Take Off! My Life and Times in Toronto

At the Erie Canal's Entrance

Bosney took me to the location where he made his Quicktime VR image of the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers at Waterford, NY.

Here's my static shot of the Erie Canal sign.

Towards the first lock of the Erie Canal is this welcome sign (in both English and French ... sort of).

To the left of the sign is part of the original "ford" in the Mohawk River, from which Waterford, NY gets its name (kudos to Bill for telling me this).

On the new bridge between Pebbles Island and Waterford, NY, you will see this view of the last lock on the Erie Canal. You can spot the Erie Canal sign on the left bank and Waterford, NY on the right.

When we arrived near the spot where he took his images, an enormous flock of Canada geese came down the Mohawk and approached us, figuring me to be a bread tossing biped.

Bill taunted me to "get down at the water level" when the geese were coming in. He, however, maintained a goose-nipping safe distance away.

Bill noted that the tide was in and the water level was much higher than when he took his shots for his QuickTime VR image.

Dallas, From Above

Some shots I took of Dallas from the air two weekends ago flying back to Toronto. This shot of downtown is looking south, with Woodall Rodgers stretching across the bottom of the frame, and Central Expressway on the left side. You can also see Interstate 30 and part of Fair Park on the left. The West End is not in frame, nor is the Reunion Tower complex. You can make out The Cresent near the middle of the frame at the bottom, and the American Airlines Center is on the bottom right.

This is most of White Rock Lake, with the north end of the lake on the left side and the southern dam on the right. The Arboreteum is in the middle of the picture, above the lake (on the east side).

Alanna's Vision

Alanna took a photography art class this summer ... amazing to think that the MISD is capable of teaching art. I set her up with a Minolta SR-T 201 and an XD-5, as well as a 50mm and 35-70mm Rokkor-X zoom lens.

Despite her protests to the contrary, she did learn about photography using a classic manual focus, film-based camera. In fact, I'm quite taken with her artistic vision.

I love seeing what kids do with cameras. They don't have a mission, they don't have prejudices about what's right or wrong to photograph. They just want to explore.

And as much as she hates it when I say so ... I'm so very pleased that she's learned to use a classic camera. She'll likely be one of the few people in her generation to ever take photos using a film camera, and perhaps she can see the miracle that photography is thanks to this experience.

New Photos

I picked up the slides I shot at Niagara Falls, Ithaca, the Catskills and Rensselaer Polytechnic yesterday, and scanned most of them last night. Here are some highlights.

At Enfield Glen, I experimented with some different exposures using a tripod. The goal here is the long exposure that softens the water and widens the depth of field.

This is a better shot of the Whirlpool Jet boat, showing a compliment of passengers and the jet wash the boat kicks up in the Whirlpool. Compare this image with the one I took on the Coolpix 5400 on June 26th.

New! Improved! Images

I finally processed a roll of Fuji Provia 100 slide film I've been shooting since May in my Minolta XD-11. Here are the results.

First up is a gorgeous shot of the Whitney Point, NY reservoir and the valley surrounding it.

This is the Horseshoe Falls at Niagara Falls, Ontario. I shot this slightly into the sun, at around 1/125th and f/22 with my newer 135mm Rokkor-X MD lens. I was hoping to catch some interesting shape in the water. It ended up looking like the caldera of a water volcano.

This is also the Horseshoe Falls, taken from the 28th floor of the Embassy Suites in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I shot this at 1/1000th a second, to catch more edge in the water. I think I succeeded.

Same subject, same location, but this time with my 28mm wide angle lens. You really begin to appreciate the fine grain of this film when you can see (clearly) both the Grand Island bridge crossing the Niagara River, and also parts of Buffalo, NY in the background (this lower resolution JPG doesn't show as much).

This is a close-up of the Horseshoe Falls, again at a high shutter speed to capture the water in midflight.

And finally, another shot of the Toronto city silhouette shot from Queenston, Ontario (across the lake) at a Scenic View stop on the Niagara Parkway. Unlike the shot taken with the 5mp digital camera, this one shows glint off of the CN Tower, and you can clearly see the Skydome and antenna on buildings.

Scene from Downtown

The arty photo I took this weekend is of the United Methodist Church, just off of Yonge Street (across from Henry's huge photo store). This somewhat rural looking block is surrounded by large buildings, giving the area a surreal look and feel. Nice to see some more pastoral views remaining in a very urban setting.