Canada Day On The Rails

     One of the joys of photography is how seamlessly it fits in with other interests. Anyone who knows me or is a follower of my blogs, knows that I have an ongoing fascination with trains. (or practically anything that runs on rails) I come by it honestly. My Father was a brakeman/conductor on the Ontario Northland Railway.  I was practically raised on trains. Or, if not on the trains themselves,  the lore and stories of adventure that went along with them. As  child and youth growing up in small town Northern Ontario,  the railway was, quite literally, my ticket to the outside world. To this day, l can't board a train without a happy feeling of anticipation of the adventure that awaits. Sometimes, the adventure was simply the trip itself, travelling through scenery that was a little less familiar.  For me, a window seat on any form of transportation is still a prized possession.

     This fascination with all things railroady extended to streetcars and subways during  the  brief period of my life spent in Toronto. (my first home away from home)  Saturday afternoons would often find me on Queen or Dundas St., my trusty Yashica FX-3 camera slung around my neck, taking pictures and checking out the junk shops

to see what treasures could be acquired on a  budget of ten dollars. A few photos made, a bite to eat downtown,  and then a ride home on the streetcar.  Often It was one of the venerable PCC cars still operating in those days. 

     So, with a car rented for the long weekend,  my son and I headed out to the Halton County Radial Railway. It is home to  vintage streetcars, railway stuff,  and a beautifully restored radial railway car. I had visited this place before, (Did I mention that I'm a bonafide 
railway nut?) but that was some time ago. I thought that it would be a nice way to spend the afternoon. We stopped in at the gift shop to buy our tickets. The rides are quite short, about twenty minutes round trip. But with your admission ticket you get to ride as often as you like on whatever cars they have operating that day.

     Our first ride was aboard #8, the beautifully restored radial car from the London & Port Stanley Railway. This car is awesome. From the craftsmanship in the interior woodwork and brass detail to the beautiful panes of stained glass in the windows. This car was definitely built in the heyday of railways!  It's almost like rolling along in a beautiful Victorian living room.

The interior of Car #8 The scruffy lookin' kid in the right hand corner is my son, Greg.

     As their name implies, radial railways were relatively short passenger (and sometimes freight) lines that radiated out from larger centres. Unlike their streetcar cousins, radial cars were usually built a little bigger and heavier to handle longer distances away from city streets. They often had amenities such as washrooms and a baggage section for express packages.
    
 Naturally, I gravitated toward the head end of the car and struck up a conversation with the operator (motorman) who allowed me to ride there for pretty much the whole trip. I found all of the volunteers who keep this operation running to be very friendly and knowledgeable. On returning from our ride, I asked if I could take pictures from the opposite (non boarding) side of the track. They were quite kind and helpful in accommodating my request. 

      On our return to Rockwood Station, the operator, noting my interest in the equipment, introduced us to one of the shop guys who carefully restore and maintain these cars. In short order, we got a tour of the shops where several cars were in the process of being restored. We were treated to a behind the scenes look at what goes into this operation. At one point we were looking at a copy of a  blueprint of the truck assembly of a Peter Witt streetcar. It was from about 1915 and had been pulled from the archives of the Toronto Transit Commission. A lot of the parts needed for the restoration of these cars are no longer available. Replacement parts are often machined or crafted right in the shop. As a guy who does mechanical work for a living, their craftsmanship and attention to detail was not lost on me. These guys do amazing work!  

  

       Our last trip of the day was aboard a 1915 Peter Witt streetcar formerly operated by the TTC. Although not as ornate as #8, It too, has been carefully restored with attention to detail right down to the vintage advertising in the overhead card slots.

This time we got off at Meadowvale Station. One of the old streetcars there has been turned into a small cafe/snack bar where you can get ice cream.  As the lady behind the snack bar  scooped ice cream for us, I mentioned that I used to ride these streetcars  back in the day. I remarked that an ice cream shop/snack bar at the back of the car would have been a nice touch when these cars were in operation on the TTC!

The snack bar at the end of the line.

 

     After enjoying our ice cream we caught #8 again for our return trip to Rockwood Station. I made a few more photographs and chatted with some of the volunteers.  It was a great way to spend Canada Day. I liked the place so much I bought one of their baseball hats. You see, in addition to trains, rail travel, streetcars, cameras and photography, I'm kinda partial to  baseball hats too.

                      

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              ...more later

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Shooting with Intent

     One of my favourite quotes in the realm of photography is attributed to the incomparable Ansel Adams. "There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept"

     With the rise of digital photography, it has been estimated that there are now more photos taken in a single year than in the entire history of analog (film) photography. What this means to serious practitioners of the photographic arts is that,if we want our craft to be taken seriously,  we have to up our game. We have to learn the craft of photography in such a way that the  images we create are powerful. It's no longer enough to take a "good picture". Any of the millions of people with a cell phone in their pocket can do that. Photography has become so simplified, that almost anyone can take a decently exposed, relatively sharp picture of whatever happens to be in front of their camera/cell phone. If we are just "taking pictures" without any thought to composition, style , the visual elements or the final presentation of our work. we are really doing nothing more than contributing to the mass mediocrity of the millions of images posted to the web on a daily basis. 

     The term "editing", in modern parlance has come to be synonymous with "post processing". If an image is solidly good but could be made even better with some post processing enhancement, by all means do it. But do not rely on post processing to save a mediocre image. The result will simply be a boring photo with some pretty enhancement. I'm old school. I started my photographic journey in the days of film. To me, "editing", in the truest sense of the word means choosing the best image before even reaching the stage of possible processing and presentation.  

     But for a photograph to really work. the image should  be made with intent   

     Here is an anecdote from my days shooting film. A long time ago, a photographer friend of mine invited me and my wife (at the time) to his place for dinner.  After our meal, he asked if we would like to see some of his photos. In those days we were both shooting a lot of slide film and he dutifully set up his projector and showed us a couple of trays of his images. (Kodak slide trays held 140 slides each.) After his slide show he asked what I thought. I was diplomatic. I said that I liked it and that he had some very good stuff, which was true. However what I didn't say was that the vast majority of the images were, in my opinion,  pretty mediocre. 

     A few weeks later, my wife (at the time) and I returned the hospitality and had them over for dinner.  After the meal, my friend asked to see some of my photos. I set up my projector, a Rollei, which used European slide trays of only 50 slides each and proceeded to show them 40 or so carefully selected images of my stuff. My friend's wife was positively effusive (almost embarrassingly so) in her praise of my pictures. My friend, in what he saw as an effort to defend his own work, said something to the effect of "My slide show would look good too if I only showed my best shots!"  My response was something to the effect of "Well why would you show people your shit?"  I was pretty outspoken in those days.  I'd like to think that I've somewhat  mellowed with age. Needless to say, the evening did not end particularly well! 

     In all honesty, I cannot claim to be a much better photographer than my friend was at the time. But I was definitely a more critical and ruthless editor! 

     Bear in mind that, in those days,  I was shooting lovely Kodachrome slide film. A roll of 36 exposures, with processing, cost about twenty dollars. Yup, 20 bucks for 36 shots! For about the same money today, we can pop an SD card into our favourite electronic whiz-banger and get upwards of a thousand images. It's small wonder that our creative selectivity in what we shoot and what we present has taken a massive tumble!

     Okay, I realize that this has become something of a long winded rant from an old school photographer to simply say "Quality not Quantity!" But, there is more to it than that. In my opinion, If you have more than a few hundred pictures posted to any photo sharing website or social media page, you're not a photographer. You're just someone who likes to take pictures. I know, that sounds like an incredibly arrogant thing to say and perhaps it is. But let me turn that arrogance around with a simple question. Are you really arrogant enough to believe that anyone wants to wade through a thousand or more of your questionable images to find a handful of really good ones? Or worse. Are you really arrogant enough to believe that more than a thousand of the pictures you have taken are really great and deserve to be shared with the world? Editing pictures to be presented  is part of the craft of photography. It is either done by the photographer or perhaps by a highly skilled photo editor. It should not be left to the viewer. No one in this day and age has the time to look critically at that many images. If you want some respect as a photographer, show a little respect for your viewers. Their time is valuable.

     There are trillions of images on the net. As a photographer, if you're not editing and presenting your best work, you're just adding to the clutter.

Winding Down The Year

      So Christmas is over for another year. My son is away at his Grandparents place for their annual Boxing Day Bash followed by a stint at his girlfriend's place in a nearby town. I'm left here with some time on my hands and about ten pounds of leftover turkey. In between munching on turkey sandwiches and watching YouTube videos, I thought that I'd take the opportunity to inflict yet another blog post on you.

     Santa   was  good to me this year. I acquired a LaCie hard drive to back up and store some of the thousands of images currently residing on my overworked little laptop.  I also got a very cool  Lowepro photo backpack. https://www.lowepro.com/ca-en/photo-hatchback-bp-250-aw-ii-black-and-grey-lp36957-pww/    The pack enables me to schlep my gear around to get more pictures to feed to the computer to feed to the hard drive. Lather, rinse, repeat. It's the cycle of life! Or, perhaps more accurately, a vicious circle. Either way, it's kinda what I do and I dig it.

     

                                                                                                        

         So, as I stated at the top of this post, I've been watching some YouTube videos. The most recent one I watched was " The Bucket Shot" by Peter McKinnon. Peter McKinnon has risen to be You Tube royalty and rightfully so. His vlogs and tutorials are always both fun and informative. He is a  brilliant photographer/videographer  whose skill and enthusiasm for the craft has often inspired me to just go out and make images .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r25IWquxe9s&t=491s

     I totally relate to this video.  At the beginning of the video, he talks about getting up early in the morning while it's still dark and going to a location before sunup. Then watching as the light lifts the veil on the scene.  "That's a feeling only photographers know well." I am one who knows that feeling. While I've never flown across the country to get just one shot, I have coordinated a car rental with a weather report with a specific location  and time just to get the images I want. It's often said that, with the advent of smart phones, "Everyone's a photographer."  I don't think so.  With a smart phone, virtually anyone can take a picture, but not everyone is going to make the effort to really make a photograph.                                             

     Another video I watched was a documentary about the great Ansel Adams. His dedication and passion for the craft was powerful. He too was always in search of the perfect light and the perfect moment to capture. At one point in the video, a voice-over actor is reading from one of Adams' letters as he tries to describe the clarity of light he  experienced  in the mountains and how it defined everything so beautifully that he wanted to photograph everything. I too have experienced moments when the light is so pure that every detail of a scene is caught in perfect definition.  In many ways, I found myself relating to Adams' experience as well. Adams was a proponent of what he called pre-visualization. The ability to perceive the finished image in the mind's eye before even tripping the shutter. I'm quite confident that he would have approved  of McKinnon's cross country quest to get the perfect shot of Moraine Lake                                                                                                          . 

     So where does that leave me? Do I dare to have the audacity to compare myself to the likes of Peter McKinnon or the incomparable, legendary Ansel Adams? Hell no! I'm just a small town photographer who sells prints and postcards in a couple of local shops. Once or twice a year I might  do a display at  an arts and crafts show. But I do share their spirit in my attempts to capture the essence of the beauty that I see around me.  That sense of joy,  wonder and adventure is the spirit that I want to bring into the New Year.                                                                    

     To quote from the Desiderata, "With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world."

...more later


P.S. I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to thank all of you who read this blog, who appreciate the images that I post to Facebook and other sites and who support my efforts as a photographer by purchasing or licensing my pictures. I am forever grateful. As usual, if you like what you see here, don't be afraid to hit "Like"  comment or share to the media platform of your choice. I'm looking forward to sharing more photos and content in the New Year. "....more later" isn't just a tag line you know!                                           

Fall Colour Season 2018

    So Remembrance Day is over and, when I went out for a walk the other day, they were putting up Christmas decorations downtown.                                                                                      

So, I guess the fall colour season, my favourite time of year, is pretty much over. I had a pretty good autumn this year.  The colours were a little patchy, but, overall, I managed to get some good images. I took some time off in October and rented a car for a few days. I didn't travel far enough out of town for an overnight excursion but opted to do a few day trips from home  base.                                                                                                                                                            On my first day with the car I went out and purchased a new pair of hiking boots that I had seen advertised on line. I know. This is a photography blog.  What does a pair of hiking boots have to do with making photos? I'm a practical photographer. I subscribe to the advice attributed to the famous (and infamous) New York photographer, Weegee. "F8 and be there." A good pair of warm, sturdy and comfortable boots goes a long way to helping me "Be there." Too many photographers spend too much time worrying about their camera gear and not enough time worrying about the rest of their kit. Hmm... Probably a good subject for a future post.                                                

     


   

 

 Beyond acquiring some new footwear, the only thing I achieved photographically that day was a photo of an old Fargo truck. It sits in a field just outside of town across from a local farmer's market. A few of my photographer friends  in town have photographed it so I thought that I would try my hand at it. 

    The next day I went to Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area. Rattlesnake Point (I've never seen a rattlesnake there.) is on the Niagara Escarpment near Milton, Ont. It is a beautiful place that offers some awesome views of the surrounding countryside. It was wonderful way to spend a perfect autumn day.

                            

       Before relinquishing the car the next day, I made a trip to another conservation area a little closer to home. The colours at Pinehurst Lake were not quite as brilliant as Rattlesnake Point but it was a beautiful morning nonetheless.                                                                                

                                                      

           The Thanksgiving weekend was overcast and rainy, not the sort of light I like for my traditional "Autumn at the Dam" pictures that I usually post on Facebook. It wasn't until the following Tuesday that I managed to get the morning light that I wanted. I know that I photograph this place far too often, but, it's impossible to not feel thankful when I live a five minute walk away from such a beautiful spot.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

     Since getting back into photography, I have been doing mostly landscape stuff. I want to expand into doing more portraiture but don't have enough digital photos of people to present in a digital portfolio. I have a lot of people pictures from my days of shooting on film. But, it is time consuming to go through my old collection of slides and negatives and transfer them to digital. Besides which, an image transferred from film generally does not look as good as an image originally shot on digital. To that end, I am looking for new faces to photograph to develop a digital portfolio. I have a friend who had done some modelling for a photographer friend of mine. When I explained my situation, she agreed to a photo shoot.

     The day of our planned shoot was heavily overcast and threatening rain but we managed to get a good hour of shooting in before the showers started. It  was great to work with Haley. She is  comfortable in front of the camera and can pull off any look, from "Girl next door"  to "Tough street kid". She also has a creative mind and is great for contributing ideas to the shoot. It was fun and a bit of a challenge for me to be doing that kind of photography again.

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     So as the Autumn season winds down, the Christmas season is ramping up. (Shameless plug alert!) I will be setting up a display at the Wincey Mills Christmas Market, December 1st, 2018 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The plan is to market prints, both framed and unframed, in sizes up to 11"X"14". Christmas cards as well as a selection of my Paris postcards will also be available. I had a great time the last time I participated in one of these market events and I'm looking forward to this one.

 So that's about all that I have to report in the life of a part-time, small town photographer. As usual, if you like what you see here, don't be afraid to hit the like button, leave a comment or share to the media platform of your choice. As always thanks for reading and checking out the pictures.

....more later 

Fuji X70 The Little Camera That Can

     Sometimes the vagaries of photographic life can  simultaneously cause a tribulation to be a blessing. Such is the case with the Fuji X70. It's a camera that continuously surprises me with its capabilities. Its greatest capability is its power to keep me happy as a photographer. From an equipment standpoint, it is my ace in the hole. It is my little backup street shooter that can do a whole lot more.

   The X70 was my entré into the world of Fuji cameras. I was so delighted with it that I subsequently purchased an X100F and have, for the most part, been happy with both of them. Unfortunately, my X100F developed problems with  sticking aperture blades and some white balance issues for which it had to be sent to Fuji's repair centre. It kind of forced me to renew my appreciation of the little X70.

     I remember reading about the X70 when it was first released. At the time I thought "Fixed 28mm (equivalent) lens. Not for me. I want a camera to do a little more than just shoot landscapes." Truth be told, I actually shoot a lot of landscapes! 

     I initially bought the X70 as a replacement for my Leica D-Lux which was in the shop during the fall colour season a few years ago.  https://refractivereasoning.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-cult-of-brand.html

The pocket sized marvel surprised me. It pleased me then. It pleases me now.

     

     

     Because of it's small size, the camera is also very useful for street photography. In that application, I find that the flip up screen works well as a waist level view finder . Most people don't realize that I'm taking a picture when my head is down and I'm looking at the screen. Think Vivian Maier with her waist level Rollei. The flip up screen is also useful for making photographs at low levels.  
                                      

Ok. I didn't use the screen at waist level for this shot. It's a vertical shot and the screen only flips up in the horizontal format. But you get the general idea.

                                                  

       The wide angle lens on the camera precludes it from being particularly useful for portraiture. If you get too close you get the dreaded "pumpkin head" effect common to all wide angle lenses. However at a respectable distance it can make a decent street portrait. I find that the camera's diminutive built-in flash works well as a fill light. It's not the ideal camera for the job, but it will do in a pinch.

     The depth of field of a wide angle lens is always useful when you want to keep foreground detail in focus when doing landscapes, or, in this case, a townscape.                    

         I like that the camera has old school controls. It features a shutter speed dial, aperture ring and focus ring. That may not mean much to a generation that has grown up with touch screens and electronic menus. But for a guy that started his photo career in 1979 with a Yashica FX-3, it's a nice touch.

     What more can I say about this little wonder? It's a joy to use. It's a camera that  kept me shooting when it's more sophisticated brethren were in the shop. If "the best camera is the one you have with you," it's a camera that I hope to always  have with me.


                        ...more later

    

End Of Summer 2018

     So it's the Labour Day weekend and Summer is pretty much over. I know, I know, Summer doesn't officially end til September 21st, but, the kids go back to school on Tuesday, so for all intents and purposes it's pretty much done.

    I'm always somewhat ambivalent about this holiday weekend. While I lament the passing of the long warm days of Summer, I also happily anticipate the coming of Autumn, my favourite time of year.

     I had a pretty quiet summer this year. Apart from a few trips to Hamilton, Ont. to view the Vivian Maier exhibit at the Art Gallery of Hamilton       http://refractivereasoning.blogspot.com/2018/07/finding-vivian-maier-and-searching-for.html and to try my hand at the art of street photography, I didn't travel much. I did manage to get away for a few days for a brief trip to Tobermory, Ont. and a little tour along the Lake Huron shore down to Goderich. I always enjoy the Lake Huron and Georgian Bay area. While in Tobermory, we took a sunset cruise along the Bruce Peninsula. It was beautiful to spend a Summer evening out on  Georgian Bay. 

 

Lake Huron Shoreline, Goderich, Ont.

                                                                                                                                                     I've been updating my collection of local images for use in the postcards and prints that I market here in beautiful Paris, Ontario. This Summer, the local B.I.A. installed hanging flower baskets on both the William St.  and Nith River bridges. It's a minor thing perhaps, but it provides a nice splash of foreground colour to photographs that I have taken dozens of times. In regard to my fledgling little photo business and local photography in general, I have a couple of interesting irons in the fire. Nothing is carved in stone yet and I don't want to jinx things  by  reporting too soon. But stay tuned, things could get kinda cool! 

   

 So, as the Summer of 2018 draws to a close, I've got enough stuff  happening to keep the shutter buttons clicking and the hard drive on my computer heating. Much as I love the long  days of summer,  for me, life really begins in the fall.

                               ...more later 

Further Adventures In Street Photography

     So it's like I stop paying attention for two minutes and ,,,BLAM!   It's August and the summer is almost  over. So far I haven't done anything resembling an extended road trip. I've got a few ideas about places that I'd like to go and will probably report on them in my semi-traditional Labour Day post.

     I have, of late, been trying my hand at street photography and doing a little more than I used to in my urban and semi urban walks about. In a previous post, I noted my hesitancy to photograph people without their knowledge and consent. http://refractivereasoning.blogspot.com/2017/02/small-town-street-photography.html Up until now, it has resulted in my attempts at street photography being nothing more than the creation of streetscapes. However my nascent appreciation of the work of Vivian Maier as well as my ongoing appreciation of the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson and other master street photographers, has caused me to come up with a workaround for my reticence in photographing people on the street. It's simple. I ask them.

     This approach in no way revolutionizes my fledgling attempts at the genre. I doubt my name will ever appear on a list of the masters of the craft. However, at least I'm incorporating the human element in my attempts to make images on the street. You know...Baby steps right?

                                                                                          

    The theme for the above photo is "Old and New." I liked how one guy was looking at a laptop while the other one was reading a magazine. I also liked how the old, architecturally ornate bulding had been re-purposed as a trendy little cafe. Before taking the photo, I had approached both gentlemen and explained briefly who I was and what I wanted to do. They were both okay with it. I asked them both to go back to their reading and pretend I wasn't there. Afterwards I showed them the shot and they both liked the image. In retrospect, I wish that I had include a little more of the ornate architecture above them. 

     In the picture below, I noticed the young lady sitting on the curb and thought, "If I can get low enough, the curb will provide an excellent leading line straight to her. Again, I approached her and explained who I was and  what I was attempting to do before making the image. She agreed to let me take the shot. As an attempt at using leading lines, it's not a bad shot. However I hate the fact that she was sitting in shadow and, as a result, to get a decent exposure on her, the background detail is pretty much blown out. I would have liked more detail in the background to provide context.

But hey, it's street photography. You don't get to control everything!                                                                                                            

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          For the picture below, I took a page out of the Cartier-Bresson playbook and utilized a staircase and hand rails to provide leading lines. I also like how the trees on the street provide a natural frame for the activity on the sidewalk.                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     In retrospect, I probably should have stayed in that location longer in an effort to get a more interesting shot of the passersby. But time was fleeting and I had  a bus to catch to get back home.

        .    

  Speaking of buses. Did you know that the tinted windows of a highway coach can act as a polarizing filter  to really make a stormy sky  pop as you roll through the countryside?  It's kinda cool!                                                                                                                                              

  All in all, I had a great day in the city.  I'm really enjoying my foray into street photography. It helps me sharpen my skills behind the camera. It also helps  pull me out of my shell, both as a photographer and as a human being.   

...more later