Lacy Underwear in My Pocket

Standing under the low ceiling that covered the back door entrance, I stopped to reflect on what was unfolding simply just in this moment. I was craving a cigarette, which is balanced on the edge of unusual and understandable, as I have never smoked a day in my life. I still craved the moment of relaxation where I could focus my mind on the inhalation, exhalation, inhalation... I didn't want to continually run my mind as it had been doing throughout this particular day.

I was wearing a ripped faux leather jacket, with a long sweater underneath of it, and a pair of black lacy underwear in my pocket. This sounds ridiculous but my days have been bending into the unusual more and more as the year progressed.

The underwear can simply be explained in one sentence: A fellow student had asked me to pose for a gallery which is focused on self-image. A touchy situation for most but an important topic to keep in the mind of the community. My jacket was ripped from the back straining bag I carried around each day. I am not meaning to complain about my life in this post but rather to explain why it has been so difficult for me to meet with friends or have enough time to socialize, which I apologize for.

Three members of my at-school family.

I am extremely grateful for the people in my life who have stepped up to help me through the rougher spots in my college career that are to be expected from a student.

The Devil is in the Macro Details

Macro photography! When I hear these words, a whole new world is brought to my eyes. If done correctly, macro photographs can show a different side to anything, making even the most boring of subjects amazing.

In my rushing attempts to get projects handed in on time and the while trying to organize my schedules I had forgotten about a little 'project' I had saved for a rainy day. Let me take you back a whole 365 days before this story can begin.

Looking outside my dirty window I peered out towards the rising sun. My eyes were just adjusting to the warm oranges, and pinks that cascaded over the street. The occasional car would wonder by, trying to obey the speed limit which always seemed way too slow.

This particular Saturday felt like the right time to tidy up my house. I had been living in a cooped-up, lightly dusted, impenetrable, fortress for too long because of the winter months. The breeze in the air was warmer than usual and perhaps even filled with the promise of spring.

I started with my bedroom and worked my way down the hallway, towards the long and spiraling stairs. The house needed a desperate vacuuming to revive the life inside so off to the closet I went. Zooming down the steps I was frozen by something that caught my eye. A glimmer of green zinged past me making me stop and turn around. I spied for the answer to this strange sight but nothing was visible to me that made sense: Cedar steps, fading white wedding dress decorating the landing on a very old mannequin, the high ceilings illuminating the stain glass windows reflections on the walls. Nothing here would have made that colour.

My eyes darted around, for now that the curiosity had set in there was no turning back. I had to get to the bottom of this. Setting my hand on the window ledge for support, I was started my something crunching under my hand. Under the pressure of my hand I had disturbed a fly- only this was not a living fly! The bug must have died a while ago because the body was very dry. I had found the thing responsible for the shining green! Ripping my hand away from the area, I did so no with disgust but with sparks of imagery flying through my mind.

I had just found the perfect model for my next photoshoot! The bug had stayed very vibrant and looked living! If it wasn't for the lack of movement, I would have assumed it was healthy and well.
I carefully placed this gem of a find into a container with a sealed lid. I was going to photograph this as soon as I had a few minutes to set up my lights.

x-ray style photography

coloured x-ray style

This is where the story comes back to the present. Over the weeks of finding that perfect time to the fly, it had slowly faded from the foreground of memory and eventually slipped away. I had only rediscovered this little guy after cleaning away my desk yet again during the feeble attempts at conquering the Dust Storm Beast that seemed to inhabit my bedroom. While opening the glass container that served as a tomb for the reflecting green fly, my passion to capture a still frame of the bug was reignited. It was time to execute the plan.

Try on some 3-D glasses!

I borrowed a macro lens for my Nikon camera and went to work. These images are some of the creations that came out of this interesting subject matter. The fact that the bug was not alive was very helpful because it did not zip away while I adjusted my composition.

I played around with different styles of photography for this particular photo. I have created a colour and a black and white x-ray, 3-D, and a low key photo. It was a pretty fun side project and I recommend it to anyone that is looking to practice their macro photography further.

Spirit in the Shadow

Traveling Through Time

We ventured beyond the familiar, as if by time travel, to an unknown destination. We had no particular place in mind but only the hopes of discovering a hidden, creaking gem that has been withholding secrets for many years.

The reason to be pushing our boundaries of safety to find such a wreck? The answer lies, of course, in the hands of our education. Yes, this was another assignment. The instructions were quite clear: " Find an abandoned and/or forgotten place and capture it's fleeting beauty in a photograph." With this in mind, we continued onward.

Location #1

The day started late in the afternoon which allowed my girlfriend, Alexa, also in the Lambton College Digital Photography program, and I to find a nice area to shoot in and allow us to prepare before sundown.  Scuttering down dirt roads in Alexa's 2000 Cavaliere we unfastidiously followed a hand-drawn map created by my dad.

Ghost in the Kitchen

I have lived in the Petrolia area my entire life but it never occurred to me how much I would rediscover when viewing the grounds in such a light. Little things started to pop out to me as if I had opened my eyes for the first time in years. Rotting shacks that were once seen as falling, wooden structures began to seem lethargic but alive. Rusted cars were beginning to appear as a memory trapped in the very moment of the crash that would inevitably send it to sit, years in exile, unable to be driven again. The history that engulfed such anomalies fascinated me on an entirely new level.

Rubble Panoramic

With peeked interest, we hiked up the hills and dirt paths to what would hopefully reap great reward. We travelled to two different locations. One, a house that has sat still since 1995 and the other much older hidden behind rows of thorned bushes.

Location #2

The gif above is a review of the many photos I took while trying to 'ghost' an image. This entails dragging the shutter to blur the person or object in frame as it passes by. For these shots, the shutters were between 6 and 30 seconds.

Self Portrait

I will definitely be exploring this project again in the future and I advise that if you choose to do the same to tread with caution, but enjoy the adventure!

Wait, What Did You Say?!

I assume with any workplace there is a strange lingo that is used amongst everyone apart of that world away from home. At least, in our class, this is the case. When a funny comment is made me create an ongoing joke that lasts longer than it probably should. 

I started writing down these random snippets of conversations that were lost in the blur of voices in our buzzing classroom. Going around asking people to tell me something they have either heard or have said, I thought to myself: “How would people who have no idea what we are talking about, react to these fragments of strange quotes? Being a photographer I jumped on the opportunity to photograph their faces! 

I asked my friend Patrick if he would be able to take a listen to pieces of our strange and bizarre world that were born through our deep longing to complete our projects, our unquenchable thirst for impressive grades, and lack of sleep that our overworked brains desperately desired.

“I need to wear a shirt that I feel…”

“Just shoot her in the face and adjust it with a scrim.”

“Did you just laugh when Yoda died?!”

"Tator tots? I'm in the right place!"

“It’s not peach because it isn’t peach!”

“Was your grandmother hot as well?"

“Panooooo”

I welcome you to take these quotes any way you feel fit and allow your mind to explore what was really meant by each comment. Please comments of what you thought about this post!