity of the tool at hand. Later it's just me in front of a computer screen editing and organizing images. Perhaps some will be printed for display and sale or some will just be posted to social media. Much of the reality of the photographic journey is that of a solitary existence.  

    However, as much as we may admire the romantic concept of the rugged individualist, no one exists as an island. For me there are facets of the craft which have as much, if not more, importance than the simple creation of visual images. One of these is the social aspect of photography. 

     

     I firmly believe that the greatest attribute of photography is its immediacy. The immediacy of creating the images but also the immediacy of sharing them.

     For me, part of the fun of the craft is in sharing and marketing the results of my efforts. It's great to meet people who are kind and appreciative of what I do.

      A friend has suggested that sociability in going for a walk can be achieved with dog ownership. I agree. But a camera doesn't require me to stop at every tree and hydrant and ultimately requires far less maintenance! That's not to say that I won't stop to  pet a friendly canine and chat with its owner while out on my photographic meanderings. 

     So one of the often overlooked aspects of the craft is its ability to get me out the house and associating with people. One of my photographic heroes, Gary Winogrand said "It's about the work. It's always about the work." While that's a good slogan to ensure continuous improvement in the pursuit of the craft, I would argue that it's also about the people. Without they're kindness and support, the practice of the craft is almost meaningless. 

                                 ...more later