Mission: find the HOTTEST yet tastiest roti in Toronto. Will it be here? Stay tuned.
September, 2010
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On A Mission @ Bacchus Roti
September 30, 2010 by Gail
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King Street West
September 30, 2010 by Gail
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The Return Of The Workhorse
September 30, 2010 by Gail
Last Friday I got a call from Nikon Canada a few hours before my wedding shoot that my Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 was repaired — I’m so pleased to have it back! I’ve been renting other lenses in the meantime, but I love the range of this lens and really missed using it. It cost over $500 to have it fixed but that’s the reality of photography: the equipment is expensive, the software to manage the files is expensive, and photos don’t make themselves…
Posted in Working Life | 1 Comment
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Slurpee Sunset
September 29, 2010 by Gail
This is what the sky looked like from my little iron balcony/fire escape when I arrived home. As the sun was in its final minutes of descent below the horizon, the colours became brighter and bolder. My first colour thought was ‘tangerine’ but there were pinks and blues mixed in, too. It reminded me of the kind of Slurpees we’d buy as kids in Winnipeg — basically, we consumed liquid sugar in ice with bright food colouring. Bright enough to make our tongues turn purple and orange. Slurpees were quite gross, come to think of it, but a spot of relief during the wickedly hot and humid Winnipeg summers.
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I love the autumn but it’s a reminder that winter is coming. I struggled through last winter. Every winter in Toronto I ask myself if I can get through another one or should I pack up and return to the West Coast. Sheer stubbornness is what gets me through it, since I don’t take road trips or travel as much in the winter. I’m a very calm person, but my working life (the part I manage myself) is really stressful right now. My hair is turning greyer by the week, it seems. I can usually convince myself that the stress will subside, but I don’t sound very convincing to myself these days. Since moving to Toronto from Pennsylvania I’ve become quite accustomed to handling everything solo, but it’s been piling up lately and I think the time has come to reduce the stress before it kills me. I’ve taken on an assistant recently, which should help once I train him. Maybe it’s time to actually use my company benefits and get a massage, too.
Posted in Working Life | 1 Comment
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Wednesday Morning…
September 29, 2010 by Gail
… along the Gardiner Expressway. Can this be??
Everything was going so smoothly: picked up patient in less than 15 minutes, dropped off patient early, had enough time to drop off photo equipment a day early, dropped off car in plenty of time to get to The Firm.
Now I’m on a streetcar stuck in Queen Street traffic for so long I think I’ll be late. Sheesh!
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Massachusetts: The Album
September 28, 2010 by Gail
When people think of Massachusetts, they usually think of historic buildings like this:
But I was also rather fascinated by the seemingly ordinary buildings, like the one where Eric stayed this past summer in Cambridge. Looks a bit futuristic when viewed from below, but even from above, the courtyard must have been very modern back when it was built. Or retro, depending what you compare it to, since in the early part of the 20th century courtyards were common and people communicated with each other while hanging up their washing. Nowadays, this is more expensive and impractical when you can maximize the number of units in the big empty middle space. Courtyards still exist, but more so in low-rises with only a few floors.
Now that my spate of summer road trips is over *sob*, I can upload some photos. I didn’t actually take many photos on this trip, as it was less about sightseeing and more about visiting. That’s one reason why I separate my visiting from the travelling most of the time: when I’m alone I take more photos because I have more observation time. When I’m with others I have less observation time, and the bigger the group the less travel I take in — which, for me, defeats the purpose. Group travel works for some people, but I avoid it unless it’s unavoidable (no public transit, for example). I much prefer the freedom of solo travel.
Anyway, back to the pictures. The photos are from Cambridge, Boston, and Cape Cod over the (Canadian) Civic Holiday long weekend at the beginning of August. Best viewed as a full-screen slideshow in Flickr, or in the smaller slideshow below.
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Distillery District E-Shoot
September 26, 2010 by Gail
I had a fantastic engagement photo shoot this evening in the Distillery District with A + B and Byron on assist. A couple of my favourites here.
Posted in Image Legacy | No Comments
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Going Up!
September 26, 2010 by Gail
I have a run of three weddings in a row, starting with this one from Friday. I’m still going through the raft of images, but this is one of my favourites. I managed to fit the entire wedding party in an elevator and take a photo without getting told off by the hotel people.
Here’s another photo I really like, taken in the very dark chapel at The Old Mill Inn. On second glance the spotlight made me think of the minister getting beamed up a la Star Trek. (Oh, the sacrilege!)
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Ferocious Feline Fangs
September 26, 2010 by Gail
I caught the beginning of a mighty impressive yawn by Beano at the bathroom sink.
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Fire Island 2010: The Album
September 25, 2010 by Gail
What day is it? What time is it? I felt rather disoriented this morning when I had to get up and rush to buy vet supplies up in midtown before my 11am appointment back downtown. (My vet clinic has short hours on Saturday and is closed on Sunday.) I arrived home at 3am from last night’s wedding and not feeling nearly as tired as I usually do afterwards, but clearly the adrenaline was propping me up because I crashed as hard as ever. And when I came to, I felt creaky — Tin Man creaky. This usually wears off after a day, but in the interim I’m a bit stiff and sore and my brain is a bowl of porridge. I have another shoot tomorrow, but by then I’ll be as right as rain. I know part of the reason why my body’s confused is because I usually shoot weddings on Saturday, so today feels like a Sunday because I shot on Friday.
Yesterday was my last vacation day of 2010.
So, my last four-day weekend of the year was Fire Island, New York. You bet I enjoyed myself! I couldn’t let summer go without another trip to the ocean. I haven’t had much opportunity to upload photos to the album this week, but I’ll continue to add pictures in the coming days when time permits.
The weather was stellar while I was there, but I narrowly missed a big storm that whipped the ocean into a froth. The others already at the beach house were watching the action from the inside while I was still in Toronto, getting ready to leave. I hadn’t left yet when the tornado hit Queens; there were photos of trees crushing cars in the city on the front page of the New York Times when I arrived at the ferry terminal at Ocean Beach. Wow. Last year I drove from Toronto to Buffalo, flew from Buffalo to JFK, Airtrain to Jamaica station, Long Island Railroad to Bay Shore, then the ferry to Fire Island — a rather complicated journey. This year I drove with two others, which was not only cheaper and easier but a much better idea because the storm closed down everything at the same time we were travelling: JFK and the railroad was shut down, MTA was chaos. If it got bad, we were prepared to stop at a service plaza and sleep for a while, but it was amazing how different the weather was only a few hours away — we barely had rain on the New York Thruway.
Fire Island was a much-needed break from my working life — the pace is radically slower, and I can hear the ocean all the time! It’s wonderful. Reading, eating, exploring the beach, eating, reading, eating, repeat… Plus, it’s practically the only time I get to play Scrabble anymore. I kicked butt
I had to take editing work with me and deal with a flood of email, but otherwise it was four days of Beach Life. Loved it!All photos were shot with my 50mm f/1.8. Primes = zoom with your feet. I had to be quick to catch the policewoman on her bike — she was also talking on her phone! (By the time I took this she’d put the phone away.)
Best viewed as a [full-screen Flickr slideshow], or in the smaller slideshow below (click show to view thumbnails):
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