I Want to Ride my Bicycle...

With increased environmental awareness, rising gas prices and temperatures, bicycles are becoming an increasingly common sight as a viable form of transportation in major urban centres. One of the tactics used to prevent theft of one's property is to ride a rusty old bike that's not worth stealing. Fortunately, such bicycles have a lot of charm, thereby adding texture and character to the urban landscape. Plus, because these two wheelers are spared the landfill, their ecological impact is compounded.

...By Any Other Name

I snapped this picture last Saturday on Trinity Street (a couple of blocks north of our studio). In this month of frequent rainstorms, travelling to and from our workspace has been an exercise in avoiding precipitation, but the rain does wonders for the city's plant life (and for this photographer's spirits too).

Celebrate Pride at Studio 211 (Look Up, Look Way Up)

On the occasion of Pride 2008, John and I are once again presenting the constructed images and ambient light portraits featuring gay men which were featured in our recent joint exhibit Ready for Prime Time/Lies our Mothers Told Us. This time around, we are hosting it at our new studio space at the Case Good Building in Toronto's Distillery district (55 Mill Street, Toronto - Case Goods Building #72, Studio 211).

If you happen to be in the neighbourhood, drop by and look for our sign. We're usually there between noon and 6 or 7 PM.

Elsha Leventis - Eye to Eye Variations on a Theme Parts I & II

Elsha Leventis is a Toronto painter and art therapist who is currently exhibiting at the Red Eye Gallery in the Case Goods Building, as well as at the second floor of Balzac's Café (both of which are located in Toronto's historic Distillery District - 55 Mill Street). Her most recent work is a series of abstract oil paintings on Mylar and glass inspired by the physiognomy of the human eye. Her work is mesmerizing. The application of oils to Mylar enables Leventis to create rich and inviting organic textures that draw in the viewer and invite closer attention.

If you're in the Queen City, I urge you to check out her work.

Click here for the exhibit schedule and here for Leventis's site.

Another Window

Seems like I'm stuck on a theme for the moment. Here's another shot with windows in it. The reflection in the glass paneled facade of a King Street office tower created an abstract image that I found rather pleasing.

Windows

If you know me then you know that this post is about the real thing rather than Microsoft's flagship product. These are pictures of the window at the studio. They are part of an evolving series that shows how something as mundane as window can change depending on when you are viewing it and on your perspective.

Rather than Joining the Circus...

I never wanted to run away and join the circus but, at some point in my late teens I decided that the coolest job in the world was that of concert photographer. This determination was mostly informed by the images contained on the sleeves of Rush albums and in the pages of the band's tour programmes. To this day, I love photographing musicians and do so every chance I get. Below are a few shots of Joshua Bathrolomew, Alex Cuba All-Stars and Quartet Gelato playing over the last couple of days a few steps away from my studio at Toronto's Distillery District.

LuminaT0 Flowers

Leaving the studio in the late evening, I discovered that the Distillery District had been transformed into a giant audiovisual installation, featuring projections on the sides of of the walls buildings, which were illuminated by rows of LEDs casting colourful light upward and causing the flowerboxes in the edifices along the main stretch to look like this:

Smile for the Camera...

...or not.

I Saw the Sign...

Part of me thinks that the sign below is far too garish a choice for a funeral home. The other part thinks it would look amazing on a t-shirt. Discuss.

Coffee Time

Perhaps this is a Sunday afternoon ritual: enjoying a pot of tea and watching the passers-by.

Commuter

Taken at King Street Subway Station during the afternoon rush hour.

iPod Silent Dance at Dundas Square

Last night, at the stroke of midnight, Toronto's Dundas Square was transformed into a silent dance hall as dozens of revellers donned earbuds and headphones and danced to the beat of their favourite music at Toronto's first Silent Dance Party, held in conjunction with the city-wide Luminato festival. Under a canopy of lit balloons, the joyous party was as strangely compelling tableau for its silence and the sight of various dancers, each one moving to a different rhythm.

Gateway to the Stars (Trinity Studios, Toronto)

So many people dream about being in the movies, but t few of us make a living in this industry, and the vast majority of those who do toils behind the scenes in relative anonymity.

Die Yuppie Scum

Attitude at its finest!

Out on the Street

Two friends chat while waiting for the light to change at the corner of Church and Wellesley

We Love Welo

A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon these Ryerson students demonstrating a bicycle-powered generator designed to charge laptop batteries for the computers of children in developing countries. These students were raising awareness of their project and had already arranged the funding to travel to the Cambodia to deliver their creation to children in need in a remote village in Cambodia. Their device is called the WELO, as in We Lo(ve the Earth) and is also a play on words on the French word for bicycle, "vélo."

And Now for Something Completely Different...

This is a close-up from a paintings-in-progress by Toronto visual artist John Hyslop. It's an abstract watercolour and the green stuff is a masking agent that prevents paint from seeping onto the paper. John will sometimes go back and fill the masked area with pigment, but usually he'll leave it blank, with the white space becoming part of the composition.

This Ain't the Rosedale Library Closing Sale - III

Here are a few more shots taken during the final week of operations at This Ain't the Rosedale Library's Church Street location (which the business occupied for twenty-two of its 29 years years in business). The People you see in the pictures below are Maggie, James and RIck. These good folks are now out of work and the Church Street strip has lost its finest ambassadors of culture.