HOSPITAL

This is another example of the set decorator's ability to get inside. This is a partially decommissioned hospital in Toronto's west end, popular with film companies. Many films shot in Toronto with hospital scenes are done here. I was here last December shooting one of these such films. The hospital is still used for psychiatric care and I'm sure other care that we are not aware of. This hospital is in terrible shape but unfortuneately it's still better than some fully operational ones I've been in. Oh and as for the last image - Merry Christmas...

TEXT

For some reason I'm drawn to arbitrary text. A single word, words... I think it may have to do with the nature of signs and text defining eras. I'm still working on this one. 'Drugs' is 35mm and 'Jones' is digital. When you look at them together you can see the difference.

MOTELS

I love motels. These are a few from our roadtrip this summer (2005). I was looking for the essence of each room. Sometimes that's hard to find.

GREASY

Some of the fringe benefits of being a set decorator is the access you have to places the public doesn't. Sure anyone could go to The Cherry Street Restaurant but to photograph it...let alone eat in it. (Spring 2005)

NYC SUMMER

These are a couple of digital shots I took in NYC in early August 2005. I've included both a film and digital version of 'Dish'. The film scan wasn't great so the contrast in the B&W version is not very accurate. I like seeing both mediums together. I consider them separate mediums. Again, geometry and decay dictate meaning to me. Aircon feels like a piece of a large complex puzzle. Look between the 'D' and 'I' in Dish and you can see RG.

NYC SUBWAY

This is a series of images I shot in the NYC subway in February 2005. I was down visiting RG and seeing the Gates. We logged many miles on the subways and by foot. These images appealed to me because of the geometry and decay. I'm also a big fan of shooting into light sources.

NYC WINTER

This is a triptych I shot in NYC in February. It is 35mm infrared neg scanned and joined in PS. It's the same one in the header. Joining photographs into relatively seamless constructions is beginning to interest me a lot. I've always like series and sequences. It's the moviemaker/ storyteller in me.

WHAT IT IS

As an admitted Luddite, I swore I would shun digital photography. I likened it to the garishness of video and the mass appeal of point and shoot. People racing about indiscriminately shooting and shooting with endless amounts of film (capacity), calling themselves photographers and thinking themselves artists. Digital I thought was more paint-by-numbers rather than the democratization of photography .

Oh how I've had to eat my words. Digital I've discovered is a fantastic medium for capturing a sketch. A sketch is that momentary revealing of elements that when combined, define space and meaning. it could be lighting, colour, geometry or some resemblance of a faded memory like an old bleached postcard stuck in a storefront window. It is a thumbnail of something you may want to go back and explore further. It is a reminder in a notepad, or perhaps an independent object worthy of it's own scrutiny. Whatever it may be, here are some I would like to share.