Archive for the Category ◊ Out + About ◊

29 Aug 2010 Scenes From A Shipping Yard
Author: Gail |  Category: Out + About, Photography  | 5 Comments

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I had a couple of “missions” yesterday, and I fulfilled the second one, leaving the first one for another attempt today. I took a different approach and headed out to Mississauga, where I was able to complete it, with some improvisation. One more check off the weekend list.

On the way home I spotted power lines that nearly made me stop to photograph them, then I thought the better of it as there wasn’t anywhere safe to pull over. Driving further east, I spotted shipping containers piled one on top of the other and it was just too tempting to pass up. Having lived in various coastal cities around the world (Melbourne, Sydney, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Vancouver, etc.), I’ve become somewhat of a cargo ship spotter. I’m fascinated by shipping and will stop to watch freighters go by. You get a sense of the immense size of these vessels while standing on shore, but especially when you’re in a motorboat on the water.

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This afternoon when I saw the stacked containers from the Queensway, I searched for a road and followed it past fences and gates to an area full of containers by a railroad track. It was deserted — not a single security guard — and I parked my car near the entrance.

This is probably a good time to talk about safety…

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27 Aug 2010 Summer In The City
Author: Gail |  Category: Music, Out + About, Toronto, Videoclips  | 2 Comments

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Live music in Yonge-Dundas Square, where I ended up after dinner.

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Of course, I got the title from the 60′s hit song by the Lovin’ Spoonful, and here’s a cover by Joe Cocker:

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26 Aug 2010 Morning Light At Kensington Market
Author: Gail |  Category: Out + About, Toronto, Volunteering/Charity  | Leave a Comment

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After I dropped off the patients for their 9 o’clock appointments this morning, I figured I’d have about an hour at Kensington Market before it was time to pick them up again. One coffee, pastry, and a 40-minute phone call from Germany later, I was still waiting. The morning light was fantastic and I decided I couldn’t miss it, so out came the camera with the 50mm f/1.8 mounted on it (because my hefty but beloved 17-55mm f/2.8 is at Nikon Repair *sob*) to get in some shots before the phone rang. I managed around 30 quick frames before I had to leave again, and here are my Top 10.

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15 Aug 2010 Swans At Sunset
Author: Gail |  Category: Critters + Creatures, Out + About, The Great Outdoors  | Leave a Comment

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This is a rare weekend at home without shooting a wedding or major travel, and my plans changed several times, in most cases due to the unpredictability of the weather. Shakespeare in High Park on Friday night turned into hanging out with a group of documentary film makers at a pub in the East End, but in this instance I preferred to interact rather than spectate. Saturday involved heavy-duty cleaning, visitors, location scouting, more laundry than I care to think about, client stuff, volunteer stuff, and crashing before I could even watch a movie that’s been sitting around for months. Sunday morphed from an aviation-related activity (oh how I’ve been missing this!) to computer work and more sleep than I’ve had in ages. This might have something to do with not having any coffee the entire weekend, but I doubt it. I wasn’t avoiding coffee, but I decided I wasn’t buying any (I’ve been buying it for weeks while volunteer driving) and didn’t get around to making any, on account of the hot weather. I cooked in the morning, enough for the day. I’ve been avoiding the stove practically all summer because I don’t have air conditioning and it’s not pleasant to be cooking and sweating!

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I did, however, make an effort to walk down the street to catch the sunset on Sunday in order to get more shooting time on the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 prime lens I rented. I’m a firm believer in test driving all lenses before buying, and that means plenty of times behind the wheel. I love this lens, it’s sharp even in low light (f/1.4 is pretty fast) and the camera AF isn’t hunting and backfocusing in the dark.

The swans and ducks were out in full force by the lake, and I took advantage of other people feeding them to get some shots in before the sun disappeared completely and the lightning drove me back inside. The uploads from the day can be found here.

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06 Jun 2010 Wide-Angle Toronto (cont’d)
Author: Gail |  Category: Out + About, Toronto  | One Comment

As part of my research for my contingency plans for the G20 Summit wedding (plus some others), I walked six hours today… what do I have to show for it? Hundreds of photos. Here are a few, all shot with the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8:

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Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, Royal Ontario Museum

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Convocation Hall, University of Toronto

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Royal Conservatory of Music

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Ontario Power Generation building (and the top of the College subway station), University Avenue at College Street

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Harbourfront, from the streetcar

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Over the Gardiner Expressway

And then a few more from Friday:

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06 Jun 2010 Samba Squad
Author: Gail |  Category: Out + About, Videoclips  | Leave a Comment

Two video clips from the Muhtadi International Drumming Festival in Queens Park that took place this weekend, but I caught just a bit of it today. How’s this for random: while at the drumming festival, I bumped into a guy I met in Stratford (Ontario) exactly two weeks ago. He was sitting at a picnic table by the Avon river and I offered him some of our food. I realised this evening that two conversations later, I still don’t know his name!

http://www.muhtadidrumfest.com/

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Meanwhile, these little boys had completely fallen asleep, even with beating drums!

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21 May 2010 A Taste Of Summer
Author: Gail |  Category: Out + About, Videoclips  | Leave a Comment

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I headed to Dundas Square after work Thursday to see if I could catch the tail end of the media shoot for Relay For Life which included The Brides’ Project, but they wrapped up earlier than expected. It was 28C and the square was filled with people enjoying the sunshine and heat, so I got out the point-and-shoot camera and took some photos, naturally. It was the kind of day where the ice cream melted faster than the time it took to eat it — lean forward or get dripped on!

When I use the zoom on the Canon A520 the photos look terrible (as above), but when I try and shoot discreetly I like to keep my distance so I can’t avoid using the zoom. I took a step back and zoomed in to take some shots when a pigeon unceremoniously took a MAJOR dump from an overhang 20 feet above my head, narrowly missing me by a couple of feet. It was close enough that I got a tiny bit of pigeon splash on my toes and sandals. That would have been one disgusting ride home on the TTC if I hadn’t stepped back. There was a man standing next to me as the pigeon launched its load. He looked at the mess on the ground and we both laughed as he congratulated me on my (our) supreme luck.

20 May 2010 Entertainment District With The Canon A520
Author: Gail |  Category: Out + About, Toronto  | Leave a Comment

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Wednesday night was another screening of a series of short films — the tickets were courtesy of my friend Neesa who keeps winning NFB tickets but never seems to be available for the dates. NFB is located in my former neighbourhood, the Entertainment District, which is rather colourful on the weekends but fairly manageable for a walkabout on weeknights. I enjoyed the selection of (international) short films and will try and make it out to see some films during the World Wide Short Film Festival, June 1-6.

For more info, check out the World Wide Short Film Festival website:

http://www.shorterisbetter.com
(you’ll be forwarded here: http://www.worldwideshortfilmfest.com/)

It’s funny because as I was adding the links I noticed that their last tweet on their Twitter feed — fed into the home page — is to me…

This is what I captured after the screenings and before the sun disappeared below the horizon. (The Canon A520 is a 4MP budget camera that was released in 2005; you can buy it secondhand these days for around $10. This is not an ad for the camera but rather a statement on how it is possible to engage in the art form without spending a lot of money, commercial shooting aside.)

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I especially like the streetcar blur in this pic:
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These last two pictures appear the same at first glance, but notice how quickly the lights of the CN Tower change:

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I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has generously pledged me thus far for Relay For Life. It’s a great feeling to fundraise for a cause so near and dear to my heart, and I thank you for backing me!

19 May 2010 Distillery District With The Canon A520
Author: Gail |  Category: Out + About, Toronto  | Leave a Comment

I’ve been carrying around my point-and-shoot digicam the past week, and I’m only getting around now to posting the ones I took the past couple of days. I had an errand in the Distillery District before a client meeting, so I clicked away around there enroute to Pikto. (The Canon A520 is a 4MP budget camera that was released in 2005; you can buy it secondhand these days for around $10.)

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If I’d had more time, I would’ve checked out some of the exhibits for the annual CONTACT Photography Festival.

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15 May 2010 Local Colour: Communist’s Daughter
Author: Gail |  Category: Local Colour, Music, Out + About, Videoclips  | Leave a Comment

I have a category in my sidebar for ‘Local Colour’ which was originally a subcategory of ‘Expat Life’. I was writing about what it was like to live in semi-rural Pennsylvania and my observations of little eccentricities like gigantic inflatable crabs on seafood restaurants nowhere near the sea. Now that I’m not living there anymore, I wasn’t sure what to do with ‘Local Colour’, and decided recently to promote it from subcategory and expand it to include local colour from wherever I live.

I have a mental list of places I need to visit while I live here, and Communist’s Daughter is one of them. It’s a tiny bar that’s popular with the locals and within walking distance of my own neighbourhood. I haven’t been there yet because I’m not really a barfly, and the fact that it’s small and often jam-packed is somewhat of a deterrent. Apparently the only way to get a seat is to go early on a weeknight. Sometime this summer, maybe on the way home from work, I’ll wander over there and check it out myself. In the meantime I found this video online, shot by my friend Sai, that’ll give you an idea of why it’s so popular.

Review on Yelp: http://www.yelp.ca/biz/communists-daughter-toronto

What made me think of this place was a conversation from last night, which turned out to be an unexpected evening with documentary filmmakers. What began as a key drop-off at a pub (I was lending my car) turned out to be seven hours of commingling with doc people, which for me is always interesting. Photography and videography are bedfellows, and the driving forces behind documentary films are the same for photojournalism: non-fiction storytelling. While I do far less story-telling here than I have in the past, in person I tell more stories than ever — mainly because as I get older there are more stories to tell. Thus the evening grew longer and longer…

The gathering at Pauper’s Pub in the Annex was a monthly meeting for doc people, and from there Jan and I went to a coffee bar a few doors down to meet another documentary filmmaker. The Green Beanery closed at 10pm (it used to be a bank — check out The Vault), so she suggested we head over to a place further west called Three Speed, which was hopping. The back patio was the only place left with seating, but it was perfect for a spring evening — spacious yet cozy.

For someone who claims not to be a barfly, last night was practically a pub crawl.

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