Avenue du Parc (October, 2001)

Another crisp, autumnal day in Montréal.

I'm following my current thoughts into the past and back again, as I was with the student protest pictures posted on Friday and Saturday. I've been hoping to get away to Montréal for the newly-created October "reading week". I'm checking for train tickets this morning, in fact.

Do You Like Cannons (July 2002)

Here Lucas reclines on a mounted cannon that was parked next to a random castle-like building that we found just outside of Hamilton. My description is vague because I had never seen the place before, and in fact I've never seen it since. Lucas was visiting (Toronto, actually) from Halifax; we went for a drive, and I think we might have been looking for waterfalls; again, the details escape me. I've always found the photo charmingly amusing, for reasons that are probably obvious.

Student Bag (November 5, 2008)

Taken at the 2008 CFS November 5th Day of Action; this picture specifically was shot in Vari Hall at York University, as students rallied before being bussed to a downtown Toronto march to Queen's Park, the seat of Ontario's provincial government.

Meta-note: My two student activist photographs in sequence are not accidental. I am spending this weekend in a meeting of the Ontario Executive for the CFS, and my mind is on organization and political work.

Student Protest, King's College (January 27, 1998)

I believe this event was a Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) day of action, and the march began at King's College in Halifax and progressed across the Dalhousie campus, ending up downtown by the government buildings.

I love this picture because of that "captured" expression on this person's face. I should really know what his name was--I'm pretty sure he was actually in my photography class, and this photo was taken during my first year at NSCAD. I think the camera he is holding is one borrowed from "The Cage", which was the nickname for the photography department's equipment/tech room from which cameras and other items could be signed out by students.

What you can see in the foreground, blurred, is a profile view of someone else holding a camcorder (this was before you could buy really small digital cameras with video recorders in them, such as the one I use at the moment, a Sony Cybershot). For some reason it took me some time to figure out that the large, white blurred object is actually the lens cap for the camcorder.

Catnap (28 July, 2009)

Mr. Bingley and below (as usual), Mr. Darcy. Here they are almost 10 months old. Unlike some sibling cats, these two have never stopped curling up together when sleeping. They seem to run on basically the same schedule, and although during the summer months they were less likely to cuddle up close while napping, they still often slept near each other (as in this picture). Now that cooler autumn weather has rolled around again, I see them sleeping together more often.

Quebec City (April, 2001)

The white T-shirt at right, which reads "FUCK LE SOMMET", reveals something of the context of this visit to Québec City. I was actually visiting the weekend before the Summit of the Americas, since the following weekend I didn't have the means to get back to Q.C. from Montréal. Still, the fences were stacked up around the perimeter of the old city, ready to be maneuvered into place--and the locals had already begun to grafitti the large concrete bases of what would be the building blocks of a wire enclosure.

Self (July, 2004)

My first attempt at using plaster bandage to make a mask by applying it directly to my face, then building up the outside of the mask with more bandage in a papier-mâché fashion. This was the first layer, designed to provide the scaffold for the rest of the mask's design.

Storm Coming (July 1, 2000)

Taken on a trip to Ottawa for Canada Day, 2000. Since I shot this one on film, it wasn't until after I had the printed developed that I saw how the clouds looked brighter around the lamps on the side of the hill.

The thunderstorm that followed shortly after I took this picture was just as intense as those clouds might lead you to suspect. I remember I was wearing a thin cotton summer dress (it does get very hot and humid in Ontario, in the summer), and I got drenched through before I managed to get inside a tent. Fortunately thin cotton also dries quickly!

Bulldozer (Winter 2002-2003)

Another in the "Development!" series.

Watchers (Milan, May 24, 2007)

Another photo taken while I walked on the roof of the Duomo in Milan, Italy.

This is a church saturated with statuary (3,400 in total, according to one source). The outside is made of carved white marble, and supports what looks like a lacework of stone, a spun-sugar facade cleverly cloaking what turns out to be a classically imposing Gothic cathedral. It is a (deliciously) shocking contrast when entering the dark interior of the church from outside on a 30-degree May day, the piazza pavement blazing with the clear Italian sunlight while the cool silence of the church seems to echo back its six centuries.

Up on the roof, I framed this image in such a way as to show what a view might look like for these figures, suspended on stalks of pale marble high above Milan, now-anonymous holy characters (for how many of us can visit them and can name them?) perpetually gazing out over the city's rooftops. I like the sense of isolation and watchfulness.