kids drawing an ocean on the sidewalk

I got wind of a community art project last Friday that could use some photos, so I headed over to Brockton Village (Dundas West) on Saturday to see what I could shoot for an hour. There I found artists chalking up the sidewalks, making pedestrians and cars take pause or slow down to look down. It’s the joint effort of local residents who wanted to animate their neighbourhood, which was part of a Jane’s Walk on Sunday.

I love community art. Just as it’s mentioned in the article, it helps neighbours get to know each other, especially people who would otherwise not meet. In a city of millions, it’s common not to know your neighbour, which is why events such as this are important for building community spirit.

Dundas West has some excellent murals

In the media: http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/article/1348105–brockton-village-chalking-it-up-to-experience

The group’s Facebook pages:
https://www.facebook.com/events/332809053452954/
https://www.facebook.com/BlockChalked

The thing about chalk art graffiti is that it’s at the mercy of the weather, and although the weather was gorgeous on the weekend, I knew it wouldn’t last. That’s where I step in, as I’m used to doing for weddings, where it is my job to photograph the work of makeup artists, hairstylists, bakers, and chefs who put their heart and soul into creating works of art which last only one day. After a wedding, only the pictures remain. Chalk art is just as ephemeral. This is something I find incredibly exciting about photography — that I am able to preserve art to be enjoyed long after it’s destroyed or fades away.

stop and read

The other thing about chalk art graffiti is that most of the chalk used at Chalk The Block is very light, which means I had to use HDR techniques to show the art properly. I’ve probably mentioned before that I’m not much of a fan of HDR, but can see its usefulness. I’ve applied the technique rather liberally to Saturday’s pictures.

Chalk The Block event photos are best viewed as a full-screen slideshow, thumbnails, or view smaller in the slideshow below.

I also took some non-chalk-art photos that day, some of my favourites are here:

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And to round out the evening (or start off the morning?) is an auto-reply tweet from a bot. Welcome to 2012, where the previous sentence actually makes sense.

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After reviewing all the pictures I took at The Bachelorette Party, which wasn’t many compared to what I ordinarily shoot because I was much too distracted this time, I’ve decided this is the only picture I can show. For now.

If you’ve been to a bachelorette party, you’ll know why. Lots of things going on. Attendees are busy participating. Stuff happening.

So, yeah. This pic was taken at the end of the night, at Cafe Awtash on College Street.

Part 3 of the weekend is coming up in a precious few hours, so I’d better get some sleep.

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my first time to see the ship Quebecois undocked

Oh so verrrrry slowly catching up on the photos and getting them edited and online. April is a GONZO month this year — it will be an absolute miracle if I can keep up the blogging over the next few weeks. I love it, though, and after nearly 10 years of switching my brain to blogging mode on a daily basis I reckon I’ve built a neural pathway through both hemispheres just for blogging.

My last day of March was devoted to photography-related business (picking up prints at the lab, scouting) mixed in with hanging out with my friend Neesa. We ate our fill of Thai food at the newly-reopened Salad King on Yonge Street before hitting up the Distillery District for my errands. Thankfully, she enjoys the photography part and indulges me in my picture ideas, including jumping. I have photos of Neesa jumping in Quebec City, in the Cheltenham Badlands, at Union Station, playing hacky-sack in the park… I don’t think I could find a more willing person for airtime than Neesa — she’s a natural.

Some photos from the Distillery District:

lots of construction happening in the West Donlands

And then I introduced Neesa to Polson Pier, one of my favourite spots in the city to shoot.

Of course, I had to make her jump:

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Left the Loft at nearly 2am, and I have a family shoot at 9:30 (followed by a helicopter trip and another shoot), so this is going to be the abbreviated version.

So many photos, so little time to post… more to follow.

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Brookfield Place

Crappycam photos three days in a row, Gail????

Yes, I’m reluctant to be posting photos from my phone three days in a row when I have thousands upon thousands of high-quality pictures at my fingertips just itching to be shown, but the downside of travelling and leaving the work behind is that it tends to pile up in my absence. (Can someone make a photo-self-editing app please?) My days — and nights — post-trip are spent in front of my computer to tackle the backlog, so I end up posting quick snapshots that I’ve taken with the phone.

Tonight I walked home in decidedly winter-like temperatures, cold enough that I ended up buying a cheap pair of gloves because I forgot my trusty Kermit-coloured mittens at home. I made a slight detour to find a pair at Brookfield Place which is decked out with lights galore, as you can see in the photo above. There was also an exhibit, but I decided to view it another day when I’ve got more time.

Remember these bears in Parkdale? (Scroll to the bottom of the post.) They’ve been CHRISTMASFIED!

backseat bears

And lastly but not leastly, I saw these at Longo’s and wanted to try them… wasabi cashews. Mmmm, so good, but a word of warning: don’t let yourself ingest/inhale the wasabi powder when you reach the bottom of the bag. It will singe your sinuses and throat like NOBODY’S BUSINESS and bring tears to your eyes!

wasabi cashews

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Cancer Research Conference community forum

I took a break from photo editing on Sunday to attend the Canadian Cancer Research Conference’s community forum at the Sheraton Hotel across from City Hall. As an active volunteer fundraising for cancer charities and as a volunteer driver for the Canadian Cancer Society, I want to stay informed about the state of cancer and cancer research in Canada. I wish I had more time to write about the conference itself, but I’ll have to save it for when I don’t have deadlines looming over me (read: not anytime soon!).

Fitting the conference theme, I took the opportunity to break in my new running shoes earned by participating in the Run For The Cure on October 2 (I was sponsored for $2,000 by The Brides’ Project). These shoes are branded with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s logo and New Balance Canada donates 15% of sales from the Lace Up For the Cure collection to the CBCF.

CBCF branded running shoes

CBCF branded running shoes

The rest of the cameraphone photos were taken across the street at Nathan Phillips Square and City Hall. The skating rink is open, but it was raining and unseasonably warm so not many people were there.

Nathan Phillips Square

Nathan Phillips Square

Nathan Phillips Square

perchance

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snowman? looks more like a penguin to me

snowman derriere

I had to rescue my weekend from the jaws of work yesterday; Saturday was completely consumed by editing. I had hoped to make it to a couple of house parties on Saturday afternoon and evening, but alas, I was still editing at 10pm and running out of steam. I finally finished the job around 4am. It was such a relief to wake up a few hours later for brunch and know I could now move on to editing something else! (And now you know why I posted those graphs yesterday.)

After brunch I had to run a few errands around town and the last stop was the Distillery District to pick up prints from the lab. While I was there, I scouted the Thompson Landry Gallery Cooperage, where I’ll be shooting a wedding in the spring. It struck me as absurd that I’ve been to the Distillery District countless times and that was my only first time to visit the gallery.

Distillery District

Thompson Landry Gallery

Inside the Cooperage is A Taste of Quebec, which is exactly what it sounds like: a huge, huge temptation to buy and eat everything in sight. If you’ve been to Quebec, you’ll know what I’m talking about — they take food seriously in la belle province and when I’m there I’m always thinking about what I’ll eat next, even while I’m eating. I had a tough time leaving the cooperage without buying anything. I got as far as picking up jars and it took major willpower to put them back down again and step away from the cheese fridge and samples of sugar pie.

About the top photo: the quality is even worse than the other mobile phone pictures because it’s the front-facing camera on the Android, which has a lower pixel count than the rear camera. I was taking my photo to send to Tourism Toronto so they’ll donate money to the Starlight Children’s Foundation of Canada. I checked to see if my pic was posted, but the one with the pooch is hard to beat for photo of the week If you’re in the Distillery District, go look for the snow creature by the giant spider-like thing… for lack of better directions.

charity snowman

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World Press Photo 2011: Brookfield Place

Turns out I viewed the toughest images first when I checked out the World Press Photo 2011 exhibit at Brookfield Place two weeks ago. (Warning to viewers — the panels closest to the Bay Street entrance are the most graphic!) However, there is one image closer to the Yonge Street entrance — and this is the part where you should turn away if you’re faint of heart — that might bring up your dinner… I don’t want to say too much but it involves a bullfighter in Madrid who slipped when he tried to avoid the bull (read: bull horns). Just thinking about it gives me the shivers!

The walk home was chilly and I forgot my scarf, which meant I was speedwalking down a different route to escape from the wind off the lake, taking King Street nearly all the way home. This is the underpass just east of Atlantic Avenue.

King Street West

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Yonge Street bokeh

I finished second-shooting the Danish wedding late in the evening, and I was debating with myself while enroute to my car parked off College Street whether to check out some of Nuit Blanche while I was nearby or go home and sleep. Last year I shot a wedding until 3am in Liberty Village, and previous years I’ve been out of town the first weekend in October, which is why I’ve never been able to attend Nuit Blanche.

This was as close as I got to Nuit Blanche this year — taking photos on Yonge Street, which was closed off for the event. As you can see, the crowds were thick and non-stop by the time I got there near midnight. I think I’ll have to call it a night, I have the Run For The Cure in mere hours, and then if the sun decides to shine I’m off to the apple orchards to shoot engagement photos.

Yonge Street

Yonge Street

Yonge Street

Yonge Street

I also tried to shoot some video, but it was just way too dark:

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