#805, Why oh Why

The vandalism that happens around meetings like the G20 is usually said to target multinational companies. That way, it's supposed to deliver some sort of a message that's not just about people being able to break things.

Pizza Pizza is a Canadian company, and is almost entirely composed of locally-owned franchises. And as if that's not enough to put it on the good-guy list, their cheap-and-decent food makes them a long-standing staple for students. Whoever broke the windows on this one was just being a complete f`king idiot.

(This post concludes my G20 series, partly because finding appropriate song titles has become a bit of a stretch.)

#897, Life in the City

A Starbucks with all of its windows broken. While there are some good questions about why police weren't protecting private businesses, it's also worth noting that the police museum and headquarters just down the street also had some windows broken. A wall of officers stood in front of it, but didn't move against the vandals.

An unusual trait for a city police force is patience. The Toronto force has always seemed happy to give people as much rope as they want to hang themselves with. Not that it helps the forty-odd businesses along Yonge street that were damaged, but I suspect that there will actually be some criminal convictions out of this mess.

See that little thing up in the top-right corner of the frame?

Who needs Flickr?

#674, People in the Middle

The group for Amnesty International move in to join the rally.

A quick video that put together can be found here. It's twenty photos - of course - coupled with some of the audio I recorded at Queen's Park; run time is 1:10 and it's in high definition over at vimeo.

vimeo.com/12906715

(1025) #693, Skin on the Drum

The big deal this week has been the G20 conference, and the big deal about that has been the small groups of vandals that took advantage of the much larger non-violent protests.

Naturally, I was nowhere near that, but I did take an early-morning tour of downtown Toronto which ended at the rallying point for the largest protest of the weekend. It was a large and extremely diverse group, with representatives from the fringe from both sides, as well as mainstream groups like Amnesty International and a few of the local unions. Lots of signs, but also balloons and music.

I've certainly seen more strident demonstrations, as well as much, much larger ones. None of them have done more than disrupt traffic. It's going to be interesting to see who the police arrest over the next few weeks.

#034, Green and Grey

This is going to sound absurd, but I also really like this in black and white.

(1024) #007, Shade

Following some advice to do something different, I took an old manual-focus Nikon lens for a walk. It has a very different look from the more modern lenses that I'm familiar with, being slightly soft with very mild contrast wide open, and in certain moods I like the results.

(1023) Balloons and Marching Bands

Spending the day at the Bloor Annex street festival.

(1022) #467, Cinderblock

I don't expect this blog to be overrun with new photos for a while, but at the very least, I'll be keeping up my weekly project.

#539; Goodnight, Chicago

And with this photo of the new moon setting behind the iconic Sears Tower, my Chicago photo series has come to its end.

I'll be letting the photos sit for a few months before I review them again. I hope to create a properly edited portfolio, much smaller than what I've shown here, and perhaps put together the video and audio as well.

It was a great trip. My next destination is New York in the fall, which is going to be even better because Penny and I will be there for our honeymoon. After that, who knows? It's only fourteen hours to Boston.

Untitled #577

I'm ambivalent about this image. Taken on my way to the bus station at the end of a long day, I can't decide if it's the strongest of the trip or a cheap and trite cliché. Not being able to pick a title is just a small part of that.

#593, The Loop

Underneath the Loop for the last time.

#557, Non-Optional Choices

When you have no choice but to choose.

Fittingly, I split into two to develop this. I used Lightroom to create the idea exposures for the sky in one image, and for the sign in another. The two were merged and blended in Photoshop, and a few other adjustments came in as well.

I've yet to find a simple question that I can't create a complicated answer for.