We took a walk through the entertainment section of Gatineau, Quebec this summer and came upon these umbrellas. It was a brilliant sunny day and the umbrellas provided a perfect awning. As colourful as they are I preferred the photograph in black and white, as it emphasized shape, form and contrast.
The “musical trio” struck my fancy for their enduring and endearing nature. They appear to have weathered many seasons, yet the band plays on.
As I’ve mentioned before, birds have been rather scarce this year so we’ve been doing quite a bit of street photography. In the first photo, a Victorian bird cage in the window of a local business had some lovely elements to it. In the second, I thought the red of the brick wall as well as the bird theme made for a nice pairing of the two photos.
The colour and texture of this weathered looking house caught my eye and when I saw the sign I smiled and took the shot. Taking an alternate route in a familiar neighbourhood can be an adventure. The second photo was the result of a similar walk. These houses were ordinary but the city laneway reminded me more of one in the countryside and was well worth some attention.
The first time I passed by this mural, a truck was parked directly in front of it. When I went back the other day I was able to take a couple of shots before the space was occupied again. It’s a fun bit of wall art. The second photo was taken on a busy block of commercial and residential buildings. The truck was a standout and I found the photo quite effective in black and white. Both taken with my Fuji XT-1.
I’m thinking of buying a walkaround camera for street photography and landscapes. I want something lightweight and relatively easy to use and borrowed my spouse’s Fuji XT-1 with 23mm lens. We headed towards a commercial street full of small shops and restaurants. Waiting for the light to change I looked up and saw this spectacular example of wall art.
The camera is tempting – it’s lightweight, handles well and the viewfinder is terrific with excellent magnification. And with interesting subjects for the taking a good pairing.
These photos were taken in early spring. You can still see a few snow patches on the ground in the first one. An empty playground on the weekend, always feels a bit off, eerily quiet. Closer to the market district I found a series of these painted cubes in the centre median of a roadway. They were an interesting counterpoint to the old buildings surrounding them.
Walking by this exterior wall I thought at first that someone had decided not to finish up the plastering. On giving it a second look I saw a skyline emerging from the surface. I’ll have to return to photograph the rest of the wall as the story continues along the brick. A hidden gem in an older part of town.
There’s something very appealing about these back porches. You get a feel for the people who live in these houses, from the flowers to the statuary to the pet’s water bowl. They reveal more about their occupants than the street view implies.
I like unruly gardens, although I appreciate that an untended appearance can be very deceiving. As we walked down our street we approached an old home with weathered brick walls and a small garden out front. I liked the contrast of the green against the red brick. I took the second photo further down the street. The sun illuminating the plant caught my eye and working with exposure compensation I took the result you see here.
Montreal is a very walkable city and I love exploring its streets. These photos were taken in the east end, where commercial and residential buildings share the same space. It’s alive with colour, activity and fine old architecture. And you’re never far from a cafe that serves good coffee.
This cliff side view of Canada’s Parliament Buildings is an impressive sight. The photo was taken on a brilliant spring day but I thought the Gothic Revival architecture lent itself to a black and white treatment. The Parliament Hill complex was rebuilt in 1916 after a fire raised the original to the ground, only the Library of Parliament (the building on the far right) survived the fire. After more than a century the buildings are in the process of being renovated but at this writing, you can still walk around the grounds, toss a ball on the lawn, even raise a protest sign!
Spring hadn’t quite arrived in this laneway yet. The homeowner was prepared for what ever came his way as you can see by the traffic cones, snow shovels and garden tools propped up again his shed. I liked the textures of the wood and plaster and worked in Tonality Pro to bring them out.
The shape and colour of these old fashioned hats reminded me of the fondant candy I enjoyed as a kid. There was nothing sweeter or better tasting I thought.
The antique market was below street level and the illumination was low. I raised my ISO to get some speed but still only shot at 1/80th of a second. I think the lighting added to the mood and worked quite well.
It was a warm day in September and a street festival was going on in the neighbourhood. This women and her dog were taking a break from the heat. She was distracted by her phone but the dog’s attention was undivided. I love spotting people out with their pets enjoying the city and each other’s company and I always keep an eye out for scenes like this.
While exploring an unfamiliar neighbourhood we turned into a nearby laneway. I had seen this church from a distance but was unaware that it was in a perfect line of sight. For a moment I imagined myself in the warm mediterranean and not a chilly laneway in a city that has yet to see Spring.
This scene could belong to a different era. The grainy look to the photo lends itself to this feeling. Taken in one of the city’s laneways, it was nice to see that the beautiful tree was left to grow, possibly offering a bit of shade to the kids shooting baskets today and in the past.
Both of these shots were taken in the city and combine developing interests of mine: street and black and white photography. An angle, a curve, the play of light, something left behind; the photographer pulls the various aspects together. The 60s feel of the commercial strip and the geometric design in the second photo lent themselves to black and white treatments.
I enjoy editing in Black and White, working with contrast and shadow. And then there’s the different tone and mood that is struck in b/w. These photos of ordinary looking buildings were taken in different neighbourhoods and were constructed several decades back. I liked the angles and textures in the first photo. The shadows created by the icicles and the bit of whimsy on the roof of the house caught my eye in the second.
You often see dogs hanging their heads out of a car window but this was a first for me. It was a mild February day and owner and dog were enjoying it to the fullest. I was shooting with my 35mm lens so I didn’t think I’d get the shot I wanted. I only noticed the mural when I got home and viewed the image on my computer. A lucky choice of lens after all!
The city landscape is constantly changing. People move in and out of neighbourhoods. Businesses open and close. A lot of older neighbourhoods are undergoing gentrification often losing the character that made them what they were. I wonder if this vacant store and the building behind it, already surrounded by high rises, will remain or will be turned into just more concrete towers. I prefer the black and white version of the photograph and include the colour for comparison.
I haven’t done much people photography or taken many city scenes, things I want to do more of when the weather turns more agreeable. I do love nature photography but the urban landscape is very interesting as well. This photo was taken from across the street, with a wide angle lens, If these two gentlemen had seen me I might have smiled and sought their compliance, as it happened they were too deep in conversation to glance in my direction.
I enjoy turning off a city street when I notice a laneway. A few of the city’s older commercial/residential neighbourhoods have some interesting lanes to explore. The chair under the No Parking sign looked out of place in this setting. Perhaps it was placed there years ago but it looked as though it was still used by someone…
I can’t resist a shot like this. Every dog seems to strike the same pose when waiting for its owner to emerge from a shop. It sits and stares towards the shop with a singular concentration. A bit expectant, a bit anxious and full of longing.
Just off a downtown thoroughfare we came upon this quiet courtyard adjacent to a coffee shop and an apartment building. As we sat and sipped our coffee, this corner was a pleasant break from the busy street just metres away. The city offers many spaces like this, on foot and with a camera at the ready, just waiting to be discovered.
This giant inflatable jellyfish is suspended inside a glass lantern in the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, a spectacular looking building in the Gothic Revival style. The museum completed in 1912 has undergone several renovations, the latest between 2004-2010.
The contrasting architectural styles and this extraordinary creature made for an interesting afternoon and the black and white version adds a bit more drama to the photograph.
This photo is the exterior of a popular butcher shop in my neighbourhood. The colour version is vibrant, however I think the detail of the structure is more distinct and engaging in black and white. It’s an interesting experience to work a photo in both colour and black and white. MacPhun Tonality CK was used to create the monochrome version you see here.
There are some interesting laneways in the downtown that make for interesting walks in the summertime. Gardens spring up on balconies and even wild flowers push through the pavement. These two gatekeepers kept a watchful eye on me as I made my way down the lane.
I liked this small piece of street art I came across on a recent drive in the countryside. We had stopped for a coffee in a small town and as we walked around this caught my eye. The artist’s humour struck a chord (I’m not known for my great sense of direction either.)
Taking a walk downtown on a rare sunny afternoon in May, I hoped to see some things of interest to photograph. I had borrowed a wide angle lens (12-24mm) and was trying to get a feel for it. The sharp lines and colour attracted me in both of these photographs.
Canada will be celebrating its 150th Birthday on July 1. There is a multi-year plan to renovate many Federal buildings in Ottawa. You can just see some scaffolding in the reflection of the Parliament Buildings in the first photo. The fencing covered in colourful posters dressed up another construction site and made for an interesting composition.
There’s a pedestrian mall in town that has a mixture of shops, restaurants and government office buildings. Many of the buildings were built after the Second World War in the Gothic Revival style of architecture. I have always liked this door and the detail of the frieze with it’s iconic Canadian scene. I think the colour version works quite well but the black and white version is more in keeping with the period in which it was built.
This photograph was taken in Montreal just off St. Lawrence Boulevard. This area of the city has plenty of street art; the play of light and shadow makes for interesting photography. I used Macphun’s Tonality Pro to convert the photo to Black and White. My main interest was the B&W version and working with contrast, detail, and tones.
Spring sunshine and temperatures are slow to return this year. Green shoots are slowly pushing their way through the soil and I’ve seen a few blackbirds and robins at the reserve but no nest building yet. Instead of trudging through the snow melt on the trails, I took a walk in a neighbourhood not far from where I live. I liked the display in the shop window and took this photo. Another shot that lends itself to black and white.
A neighbourhood bike shop got creative. The bikes suspended from the colourful wall look like a wonderful piece of art. A simple idea yet full of imagination. The owner even took precautions against theft as the bikes are locked into place. I liked the vibrant colours but with all the detail and texture in the wall I thought the photo would work in black and white as well.
I had driven by this old gated lot many times before but hadn’t paid it much attention. We were returning from a neighbourhood street festival one day and walked by on our way home. I was struck by these wildflowers pushing through the gate and stopped to take a photograph. I wanted the attention of the viewer to focus on the centre of the photograph. To do this I used an adjustment layer in Photoshop to lower the brightness of the stone, and then again for the entire photo. Finally I painted back some brightness in the flower and lock to make them stand out from the background.
The first photo was taken in an Ottawa laneway, the second one in Toronto. I liked the shapes and play of light in the first shot. In the second photo the neighbourhood basketball court facing Toronto’s financial centre brought a sense of community to the big city. The colours caught my eye as well. I haven’t done much urban photography but I enjoy it and it’s something I’d like to do more of in the coming year.
I liked the weathered box on the back of the bike. I thought it added interest to the photo.
I’ve been taking my camera along lately when I go for a walk or run errands, with an eye to doing more street scenes. I began this photographic journey taking mainly nature shots but it’s nice to stretch a little, think about different kinds of subjects to shoot and ways to approach them. It’s fun to try out different lenses too, which forces you to look at things differently. Both photos were taken with a 35mm lens.
When I turned the corner and saw a mass of colour suspended from the building it reminded me of a huge bunch of balloons.
I’ve always enjoyed long walks in parts of the city I’m not familiar with as they always hold surprises. The first two photographs were taken on a brilliant sunny day. These kinds of conditions make it simpler to get things right in camera. I thought of turning the third photograph into black and white but preferred the tonality of the concrete as it was.
Although city born and bred, in the short time that I’ve been doing photography I’ve gravitated towards nature photography. I love being in the outdoors and a camera by my side has become a natural extension of that experience. A combination of factors has led me to try street photography: weather (it can get mighty cold here in winter and walking through the woods in -20C isn’t that appealing); exploring the more interesting parts of my city on foot (you see so much more than when driving by in a car); and an interest in trying something new and expanding my photography skills. So here goes…
