Area 53 - Photo 12 - Railway Drive-By

First of all, I need to apologize for my tardiness. I tried desperately to post this photo on Monday night to no avail.
I went well past midnight and continued with no success. I might've had a chance but when I went to the intersection I realized I forgot my memory card, after accidentally breaking a leg on my tripod.
Additionally, I should've had it posted the next day but was too busy and/or distracted to get it up until now.
So here's what I wanted to do.
I wanted to bust out a really cool photo using some of the cool photography techniques Cale taught me as well as Photoshop hoping to impress
Basically, I took about twelve photos in order to achieve this result. 30 second exposures of cars driving toward me, cars driving away from me, 15 seconds of the arms coming down and thena quick switch back to 30 seconds as the train flew by. I also got lucky with a bus that happened to come around the corner before I turned my camera off. The bus actually adds so much to this image.
I think I actually impressed Cale with this one, I hope you enjoy it as well.
Ciao for now.
Todd


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Area 53 - Week 11 - High Above The Rest

This past week I went up onto the WFCU Centre's catwalk, located high above the ice and fans during a Windsor Spitfires game. I've been up there before but not all the way to the middle, and not to take photos.

It's pretty crazy to be up there, but it's also pretty cool.

Once you get your footing, and find a good spot to shoot from, you still need to cross your fingers to find yourself in the right spot for the right photo opportunity.

Those players zoom by so fast, and before you can even position yourself for a rush moving up ice you lose them behind one of the insane amount of bars and cables between you and the rink's surface.
You get used to it, however, I found myself getting quick moments of dizzyness and having to regain my centre of gravity a few times.

Honestly, I was hoping to get a good shot of Taylor Hall, as well as maybe Ryan Ellis and Cam Fowler. But I was hoping to catch a good shot of anything really.

I got lucky with a few while trying not to fall over the rail, but I really like the one with the light in the tressing with the goalie slightly out of focus down below.

My photo of the week however, is entitled, 'High Above The Rest' for two reasons.

1. Taylor Hall hit the 100 point mark for the season that night putting him 'high above' the OHL's scoring leader race.

2. The #18 in the ice behind the net is in honour of former Spitfires captain Mickey Renaud, the team's 'Captain Forever', who watches the games from 'high above', in heaven. Mickey was a 5th round draft pick of the Calgary Flames before his sudden death on February 18, 2008, of the rare heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He was only 19 years old. His number 18 was retired with a banner raising on September 25, 2008.

I hope you like them.

t

'Click here to check out Cale's photos'

Area 53 - Photo 10 - Snow Family

So I randomly came across a huge house with a huge front yard filled a huge amount of snow people.

They all just looked really neat so I ran to grab my camera and headed back without hesitation.

When I returned to the house I suddenly became nervous about going onto the front lawn and snapping pictures so I waited until I saw anybody I could approach and ask permission.

I saw a few kids playing in the backyard near the side of the house, but thought it might not be completely appropriate to ask little kids. I soon saw a boy who was maybe between 15-17 years old, he was in a hurry so I missed that opportunity. The thing was I didn't really know who lived there, university students? a family? all of the above?

I finally got out of the car and approached the kids in the backyard, asking to take some pics of their snowmen, to which they responded, "no problem, go ahead."

So I did.

When I started doing my thing I noticed another little girl who was maybe 6 or 7 years old playing in the vacinity, I didn't want to scare her so I introduced myself and told her the kids in the back said it was okay, to which she agreed.

After a minute or two she casually made her way closer and all shyness when out the window.

"That's me right there?" she said pointing to one of the little snow people.

I was a little confused, but I ased her, "what do you mean?"

"This is my family," she told me, "my sister made them."

I thought that was pretty cool, but she continued, "there are twelve kids in my family, but there are only 10, she isn't finished yet."

I must say the whole thing was pretty cool.

She walked over to the bigger snow people in the background and explained, "this is my mom and dad".

She also told me who the one in the toque was supposed to be but I didn't hear her well enough to tell you now.

I continued to snap a few photos and she continued to talk my ear off.

But it was such a great story and a unique surprize to go along with my photo of the week.

I think I'm going to frame it up and drop it off at their house, I just hope they appreciate the sentiment.

That's all for this week, my busy job only allows me so much free time to get out there and do this kind of thing but after March is over I plan to do alot more.

Enjoy.

Todd

'Click here to check out Cale's photos'

Area 53 - Photo 2 - Snowcovered Tracks

I hung with Cale last night and neither of us had really put any thought into what we were going to try and do for our pics of the week.
When I woke up this morning everything was covered in snow and we were still in the middle of a hardcore snowstorm.
What a beautiful way to start a Monday?
My first thought was to check out the old train sitting at the riverfront, so off I went.
I tried a few angles and eventually decided the full view was best.
I added some red to this photo to warm it up a bit, it kind of adds a bit of a sepia feel to it as well.
The snow was coming down pretty hard as you can see in the other pics, with that being said I liked the two photos and messed with them a bit in Photoshop to see what I could come up with. The other is an old train dock on the Detroit River, not too far from the train itself.
I'm curious to see what Cale came up with on this snowy as hell day.
Enjoy!
Todd

Click here to check out Cale's photos

Area 53 - Photo 8 - Bridge Over Troubled Waters

This afternoon I went down to the Detroit River near the Ambassador Bridge to try and a get a cool shot of the ice and snow that surrounds it's base, or whatever I could get lucky with.

Actually, I went down there twice. The first intentionally, the second by random turn of events.

The latter was due to a helicopter sighting while driving down Riverside Drive headed to a friend's house.

I took the opportunity to get a photo and pulled over in not one but two locations along the river.

It turns out the chopper was potentially searching for a body, but that could still be considered heresay at this point.

My photo of the week entitled, 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters', was made to feel almost prison-esque with the fence in the frame, so adding the helicopter in search of an unhappy ending was the perfect collaboration of the day.

The rest of the photos are all natural from today's visits to the river.

Enjoy, and be sure to check out Cale's photo, I'm anxious to see what he came up with myself.

Todd

Click here to check out Cale's photos

Area 53 - Photo 7 - Rivard & Haig After Dark

For the first time this year during our 'Area 53' project, Cale and I were able to take some photos together.

Mind you it was Sunday night and we were both exhaused by the time midnight rolled around, we took the lazy way out but still managed to get a pretty cool photo out of the deal while learning some new tricks on my camera as well as on Photoshop.

Long story short, we went out on the porch of my house attempting to work with extended open exposures and moving lights, etc.

Cale is getting to be quite a pro at this while this is my first real effort.

Basically what you see is three photographs taken from the exact same spot, then layered in such a way that all the brightest pixels come through in order to merge them all together effectively.

There are four sets of headlights in the photograph, and I've got to say the view from the front of my house has never looked so cool.

I hope you all like it as well.

My extras consist of a few pics I took today during the Multicultural Festival which I was running for work at the University of Windsor.

One is of the 'Walk The Nations' parade passing by Dillon Hall during the march around campus and the second is of one of our performers, I'm not sure if this is Martha or Maria, but they are twins who are both blind as well as phenominal violinists. Kudos to the both of them for doing what they do and inspiring everyone they meet, myself included.

Enjoy and don't forget to check out Cale's pic of the week, I'm excited to see it as well.

Todd

Piper's Parade

Inspirational Music

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Area 53 - Photo 6 - Class Act

I booked Canadian hip hop artist 'Classified' play at the University of Windsor pub this past weekend and of course took the opportunity to snap a few shots amidst my ridiculously busy day. It was a hyped up and insane crowd and Classified delivered a performance to match the intensity in the room. After the show Class told me if he had to describe the show in word it would be, 'ENERGY'. Well, he was definitely full of it, so it was a night for everyone in attendance to remember. Truly a 'Class Act'.


Click here to see Cale's photos