Work

Plastic is forever, but it's still odd to see it show such signs of wear.

I've recently been getting familiar with a new short macro lens, and taking my F5 and a roll of black and white film for a walk is part of that process. And the benefit of living so close to the University of Toronto is that there are many interesting signs to photograph, and since I've been doing this for a while, I get to try to find new ways to see them.

I'm not inherently a fan of monochrome images, but after spending an entire afternoon trying to scan and post-process just two colour photos, it certainly has its appeal.

Impressions

One of the things that I like about film is that it's a physical thing. Its own existence changes what's captured in ways that aren't entirely predictable. For example, the lighter section at the top of this photo is beyond the official imaging area of the camera – the lettering has created an echo that extends into the unexposed film.

I know that I've photographed this sign before, and which camera I did it with. But for now I can't find it here… my titles aren't always strongly linked to the photographs.

Touch

Of course photographs look nothing like reality, even though we can recognize one in the other. This should be light yellow and dark red on silver-blue sheet metal.

In / Out

Two of my favourite signs, which I usually photograph in colour.

Crumpled Zone

Perhaps I lack imagination, but when I see something in black and white, I can't imagine it in colour.

Perhaps that's why I like using film.

Celebrate Landscaping

Landscaping and setup crews spent last week turning parts of Yonge street into hills and planter gardens for "Celebrate Yonge", which will run for the next four weeks.

This is a second edit, which I prefer to an earlier version that I shot on request for the National Post.

Words in Stone

These photos are simply quick sketches as I start to work on my second Lakefill series. I took them all with natural light in the space of just a couple of hours, and then processed them through Lightroom in an easy afternoon. The "for real" photos are going to be lit with strobes and run through three different programs. And I'll be taking lots and lots of them.

Of course the photographic process started six months ago, if not longer. All of the fragments that I'm photographing are the ones that caught my interest while I was on the Spit, and were small enough to collect. This explains why there are no large concrete blocks, and why so many of my subjects include words.