As seen from the tallest point at Casa Loma
Sunday, November 30, 2008
At the Casa Loma
The Casa Loma was built as the private residence of a very rich man, Sir Henry Pellatt. Ever famously derided as a 'five legged elephant', deserving to be 'stuffed and mounted' to remind people of its monstrosity, and considered a blight to the local landscape for its romantic notions of castle-hood, with its crenellated walls, high spires, and commanding location on a hill, it is now owned by the city of Toronto, and run by the Kiwanis club. As you can see, the grounds that are open the public are impossibly large to maintain; this photo was taken inside one of the spires, where the raw brickwork was probably deemed by the vandals as more spots to leave their mark.
Well, whatever. A pretty picture of Serene. And I'm quite glad how this picture turned out, because it would have been close to impossible to make with lesser gear. Just in case you were wondering: there was no window to her right, and the ambient light is actually as dark as the background behind her. Flash was bounced off the wall on her right, made of brick, so the reflected light had a reddish cast, warming the tones in the picture.
Monday, November 17, 2008
MiKE: Santa Claus Parade
Yesterday was the Santa Claus Parade. Started in 1905 as a means for a retailer to drum up business for Christmas season, it consisted of only one horse float carrying Santa Claus from downtown Union Station (the rail hub) to the Eaton Centre. Now, over a hundred years later, the kid-oriented parade has grown to 25 floats, 24 bands, over 1700 participants, and hundreds of thousands of spectators, including the live telecast. We decided to take a walk, do the touristy thing, and see what the fuss was about. The parade was supposed to start at about 12:30, and take about 2-3 hours for all the floats and contingents to wind its way through almost six kilometres through downtown Toronto. We started out at about noon, and since the parade passed by very close to where we stay, we did not have far to walk to get to see what people were doing as they waited for the parade to start.
Apparently, to get the good views of the parade, many families had arrived early, and set up comfortable places; many of them brought warm blankets, some had foam pads to keep the bums insulated from the cold pavements, and many of them had brought some ladder or constructed an elaborate scaffold set up so that the kids could view from a high enough vantage point. At some places, this was necessary because even though it was supposed to be a kid's parade, the streets were lined with adults, and older kids. Some of the solutions we saw:
The problem with coming early was that the kids had to wait out in the cold for quite a long time. The temperature went as low as about 3-4ºC, and it even snowed at one point. One way to spend the time was to get the kids to paint a poster:
Although I personally have my reservations about this. One day, the kid is going to learn the truth; about how this is a festival celebrating the winter equinox co-opted by a religion to commemorate the apparently miraculous birth of their leader who would be murdered before middle age.
After a long enough wait where we walked along the parade route, the parade started and caught up with us. There were the usual floats, some marching bands, and even cheerleaders. This is the part I don't get--the sexism; ah well, insert the standard feminist critique here:
A few words about this photo: This is actually a frame out of a series of eight shot in continuous mode. All of them turned out good. I am impressed with my camera!
As we walked along the route, we came across the junction of Dundas and University, which is really close to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). AGO's opening was last Friday, and they were having free admission over the weekend, and extra late hours, till midnighton Friday and Saturday. Interestingly, at the junction, it seemed like there was an exodus of people who were moving toward the AGO:
We went to take a look, and the queue was very long, almost 500m in length, and, according to some, was at least an hour in the cold before admission. Not wanting to wait in line, we moved on, to see a guy in a Santa outfit, skating away from the parade route:
And one last photo; this one of a clown, who, in this photo, looks like he's about to slap the kid. On the face:
Apparently, to get the good views of the parade, many families had arrived early, and set up comfortable places; many of them brought warm blankets, some had foam pads to keep the bums insulated from the cold pavements, and many of them had brought some ladder or constructed an elaborate scaffold set up so that the kids could view from a high enough vantage point. At some places, this was necessary because even though it was supposed to be a kid's parade, the streets were lined with adults, and older kids. Some of the solutions we saw:
The problem with coming early was that the kids had to wait out in the cold for quite a long time. The temperature went as low as about 3-4ºC, and it even snowed at one point. One way to spend the time was to get the kids to paint a poster:
Although I personally have my reservations about this. One day, the kid is going to learn the truth; about how this is a festival celebrating the winter equinox co-opted by a religion to commemorate the apparently miraculous birth of their leader who would be murdered before middle age.
After a long enough wait where we walked along the parade route, the parade started and caught up with us. There were the usual floats, some marching bands, and even cheerleaders. This is the part I don't get--the sexism; ah well, insert the standard feminist critique here:
A few words about this photo: This is actually a frame out of a series of eight shot in continuous mode. All of them turned out good. I am impressed with my camera!
As we walked along the route, we came across the junction of Dundas and University, which is really close to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). AGO's opening was last Friday, and they were having free admission over the weekend, and extra late hours, till midnighton Friday and Saturday. Interestingly, at the junction, it seemed like there was an exodus of people who were moving toward the AGO:
We went to take a look, and the queue was very long, almost 500m in length, and, according to some, was at least an hour in the cold before admission. Not wanting to wait in line, we moved on, to see a guy in a Santa outfit, skating away from the parade route:
And one last photo; this one of a clown, who, in this photo, looks like he's about to slap the kid. On the face:
Saturday, November 15, 2008
MiKE: Lest we forget
Last Tuesday was Remembrance day. This year was supposed to be especially significant as it marks some anniversary of the beginning or end of some war some time ago.
Yes, I am being somewhat contrarian and disrespectful, if only because I am somewhat of a pacifist myself. I understand that the wars, and wars in general, are highly unfortunate things, representing a massive breakdown in our ability to communicate. Many unfortunate people die. It is sad, especially for the families of those who died.
But why hold elaborate memorials for the dead? And why only the dead on 'our side'? Are the enemy combatants less human? What about all the other victims of all the other wars that have been fought? Are we possibly glamourising something that is, in essence, no different from murder, vandalism, and property destruction, except in scale?
...
So, at the UofT, there is a tall clock tower, the Soldiers' Tower, which commemorates the war dead of the UofT. Annually, a ceremony will be held there. At the foot of the tower, there are a few walls, upon which the names of the fallen UofT students and alumni have been inscribed. I saw this woman look wistfully at the names on the wall, almost as if she recognised a name or two. I sincerely hope that it was my imagination. It would have been quite sorrowful for a mother to have to bury her children.
MiKE: Rainy Day
AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) official opening was yesterday, with free entry till tomorrow. Christmas (already!?) festivities beginning today at Yonge-Dundas Square. Santa Claus Parade tomorrow. And it's raining, and expected to snow tomorrow. ...come again another day?
I actually don't mind the snow, the rain is irritating because it is wet.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
MiKE: Halloween at Church Street
So, every year, in downtown Toronto, along Church Street from Wellesley to Alexander streets, there is a grand Halloween party, where people come together, put on costumes, hang out with friends and strangers, to be gawked at, photographed, and generally have fun, soaking in the atmosphere together with thousands of others. Of course, it needs to be mentioned that Church and Wellesley is the epicenter of the gay quarter of downtown Toronto; not that that necessarily means anything though. On the other hand, it was quite obvious that there were many queer people out that night, with some of the costumes reminiscient of those worn during the pride parade this year, and some outright re-cycles.
I went shooting (photographs) with the local Toronto Photography Meetup Group (which I guess could do with a classier renaming), which reminded me very much of the Aprilia Riders Club back in Singapore - boys (and one or two girls) with gadget lust who wanted to socialise with other like minded people and avoid the sad loner otaku stereotype; arranging meetings over the forums to meet at public places, holding up human (or otherwise) traffic, and the inevitable penis length contests as the quintessential getting-to-know-you banter. I guess some things are just trans-cultural.
So, anyway, we arranged to meet at 7:30, waiting till about 7:45 for latecomers before proceeding to the party, more like a street festival where people turned up in costume. As expected, the party only really got going later, at around 11pm. Till then, we walked around, photographing anything and everything that moved, or didn't (hooray for digital photography!). Soon enough, because it was a free-floating group, of which many of us were first timers who barely got to know each other, we were broken up into many groups; and the crushing crowds did not help.
It was interesting to see the kinds of costumes people had on. There was the usual gore and horror genres, the superheroes, political figures (I saw at least 3 different Sarah Palins, including the party host), angels, ethnic costumes, and the odd S&M couple here and there (I saw one bound submissive led by a chain around the neck). Interestingly enough, it seemed that there was an implicit understanding here that it was like a photographic festival - anyone could go up to anyone else in costume, and ask to have their picture taken with them; photographers could ask those in costume to pose, and they would willingly oblige, often hamming it up especially for those carrying big cameras and lenses. Often, we would not even need to ask, all we needed was to point a lens in their direction, and they would put up their act. This actually made it difficult to capture candid moments though, which I think would have made a better picture - like the one where this guy in some werewolf mask had to have his companion light his cigarette as he could not see where his mouth and cigarette were.
Anyway, enough talk, here are some pictures:
Sarah Palin as the party's host; apparently she's some radio personality from across the lake in Chicago. Notice the price tag on her sleeve:
I liked my flickr title and note for this picture; I wrote: "Don't mess with her... She has a pair of handcuffs and may have a gun hidden in there somewhere":
One of the ethnic costumes that looked like it came straight out of the Pride parade Thai float. Pictures like this highlight what I mentioned above about how it was a photographers' festival - people, even those not in costume posing with the costumed, generally didn't mind if their picture was taken by others besides their designated photographer (companion, etc):
One of those whom I had difficulty identifying the costume. Strangely enough, this picture has garnered a huge view count in a very short time on flickr. Any ideas why, and who the one on the left is supposed to be? Leave comments please.
The obligatory horror and gore costume. The obviously plastic nail through the head is just so fake. Even so, he was an enthusiastic performer, 'conducting' the photographers, telling us to "get your cameras ready now, blood coming out in 3, 2, 1..." after putting some of that fake blood in his mouth:
The Canadian swim team gals! It was not cold that night; in the crowd it was comfortable, but then, what would have been their costume if the temperature had been like a couple of nights ago, floating around 0-5ºC?
The pilot and attendants from "Trans-continental airlines", who won the best team costume prize. They were going around, asking people "Do you want some of our nuts"?
Palin again. This one is interesting, they were walking in opposite directions along Church street, met, and had to have their photo taken:
Ernest and Bertram got married. The anti-ending to this tragic tale:
One of the ethnic costumes, a pair of geishas:
And the winner of the best individual costume:
Vincent Van Gogh, which, if you look carefully, has his eyelids closed and painted, so that they look more like a painting. That was also a good idea, as he would have been exposed to thousands of flashbulbs all night. In his picture frame, he also had a few white LED lamps directed at his head. All in all, deserving of the award.
So, my thoughts? I'm mildly amazed and dismayed at the profligacy of the entire event, but then that is probably close to an extreme stoic position; cultures around the world have their ways of wasting resources for no better reason than to have a good time; for this I am thinking of Spanish (Italian?) tomato festivals, Chinese New Year decorations, Christmas, Japanese matsuris, among others. It was great fun for all, I only wished that less resources could have been wasted.
And the burning question on everybody's mind should be: so what did I dress up as? Why, a papparazzo, of course. What could scarier?
I went shooting (photographs) with the local Toronto Photography Meetup Group (which I guess could do with a classier renaming), which reminded me very much of the Aprilia Riders Club back in Singapore - boys (and one or two girls) with gadget lust who wanted to socialise with other like minded people and avoid the sad loner otaku stereotype; arranging meetings over the forums to meet at public places, holding up human (or otherwise) traffic, and the inevitable penis length contests as the quintessential getting-to-know-you banter. I guess some things are just trans-cultural.
So, anyway, we arranged to meet at 7:30, waiting till about 7:45 for latecomers before proceeding to the party, more like a street festival where people turned up in costume. As expected, the party only really got going later, at around 11pm. Till then, we walked around, photographing anything and everything that moved, or didn't (hooray for digital photography!). Soon enough, because it was a free-floating group, of which many of us were first timers who barely got to know each other, we were broken up into many groups; and the crushing crowds did not help.
It was interesting to see the kinds of costumes people had on. There was the usual gore and horror genres, the superheroes, political figures (I saw at least 3 different Sarah Palins, including the party host), angels, ethnic costumes, and the odd S&M couple here and there (I saw one bound submissive led by a chain around the neck). Interestingly enough, it seemed that there was an implicit understanding here that it was like a photographic festival - anyone could go up to anyone else in costume, and ask to have their picture taken with them; photographers could ask those in costume to pose, and they would willingly oblige, often hamming it up especially for those carrying big cameras and lenses. Often, we would not even need to ask, all we needed was to point a lens in their direction, and they would put up their act. This actually made it difficult to capture candid moments though, which I think would have made a better picture - like the one where this guy in some werewolf mask had to have his companion light his cigarette as he could not see where his mouth and cigarette were.
Anyway, enough talk, here are some pictures:
Sarah Palin as the party's host; apparently she's some radio personality from across the lake in Chicago. Notice the price tag on her sleeve:
I liked my flickr title and note for this picture; I wrote: "Don't mess with her... She has a pair of handcuffs and may have a gun hidden in there somewhere":
One of the ethnic costumes that looked like it came straight out of the Pride parade Thai float. Pictures like this highlight what I mentioned above about how it was a photographers' festival - people, even those not in costume posing with the costumed, generally didn't mind if their picture was taken by others besides their designated photographer (companion, etc):
One of those whom I had difficulty identifying the costume. Strangely enough, this picture has garnered a huge view count in a very short time on flickr. Any ideas why, and who the one on the left is supposed to be? Leave comments please.
The obligatory horror and gore costume. The obviously plastic nail through the head is just so fake. Even so, he was an enthusiastic performer, 'conducting' the photographers, telling us to "get your cameras ready now, blood coming out in 3, 2, 1..." after putting some of that fake blood in his mouth:
The Canadian swim team gals! It was not cold that night; in the crowd it was comfortable, but then, what would have been their costume if the temperature had been like a couple of nights ago, floating around 0-5ºC?
The pilot and attendants from "Trans-continental airlines", who won the best team costume prize. They were going around, asking people "Do you want some of our nuts"?
Palin again. This one is interesting, they were walking in opposite directions along Church street, met, and had to have their photo taken:
Ernest and Bertram got married. The anti-ending to this tragic tale:
One of the ethnic costumes, a pair of geishas:
And the winner of the best individual costume:
So, my thoughts? I'm mildly amazed and dismayed at the profligacy of the entire event, but then that is probably close to an extreme stoic position; cultures around the world have their ways of wasting resources for no better reason than to have a good time; for this I am thinking of Spanish (Italian?) tomato festivals, Chinese New Year decorations, Christmas, Japanese matsuris, among others. It was great fun for all, I only wished that less resources could have been wasted.
And the burning question on everybody's mind should be: so what did I dress up as? Why, a papparazzo, of course. What could scarier?
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