"Live" Crabs & Lobsters (February, 2002)

This somewhat suspicious-looking storefront sign was spotted in Victoria, British Columbia. What on earth could have possessed these proprietors to place the word "Live" in quotation marks-? The implications are bizarre and off-putting, to say the least.

St. Laurent & Marie-Anne Est, (November, 2000)

Plateau-Mont Royal, Montréal. This picture brings back some fond memories of my Canadian "home-town" during my favourite season. Looking forward to heading back in October for a reunion!

La Fête Nationale du Québec (June 23/24 (?), 2000)

Taken on Québec's "national holiday", at Parc-Nature de l'Île-de-la-Visitation, in Montréal. The park is one of a network of "large parks" in Montréal, which also includes Bois-de-l’Île-Bizard nature park on Lac des Deux Montagnes, and parc-nature du Bois-de-Liesse.

While living in Montréal, I often took buses to these "large parks" to explore; urban parks of significant size were an unfamiliar phenomenon for me, and Montréal has quite a few, as well as (of course) the downtown parcs Mont-Royal and LaFontaine. I enjoyed the sense of being "outside" the city even while within it.

Jane Street & East Drive (Sunday, September 6, 2009)

I took this while waiting for the bus last night, after Nathan's backyard BBQ/house-warming get-together. It took six or seven shots before I found a way to keep the camera steady enough (every other shot was blurred, of course, thanks to the low light). Of course, once I saw that the bright full moon would make it into the image, I had to persist until I conquered the lighting conditions. I thought the result was worth it; the moon, hanging in the upper left-hand corner of the picture, looks like some larger, higher-up version of the lights attached to the building, an effect I'd hoped for.

Pretty Bears (June 26, 2005)

Taken, naturally, at Toronto Pride (while waiting for the parade to begin). There's nothing like a bear in a dress to get the party started.

Sadly, I can't recall the make/model of the camera I used, nor any of the technical details of its capacity.

Window Dusk (August, 2005)

Casa del Popolo, my favourite coffee-shop/performance space in Montréal; looking out onto St. Laurent Boulevard.

I love the Casa. Since seeing this window decoration I've always wanted to recreate the chili-pepper-lights-and-vines effect in my own apartment; at this stage I even have a good idea about how it could be done. I just have to get up the courage to start drilling holes in my apartment ceiling, and attaching hooks for plants.

Danger (Winter, 2002-2003)

Taken during the initial round of my little "Development!" project, this picture (it's a scanned print) is of a power pole by a new subdivision, somewhere near Burlington or Oakville, Ontario. My fondness for power lines conveniently intersects here with another foible, a perpetual amusement at "everyday" signage.

Pre-Garden (August, 2004)

Backyard, Queen Street South apartment, Hamilton. This was the way it looked when we first moved in, though over time it was transformed into what actually looked rather like a proper garden. I will post plenty of "after" pictures later on, but at the beginning I used to think of it as a "mud pit" (which, after winter, was an apt description).

Cloister, Magdalen College (July 10, 2009)

I visited this beautiful college at Oxford University recently while attending a conference (also at Oxford) in the UK. Naturally, one of my primary motivations for visiting was that Oscar Wilde was affiliated with this particular college, so I couldn't resist.

It was a lovely place, very quiet... until the bells started ringing!

Christchurch Bridge (January, 2001)

Christchurch, New Zealand. I walked across this stone memorial bridge on the way to the Botanical Gardens.