Gritty pink after work bus

Gritty pink after work bus - #333/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

After work I walked a few blocks to see what I could find for my daily shot. As today was very overcast and the days are getting shorter, time was working against me. I spotted this pink bus and liked the gritty building backdrop, but I had to bump up the ISO to 1600 and still had to be steady with a 1/30th second exposure. I bumped up the contrast to get the most out of the colour and the wall texture. I decided on a wider shot to incorporate the street light and show some time of day context. I then just waited for a passerby to add a human element and framed her in the lighter brick work. Having the pink door markings was a unplanned bonus.

George's hangout

George's hangout - #332/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

I work close to The World's Biggest Bookstore on Edward Street and I've often thought about trying to capture a shot that relates to the bold words written on its red walls. There are often panhandlers on this street and I spotted this man looking for a handout from my vantage spot across the street. I took a few shots looking for some interaction with people passing by and I overheard him asking for viagra so I thought this guy had a pretty interesting sense of humour. So I went over and asked how he was. He asked if I could buy him a bottle of wine and then noticing my camera asked if I wanted to take his photo in exchange for some change. I asked him his name and introduced myself. His name is George and he's been living on the street since 1982.

I've taken a few shots of homeless people from afar in the past and struggled with the difficulty of asking for a photograph with expectations of a donation. But George seemed pretty at ease and we got chatting and I offered him some loose change and started taking some shots.

George told me a little about himself, he has a pacemaker, is suffering from a hernia and a recently injured and badly swollen ankle. I asked him about his Real Madrid shirt. and he said Cristiano Ronaldo gave it to him when he was here in Toronto for the film festival. He said hockey star, Matts Sundin once gave him $50 as well ! He asked me about my English accent, his dad was from Manchester. George was previously a salvage contractor, and he told me he has an 18 year old son. I found it very easy talking with George, while chatting he continued to ask people for a variety of serious and joke handouts and favours. I like his sense of humour, perhaps his way of dealing with his difficult circumstances. I'm sure I'll give George an occasional donation and see how he's doing in the future.

George almost didn't make it into my daily photo project. The shots were taken late in the afternoon and he was facing the setting sun. In-camera, the shots looked ok, but when I looked closer at home, there was lots of overexposure on his face and I'd lost some nice detail. I could easily recover the shots using the RAW versions and I was really pleased with some of the results. So much so, I wasn't sure if an unedited shot was worthy of George and my daily shot. I chose this unedited casual shot because I wanted George in the project (and on my blog) and the shot did capture the initial intention of showing some context with the store's wall of words.

George is #74 in my 100 Stranger project.  For more shots of George, please view them here.

Urban landscape maple leaf

Urban landscape maple leaf - #331/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Believe it or not, It took about 30 shots to get this to something I liked (call me obsessive). I spotted a similar leaf as I was walking my dog in the neighbourhood and I thought the mixed wet/dry of the road added a little interest to the shot. There was a distracting unnatural mark on the original leaf so I found a suitable replacement and worked on a few different compositions. I wanted to keep the right side of the frame a little out of focus to give some depth, but as I was taking the shot at an angle I had some difficulty keeping the whole leaf in focus at the same time. I thought the wet/dry line in the road produced a little bit of a geographic contour or map feature, but then again it was late ! Big thanks to my dog Kooper who was a very patient companion while I was on my knees at the side of the road for a good 10 mins. The pop-up flash worked fine and shooting an angle to the ground made sure the flash didn't blow out or flatten the shot.

Sunnybrook sunburst fall smiles

Sunnybrook fall smiles - #330/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

After a long walk in Sunnybrook park I took a few portrait shots with this warm yellow tree backdrop. As I was shooting into the sun, I decided to use it for effect and allow it to burst through and use flash to brighten my kids' faces and bring out I nice glow.

Someone's late

Someone's late - #329/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

The fall colours come and go so quickly here in Ontario so I've been snapping quite a few shots this weekend while the weather is beautiful. Some trees are in full fall colours, some have already lost of a lot of leaves and many still haven't shown any interest in changing yet. This tree is on my regular dog walk route and I liked the contrast of green outcropping with the sea of orange. The shot is quite close to horizontal and the dark tree branches provided a nice frame for the leaves.

Electric focus

Electric focus - #328/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

My good friend was visiting this weekend and he brought along his electric guitar so he could jam a little with my son. I've tried to play a few musical instruments in my life, but I've never been able to get past real beginner levels. So I'm an awe with musicians at all levels, including my son who's been learning for about a couple of years and my fiend who's recently picked it up again. Just like the concert photography I enjoy, I find taking shots of any musician interesting. The combination of beautifully designed instruments with the concentration, focus and all manner of facial expressions makes for wonderful photography subjects.

Walter's smile

Walter's smile - #327/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Walter Gretzky is perhaps one of the best known and most loved sports dads. The NHL season kicked off today and there was a large Face-Off 2010 event happening at Yonge Dundas Square. Mr Gretzky was being interviewed along with old Maple Leaf players, Darryl Sittler and Jim McKenny (see here for other shots of the event). This is the first time I've heard Walter speak in person and he came across as such a nice man, comfortably talking about his love of hockey and of course his son, Wayne.