How Far is it From Here?

For those that have been to Nova Scotia, you can agree that no two things here are close together, it seems. It looks like a little tiny place on the map and in relation to Ontario, it is, but, it is also just big enough to make it difficult to get around. There are places where you can't get to other nearby places without returning to where you came from and changing roads.....seriously! That often turns what one would think would be a short drive, into an hour or more.

I came to Nova Scotia nearly a week ago now for some recharging. Times have been stressful for me of late and I looked forward to some serious photography time, but have not gotten to it very much. A big part of it is because of this driving thing. I've already got about 15 or 16 hours invested in getting to the province in the first place so I have to say, spending a large portion of my time in the car getting to, or returning from shooting doesn't sound like a lot of fun right now. Driving isn't my relaxed place.

Today, for example, I was going to get up ridiculously early to make it to a place two and a half hours away to shoot a bridge while it was lit. I either had to go extremely early, or leave it till evening. I scheduled and rescheduled, but finally decided to forego the trip altogether......5 hours of driving to essentially get one picture? Not right now, maybe another time.

For these reasons, I've spent more time actually relaxing. I've watched the last season of Weeds, half of the last season of Orange Is The New Black and a couple of movies on Netflix. It has been a great rest, but the trek back to Ontario begins tomorrow.

Photo of the Week #46

I'm on the road again, on my way to the Nova Scotia house. I wanted to shoot something new for the blog, but I drove all day to get a head start. I made it to Woodstock, New Brunswick and am relaxing a bit before some sleep. I'm posting a shot I made at Tor Bay, NS last year, just to get in the Nova Scotia mood. I processed on my laptop so I'm hoping it looks ok for you. This laptop isn't very good......crossed fingers.

Photo of the Week #45

The morning of the Tragically Hips show in Kingston, my friend, Paul and I met well before daylight to photograph the cigarette boats in the basin. Afterward, we took a stroll all around Market Square and the K Rock Centre area, just to see what was happening. The place was actually pretty busy with activity as the city crews were hanging banners of The Hip and people were setting up for the market as well. In the small street at the loading door of the K-Rock Centre, it was also buzzing with activity, not like other concerts, security people were already there and working, even though it was over 12 hours from showtime. As we made our way around to the front, we encountered a small group of people who had set up at the box office in hopes there would be tickets made available for the show. I have no idea if they released any or not, but those people were there, just in case. I thought this guy was quite interesting, he was resting in a most unusual place. If you look closely, you can see a person over near the box office who was taking pictures of me as I was photographing this man.

Photo of the Week #44

I have been pretty busy this past few days going to photographing concerts every night that I haven't had a bunch of time for my other stuff. This is a shot from last weekend's poker run. This was made early on the Saturday morning and as you can see, not all of the boats were even in the water yet. Always great to grab a shot with City Hall in the background too.

Photo of the Week #43

Last night, millions of fans across Canada tuned in to the last concert by The Tragically Hip. I tried to get credentials to shoot, but the promoter didn't allow anyone in to photograph. I debated about watching from Market Square, but opted to stay home and watch from there. The CBC did a wonderful job on the broadcast and The Hip didn't disappoint either. I've seen them many times over their career and last night was a fitting end to the story. It was emotional to say the least, saying goodbye to a band that has contributed to the soundtrack of most of our lives. What did it for me was when Gord said at the end of one of the encores, "Thank you and have a good life." Gord always seemed to know what to say to get to you.