Working Late

Today I decided to take my camera to work with me, armed only with my 35mm 1.8. Last night I tried shopping in the Eaton's Center and it was insane, so I escaped outside for fresh air and saw how fantastically colorful Dundas Square is, complete with its holiday trimmings. I vowed to go back tonight and shoot it.

Now, it seems to me I have a short memory and should know better. I *know* I won't take good night shots without a tripod, but I didn't bring mine. I decided to do some guerrilla high ISO handheld shots. It was cold, and that helped keep me moving.

The night started with me killing time waiting for a phone call that didn't come. I vowed to wait until 6 p.m., which is late for a Friday before a working weekend, imHo.

I basically walked in circles around the office looking for stuff to shoot. This is a great exercise (not physical, I'm not in that bad of shape yet), as it gets the creative juices flowing, and gets you looking.

I was happy to take this photo because every time I walk to and from the washroom, I look out this window and say to myself, man, I really have to shoot that alley one day. Done and done!

This is a row of fake flowers on a window sill. They do not belong to us, and are likely the long lost remains of someone's trinkets and trash marketing spend. I got lucky that the light reflection kind of highlights the subject. The reflections are a little wonky, though.

I'm a bit of a fanatic about white board cleanliness, so this photo makes me chuckle.

Six p.m. hit and I wasn't sticking around any longer. I grabbed my coat and scarf and left.

Across the road.

Towers of banking power.

I took this one because of the photography in-joke. Those are not sunstars from a carefully stopped down long exposure shot, but light patterns created by lampshades cut to cast the star pattern. Cheating! That, and 'I went to the big city and all I saw was a fake snowman' t-shirts.

This was fun. A tree of light reaching for the moon. The moon blew out and I was really wishing for a wider lens so I could do more with it. Regardless, the illusion created by the leading lines to the dot is neat.

A well lit building on the way to Yonge St. via the shortcut to the King subway entrance.

Other pedestrians don't respond well to someone stopping in the middle of the road to take photos. In this photo it's possible to get a sense of how much visual confusion is created by the Christmas decorations combined with other lights.

A beautifully lit building.

More pseudo-jaywalking.

More visual confusion.

It's at its worst here in the (relatively) recently renovated Dundas Square. I liked the guy in the ad and how he interacts with the woman walking into my shot. He looks upset!

I had to leave some color shots in just to give an idea of how wild the colors are. I'm sure they're something to see all year, but add in Christmas and it's ka-razy!

These color photos are shot at ISO 200, and the camera's auto white balance hit daylight/flash temp (5500) all by itself. I managed to catch this race between three fake polar bears and a street car. The bears won. That's a little TTC joke for my streetcar riding friends.

I'm fairly confident I'll never know how to control light in a shot like this.

© Jeremy Buehler and Bug Noir (www.bugnoir.com), 2010.

Studio Messin'

I'm sneaking in photos whenever I can between a busy work schedule and bad weather. We decided today that there will be a lot of working from home between Christmas and New Years, so I need to think of some cool stuff to shoot in the three hours of commuting time I win back every day.

Yet another behind the camera self portrait. This time I'm hiding behind the 77mm front end of the 70-200mm at f/2.8. It's blurry because I shot at 1/6th of a second and I shake like a leaf. But the bokeh is always fantastic with this lens.

This is why I'm inside and not out shooting. The weather was wet on the weekend, and now it's really cold. I'm already starting to plan my spring/summer/fall of shooting.

I've been watching training videos on lighting, and this isn't exactly what they're about. I hauled out my 105mm macro for this shot, and shot at 1/8000th of a second at f/11. Fun.

© Jeremy Buehler and Bug Noir (www.bugnoir.com), 2010.

Mill Pond, First Snow

My day started trying to shoot this photo that I see every morning when I catch the GO bus downtown. Unfortunately, I catch the bus about 15 minutes earlier than when I got there today, and I missed the good light. These rushes practically glow gold when the sun hits them.

When I turned to swear at the sun (because that makes more sense than me getting up 15 minutes earlier, right?), I saw this flock of geese flying in front of it.

There was enough light to make cool reflections on some nearby condos.

A parking lot dusted with snow and recent tire tracks made for some cool texture.

A rare positive point about shooting in winter: You can wander around the empty playground with a camera and telephoto lens and no one calls the cops. A giant turquoise tongue.

Slide curve with fake bokeh.

Rings with real bokeh.

Where the net meets the line, and small mounds of snow.

Sara Conner's recurring nightmare, dusted with nuclear ash. Or snow. No skulls to be seen.

The old bell at the fire station.

I was certainly taking my time getting to the Mill Pond. Here's a blue door that caught my eye as I walked.

We have to be very detailed with our instructions in Richmond Hill.

My overexposed swan friends, caught here swimming in the Mill Pond's last remaining open water, when the sun made a brief appearance.

One day I'll figure out how to shoot shots like this. Today was not that day.

Radical snow grain and rock.

Fat bastard with big claws. Someone else fed it; I don't because I know eventually they'll be mugging people for peanuts.

© Jeremy Buehler and Bug Noir (www.bugnoir.com), 2010.

Stolen Sunshine Day

Today I checked out the shooting locations in my neighborhood to see how they were being influenced by the advancing season. The sun was shining brightly in the morning but as soon as I stepped outside the day became overcast, with the sun breaking through only once the entire time I was out. The Millpond is used for skating in winter, but now it's caught in a limbo between Fall and freezing temperatures. The local cemetery has green grass and many fallen leaves, rendering it in orange, brown and marble red, black and grey.

The day was so overcast I was able to shoot a swan without over exposing it; usually the sun reflects too brightly from their white feathers.

Creepy bokeh.

A mutant, but very pretty, duck.

The fungus seems to still be doing well this time of year.

Creepy old tree. It had a raccoon sleeping in it. Or it was dead. Let's say sleeping.

I stopped briefly to check out the nearby cemetery. I didn't shoot much but I thought the natural wear on this headstone created a neat effect on the last name.

© Jeremy Buehler and Bug Noir (www.bugnoir.com), 2010.

Phyllis in the Fall

Today I spent some time shooting at the Phyllis Rawlinson Park, my first and likely only visit there in the Fall. While the day was overcast, as seems to be the case whenever I go to the park, it was still nice way to spend the afternoon. It also gave me a chance to try out my new camera bag, about which I have mixed feelings.

I tried to think more about isolating subjects this run, and the amazing color opportunities I found.

Combining both lead to some interesting shots. The overcast day helped keep the backgrounds very flat.

I do love me my benches.

The copper eaves troughs should be in color in this shot, but the rope/wire was a very tacky green color that destined this photo for black and white.

Some symmetry and texture.

Beautiful thistles.

Isolation of white on brown.

Isolation of reds.

Some kind of crazy seed pod, half destroyed and lying on a footbridge.

Orange oaks and an attempt to capture the third dimension.

And to think a couple of months ago I was lamenting the excess of green. Now it stands out like spilled alien blood.

© Jeremy Buehler and Bug Noir (www.bugnoir.com), 2010.