mykodachrome: October 2005

up and down

A Toronto subway sign against the backdrop of tall glass towers at Yonge and Bloor.

garbage

An odd shot for sure - garbage outside a Hamilton apartment building.

giggles

It is hard not to laugh a lot when you are nine-years-old! In this respect I think we should all act like nine-year-olds.

This is a picture of an aspiring photographer. At a party, give your camera to a child, tell them NOT to drop it, and let them loose and you will get the best pictures ever because guests feel comfortable being themselves when a child takes the picture! Also hand around a notebook for people to write down their e-mail addresses to receive copies of the pictures - lots of fun!

shermeen

Jason is designing four banners that will be displayed on York Boulevard in downtown Hamilton. The banners will convey messages of love, hope, peace and joy with each banner having a person's face that signifies one of these notions. Likely my nephew Andrew will be on the poster that signifies joy and Jason asked me to take a picture of Shermeen that would fit with the idea of a hope that sustains - here is one of the pictures from the photoshoot.Jason thanks for having me help - Shermeen thanks for being a sport!

jason

I had lunch with my friend Jason today and heard his new song - awsome! Can't wait for the album to come out - more information coming soon or check out his website at: www.jasonsilver.com

hat needed now

With a wind-chill well below zero by the time I had walked up Yonge Street to Bloor my ears were freezing - even I have to admit that summer has now truly ended.

the green knight

When I was taking this picture near Owen Sound some people in a truck stopped and told me that it led to a replica castle. The gates then reminded me of England and a place where Sir Gawain was said to have traveled long ago seeking the Green Knight. A fourteenth century contemporary of Chaucer told of the Green Knight who rode into Camelot on new-years day insulting the Court and challenging any to strike him a single blow on condition that a year hence he would be allowed to return that blow. Sir Gawain quickened by anger rose to the challenge and struck off the Green Knight's head with a single swipe. Everyone thought the matter settled but the Green Knight rose, picked up his head, and told Sir Gawain to seek him out at the Green Chapel in one year for the blow to be returned. Next Yuletide Sir Gawain sought the Green Knight and perhaps it was gates like these he opened and wondered:

Can this be the Green Chapel? Here might the devil say his mattins at midnight! Now I wis there is wizardry here. 'Tis an ugly oratory, all overgrown with grass, and 'twould well beseem that fellow in green to say his devotions on devil's wise. Now feel I in five wits, 'tis the foul fiend himself who hath set me this tryst, to destroy me here! This is a chapel of mischance: ill-luck betide it, 'tis the cursedest kirk that ever I came in!

Needless to say after taking the picture I did not venture through the gates - but when I got home I did re-read my copy of the tale. For those who have not read the story I recommend it, especially the translation by J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon. The story is not entirely as it sounds, of two men full of bravado, but rather it is a story of deeper meanings and warnings for those driven by pride and thoughts of being better or more noble than their peers.

gold on green

Autumn leaves pattern the moss blankets that cover limestone rocks deep in the woods of Inglis Falls Conservation Area.

inglis woods

I visited Inglis Falls Conservation area and read about the recent history of that place. Yet exploring the woods I found rock formations and potholes from the last ice age and I developed a hunch that this place probably has a human history that goes back thousands of years just like the woods in England where I am from. Yet unlike the woods where I am from, the ancient history this particular Canadian wood seemed to be missing, either that or it has been taken away.