Ron Westray and city jazz

Ron Westray and city jazz - #227/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Free festival concerts are always a great way to get close to the musicians and being able to photograph in the daylight is a big bonus. I had the luxury of all kinds of angles, but this one stood out with a glimpse of the city in the background and the reflective gold tones of Ron's trombone peaking out behind the action from the drums.

Barry Elmes Sextet @ Nathan Phillips Square for Toronto Jazz Festival.

Setting sun lit broken down barn

Setting sun lit broken down barn - #226/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

After the unsettled weather of a customer golf tournament, the setting sun was providing some beautiful colour for my drive home so I took a few back roads and found this broken down barn. I ventured into the neighbouring farmer's field to get some shots of the sunny side of the barn. Lighting was quite tricky on wider shots, but framing closer in helped control the highlights and shadows a little better.

Grant, Peter and Lisa with my son

Grant, Peter and Lisa with my son - Strangers #65 and daily photo #225/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

The day of my son's golf tournament in Acton coincided with the England / Germany game - although scheduling was a little tight we managed to fit in breakfast and the game before my son's afternoon starting tee time. I found this great pub in nearby Georgetown aptly called The St. George. Peter was standing outside the pub waiting for it to open as my son and I arrived. Peter lives across the street and as you can see he is a Manchester United fan as well as a big fan of the Toronto Blue Jays. His friends Grant and Lisa arrived and I asked for a group stranger shot. We sat together for breakfast and the game talking about the World Cup, but also a lot about the G20 riots that happened in Toronto the night before. Their connections with England are Grant's Mom is from the Manchester area and of course is a Man U fan as well, and Lisa's Mom is from Liverpool. It was really nice meeting them all even though we shared in the sadness of yet another England loss at the World Cup.

Grant, Peter and Lisa are #65 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com.

Slap chop action

Slap chop action - #224/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

We were my sister-in-laws for dinner and got to see TV's Slap chop in action. I used the slow sync flash setting to capture the motion blur.

Where am I hiding ? 365inCamera.

If you're wondering where I've been, well I've been focusing my artistic and journalistic efforts toward my daily photo project - 365inCamera - hiding behind my camera so to speak.  Some days I post a portrait, an urban abstract or Toronto location shots - there are lots of different styles and content.  But I'm finding that there are some interesting stories behind the pictures and for the last couple of months I've been writing something for every daily shot.  So there are many views of daily life and little vignettes that you may find interesting and of course, every picture tells a story.  And if you're looking for some photogrpahy tips along the way, I often write about how I took the shot.  I could copy some of the better ones over here (as sometimes I also copy posts from here over to in Tune in), but I didn't want to clutter up web 2.0 too much.  So, if you're looking for a little more PJMixer on a daily basis you may find 365inCamera to your liking.

Eric

Eric - stranger #64 and daily photo #223/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

I met Eric on is first day of fasting for non-violent protest during the G20.  Eric believes that non-violent protest ultimately produces the best results, unfortunately, the media is often focused on the violent protests. He is quietly making his point known at the corner of Queen and Bay and welcomes anyone to stop by for a chat. He'd had a discussion with a protester who believes bricks and guns is the way to go - Eric feels that at least that protester now knows about Eric and has heard his point-of-view.

For more images from the G20, go to my G20 Flickr set.

Eric teaches French at a Scarborough Catholic high school. Although he hasn't told his students what he's doing, he has nothing to hide and some staff and students know about his protest. When I talked to him about the 100 stranger project and asked if I could take his photograph, he told me that another photographer had already added him to their 100 stranger project - small world. Thanks for the photograph Eric and good luck with your protest - stay well.

Eric is #64 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com.

Ready for Jazz Fest

Ready for Jazz Fest - #222/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

The Toronto downtown Jazz fest starts Friday and as I took a stroll at lunch I spotted this worker on the festival tent set up at Nathan Phillips Square. I really liked the lines and architectural backdrop.

Trucking sunset

Trucking sunset - #221/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

We were expecting storms today, but the weather stayed hot and humid most of the day, but as night was closing in, some threatening clouds were rolling in as the sun was setting. I was in the West end close to the highway so thought I'd try and capture the interesting sky with some urban contrast. I positioned myself so I'd get a chance at a vehicle silhouette and luckily (as the sky kept changing and darkening) this tow truck came along. The sky was quite bright so handheld (with VR) was still possible, but the shutter speed was slow enough to create some nice blur of the truck.

Gay rights G20 protest

Gay rights G20 protest - #220/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Toronto is getting ready for the G20 meetings this coming weekend and with global media in town the protests have already started. I like this shot because it shows the three aspects of life on the G20 Toronto streets - lots of police, tons of media and the protesters. This very colourful protest was for gay rights.

Locked up graffiti

Locked up graffiti- #219/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

I was out late walking my dog and decided to take a new route as I was looking for my shot-of-the-day and something new. I came across this utility box graffiti and the spray patterns and simple white on black caught my eye with the sprayed padlock. I can also see a skull image just to the right of the padlock.

Different thoughts, shared moment

Different thoughts, shared moment - #218/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

I usually use a family visit as an opportunity to take lots of family portraits and have to say my family are very patient with me. I took a few of my Mom and Dad and they were nice shots, but this more candid shot stood out as something a little more unusual. There are small unusual features in each of their faces and the you can perhaps see that they are both thinking about quite different things, but still sharing the moment.

Good versus evil clouds over Castlefield

Good versus evil clouds over Castlefield - #218/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Timing is everything with dramatic clouds and skies. As I took a few shots, the scene was constantly changing, but the contrast of highlighted versus the darker clouds were terrific. This was taken around 9pm so the light and resulting image are nice and soft.

In my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes - #217/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Just snapping away some shots as the sun was falling on our deck. I really like the warm skins tones and the clarity and colour of my daughter's eyes (auto white balance setting). A little dark , but the highlights provide some nice contrast. I think the shot demonstrates that simple, pin sharp, colourful and interesting eyes can make a great shot.

High rise unicyclist

High rise unicyclist - #216/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

There's always some street performer to photograph at Yonge and Dundas. I really liked how this shot set up because he was so high up on his unicycle I managed to frame the shot with a nice uniform plain background.

Don

Don - stranger #59 and daily photo #215/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

After my ultimate [frisbee] game I parked at Keele subway station to join my teammates for a post-game beer and burger. I was taking some shots of the concrete subway bridge when I noticed a man exit the subway and start walking towards me. I could tell he was a little curious and sure enough he wondered over to ask was I was up to.

As you can see, Don is a pretty colourful character and was more than happy to pose for a few shots. I liked the contrast of the harsh concrete with his casual and comfortable look. Don was heading to Latinada on Bloor street to play keyboards with the musical owner. I was really tempted to take up Don on his offer of a beer at Latinada, but I wasn't in the cards that night. But I do plan on going to visit sometime - the online reviews of the food and music sound wonderful.

I was pretty pleased with the shot, even though I only had the pop-up flash available.

Don is #59 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com.

Kooper bed time ?

Kooper bed time ? - #214/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

We don't allow Kooper upstairs very often, so lying in my daughter's bed was a bit of a treat (as you see from is look). I have to say that Kooper is pretty good at looking at the camera and of course, very photogenic, like the rest of my family.

I shot this with my 50mm standing on the bed so it was a little hard to compose and depth of field was a little out of my control being so close to the subjects. I took a few other shots where my daughter was looking at the camera and she was out of focus, which didn't seem right. But this one, where she is a more casual background observer, rather than primary subject works quite nicely with the depth of field.

Best friends

Best friends - #213/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

One of the big reasons we got a dog was because my daughter loves animals. Although Kooper wasn't very gentle when he was younger, my daughter now spends a lot of time cuddling with him and perhaps this picture shows the feelings are mutual.

I'm using flash flash many of my outdoor portrait shots these days and still fine tuning my skills (perhaps until you won't be able to tell I shot with flash).

Austria in the World Cup ?

Austria in the World Cup ? - #212/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

We thought this was pretty funny - everyone is jumping on the world cup bandwagon, but some perhaps haven't completely done their homework. My son is trying to make an appropriate puzzled face - last shot of him before he leaves for his first big grade 8 trip to Quebec. Sometimes all you need for a decent shot is some comical relief.

Shad and Champion

We went to Shad's concert at The Opera House last night.  I haven't been to many hip-hop or rap shows and I wasn't sure what the crowd was like.  I decided to wear my Champion t-shirt for the occasion thinking it gave me a little street cred, although electronica is still a musical departure away from Shad's hip-hop style.

Today, I was having some trouble trying to find the setlist from last night (so I can fill in some of gaps in myShad downloads), when I came across a CBC Radio 3 podcast - Shad and Champion playing last year's Transmission Festival in Victoria !  Never suspected they'd played on the same bill before.

St. George football on Yonge

St. George football on Yonge - #211/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

I haven't had a lot of time for photography recently, work and world cup taking up most of my time. I snapped this in the neighbourhood after watching the England game at home rather than trying to get into a crowded pub. Simple shot that perhaps demonstrates that a zoomed shot is sometimes better than getting close and going wide angle, especially with the benefit of less distortion.