favourite videos from 2014

September 27, 2014
A languid late afternoon on a Monday, Victoria Day… last few minutes before the boys have to go their separate ways.
Handheld video using the BOSS (Balanced Optical Steady Shot) feature of the Sony HXR-NX30.
Creative Commons Music by The Easton Ellises, "Dance It, Dance All (Motel Costes Mix)
It's been a miserable winter; a seemingly endless cycle of snow and damp sub-sub-zero temperatures. So it came as a relief to have a day like last Tuesday, March 11. Blue sky and +7 Celsius. The birds were out, the snow was melting, the Speed River was flowing. The ducks were out, and geese were seen flying north. Children from the area Spring-Break programs were out sloshing through the puddles,some sans winter parkas
Winter came back with a vengeance the next day. March 12th.saw up to 20 cm of snow, minus 20 Celsius, and howling winds as a storm from the U.S. Midwest made its way up on its way to the Maritimes.
This video is an effort (and a joy) to preserve a sliver of sunshine.
Sony HXR-NX30, Manfrotto MVM500A monopod, edited in Premiere Pro CS6. Music by Stephan Grapelli, "Time After Time".
Special thanks to Liam, for being my 3rd and 4th eyes.
fun on the local hill

BlackBerry Diaries #740: Impounded

December 29th.

BlackBerry Diaries #739: New Year coming up, new arrival coming in

Chinatown on Dundas. December 29th.

BlackBerry Diaries #738: In Memory of John Alexander

Mayfield Park. December 27th.

"Yes, we take Walkens"

Carden Street. December 26th.

Near Swastika

Balzac's Guelph. December 27th.

Red

 

 

Carden Street. December 26th.

City Hall at dusk

as seen from Norfolk and Wilson. December 27th.

Balzac's Coffee (Guelph): First Impressions

In a word, disappointing! 

Any establishment is judged by how well it creates it's most basic offering: chinese by its Cantonese Chow Mein, thai by its Chicken Pad Thai, polish by i's perogies, a coffee house by its House Blend.

I don't know about you but I like the option of starting with a steaming hot mug. Balzac's brewed coffee (House Blend) was less than lukewarm coming out of its thermos.  The second cup (Farmer's Blend) was no different, coming from a different thermos. I was sorely tempted to ask my mug to be microwaved.

As for taste, that'll have to wait since it's difficult to judge taste with lukewarm coffee, although I admit I find it impossible to tell an Ethiopian organic single-blend from Tim Horton's dark roast.

Perhaps these are growing pains for this particular establishment: I've had really great coffee from the Stratford and The Distillery locations.

One positive at Balzac Guelph is the pleasant staff (understaffed with just 2 tonight), smiling and doing their best to serve a Saturday evening full house. But it'll take great coffee to pry customers away from Planet Bean and Starbucks, both only two blocks away.

scenes from a product shoot for a sparkling fermented tea drink

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A shoot using the bare essentials for lighting: ambient  light and 2 small LED lights, Sony a99, Sigma 35f1.4 ART, small LED lights (144 units) December 22nd.

a Celebration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sony a99, sigma 35f1.4 ART, available light photography

it's almost midnight, in a dark alley lit by streetlights, a Sony a99 with a Sigma 35f1.4 ART

 

Claudia and Bart, Macdonell near Wilson, Guelph. December 22nd.

a disease called Consumerism

Watch and listen to this video in its entirety, and see yourself revealed, stripped of all your accoutrements, naked for all the world to see.

"We've all got this weird mental illness called consumerism, we've all gone collectively psychotic... chasing status, in public, with people who don't really care, and neglecting your own lovers, and friends, and neighbours, and kids.
We have the delusion that we really have deep insights into our souls already. we're very sophiticated now in the early 21st century, but we are going to seem incredibly naive in another 100 years... our grandchildren will think, 'what were they on about... why do they care about brands, and having  six-bedroom houses if there are only one married couple and one kid..."
"It's not just the individual financial and psychological cost of modern culture, there is also an environmental cost.  And in a rigorous study, behavioural scientist Warren Hern found the human race is acting like a cancer on the planet. displaying all the four major characteristics of a malignant process.
Ultimately, cancer kills the organism that supports it."
-quote from the video

BlackBerry Diaries #737: The Sentinel

foggy night. December 15th.

104 iPhone "Polaroids": A look back

104 iPhone "Polaroids"

Joseph Jean Arthur Beliveau: 1931-2014

Food with the Sigma 35f1.4 ART

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catering by SavingThyme.
Taken at the brand-new TrilliumWest Offices, Guelph. Nov 28th.