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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three musketeers

Guess what I’m doing right now? If you guessed lying on a beach listening to the surf, adjacent to a sangria and an assistant who’s editing all my photos, *BINGO* you just read my wishful thinking. Delete all but the last four words, is more like it. I’m on my third editing project this week and I have a wedding on Saturday, so I doubt I’ll come up for air until next week month. In the meantime, I’m going to post an album that’s 99% finished and set aside for now, with lots of photos to look at (currently 105 if you have the guest pass, 61 if you don’t).

I’ve included some of my favourite pics here, starting with the one up top, which includes Marin’s oldest friend in Toronto — a momentous occasion since it’s going back something like 20 years, from the university days.

this is what surprised looks like

you can never have too much cake!

Buying these number balloons was one of the best ideas I had for decorating the party room, along with splurging for helium. Did you know that helium prices are *pun alert* on the rise? Despite the cost, the number balloons made such great props, and they’re reusable! Can you believe my original plan to make the pinata was to papier-mache these? I had to completely give up that idea since they were just TOO BIG.

There was, however, one partygoer who wasn’t particularly impressed with the balloons:

I give it another six months and he’ll be chasing after them.

As per usual, the album is best viewed as a full-screen slideshow (the only way to see all the photos; you’ll need a guest pass if you’re not in my Flickr list), or as thumbnails, or view a selection in the smaller slideshow below:

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You may not peg me as a Bob Marley listener, but I am. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to smoke anything to enjoy his music. It’s happy, it’s positive, it makes you want to shimmy. It reminds me of the days when I lived in a commune near the beach in northern Australia, when livin’ was easy. The sun shone all the time.

["We're Jammin'" -- on YouTube]

Ooh, yeah! All right!
We’re jammin’:
I wanna jam it wid you.
We’re jammin’, jammin’,
And I hope you like jammin’, too.

Ain’t no rules, ain’t no vow, we can do it anyhow:
I’n'I will see you through,
‘Cos everyday we pay the price with a little sacrifice,
Jammin’ till the jam is through.

We’re jammin’ -
To think that jammin’ was a thing of the past;
We’re jammin’,
And I hope this jam is gonna last.

It is in the spirit of a Bob Marley tune that I think of Red Moon Collective’s monthly music jam. Edward’s loft turns into a musical love-in, with warm gestures of hey-nice-to-see-you-again hugging and other expressions of genuine connection between music-lovers. The last jam even included surprise birthday cakes for Clint:

Happy Birthday, Clint!

This set is bigger than the previous two jams I’ve shot, so I will post just a few and let the rest autoplay below.

the sign-up sheet for musicians

The All-Women Jam (except the bass player)

The Percussion Crew

The Dancers are a big part of Red Moon

Alex brought the house down!

Do check out all 126 photos below (it was a big Jam!) or visit the Red Moon’s Facebook page for more links and events.

April 13 addition: video! Check it out:

[thumbnails]
[full-screen slideshow]

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This month’s One-of-a-Kind-Dinner was themed “The Count of Monte Cristo”, which brings to mind one thing for me: swashbuckling pirates. But this isn’t “Pirates of the Caribbean” the movie, this is a 19th century adventure novel by Alexander Dumas, and it is Chef Clint Rampold’s favourite book, he says.

We were not without swashbuckling pirates, of course.

From Wikipedia:

The story takes place in France, Italy, islands in the Mediterranean and the Levant during the historical events of 1815–1838 (from just before the Hundred Days through to the reign of Louis-Philippe of France). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book. An adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy and forgiveness, it focuses on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune and sets about getting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment. However, his plans have devastating consequences for the innocent as well as the guilty.

Creating a multi-course dinner around the storyline of “The Count of Monte Cristo” is a rather tall culinary order, but Clint rose to the challenge. Here’s the menu:

And, the plates in all their glory. (I will add the course descriptions once I get the list.)

Amuse-Bouche: Haydee, a Turkish Rose

Soup: Isle of Monte Cristo

Appetizer: Napoleon's Letter

Main: Betrayal in Marseilles

Imprisoned In The Chateau D'If

The One-of-a-Kind-Dinners are known for more than originality, they are a celebration of the arts, including dance, theatre, and music.

Maria Z

Maria Z

Sasha Z

Equus Q

Andrew Lopatin

This is by no means all the pictures of the evening — check out the photo album as a full-screen slideshow or click through to view the smaller slideshow autoplay below:

full-screen slideshow
thumbnails

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Pictures and video was the closest we got to bottling this jam.

Event super-hosts Lisa and Clint of One-of-a-Kind-Dinner throw music parties at a loft in the heart of Toronto’s Entertainment District once a month. By day, the space serves as a photography studio for commercial shooter Edward Ambrosius, but each month on a Saturday after the night lights burn brightly and the taxicab cacophony begins on Adelaide Street below, Edward opens up the loft to let the sounds of guitars, drums, voices, and horns (and any other instrument that shows up) take over.

The Red Moon Music Collective is as much of a group as Broken Social Scene. Some of the performers make it every month, some less often, new people join in, they take breaks and take turns and sometimes they combine the two:

slide guitar with beer

There is no protocol other than a simple sign-up sheet so people know when they’re up next, the same as what you’d find at a pool hall or a dart board. The only difference is it’s all self-serve: BYO drinks and snacks. It’s like going to a house party except a third of the space is covered in guitar cases, percussion instruments, speakers and cords leading to an amplifier.

This is not your garden variety houseparty, however, unless you have artists simultaneously drawing and painting musicians and dancers as they perform. (Or maybe you do. If so, they should join us!)

It’s tough to describe the vibe, so I’ll leave you with Lisa’s videoclip above and my photo album below of last Saturday’s jam. As jams go, this one was ace: lots of new people jamming with the regulars, sing-a-longs to Queen and dancing throughout. Completely unscripted and free-flowing, the evening didn’t want to end.

And did I mention it’s FREE? Yes, the best things in life are.

our illustrious co-hosts, Lisa and Clint (along with Edward)

thumbnails
full-screen slideshow

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Wow. A roomful of talent at the Red Moon Collective’s monthly jam in Loft 210 (263 Adelaide Street). A proper post later, but for now 10 photos before I crash to recharge for a busy Sunday of talking all day at the Vintage Hotels annual wedding show, Niagara-on-the-Lake.

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NLL (National Lacrosse League) @ Air Canada Centre

I know what you’re thinking: Air Canada Centre two nights in a row? What can I say, I like sports. Besides, this was my first lacrosse match.

Another slideshow placeholder for now while the photos get processed… I shot all the photos with someone else’s camera, a Nikon D7000 with a kit lens, to test the body. (More on this later.) I’d fully intended on shooting with his 18-200mm lens to get closer to the action, but we had to leave it with Air Canada Centre’s Guest Services because apparently they have a 75mm limit on zooms. Last night the security guard didn’t even look at my lens, I only showed him the back of the camera when I opened the top of my camera bag. Not so lucky today, the security guy checked the lens more thoroughly. Ah well, you win some, you lose some.

full-screen slideshow
thumbnails

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extra-terrestrials are friendly

marshmallow structure

Photos of Day 2 of #ArtSciCamp with marshmallows and people from outer space may mystify instead of clarify what on earth was going on during the unconference hosted by Subtle Technologies, but this article in Toronto Social Review should clear things up. [Update: Subtle Technologies has their blog post up now, too.] I’m still working on editing and uploading the batch, but I’ll slideshow the Day 2 photos by tag of what’s been added thus far:

I joined the post-unconference dinner at Sambuca Grill on Baldwin Street, then had to dash to make a birthday party. I picked up some red velvet cupcakes along the way:

red velvet cupcakes for the Birthday Girl

Today I had dim sum with some wedding clients and I was so chuffed when they presented me with freshly-baked cookies that I completely overlooked photographing our dim sum dishes. It’s been absolutely ages since I had dim sum and I had every intention of documenting what appeared on our table with my phone camera, but this is all I got — the end of the dim sum parade:

lucky tea

Sad, considering how much food we consumed! But see the cup of tea? I was told that when a stick from a tea leaf is floating vertically near the surface like that, it means good luck. If I were remotely superstitious, I’d be out buying a lottery ticket.

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ArtScienceCamp photobooth

Wish I had more energy to post pictures from Day 2 of ArtSciCamp2, but I went to a birthday gathering afterward and now I’m about ready to pass out. The picture is from the photobooth I set up at ArtScienceCamp, which had some kickass props like space suits. More to come!

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swag table

Quick post as Day 2 is fast approaching and it will be a full day of activity. In other words, will need a proper sleep break…

A few photos from this evening, the rest from Day 1 will autoplay in a slideshow below:

Hart House

volunteers

Jen Dodd, Managing Director

science, meet art

mixing

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