January 31, 2005

Snowy Couch


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Snowy Couch
Taken with Kiev88

We've recently seen several films by French director Francois Ozon. It's strange because the films are definitely turning out to be the kind that I'm just not sure about. Over the weekend we watched "Under the Sand" and "See the Sea" and I gotta say I just don't know what I think.

I'm often unsure about male directors who choose women and stories about women as their focus. But on the other hand some of my favourite directors; both Satyajit Ray and Pedro Almodovar focus on women and I love their films. I read a review that said that Ozon is gay therefore his female characters are freed from the male gaze. I'm not sure if I agree with that at this time. I mean his female characters have been fairly fucked up in strange, disconcerting ways. And I was bothered by the ending of "8 Women" which seemed to suggest that the women had killed the father/only male in the film with their terrible, vileness -- even though buddy was fucking his daughter and certainly no saint.

The only thing I'm certain of is that he has something going on with water. Oh and that the ending to "See the Sea" would never happen in an American movie. I like that.

I've opened comments. What's your take on this?

Posted by Gayla at 01:01 PM | Comments (11)

January 28, 2005

TO: The Inspectors of the City


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TO: The Inspectors
Taken with Kiev88

TO: The   Inspectors   of   the   City
Garbage is from   377 Lansdowne Ave
AND NOT            379 Lansdowne Ave

WARNING: Garbage that are on the sidewalk or roadside
is not from 379 Lansdowne Ave but from 377 Lansdowne
Avenue.

Children, cyclists, seniors, disabled. . . .if fall down you must

SUE the owners of 377 Lansdowne Ave. who are the
garbage owners.

You must sue the right persons (Canada Law)
Please do not ring the bell or bother 379 Lansdowne Ave
Thank you very much for your attention

Posted by Gayla at 09:13 PM

Time is on Your Side, Now


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Hopscotch
Taken with Great Wall DF-

Above is another photo from my Hometown Tour 2004 visit. I really need to come up with a better name for this series. This one makes it sound like we were driving around town on a giant float, wearing big hats, and sucking keg beer through the tap.

That hopscotch game is one of the same that had been there since I was a kid attending that school -- I'm fairly certain the paint had not been refreshed in all that time.

--------------------------------

Back in early December we ordered the Stephen Shore book "Uncommon Places." It finally arrived yesterday at lunch time. That book is so GOOD. Looking at that book really pepped up my mood a notch. I don't look at the work of well-known photographer's much. I think I harbour a small fear that they'll have too much of an effect on me. And I suppose they do. I'm not sure closing myself off is helping me in any way. In some ways looking has been good. In December I saw a photo by William Eggleston that caught his shadow. I had previously dismissed one very specific photo of mine that caught my shadow as flawed and shit. I'm not a cropper so if I fuck up the framing in-camera it is fucked up forever. The end. Probably a bit of a harsh rule when using a camera with the shittiest, foggiest viewfinder imaginable. You may have also noticed just how insanely off kilter the horizon is in that pic. That was not an intended "arty" effect. By my "rules" that's not enough to ruin a shot, but since using the Kiev (which has a much better viewfinder) my horizons are much straighter. But still, I hate rules except when they're my own.

I really liked that picture but simultaneously felt I had ruined it by catching the shadow. Mind you in my case the shadow was not intended but perhaps it wasn't intended in his case either. I don't know. But seeing that in a photo book gave me permission to be okay with the shadow -- even if it wasn't intended. I hate that I gained some small validation for my own photo by looking at a published photo by a famous photographer but that's what happened.

Back to the Stephen Shore book. Sigh. So good. Looking at those photos made me wish it was summer and that I was on a roadtrip. I even convinced myself that we should take the train to Niagara Falls for a few days -- a place I declared we would NEVER visit again EVER only 5 short years ago. I love that this series was photographed primarily during the mid 70s -- starting with July 1973 just days before my birth. I've always known that the aesthetic choices I make when taking photos had a lot to do with my childhood, but this really confirms it in a new way. All those long views of parking lots and cityscapes confirms my suspicion that a time portal back to the early 70's would make it a lot easier for me to avoid my ugly new car problem and all other instances of awful newification that I work so hard to keep out of photos. I'm very concious of avoiding the trap of nostalgia. To be honest I'm not sure what exactly I'd have to be nostalgic about. But ya, that era is really important to me and I really enjoyed looking at it through someone else's eyes.

I wonder about how much my photos depend on everything that's around me and how different they might be if just one small thing was different. I know for certain that my photos depend on my mood and state-of-mind greatly. I can see them change as I change. I often think back to places I've been, past trips, and remembering the landscape, speculate how different my photos would be if I were to go back today. I like to imagine the shifts that would be created by a myriad of details from the camera, my current interests, to the current state of my health (which has a massive effect on how I take photos), and all those other details.

Posted by Gayla at 11:43 AM

January 27, 2005

And Me Starring as the Female


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The Senator
Taken with Spartus Full-Vue

There's been some action in the Box Camera Revolution group. You should check out John's photo of a bridge. Of course I am regularly asked if box cameras take "old photos" and in this case John did manage to capture that aesthetic.

------------------------------

Here's a hilarious photo of me taken in May 1975. Why are all those stoners hanging around the O.P.P.?

------------------------------

I love these photo studio pics. I have a strange fascination with photo studios and scenic wallpaper. The wallpaper probably stems from all the dental work I had done in childhood with a full-wall-view of a forest in autumn set in front of me. Whenever I see that style of wallpaper I feel compelled to pose in front of it. And photo studios... we had a "family portrait" done once when I was a kid and it was the most gruelling experience imaginable. I'm betting that I've got all kinds of "issues" wrapped up in that single experience alone. Still, I have tried in vain to convince Davin that we should go to the Sears Portrait Studio with huge cowboy hats or something and have "engagement" photos done. We'd have to borrow a large rock from somewhere. Oh now I'm getting started... I also LOVE the "Old Tyme Photos" you can have done in Niagara Falls and other touristy places. The kind where they dress the guys up like cowboys or gangsters and the girls like salon girls (aka prostitutes how quaint!) and then pose you in front of a cabinet of liquor and take the shot with a large view camera. Those are the best but I was only able to convince Davin to do this once five years ago. I'm sure it's all digital now. Grrr. Anyways, we dressed as 20s era gangsters with tommy guns. I dressed in a man's suit because I wanted to be a gangster too but they didn't have gangster outfits for females -- only hooker outfits. See how that works? I wanted it to be a "gangsters in love" portrait in which we'd have our guns and stuff but we'd also be a couple. I still wanted to be a female, which I am, but one that wore a suit and used a gun. Is that too much to ask? But the damned pimply faced teenager they had operating the show just couldn't wrap his head around that and kept insisting that we had to be situated in one of two stock poses: me as a man standing away from Davin with our guns sort of crossing or Davin (in his role as the man) as a gangster standing against the liquor cabinet and myself (starring in the role of the female) dressed as an "olden days prostitute" hanging off the liquor cabinet. All this for 20 bucks!

Needless to say our picture was not in my vision and has been stashed away somewhere never to see the light of day.

Posted by Gayla at 12:03 PM

January 26, 2005

Siblings


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His Welfare Is My Concern
Taken with Polaroid SX70


I like "Old Man" by Neil Young. It's a good song.

Posted by Gayla at 06:49 PM

January 25, 2005

New Year's Day2


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New Year's Day
Taken with Kiev88

Posted by Gayla at 12:11 PM

January 24, 2005

Assorted Izone Pics


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Assorted
Taken with Polaroid I-Zone

I read some of Lynda Barry's "One Hundred Demons" again last night. God I love those stories. Common Scents is my favourite, followed by The Aswang, followed by Resilience. Or maybe it's "Resilience" first. It depends.

--------------------------------------
Later

Oh wait... duh... I completely forgot the reason why I started reading the book again. The last story "Lost and Found" is about writing:

"Lost. Somewhere around puberty. Ability to make up stories. Happiness depends on it. Please write."

I got a lump in my throat when I read that passage. I know exactly when writing was lost to me. I was 17. I left home and my big stack of writing was lost in the move. I didn't write like that again. Was I a good writer then? I have no idea. All I know is that I felt confident about it. That's all that matters really. I'm trying now but the whole exercise is one gigantic freak out. Writing is definitely one of my demons.

Posted by Gayla at 12:05 PM

January 23, 2005

Crap Meat


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Crap Meat
Taken with Polaroid SX70

I told Jim I would post some Polaroids, but then I forgot.

------------------------------------

I finished "The Lovely Bones" today. I like this part:

"I had rescued the moment by using my camera and in that way had found a way to stop time and hold it. No one could take that image away from me because I owned it."

Posted by Gayla at 07:19 PM

January 22, 2005

New Year's Day


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Another Tea
Taken with Kiev88

From New Year's Day.

Posted by Gayla at 12:25 PM

January 21, 2005

Humber Bay


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Humber Bay
Taken with Ansco Shurshot (box camera)

Two box camera photos taken in September when I desperately needed to have a day off and didn't want to be even remotely enticed into doing work by taking photos of plants. Leaving the Nikon at home took a lot of willpower but it worked. I saw a weed that I really needed a shot of but didn't have a camera that could be used.

The photo on the right was taken using a magnifying glass and a measuring tape.

Posted by Gayla at 11:35 AM

January 20, 2005

Box Camera Revolution


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Fall
Taken with Holga

My master plan is working. People are trying out box cameras. Bwahahaha! Even Davin is considering it and I can't tell you how many times I tried the "Wanna try a box camera? Huh? Huh? Come on, it'll be fun. Just one time. You'll like it." line on him. I am giddy with the power.

I also put up a few box camera shots on flickr. There are lots more kicking around but I gotta do some digging.

Posted by Gayla at 11:44 AM

January 19, 2005

Magnolia


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Magnolia
Taken with Great Wall DF-

A little bit of warmth on a freezing day.

I woke up this morning from a really odd dream in which I had gone to my computer to check this site and had discovered that someone else had taken it over. I'm not even sure it was intentional in the sense that they hacked in. It was like they just replaced me. Then I opened up Instant Messenger and there were TONS of people added to my list and I couldn't weed through it all to get to the three people I actually talk to via Instant Messenger.

I usually have pretty crazy dreams just about ever night, but in December I stopped dreaming and/or remembering them when I woke up. Seems like I'm back. It was very frustrating during that time period without that little window into my subconscious.

Posted by Gayla at 12:11 PM

January 18, 2005

Reading


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Berkley
Taken with the Great Wall DF-

We recently rediscovered the goodness of buying used books over buying new. We have since been stockpiling enough books to get us through 2005. Ever since we cut off cable television we've experienced a return to reading. I especially have seen a return to novels. And Davin, who we used to affectionally refer to as "post-literate" (his degree was Fine Art/English) has plowed through a few novels as well.

Last night I finished "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Now I know people will hate me for saying this, but I had to kind of force myself to get through it. I know, Nobel Prize Winner, Oprah's legions, fucking everyone else on the face of the earth who thinks this is the best novel ever written... As I was dozing off last night it suddenly occured to me that the plot, which seemed to focus a lot on themes of fate, destiny, and repeating mistakes generation after generation bugged me. I just can't get behind the concept of fate. The end.

Now I've moved onto "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold which is much, much better suited to me.

What I've got on tap:

-Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
-Orchid Fever by Eric Hansen
-Cavedweller by Dorothy Allison (I've been trying to find "Trash" cause I'm into short stories lately but have been unsuccessful.)
-The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (I am ashamed to say that I was supposed to read a Toni Morrison book in university but my thing then was to take 20 books out of the library at a time, none of which were assigned reading. Plus I was intoxicated by the sheer number of books available to me and hated the fact that I had to purchase copies of assigned books because they were always out. I don't even know how I made it through my first two years of university I was so damn poor.)
-The Farm by Clarence Cooper Jr. (Davin chose this one)
-The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 133/4 by Sue Townsend (I've read this one a million times. Best kids'/preteen novel.)
-The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor (Never heard of it but it's a series of stories about various women and sounded good.)
-Feminist Theory from margin to center by bell hooks (I gotta have my nonfiction)
-The Great Longing by Marcel Moring (Davin picked it. We both read "Smilla's Sense of Snow" by the same author while on vacation years ago. The hotel had some books in the lobby that had been left behind. I enjoyed it but the movie adaptation stank.)

Posted by Gayla at 12:54 PM

January 17, 2005

All the Stuff


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The Leonard: Hometown Tour
Taken with Great Wall DF-

My guy Davin and his pal Ross have launched Making Room, "...a magazine about the process, intention and results of image-making." There's interviews, articles and galleries. I'm most excited about the interview with Phil Bergerson. It's fancy. Plus there's a contest so you can win stuff.

------------------------------------

The entire I Have a Dream Speech

------------------------------------

I started a Flickr Group called "Box Camera Revolution", for sharing box camera photos and general box camera conversation.

------------------------------------

Check out the crazy film that was in my Kiev88 back when it arrived. It didn't have any kind of tape for sealing it at the end of the roll but luckily Davin is working on a photographic project that involves stickers so he had some in his bag. The backing paper was like construction paper. I can't wait to see what's on it. The new back seems a little "unsteady" in the winding department. I had to load and unload the film three times to get it loaded properly. Oh well.

Posted by Gayla at 11:34 AM

January 15, 2005

Why I Will Never Wear Contacts


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Museum
Taken with Horizon 202

JPG Magazine Issue#1

-------------------------------------------

So let's just say, I HATE contact lenses. I got the stupid idea months ago that it might be *neat* to try contact lenses. I've always been uncomfortable with the idea of sticking foreign objects in my eyes, especially because of my allergies, but I thought it would be kind of nice to wear the millions of pairs of sunglasses I've collected but can't wear. Oh my god the horror! I just couldn't get the damn things in. I yelled, I cried, I freaked out. My eyes were puffy and bloodshot as a result of repeatedly, and voluntarily sticking my own finger into my eyes. Today I thought I'd give it a try again. There was actual sun today. I thought I'd put them on and then I could wear sunglasses. Again with the poking and the proding. I even consulted the internet for tips and tricks. I managed to get them in, and wear sunglasses, but by the time we arrived at our destination I couldn't see straight. Plus they kept shifting in my eyes and suddenly I would go from seeing wonky to not seeing at all. The first pair I got from the eye doctor was too strong and had to be replaced, but I think these are too weak. I ended up taking them out (thankfully I brought my glasses and the contact lens case) in the very unhygenic bathroom at the Value Village. It sucks cause I found a very stylish pair of sunglasses at the VV.

------------------------------

Today marks the end of an era. It was bright and sunny (but freezing) so we decided to try and get some pictures and some exercise by walking the tracks to the Value Village. We got busted by the cops. He took our names down and said that if we get caught in there again we'll be fined. VIA has decided to increase the train speed through our area and has stepped up security to keep people off the tracks. Fuckers. Over the summer they brought bulldozers and giant weedwacking machines into the area and completely demolished the little ecosystem along the tracks in order to build a shitload of new townhomes. The area around the tracks is actually quite large with wildflower fields, trees, birds and other animals making it their home. Now it's all gone. Then they built a massive soundbarrier wall around the townhomes and put up new, higher fences and barbed wire in other areas.

Those goddamn townhome/tofts/lofts have completely ruined a good thing. So many people in this area used the pathways to walk their dogs, ride bikes, and take shortcuts through the neighbourhood. And now it's all gone, the walls are up, the cops are patrolling -- all so hundreds of suv driving suburbanites can have their boring, homogenous, and very ugly townhomes. People think it will be cute and fun to live downtown but then they want living in the city to be just like living in the 'burbs. Arg.

At least I had my Horizon camera and managed to get one last set of images.

Posted by Gayla at 08:24 PM

January 14, 2005

...and then there was sun


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Slippers
Taken with Nikon D70

Oh yesterday was so warm and lovely. It was like spring. You could smell the soil. Of course such out-of-season weather comes with a price. They say it was the warmest January day in Toronto ever. EVER. That's not right.

With such nice, warm weather I finally managed to finish a roll of film. It took a month to do 12 shots. That is sad. Princess kitty got to go out on the deck (she hates cold and snow too) so everybody's happy. And today there is actual sun! I've got to find a way to get out there and away from this computer.

I've been posting old Horizon panoramics on Flickr. Oh and my second back for the Kiev88 finally arrived and it has film in it still... from the Ukraine.

Posted by Gayla at 11:45 AM

January 12, 2005

Chairs


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Chairs
Taken with Kiev88

This photo is from the first roll through the Kiev88 (same day as Cupcakes) when sun was taken for granted. I have a full spectrum bulb over my desk but it does nothing during times like this. Nothing! I'm going to have to force myself outside on a picture-taking excursion soon despite the grey blahness because I am slowly going mental.

It's not a great pic but I wanted to post something in colour today and it seems that all I've done over the last few months has been black & white.

Posted by Gayla at 02:24 PM

January 11, 2005

There You Have It


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Jimmy's Fine II
Taken with Kiev88

The first phase of the website for my book is up. I'm starting to get excited. And scared. And excited. And scared. And so on.

Today I saw that the book is being sold at Target stores. How crazy is that? Two years ago Davin and I went to Florida for work-related reasons and on our last day we were stuck in a crappy part of Orlando in order to catch our flight out early the next morning. So to kill time we took a cab to "The Mall of Florida", cause, well, that just cracked me up. I love tackiness and there was no way in hell I was going to leave Florida, the State Capital of Kitsch, without going into a mall -- THE MALL OF FLORIDA no less. It stank. Wayyyy across the massive parking lot I saw a Target. Being Canadians, we'd never been to a Target but we'd heard all about it on cable television. So we made the trip across the parking lot to see what all the fuss was about even though we were about to pass out from starvation with nothing but a shitty meal at Red Lobster to look forward to. Plus heading toward Target meant passing by a ravine that I was sure contained large gators that were just waiting in the shallows, on the prowl for stupid Canadian tourists. Either that or rattlers, other venomous snakes of Florida, and killer spiders... or goths. Although they're all in Tampa I hear. Florida is bursting with danger unlike Southern Ontario where virtually nothing can kill you. Turns out Target is pretty much exactly like Zellers but with better design. I bought a hat. And now my book, which I can't even believe I made, is being sold at Target stores across America, most likely including that store that shares the same parking lot as The Mall of Florida.

There you have it.

Posted by Gayla at 12:51 AM

January 09, 2005

A Little Problem with Authority


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158
Taken with Kiev88

Last night I got started working on writing some stories based on relationships from my childhood. Talking to Davin about it got me excited and the next thing you know I was in "Show & Tell" mode pulling out my grade 7 year book, old photos, and telling stories about all the crazy kids I knew. To be honest, telling stories orally is a lot easier and more engaging than writing them.

Anyway, in going through all that stuff I made a discovery -- I was in the photography club in grade 7!! I totally forgot about that, most likely because my membership lasted all of about 5 minutes. I took some photos at a girls' volleyball game with my shitty kodak instamatic and quickly became disenfranchised with the whole "assigned photography" thing. And so ended any attempt at extracurricular activity for the duration of my education with the exception of grade 8 when I made it onto the girls' basketball team only to be benched the entire season for refusing to follow the coach's orders to play zone instead of man-on-man as per the rules of the school board. My rebellion inspired sweet but short-lived celebrity status amongst the boys' basketball team who thought I was totally cool for insisting on respecting the rules of the game, dude. But man, I just wanted to get an opportunity with the ball rather than being stuck playing defense from the back of the court like a loser. So instead I spent the entire season travelling from school-to-school and game-to-game only to sit on the bench watching when I could have been at home watching the After-School Special.

I have never taken well to authority. That hasn't changed much.

Posted by Gayla at 04:04 PM

January 08, 2005

You're Not Ready For This Dust


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Icicles
Taken with Holga

This one was taken at least a year ago. A few weeks back I realised that I never post Polaroid shots so I frantically dug around for about an hour searching for a particular polaroid of the same icicles. Damnit I couldn't find it anywhere. But magically this morning I found this shot of the same scene on a back-up disk.

I posted a bunch of other cast-off photos from a back-up disk to Flickr. There's a Toy Camera set, and a Pinhole set. I also threw in a few old Lubitel shots. I didn't bother to clean them so get ready for the dust.

Posted by Gayla at 12:46 PM

January 07, 2005

Sinks


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Sinks
Taken with Kiev 88

- Last-minute Toronto Photoblogger meetup tomorrow.

- I've started off another Canadian Seed Trade. The way this works is I send out a package stuffed with different seeds that I'm getting rid of and the next person takes what they want but replace it with their extras, and so on and so on. You have to register to get on the list. I do this because my small urban gardens can only hold so much and seed packets are always too big. I also have a little problem with buying more than I can sow. Plus I collect some of my own seed too. I had loads of good extras this year leftover from all the stuff I had to grow for the book. Most are heirloom veggie varieties such as burgundy okra (these were gorgeous and so were the flowers), red carrots called 'Dragon', and Oaxacan green corn. Plus heirloom tomatoes. I've grown enough varieties by now to know what I like most so I'm passing the extras on to those who want to try out some unusual varieties themselves.

Posted by Gayla at 01:02 PM

January 06, 2005

An Oldie


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On Set
Taken with Great Wall DF-

There's no time to scan something new today. I found this photo taken on the film set last year still on my computer. You might recognize this actor (Gerard Parkes) as the guy from Fraggle Rock. He has a dirty mouth.

Posted by Gayla at 12:50 PM

January 05, 2005

Spector Hardware


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Spector Hardware
Taken with Kiev 88

I don't know if it was the glorious appearance of the sun yesterday (FINALLY), the warmer weather (no longjohns, no puffball jacket), or the fact that I got that meeting out of the way but I'm slowly coming out of the dull haze I've been stuck in since late November.

Yesterday, I had a great conversation with a cab driver about how it seems in western culture that our concept of how life should be is wrapped up too much in the idea that things are always either good or bad, never both. Then later on my way back on the bus I was listening to music and smiling to myself. When I looked up the person sitting across from me made eye contact and smiled too. I immediately got freaked out by that and felt a strong compulsion to turn away and put on that self-protective public transportation face everyone seems to wear on the bus.

There's a point in here somewhere but I'm having difficulty getting to it today.

Posted by Gayla at 03:58 PM

January 02, 2005

Alley, Poles, CN


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CN Tower
Taken with Kiev 88

Posted by Gayla at 01:34 PM

January 01, 2005

I Heart Photo

2004 was a good year for picture-taking. I enjoyed it immensely but got a little burned out by September because I was also simultaneously taking zillions of plant photos for my book. Because I had to lug around the Nikon at all times, I lost a lot of opportunities. My love affair with medium format film, especially my Great Wall camera really took off at the start of the year followed by excitment for the Horizon panoramic. Someday (when I'm independently wealthy) I'd like to get a really good panoramic with less distortion.

In 2004, I also discovered that I no longer care for the 35mm aspect ratio. I prefer square or super wide but I tend not to know what to do with the extra width when using a 35mm camera (or the Nikon digital). Square just feels more intuitive and I prefer looking down into the viewfinder than holding the camera up to my face.

Here's a list of my favourite posted photos of 2004. I don't know if they're my best, but they're the ones that stick in my memory the most.

- Stuck on the Tracks -- 1, 2, 3. We were taking photos on set of a short film and one of the sets was an outdoor location just across the tracks from our place. On the way there we discovered this train that was stuck on the tracks. We had to walk all around it through massive snow drifts in the bitter cold but I got these three photos and I'm still alive to tell so no harm done.

- Laundry- This laundromat in our hood is a real dive but the picture possibilities are good.

- Yellow Chair - My fave of 2004 and the beginning of everything in yellow. Note that my best of 2003 was a photo of an orange chair. The yellow chair was another on-set photo taken on a brutally cold day on a rooftop. I shot this in between takes. The next entry shows my favourite Canadian character actor Jayne Eastwood sitting in the chair. A bigger version of yellow chair is here (looks too yellow though).

- Concession Stand, With Waiting Actor. I put these two together because they're both from another film location. This place was incredible. It was like a bowling alley set inside someone's 70s rec room.

- Jay with Beard - My first attempt with 35mm film in the Holga. I like this one because of the odd perspective.

- Lone Bike - I waited and waited for that instant between cars to get this shot.

- At the Beaver - The Beaver is our local. I like to call it our "Portrait Studio". "Jay with Beard" was also shot at The Beaver. Anyway this photo really wouldn't have been much but I stupidly left the film out and my cat, who has a fetish for crinkly things got a hold of it and had her way. An improvement I'd say.

- Wood Wall - By this point I had pretty much embraced the distortion made by the Horizon. I like the warmth, texture, and repeating pattern of this one. I had a thing for wooden walls but this was the only one I ever bothered to post. I like the next picture too but this is supposed to be a "Best of" not an "Every photo."

- Pinkies Truck and Film - I miss Pinkie's Truck.

- Taking Pictures - People photos aren't my thing but I like this one because it really captures Davin as he is when he "takes the pictures". Plus it's from my first foray out with the Mamiya.

- School with Dandelions - Should have posted this one bigger.

- Vesta Lunch - I pass by here once or twice a week and think of this picture every single time.

- Taking Pictures II - Here's what Davin looks like when he takes pictures fifty years ago.

Hometown Tour Series - Starts here. There are tons of these and I like them all for various reasons. There are still plenty more that may never make an appearance here. The Great Wall really served me well on this trip. Sadly I chose the wrong time to try using filters in the Horizon and fucked up dozens of potentially good photos.

Bigger and better versions of a few more and some that have never been posted on this site can be seen here.

- Balloon Game - I wanted to prove to myself that I could make black and white work at a carnival, especially at night. I was happy with "Balloon Game" and these two: 1, 2. These were all shot with the Diana which is a great little camera because it has a 'B' setting. The Holga does not which forces me to use a flash.

- Bumper Cars - I always seem to get lucky at the CNE and find that one empty corner devoid of human traffic.

- Chained Chairs - They're chairs. They're yellow. Here's the other one.

- The Light on the Door - I don't consider this to be a particularly good photo but it has a special place in my heart because I took it with the conscious realization that my photos had suddenly become more optimistic.

- Juice and Salt - Not only were they more optimistic but I was focussing more on smaller details and seeking out specific types of light.

- Dupont Subway Station - The light, the orange, more optimism.

- Untitled (downtown St. Catharines)

- 1255 - Damn this broken camera back. After this I couldn't get enough of curtains and windows.

- Behold Katsup - More light. And my new favourite camera the Kiev 88. Once that second working back arrives from the Ukraine I'll be rocking.

Posted by Gayla at 01:30 PM | Comments (8)