When it came to naval warfare in the 19th century the undisputed masters of the sea was the Royal Navy. The rivers and lakes of Upper and Lower Canada were the highways of the day, these were the main trade routes not only for economic purposes but military as well. Any nation that controlled the waterways, could control the course of the war. With the United States not having a squadron of note on the Great Lakes at the start of the war the British were quick to seize control of both Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. With Brock’s capture of Detroit in August ofRead More →

It’s excellent when professional jobs can link to a personal project. It happened several times back in my original 52-Roll Project, namely the wedding of Laura & Mark. So when I was approached by the up-and-coming country rock band, A Mad World, My Masters, I inquired if they’d be willing to be featured in this year’s sheet-a-week project. They agreed it helps that the band’s lead singer is an old and very good friend who has graced my lenses in the past. The shoot was amazing. It’s always a plus when you get a chance to work with a fantastic group of really chill artistsRead More →

Not a setback for me, oh no, the project keeps on trucking! The title comes from the subject, this beautiful Italianate farmhouse is set fairly fair back from the road and a house that I drive past every day going to and from work. Although the land around it has been slowly parcelled off over the years since it was built, thankfully this one, unlike many others in the area, was maintained and owned. Modified Anniversary Speed Graphic – Fuji Fujinon-W 1:5.6/125 – Kodak Tri-X Pan (320TXP) Meter: Pentax Spotmeter V 1/8″ – f/64 – ASA-320 Kodak HC-110 Dil. B 5:30 @ 20CRead More →

Dreaming in Black & White. It’s funny how sometimes the picture comes to me at the location, and sometimes it’s just there in my head. A lot of this project has been pre-planning locations, and sometimes it works out, and I take the shot; other times, it just happens, and it still comes to me well beforehand. For Doors Open Toronto, I had a couple of possible locations that could’ve served for Week 22, one being the gorgeous RC Harris Water Treatment plant. I had no desire to drive out to Scarborough and then find a place to park my car and ride the TTCRead More →

Apologies for the delay in posting this, this past week was ‘Roid Week, so I was focused on getting the daily shots posted. This little white clapboard church sits at the end of a road in Wallacetown, Ontario, south of Dutton, a 15-minute drive from the 401. St. Peter’s Anglican Church is one of the oldest continually operating churches in southwest Ontario. It has been in this same building since its construction in 1827; only the H.M. Chapel of the Mohawks near Brantford, Ontario, is older. I’m not often in this part of the province, usually up near London or Chatham-Kent. Still, a call wasRead More →

You may recognize this building from the 2006 film Transformers; this is Detroit’s massive Michigan Central Station. Designed in the Beaux-Arts Classical style with the interior lobby modelled after a Roman Bathhouse, complete with Doric columns. The station was completed in 1912, but the whole area wasn’t fully completed (including Roosevelt Park, from where I took this photo) until 1920. Costing $15,000,000 in 1912 to complete the station was never fully used. That’s right, the 18-story tower that rises above the actual station was never completed. The top several floors are not even furnished. But despite this, the station hosted more than 4,000 passengers dailyRead More →

A little bit of infrastructure porn for Week 10, inspired by some of Bill Schwab’s recent photos of this Bridge from the Detroit side of the River. As I was heading into Detroit for the weekend, I decided to stop and get a shot from the Windsor side. The bridge also serves as one of the busiest border crossings in North America and is one of two ways to cross the Detroit river, the other being the tunnel (which I oddly enough took). Officially opened in 1929, it was designed to ease the congestion in the tunnel without obstructing lake freighter traffic. It had theRead More →

Returning to the classic combo, Tri-X and HC-110. Due to flooding on my usual route to and from work, I had to take a road that I hadn’t driven in a while, and that’s where I came across this gem. It’s becoming fairly common in rural Milton to find old abandoned farmhouses, the field still used by others now, but the old houses left boarded up. I’m a little ticked at myself for leaving the gatepost in the frame, but sadly it was the only way to get the house through the trees without having to put the camera on a weird angle or findRead More →

Many things can be used to describe the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. Hero, Legend, Warrior, Hunter. Like many who fought in the war, Tecumseh’s name only became larger after his death, following in the line of those like Perry, Harrison, Brock, and Secord. But the war was in Tecumseh’s blood, despite him wanting nothing more than peace. Born in the latter half of the 1760s in the Ohio Valley, he was born into conflict. His true name, Tecumethe, meaning shooting star, was given to him as he was born under such an astrological sign. However, history has named him Tecumseh. The Shawnee had been forced toRead More →

Born into the American aristocracy on August 9th, 1773. Harrison was the youngest of seven children born to Benjamin Harrison V and his wife Elizabeth. He grew up on he Berkely Planation in Charles City County Virginia. He entered school at age 14 studying the classics, then entered the field of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1790, after the death of his father in 1791 leaving little funds for him to continue his studies a friend arranged for him to meet Governor Henry Lee, and within a day Harrison accepted an Ensigns commission in the United States Army and was assigned to theRead More →