Cherry Beach and The Sky over Toronto

Last Weekend I took a few photos when i went down to Cherry Beach for a free techno party. Aside from the cold, it was pretty good. My only mistake was not bringing a heavier layer (jacket) and some sort of booze. I wish i did, cause both would've kept me warm for sure. ;)

Here's a few shots from my little photographic adventure at Cherry








Because These were taken around 5pm-ish, I had a good amount of "North Light" to work with. Although, the one picture of the DJ, did not benefit from Northlight, directly... No, that one was a case of my being lucky and having perfect light balance.

Now... this one was not what i was hoping for, but in the end, it gave me a little post-processing fun. Incidentally, it looked much better in Adobe Bridge (pre-processing), for reasons that escape me.



The Dippers overhead my place. I've outlined as best as i could, the two outlines of the most famous (non-zodiacal) constellations, in the sky. If i had a better placement, I could've also indicated Polaris and the twin galaxies M81/82, not to mention, the owl Nebula.

Well... the Owl Nebula is technically in this shot, it's just very faint. It's more easily resolved with binoculars or telescope (or better yet, a camera with a decent telephoto lens)

Taking a shot like this requires a bit of skill and a whole lot of understanding that... quite frankly I don't possess. The exposure i used was I think... 10seconds. I tried doing a 30min exposure, but I forgot to switch a setting in my camera that allowed that. The camera, as far as i can tell, turned off mid-exposure, thus not taking the photo at all. Note to self: next time change auto-shutoff to "never".

East York... at Night

As many of you know, this is Toronto's 175th anniversary after being incorporated. I'm not entirely sure, but it's probably around the 10 year mark after megacity amalgamation as well.

Being a resident of East York, I am privy (although, i don't necessarily engage in) to witnessing the beauty of this multicultural community. We have the Greeks on Danforth, the Pakistani/Indians on Gerrard, and the Chinese on Broadview and Gerrard. And of course, everyone and everything in between along the gaps and such.

Two Things that caught my eye last night were... 1) The statue of Sun Yat-Sen, in Riverdale - poorly lit because the chinese community seems to not give a damn about the man that modernized China. And 2) The fountain at Logan Ave - featuring the bust of Alexander the Great. The juxtaposition is kinda scary when i think about it. The Sun Yat Sen statue has a burnt out lamp, and is all concrete and bronze, surrounded by parkland. The Alexander bust, has benches, a fountain, trees, lights and a conveniently placed Gyro spot next to it.

Anyhow... The following are some of last nights photos.












Click on this one to see the fuller 1024x324 version.