Glow

I guess it's a good thing that I keep stumbling across images in my Library that I like but have forgotten about. And make good candidates for a strong black and white treatment. Such is the case below.

This was captured last November while in Vancouver. View from downtown about a block from the amazing Olympic torch (posted here). Sun was falling and the clouds were glowing. More so when rendered with strong intent. Courtesy of Silver Efex Pro 2 with two conversions applied and masked together, one for sky and another for mountains and below.

Solo Act

Silver Efex Pro 2 has me searching for B&W candidates again. This one from a weekend at the lake last summer - with all this snow it seems like a lifetime ago.

That single, stark tree being lit up by the falling sun is what caught my eye. Although this black and white rendition is a lot darker than the original color image.

Rest Stop

Have a busy few weeks ahead so will probably be taking a break from here. And with that a "rest stop" seems reasonably appropriate as a theme. Sitting waiting for (yet another) flight at the airport, seeing if I could find something to shoot without having to move.

No message or story or commentary here. Just graphic elements.

Artsy

Perusing some images and came across this from the lake last summer. Had meant to do something with it but it fill into the pile. Had always intended for this type of treatment as it suits the atmosphere of the shot. Just a pale, cool, low hanging mist.

Quite a departure from the modern urban jungle posts that precede it.

The Renaissance

From one group of towers to another. Previous post had the twisters from Mississauga. Below is the incredible quintet of architecture in downtown Detroit known as GM Renaissance Center. It consists of a central tower surrounded by four smaller siblings. My hotel was directly across from it on the Windsor side. Would have been very cool to see the grounds up close. Amazing, futuristic looking structure so I went with that feeling on this two images.

The first is from my hotel window, with the reflection of the morning sun cast into the water and snaking its way towards me.

The second is a straight on shot from the boardwalk, with an icy cool monochrome to set off the Jetsons-like design of the towers.

Twisted

During a previous trip to Toronto (well, Mississauga... but it sounds better saying "Toronto") I drove past these really cool condos being constructed near Square One mall.


Kicking myself that I didn't have my camera with me (fat lot of good it was doing me back at the hotel) I made a mental note to come back and play. Had some time this evening to do just that. With all those lines and curves there are plenty of options but I knew I wanted to grab some abstract details.





Dr. Seuss, anyone?

ADDENDUM: The good folks at Design.org picked up this series of photos on their blog.

Irony?

I don't know if "Irony" is the right title for this post. "Then and Now" maybe? Regardless, I took this off-the-cuff shot today whilst waiting for my flight. I thought it humorous to see this guy so absorbed in his PDA, with his laptop open beside him, amidst a bank of unoccupied payphones.

A Dash of Color

After a few black & whites in a row figured it was time to roll with some color again.

First up, a view out my window from an unreasonably early Monday flight. One good thing about it I guess. Last glimpse of home for a few days...

...with travel taking me back to Toronto and area. Stop and start traffic on the 401, with me as a passenger, gave me the opportunity to grab these backlit bullrushes along the highway. More interesting than the taillights in front of me, that's for sure.

Later in the day has me arriving in Windsor with a hotel located along a nice boardwalk across from downtown Detroit, and a rapidly setting sun. Nice place to have a seat and relax.

Publish Post

Heavy

Reviewing images from travel last week. A couple of them popped out at me. Both dark. Both a little odd. Both very heavy in their black and white treatments.

The first, strangely enough, is a hallway facing a bank of windows in my hotel. Walking past and the early evening sun hammering in against the wall struck me. Stood there for a minute then turned around to grab my camera from my room. Extremely high contrast - here's where knowing a thing or two about how cameras think comes in handy. ;-) All I wanted were the highlights and set up my shot accordingly, knowing this was going to be the end result.

Just columns of light. That's all I wanted.

A couple days later. New room. New view. This time overlooking the Detroit River from Caesar's Hotel in Windsor, Ontario. Morning light bounced off of the spectacular GM Renaissance Place (more to come of that) into the water, while on the near shore broken ice was making its way downstream.

Light, dark. Frozen, thawed. Warm, cold. All contrasts, with a conversion to match.

Propellers

Travelling in Ontario this week and found myself driving the 401 West towards Windsor. Halfway'ish there these windmill farms starting appearing. With the light starting to drop I thought they could make an interesting image. Took a bit to find the right group - these are arranged to illustrate depth and scale, with a bit of movement at the edges of the blades.