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The malls have been playing Christmas carols since the end of November. Today I heard a Boxing day commercial on the radio. Yep, it’s that time of year again, Christmas! I had initially planned to get an exterior shot of my home church, but after checking what the exposure should be (metered for 4 minutes), then compensated for reciprocity failure (the more a film is exposed to light, the less sensitive to light it becomes, and tri-x has terrible reciprocity) and the app spat out 52 minutes. I love photography and tri-x, but standing outside at 8:45 pm on the main street in the snowRead More →

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It wouldn’t be a 52-project from me without something from Findlay! Anyone who has attended a Film Photography Project meetup in lovely downtown Findlay, Ohio, will immediately recognize this beautiful building. The Hancock County Courthouse was constructed between 1886 and 1888 to replace an older brick structure that once sat on the same site. This came about when Findlay was decided to be the seat of Hancock county. Constructed in three styles, Palladium, Victorian, and a favourite of mine, Richardson Romanesque, the building certainly strikes anyone who visits the downtown. If you get a chance or are driving past, stop by. The Irish pub isRead More →

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Oddly enough one of my other hobbies has managed to avoid this project, that of exploring abandoned buildings. Week 49, I was down in Cincinnati for the fourth annual Very Cincinnati Christmas event. The opening location was the former First German Reformed Church. Completed in 1850 in the mainly German-American west end of the city, the church thrived until changes swept across the nation in the 1960s, and the congregation sold their beautiful limestone and brick building. A new church worshipped there; the Freeman Avenue United Church lasted from 1970 to 1975 before closing its doors. The building, like many abandoned for decades, changed handsRead More →

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So the rather odd title comes from a story a friend tells of a D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) match where one of the players doesn’t know what a Gazebo is and proceeds to think it is a mystical creature, the DM (Dungeon Master) fed up by the player informs him that the Gazebo comes awake and kills him. Don’t worry; this gazebo is asleep and hasn’t been pushed into action. Yet. But after several weeks of wanderings, I’ve come back home here for week 48 and the gazebo that sits out over the Mill Pond. Also, this is where the town of Milton originally sprungRead More →

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While most of the actions of the War of 1812 took place along the border between the Canadas and the United States, there was a series of native raids in the southern reaches of the Northwest and Indiana Territories. The native allied, stirred into action by the successes of their British Allies in the north proceeded to lay siege to several American forts such as Forts Harrison and Wayne throughout the fall of 1812. But when General William Henry Harrison took command of the Army of the Northwest following Hull’s removal after his loss at Detroit. The old hand at dealing with the native threatRead More →

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Dull skies, snow dancing in the air, yep, winter has finally come to southern Ontario. In week 47, I found myself driving home from Ottawa. Having discovered this lovely scene back in September in Merreckville, Ontario. One of several communities that dot the length of the Rideau Canal. Completed in 1832 under the watchful eye of Colonel John By. The Canal, constructed to link the Ottawa River and Lake Ontario, was meant to transport military supplies and personnel away from the American guns on the US side of the St. Lawrence River. Thankfully the canal never had to be used to move troops around butRead More →

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Control of the lakes were key during the War of 1812 as the fastest way to move troops, equipment, and supplies was by water. Most the roads in the Canadas and the US weren’t the super highways we know today, they were nothing more than dirt roads that would easily become mud pits in the snow and rain. To maintain control of the lakes both sides maintained squadrons of ships that could keep the enemy pinned in their own bases. Unlike Lake Erie which was controlled first by the British because the US Naval Squadron had been captured in 1812 after Brock captured Detroit, andRead More →

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They went with songs to the battle, they were young. Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them. They mingle not with their laughing comrades again; They sit no more at familiar tables of home; They have no lot in our labour of the day-time; They sleep beyond England’s foam –Read More →

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I was very happy that I could make it down to New Orleans during the bicentennial years of the War of 1812, even though I cut it close. But here he is, immortalized in Jackson Square, President Andrew Jackson. Jackson was the general in command of the defence of New Orleans during the British assault on the city, which through his actions and poor planning and leadership on the British side, won the battle for the Americans and propelled Jackson to the office of the President. And here he sits still today, very close to the French Quarter. I wish I had more time toRead More →

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In the years preceding the first world war, a new sort of arms race was looming, the battleship. One specific battleship, HMS Dreadnought, was the first big gun battleship in the Royal Navy. Soon all other powers were scrambling to match the size, armour, and armament of the Dreadnought. The United States Navy was not immune to this new global arms race. Sadly today, most of these awesome displays of naval power are long gone, including the lead ship, the Dreadnought herself, but one remains. The New York Class Battleship USS Texas. Construction of Texas began in 1911, launched in 1912 and commissioned as BB-35Read More →