Buskerfest 2011

So it was a street photograpgers Shangri la with Buskerfest in town. A comment on this and many of the other street festivals is that they are getting just too busy. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get shots without the distractions. Saying that, thank god for 2.8 lens.

 

This performer, from Australia, was one of my favorites. I was lucky enough to find space up on the ledge of the park and the green tree in the background was great for isolating him.

I just missed the speed on the falling cucumber piece. Still loved the spray

One of the things I really like to focus on is the little details. Street chalk artists are perfect subjects for me. The gritty nature of the picture they are drawing, the dirty hands...Perfect

Get closer.....

And closer still.......

When you are in close, you start to see the work involved in creating the character the actor is presenting.

And as I have learned, look behind you for some of your best subjects.

Peter Frampton lives in Toronto?

Embarrassed...

This performer was just waiting for the time to go on stage. I just like the simplicity of the photo.

Pierre St. Pierre..... The creepy mime

The kids are the best subjects for their intensity and facial expressions.

Back to getting some more detail. Show the story and then focus on one aspect

Some people are just sooooo cool. I would love to see what kind of photo she takes.

The end of the night was the best part. I really wanted to try night photography with the 2.8 to just see if the lens would perform. Here our subjects are the "Chairmen"

Not bad. ISO 640, a little grainy but not bad.

 

Well, I would really love to hear how you feel about these shots. Shoot me an email any time at voiceguy@rogers.com

Cherry St.

After weeks of taking early morning landscape photos, our early riser group of Brian, John and myself decided to try our hand at more industrial architecture captures. Our destination was Cherry St. which is located at the foot of the DVP.

This is a shot of what i think is part of the Hearn Generating station (Though I can't verify that). As we were flying by the seat of our pants, not knowing what photo opportunities awaited us, this provided us a very nice surprise.

Rambling down Cherry St. to Unwin ave. we continued on to the end of the street. As a kid, I remember coming down here to watch people fishing for smelts. From what John tells me the smelts were attracted to the warm waters of the Hearn Plant.

Looks like this was a good place to park some Dragon boats

Now back to the big prize, The Cherry Street Strauss Trunnion Bascule Bridge

Brian always reminds us that it is in the leading lines

Whilst taking shots of the bridge, this excellent old boat came our way. Part tug, part Junk boat, it seemed to be ferrying early morning workers home.

With that damn fence in the background, I had to resort to shooting the reflection.

Back to our main subject, I thought the crossing gate looked more like a sentry

The counter weights really help balance this shot. Hopefully you get a real feel for how big and heavy this structure must be. John calls it a "Transformer"

If you view East from the bridge, you will see the salt storage along the channel. With the light so varied (lots of shadows), I resorted to HDR.

If you want more information on the bridge, click on this link...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Street_Strauss_Trunnion_Bascule_Bridge

Well, that's it. I think we came away really enjoying shooting something different. It really is like a treasure hunt. You have to get really lucky to find some good subjects and the light has to be on your side. Today, we were lucky.