View from Quidi Vidi Brewing Co.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Quidi Vidi itself is a charming, picturesque village that persuades her visitors to park their vehicles and get out and walk. Perched at the edge of the ocean, the clean green wood-sided brewhouse is hard to miss, and should not be missed for all of its own charms:

Cold craft beer arousing your tastebuds with its complex and refreshingly unique flavour. Spirited music weaving its way around the room that touches the walls with a caress one minute, and a pounding the next. Fabulous scenery that seduces one to succumb to its rugged perfection with an extended, dreamy gaze. Each facet of the experience bursting with a homegrown and unique flavour. Each one quenching a thirst in its own way.

During the day, this space beckons beer afficionados to wander its halls lovingly saturated with the pungent aroma of fermenting ales. This is how I experienced the establishment, as seen above: quiet and unassuming with little evidence of theatrical social stimulation. However, one only needs to spy the addition of a modestly furnished stage with the abundance of beer in this space to imagine an alter-ego of typical Newfoundland merriment! Calm before the storm.

Outside, the sunlight bathes the craggy hillside as the fringes of the ocean lap gently along the perimeter. However, one only needs to survey the condition of the rickety blue structure near the mouth of the harbour to imagine the potential for a wet and windy onslaught of typical Newfoundland fury! Calm before the storm.

The brewery produces a satisfying variety of beer crafted using only the essential ingredients. Visit: www.quidividibrewery.ca or go there for real!

Niagara Ice Dogs Game at the Jack Gatecliff Arena

St. Catharines, ON

Photo taken with my iPhone - which was subsequently returned to my purse and zipped in!

As an enthusiastic attendee of a recent Ice Dogs game, I was both appalled and amused by the number of people sitting there with their heads down, zombified by their smart phones. At a live hockey game! I mean, really, why did you trek out to the arena at all if you aren’t going to participate? And how is it possible to ignore the action anyway? Not even a commanding check into the boards could rustle up the attention of these folks – some of those in the front row didn’t even flinch!

Aside from missing the excitement of a game we’ve been deprived of so far this year, these phone junkies also miss the rest of the experience: the sudden eruption of cheering when we score, the smell of the popcorn and the call of the roaming beer vendor. They can’t engage in conversation with those sitting beside them: no musing about the antics of the forward, the coolness of the ref, or the charm of hearing Stompin Tom on the loudspeaker in between plays!

This is just one illustration of the twisted relationships many people have with their smart phones. Once I got thinking about it, I decided to write my fourth Tribune Community Editorial Board column on the topic.

Click here to read my opinion! 

Shot from Top of the Rock


New York City.

The mere mention of this word combination induces a pupil-dilating euphoria that's hard to match. You may have booked your flight and Times Square-surrounded hotel room innocently enough, but once you start spreadin the news that you're going, you have to accept full responsibility for drawing people into a New York state of mind.

Those who have been here before you ache to return. Those that haven't long to experience its delirious tempo and see all the sights they have seen in their favourite movies and TV shows. They want to shop on Fifth Avenue and see the namesake of so many couture brand names as if they were celebrities. They want to see celebrities, regardless of whether they are icons or freaks. And they want to shoot out-of-their-everyday-world pictures to their heart's content.

You will find out why entire songs have been written about a minute here, an autumn here, and a hotel here.

People come to this place dreams are made of, either to get away from it all or to become a part of it all.  And then they want to share whatever experience they bring home with everyone else who also loves NY.

Broadway Avenue in Flatiron District, NYC

I love Google almost as much as I love New York City.

Like jaunty dashes drawn on with a bevelled marker, I was charmed by the way this splash of blue enlivens this otherwise monochromatic scene. This also displays my love of shooting contrasting textures and spaces that reveal evidence of past lives.

I knew I had shot this during an excursion to New York City, and I was pretty sure it was during the trip that included an inspiring walk through Greenwich Village, SoHo, and East Village.

To further narrow it down, I studied the plum-coloured banners and Googled "Wined Up New York City". Now I've got my address: you are currently looking at a photograph of 913 Broadway.

But wait - there is another business visible here. Going by the window text under the bold blue awnings that caught my attention to begin with, I Googled "MDE New York City". Less luck on this one. Or wait, maybe it's mdc. "MDC New York City". Bingo! You are also looking at a photograph of 909 Broadway. 

I didn't patronize either of these businesses while I was in the Flatiron District, but it was a fun exercise!

At the Scene of the Crime: Bay Street in Toronto

You see before you evidence of a drive-by shooting that occured right out in broad daylight in downtown Toronto. The incident was pre-meditated, thoughtfully orchestrated, and heavily pixelated. Armed with a weapon of mass production, the perpetrator purposefully and masterfully carried out the intended mission with great focus. There was an accomplice but he escaped in a flash with his equipment. No injuries were sustained but there was substantial capture both from this location and various other settings throughout the city. Authorities zoomed in on the culprit by following the light bouncing off the sides of the buildings, clearly exposing the activity. It is estimated the ambush continued for several hours before the shooter was apprehended, subjected to a search, and secured. Although every effort is being made to stop down this operation, it is feared that similar shootings may take place in the future and residents are advised to stay inside and close their shutters.

View from the 7th Floor of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Niagara Falls, ON

September 2012

When I first began reviewing the series of photos I shot before and after attending a conference in Niagara Falls, I wondered how I would be able to differentiate between the early morning shots and the late evening shots. After all, I knew I had captured images from each side of the day, and that all of them would be equally daylight compromised.

Of course, as I continued browsing the photos, I discovered it was actually very easy to tell which were taken when! Niagara Falls at night are illuminated - brightly and colourfully and unmistakably. It's a cool addition to this attraction, making it visible for a longer period of time and giving it an artsy, metamorphic treatment, but it's nice to view without as well.

So you see before you a photo taken through my hotel window at around 6am.

When I look at this, what I remember most is the magical calmness of this typically active landscape, and how it allows one to listen to the serene sound of the perpetually falling water. I envy those locals who get to bask in the constant lull of nature's cadence every single day. And perhaps for many, the fact they can hear it all the time means they don't hear it at all. But I know that doesn't apply to all of them.

And even though I have lived within twenty minutes of this world famous natural attraction for as many years, I never tire of gazing at it, marvelling at it, photographing it, or listening to it.

Brooklyn Bridge ~ Manhattan Pier ~ October 2012

Actually setting foot on this iconic bridge was the last of my great New York City intentions, as I had explained in a previous post. I had heard about this dedicated area for those who wish to cross the bridge without a car - and it is pretty cool: safely elevated away from vehicular traffic, pedestrians get our own expanse.

After six trips to the Big Apple, I finally got to make my way along its wooden floor, taking special care to remain on the right side, which was also the correct side, for a pedestrian. The lanes are clearly marked so one knows where the feet go as opposed to where the wheels go, and the cyclists have no qualms about scolding those who wander onto the wrong side. It felt like a glimpse into the world of the locals, knowing that they routinely make this trip, either to get to or from work, or to escape the stresses that are created as a result.

Being that it was late in the day, it was decided that we wouldn't go all the way to Brooklyn, but would just go to this tower before turning back. (My travelling party was graciously indulging in my desire to do this so I took what I could get!)

I was enthralled with the view as I approached the first pier on the Manhattan side. This tower looked even stronger than any image I'd seen and was wonderfully clean and proud. There was also more cabling than I realised, and I delighted in the contrast between the robust concrete structure and the relatively thin gridlines reaching out from it. Looking up at the intricate webs of cables and their patterns was mesmerizing. I would have liked to have stopped and gazed upwards for longer than I did, but the perpetual flow of the crowd doesn't really approve of interruptions. (Curiously, there are a row of benches along its railings at the edge, shortly after embarking on its route. Imagine, someone thinking to place seating on a bridge!)

I did stop when I reached the tower, however, and shot right underneath it, capturing proof that I couldn't have been anywhere BUT right underneath it! It was thrilling to be standing on such a recognisable landmark, the backdrop for so many movies I'd seen, the subject of so many New York City photographic books I've devoured.

And even though I can now comfortably draw a line through "Walk along the Brooklyn Bridge", I have to go back! My insatiable obsession with New York City has spilled over creating a alternate infatuation with this bridge. I just want to unleash my camera all over this subject... to take my own pictures from every angle: I want to stand at each of its shores, to sail underneath it, and to get adjacent to it, perpendicular to it, and all the way across it. Then there's the night view, the winter view... the city as it looks from the middle of it... the people as they make their way across it... insatiable I say!