Deborah’s website can be found here
Photograph Copyright © Tom Evans, 2011
I missed the opening of this new installation of public art in Ottawa South.
I know it intimately however because Deborah asked me to photograph the components of it as they were completed.
Ottawa South Community Centre at 260 Sunnyside Avenue (in the old fire station) is the location.
Photos will follow, but I recommend making the trip into Ottawa South (Old Ottawa South) to see it.
Hintonburger Bacon - Copyright © Tom Evans. 2011
HINTONBURGER The amazing burger restaurant in Hintonburg on Wellington Street is on the move.
They are not going far. Just a bit up the street to the old KFC location next to the Elmdale House tavern,
A much bigger and better location.
To help Thomas finance the move I have taken some photos of the old place and am offering them for sale through my website here .
There are many to choose from.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments.
An internet video showed me a small child being run over by a van, twice, driven around by several other small vehicles, walked around by several people on foot, then run over again by another van. Finally someone stops to investigate. A woman. She crouches down and lifts the child’s limp body and lets her head crash onto the sidewalk. Eventually another woman picks up the child and walks off camera. A surveillance camera on a street in China. At night.
Walking home one early afternoon I see a squirrel on the other side of Percy Street. He is agitated. He dashes out to the centre of the road, then dashes back, out of traffic to the sidewalk. He shakes and appears to fret, then makes another fruitless attempt to run out into the road. I look into the road to see a freshly burst black squirrel on the pavement. A car had just run it over, and it is now being flattened by the relentless traffic.
Getting home and reading the online news media, the Chinese story is very current. Chinese society is up in arms. Or at least is pretending to be in the official media. “How could this happen in this society?”
Many articles theorizing on how this happened follow.
I am left thinking about the squirrel and the Chinese people I saw.
There is no word I am aware of to describe the so called “humanity” in squirrels, elephants and other animals which display what to a human appears to be sympathy, empathy or concern.
I think the term humanity could stand some revision. But then again, it is my humanity that is causing me this moment of obscurity. I find myself grateful that whatever it is, it was not “Made in China”.
E Q U I V A L E N C E
Few concepts resonated with me as much as Equivalence while I was studying photography at Ryerson. Phil Bergerson would be pleased I think to know that some of his students were able to hone their critical faculties that much sharper under his tutelage.
Photo Copyright © Tom Evans – 2011 All Rights Reserved
This picture more than any other I shot this summer illustrates the serendipity that comes with shooting. A bit of drama in the sky, the knowledge that I had not taken a photo yet that day, and the proximity to the reasonably good camera in my HTC cell phone all came together to produce this marvelous little image which evokes memories of the North Shore of the North Channel between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay near Manitoulin Island.
The eye is tricked maybe, and the viewer may not even know why they are spending time with this image. It is all about that. And I like it.
Everyone loves a parade right?
I do. And although I passed on an invitation to join this one, with the Chinatown Remixed contingent, I was determined to come out and watch the 2011 Gay Pride parade in Ottawa. Actually, I am not so sure the word Gay is used anymore.
It has long been known as the best parade in town. Certainly it is fun. And it seems fun for the whole family, at least some families. There are still a lot of disturbing fetishists who kind of make their part of the parade a bit of a celebration of their own bit of weird. But largely this is the most inclusive and most pleasant and fun thing I have seen.
There were certainly a lot more women in the parade than in years past. And a lot of straight folks just out to stand up for diversity and acceptance. I was particularly interested to see very little segregation among the sexes. Nowhere was the integration more evident that in the young people’s section of the parade group.
Finally. This is the Chinatown REMIXED contingent, with whom Heather and I were invited to march. I can honestly say there is no way I would have blended into this colourful group of human “Skittles” as my friend Cynthia calls them. Happy to come and cheer them on though. And good for them for flying the REMIX flag.
“So you say you want a resolution.
Well, you know. ..”
As I sit down at my computer, on this second day of 2011, it occurs to me that my recent quests in life have been for resolution. Whether it be for outstanding issues, both personal and public, or for clarity and definition in my photography.
2010 was a year to remember.
It was a year of transition, as they all seem to be now.
I transitioned to the other side of 55.
I transitioned from barely working to working quite a lot.
I no longer do thankless things that stand in the way of productive things. (I still do joyful and random beautiful things without concern for the consequences.)
I transitioned from shooting for the sake of it to shooting when the light is best.
I now see better, notwithstanding my declining ability to resolve with my eyes.
A lot of things I was told were true, but couldn’t relate to at the time, are proving to be just that. Quite true.
I find I still have a lot of my core values from the days of my earliest memories. Some of them are:
1: I enjoy the company of women better than that of men.
2: I enjoy the company of a vintage sports car better than that of a new car.
3: I still abide by the pledge I took as a Boy Scout, even though it may be somewhat sexist, and deferential to authority. (I do kind of disrespect those in authority “above us” however. Actions always speak louder than words, and whether it be in politics or religion … I never cease to be disappointed.)
4: I look for short cuts and efficiencies. Sometimes I spend productive time, spinning my wheels in pursuit of them though. Thankfully I am married to a very practical and direct woman who will see things through, confident that the way it was done last time, will see the thing done.
5: I think it never hurts to be generous with ones attention and interest. To try to help where possible and to just plain listen.
6: Never call your father in law a son-of-a bitch. This might seem like a good idea sometimes, but it really isn’t.
7: Also, when standing up to a bully, if you are 6 years old, don’t thrash him and make him cry. The girls around you won’t be impressed. It will only make the bully seem more sympathetic.
8: Always reach out to the friends you held dear but have lost touch with. They are still the same wonderful people even if they are now famous and well off or down and out.
9: Don’t give up on your family. They may not come around, but it comes with membership that they are entitled to your … consideration if nothing else. Even if they are Hitler. OK, maybe not Hitler.
10: Most things can be fixed. Everything can be broken.
11: Your faculties will go. Your spirit will not. Look for it in your elders. Try to see the young person they once were. It’s not very difficult most times.
12: Don’t write lists like this and think you are being profound. Do it to improve your typing skills, and do it to reach out and let others know they have touched you and made you what you are. And you are grateful. Or bitter. But easy on the bitterness. It’s not helpful.
2011 is going to be better than 2010, which was better than 2008-09.
It will be different. Don’t count on it being anything other than different.
Count on me though. Heather too.
-Tom
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Minty-Fresh™.
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,100 times in 2010. That’s about 5 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 21 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 80 posts. There were 138 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 31mb. That’s about 3 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was March 31st with 39 views. The most popular post that day was fieldwork : spring by Cynthia O’Brien.
The top referring sites in 2010 were tomevans.ca, facebook.com, ivortevans.blogspot.com, ivorevans10883.sitewelder.com, and tips-tools-tutorials.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for “lisa thomas” art ottawa, capic ottawa, peter cunningham photographer, amanda sears almonte, and lisa thomas photography.
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
fieldwork : spring by Cynthia O’Brien March 2010
dam December 2009
Tom on Other Sites March 2010
About Ivor Thomas Evans November 2007
CAPIC OTTAWA – Events and News September 2010
Photos on a photographer’s website. What a good idea.
Please have a look and feel free to make suggestions. The site is incomplete, but this way if you send me a great idea I don’t have to undo a whole lot of work. Try the email links from the site, or leave a comment below. I will appreciate it and there may be a valuable prize in it for you. If you consider photography valuable. And I know you do.
Cheers,
Tom
All content on this blog including images are Copyright © Tom Evans – All Rights Reserved
I was once asked to hire a photographer for an event.
Not saying which, in fairness to all involved.
Two things surfaced which always do when photographic services are being considered.
1) – Copyright
2) – Fee
I don’t need to rehash the horror stories of shrinking fees here, we have all been reading them for years. How buyers can get work for next to if not for nothing and how they ask for and receive ownership of the work produced.
This particular instance came to a head when I looked over the final expenses for the event and discovered that the cost of balloons to mark the venues in a decorative way exceeded what was paid to the event photographer by a magnitude of 25%.
The issue of ownership of the images was not discussed prior to the event, so it was expected the photographer would accept the committee owning the copyright. I should technically have had no part in brokering this deal and I would not do it again.
The relative importance of pictures to balloons to the event?
Not fairly represented in the fee paid.
Mind you they over paid for the balloons.
But the irony stung me deeply.
Furthermore the cost of framing a lot of the work in this event came close to or exceeded the price most artists are able to ask for their work. Not a lot in this case mind you, but a significant number.
This is all I am going to say on this topic at this time, but I will chime in again about it and maybe have some constructive suggestions to make.
