Looking Back: Will & Execution

We are fast approaching the end of the summer 2023, and it feels like I do not have much to share from this season’s photoshoots. I do not know yet if this is because I possibly have nothing to share, or because I am exhausted from the change in my life from the last six months (I became a homeowner and cat dad), but I feel like the time is not quite right to share some of my newer photos. Normally, my process involves having a look ‘back’ at my photos before I post them, to be able to as coolly as possible select them from a broad menu of finished images, but right now I am late to finish some photoshoots from more than a year ago.

So, without further ado, I am sharing some photos I have, to my recollection, never shared before from a shoot that is so far back that it feels ancient relative to my development as a photographer. Nevertheless, this is one which remains kind of a favorite that I like going back to from time to time. Moreover, the name of this fitness team, “Will & Execution”, feels like a good recipe for getting me out of the torpor that has been gripping me the last little while, if not on such a physical level as what is depicted here.

That being said, there is no way in hell, sadly, that I can recall the names of each team member, because of how it had been organized, so please bear with me on that one.

When I say ‘forever ago’, this means May 2016. Hell, this is too close to be called 10 years ago, way too close for my own comfort. I do not like the feeling of getting old, haha. This was a shoot organized by the Ottawa Photography Meetup, and taking place on the grounds of the National Gallery. I guess that the National Gallery provides some real good backgrounds, like the cupola in the image above, but now I have to wonder why this site was selected for a shoot about fitness, in the very physical sense. It did, if nothing else, provide the ‘models’ (all genuine team members and none of them with actual experience modelling in front of a camera) with nice props on which to do some fitness demonstrations.

At the time, I shot with a 6D and did not really have any fast lenses. To the best of my recollection, I was principally using two lenses at the shoot: a Sigma 24-105 f4 Art, a Canon 100 f2.8L Macro, and a Canon 35 f2 IS. None of them bad lenses at all, but boy did I struggle with composition and autofocus. I kept so few final images of that shoot, and even these were not all that terrible if I am to be honest. Most would not really meet my current standards of quality, the result of so much compromise.

I had to make so many compromises with each shot as well, and in many ways it still feels like I always made the lousiest choice: either it was wide, well-focused, but with everything in focus; wide with a shallow depth of field, but also badly focused; and with the subject well isolated but you could not see the scene at all.

Wide, well-focused, but with everything is in focus. Ugh.

At least I have several photos where I can actually see what is in the background, something that I sometimes forget to do well now that I own a bunch of (the holy trinity, really) of 1.4 primes.

Despite what I could call quite a number of errors in technique and composition - I am not showing those, but I have several in my final images where I only have half the scene and the model cut in awkward places… I cannot quite bring myself to deleting those, but oh hell are they terrible - the Will and Execution shoot remains one of my favorites even to this day.

It also serves as a lesson that it is important, when I organize my own shoots, that I should provide guidance to the models about the wardrobe.

I might very well add some of these photos back into my screensaver.

Some More Praise for the APS-C Format

Yes, you heard me right! The topic is most definitely worth some revisiting, and what better time to do this than in the middle of the night? This is urgent after all.

Tonight the moon is orange. June 2nd, 2023.

Obviously, like most people, I have had more success shooting the moon with an APS-C system camera, or with a full frame using the APS-C mode. It is much easier to get an acceptable ratio of the moon in the image that way — not to say that I have been able to achieve much here.

My Sony a7 IV with the Sony 70-350G simply is not up to snuff when it comes to getting so many pixels onto a subject as if I were using a dedicated APS-C camera.

That being said, I felt like I needed a new post that started where I had left off so many years ago — yes, I can actually say that — and hopefully, this time, not leave further updates until too long.

I really am hoping so because, since Good Friday this year, there has been a great addition to my life, and I want to dedicate an entirely new blog — that’s possible, right? — to that sweetest little feline. And yes, there definitely is a majority, I think, of the hundreds of photos I have taken of him so far that were taken using the APS-C format!

Praise for the APS-C Format

Kory - Human Statue Project - January 2015 (Canon 70D)

In this case, Canon’s excellent EF-S 60mm Macro (one of the few lenses I almost regret from my APS-C DSLR days) proved quite the worthwhile instrument to capture Kory’s pensive expression. It provided the speed I needed for the shot, whereas I did not really need a particularly shallow field as I was shooting in studio. Although I wish the shot could have been a bit wider, well, it was not. At the time, the 60mm Macro was the only 50mm-ish lens that you could get for the Canon system with a decent focusing system without shelling out well over a thousand dollars, which I did not have at the time.

My mood is such right now that what I want to talk about now is to defend something that no one is really attacking and, to the extent that it is under attack, well, just about everyone readily knows the answers to. Needless as it may be, the subject does give me the opportunity to reminisce about past shoots and wax philosophical about something that probably does not even really deserve it, so I’ll give it a go anyway.

It also provides me with an opportunity to share some photos, which I have not done for some time in any format, including some which I may not ultimately include in my portfolio when it goes live on this website. (The photo above will almost certainly make the cut, as it has to be one of my all-time favorites.)

It also is always a bit fun to indulge in some gear talk, but I like it to be more about anal retentive evaluation (which I gorge on every week on YouTube, even if it’s about gear I have no interest in nor could even afford to buy) of any given lens’s sharpness or any given body’s dynamic range.

Fox - Geisha in Bloom Project - May 2014 (Canon 60D)

The Geisha in Bloom shoot is one of the first model shoots where I feel like I got worthwhile images which, while not perfect, I would not hesitate to put into my portfolio. Here, using the excellent 70-300L at a moderate telephoto focal length, I was able to compress the distant background behind the model and achieve reasonable subject separation. (I would be lying if I said this approach was deliberate on my part - it is only later that I learned to analyze the situation in a such a way.) I also did rather well with the EF-S 60mm Macro I used for the photo above, but my attempts to really achieve ‘optimal’ subject separation with the 35mm f/2 lens I had were limited with the relatively poor autofocus accuracy I had to deal with on the 60D - such troubles did not abate when using the same lens with the 70D.

And, let’s be honest, most of us here who are taking the public health advisories seriously have way too much time on their hands. My apartment, as it were, it rather small, and there are only so many ways in which I can clean up and optimize space. So here I am shooting off (pun intended?) about something that no one seriously cares about. (The only ways in which I could be even less productive would be by playing video games or by watching ‘television’, but even that has gotten old by now, and my back is asking me for a break from slouching on my couch.)

At the very least, writing about such a non-argument as the validity and usefulness of the APS-C camera format does provide somewhat of a relief from the incessant doom and gloom of current times.

I wish I could tell you that this will be a highly methodological argument offer point and counterpoint to the (real/perceived/imagined) critics of the APS-C format, but that would go right against the very premise of this post, which is that the subject does not really even deserve such rigor.

Fallen Kingdom Project - July 2014 (Canon 70D)

The period between my T1i and the 70D must be one where I had a tragically high turnover of cameras, going from one to the next while hoping to get the performance I wished out of it. Although the 70D went on to become the APS-C camera that I might have used the most (in terms of photos taken with it throughout ownership) and possibly still only second to the 6D, this was not a period of contentment. I cannot prove this, of course, but I am still convinced to this day that Canon’s 20MP APS-C sensor and autofocus system had something not quite right, in how I never really trusted it, much less so than those of the cameras I had previously owned. This lack of trust proved reasonable in this case as, despite my doing pretty much everything ‘right’, I did not manager to nail focus on this image at f/2.5.

It does not actually detract from my liking the image, even to this day, as I’m writing about it. However, my belief that sharpness is not a substitute or even necessarily an ingredient for art does not conflict with my belief that a photo, especially a portrait, should be sharp by default, at the exposure stage. I am not sure which quality is lacking the most in this photo - either its sharpness or the overall aesthetic outcome this lent itself to - but, judging by the awkward lack of response I got from the model when I shared this photos and others reasonably similar, she certainly thought something was missing… could it have contributed to my genuinely not remembering her name?

I will prove that last point right away by almost taking away APS-C’s merit for its own praise (which I’ve not even yet really started to talk about yet) by saying that, technically, it feels like APS-C owes its revival almost entirely thanks to the advent of mirrorless cameras. Before, in the DSLR days, it seems like the overwhelmingly dominant companies, Canon and Nikon, treated APS-C as an afterthought, for those without either the budget or genuine enough commitment to photography to even consider going full frame. The feature set and quality of the cameras mostly followed from that philosophy: by and large, APS-C cameras were outfitted with far inferior autofocus systems (generally less coverage, less responsiveness than their full frame cousins). Dynamic range was limited - particularly problematic on those pesky reflex systems, especially for the noobs (like myself) they were marketed to and who purchased them.

Only time will tell how Canon will approach APS-C in its RF line-up, but one can only hope that some parts of the M system (which, despite being a good idea on paper, suffered greatly from its execution) will be Canon’s answer. The M system really did prioritize lenses that were usable in the scenarios that most people would use them for, though Canon’s snobbishness at APS-C certainly was showing in the relative lack of quality of those same lenses.

Lily & Patrick - Eyal Zimmermann Fashion Show - October 2014 (Canon 70D)

Could having had a fast lens that could have melted way this comically ugly background made for a better photo? Possibly. Though I for one am always wary of context when taking even portraits - people do not fly out in the void represented by a miasma of color, and I would like that to remain an important element of my portrait photography going forward, now that such a miasma is more and more accessible with the faster lenses I’ve acquired over the past year.

Patrick & Samantha - Eyal Zimmermann Fashion Show - October 2014 (Canon 70D)

Certainly, I am happy, and I know in this case that they themselves were, of the photos I took of them as a recently married couple (if I recall correctly). It was an early vote of confidence I had in my photographic ‘career’, and a welcome one after the Fallen Kingdom ‘debacle’. Frankly, most of the time where you are looking more at the background than at the subjects might be indicative of the lack of interest generated by a particular photo. (I’ve still had photos ruined by poor subject separation, but ironically I feel it’s happened to me more on full frame than on APS-C...)

To the extent that Nikon is caring at all for APS-C in their entry in the mirrorless market, they are still more interested in fairly basic lenses even after having produced what seems like a rather successful body in the Z50. However, this impression might be due to Nikon having arguably completely fumbled its entry into mirrorless. It still appears that they have significantly changed its paradigm from when they were sharing dominance of the DSLR market with Canon, producing pretty basic, slow, and even poorly designed lenses for its APS-C system. Going by their full frame lens roadmap, one wonders if they could become totally marginalized before they even solidify their APS-C offerings.

To be honest, though, I cannot that I particularly care about Nikon’s fate in the camera market. In my little time using a Nikon DSLR, I found it about as unergonomic as anything you could think of - not sure why people find those comfortable, maybe the Z line is better - and just downright ugly: I don’t care much for yellow.

A frog sitting in a pond/swamp in around Mud Lake, Ottawa, sometime in the second decade of the third Millennium since that arbitrary Year Zero. (To hell with mathematics and logic, there WAS a Year Zero!)

Taken with a Canon 60D paired with the 70-300L (just to be contrarian with the point I’ll try to make below).

Wildlife and birds, it’s where it’s at for APS-C, at least for those like me with a (relatively) slim wallet and (definite) chicken arms. Aside from a very few exceptions, it is hard to find a quality lens to shoot wildlife/birds with (personally, if we are talking in full frame terms, I’ve always found it hard to get good bird shots at a 400mm focal length) that will not break the bank or my literal back to carry them. Therefore, most full frame options are out - Canon did release interesting f/11 600 and 800mm primes, but even these are sufficiently big while lacking versatility that I would not see myself packing them in my camera bag ‘just in case’ I encountered birds on a trip, and I also could not see myself using either of those, even the 600mm, as a travel telephoto to capture details in a urban environment.

Sony has what looks to me like the best compromise lens in that regard, the excellent 70-350. It offers a very versatile telephoto focal length in a relatively light and cheap package which delivers photos that are sharp, compressed, and nearly free of distortion and chromatic aberrations. Of course, the only APS-C cameras that you can pair it with are rangefinder-style and lack a good offering of good zooms - when it comes to APS-C, Sony truly is all over the map - Sigma and Zeiss offer well-reviewed primes. However, I personally prefer to travel with zooms, especially when Sony sensors are such dust magnets.

This, for me, constitutes a strong disincentive to invest too much in the Sony APS-C system.

Mural in Ottawa, not too far northwards from Bank/Flora Streets, circa summer 2020.

I still like the portability of new APS-C offerings for travel/urban applications. If there is anything that has often held me back from taking a photo while traveling is simply not wanting to pull out my camera from its bag, but with the relatively compact offerings by Sony and Fuji, this reluctance could very well be a thing of the past. There only has got to be decent lenses to pair with these cameras, however, for the kind of enthusiastic but definitely not professional photographer that I am.

It seems like my rant has just led me to pour out the opinions about the different APS-C systems are (and not really) out in the market, I might as well spare a few thoughts for what is arguably the most advanced APS-C system out there, Fuji’s.

As opposed to other companies, Fuji developed an APS-C system with the idea that advanced users might be interested in getting compact cameras that can be paired with premium lenses that are fast and compact, offering a number of ultra wide angle and standard zooms - which would be perfect for most vacation situations.

I would like to go over my complaints about each and every zoom from what I’ve seen, but the bottom line for me for those I have used is that their autofocusing capabilities seem unreliable, almost as much as with a DSLR, meaning that obtaining that one cannot really expect a sharp-by-default image, as much as I seem to be able to do so with Sony.

Dinner is served at the Kex Hostel in Reykjavik - July 2018.

Food porn, one of the lowest forms of photography, and one I do not really want to have to give up, as it is such a staple of any travel album. Which makes me wonder: what is the ideal minimum focusing distance and magnification for optimal casual food porn?

Which brings me to the wonderful Sony system that everyone knows. The a7 III is a wonderful camera, it has decent ergonomics, IQ and AF that hold up pretty well, and a compact form factor. It is also complemented by a series of excellent cheap lenses by Tamron, which make 2.8 zooms which are normally super expensive rather accessible. As first glance, Tamron lenses are a bit big for travel, but not so much that this option would be rejected out of hand. Maybe it could actually be my future travel kit? Not sure.

At this point, I am not even sure what point I truly wanted to make with this post, nor how I really wanted to make it. Nevertheless, it has allowed me to do one part of what I had wanted to do, and that is to reminisce about past shooting experiences, relive tiny bits of past vacations, and just recognize how much I have learned since I picked up my first APS-C camera close to a decade ago.

Rwanda from East to West

I travelled to Rwanda in 2017, mostly for business reasons but also to take some time in taking in its beauty and history, with which I was already distantly familiar but not in any intimate way. I did not have a lot of time for personal travel but wanted to get a good sense for all of Rwanda's geography, and therefore sought to visit as broadly as possible.

I ended up with an itinerary that took me from the country's east to its west, pretty much in the opposite way. However small Rwanda may be, and famous for its 'thousand hills', tiny Rwanda's geography remains incredibly varied. The human footprint on that geography is just as varied, and influenced by Rwanda's population density.

Perhaps ironically, Rwanda's east corresponds to romantic orientalist views about the global East, that is to say 'rustic', raw, greater than life in many ways. It is also where one can go for an old-fashioned photo safari. On the other hand, the west offers more manicured surroundings to accommodate tourists and international workers. The capital Kigali, in the center, ties it all together in a modern city where you can find something for tastes sophisticated and more accessible.

It is also a lesson, in some ways, that what is local for someone can be new for someone else, and vice-versa. I will never remember the general amazement in my driver in Rwanda who, when I asked him to stop in places to take photos, capture these memories, seemed amazed at why I thought these places were worthy of photographing (hopefully he is the exception in that!). At the same time, he had his own DSLR and certainly humored me enough to take his own photos by the same occasion. :-)

I have submitted the seven following photos, which serve as a short summary of my 2017 trip, to LensCulture’s Journeys 2020 photo competition.

Window on the Plains

While visiting Akagera National Park, and understanding that I would not actually see many animals that day, I just had to ask my driver to stop and back up just a little, a little more forward, oh no just a tiny more to the back, to take a photo of this 'window to the plains', where the brown dirt road gives way to the bright green of the open spaces and then the blue-grey of the cloudy sky.

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Road to Akagera II

Rwanda, as one of the most densely populated countries on Earth, is filled throughout with houses in more or less odd places. I had to stop to take a photo of this one, when a local woman passed by, punctuating the shot. It was an unabashedly beautiful day.

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Road to Akagera I

I am rather self-aware about this image, as it represents my seizing the opportunity to capture an 'anthropological' view of "Africa" which I can only feel is a bit orientalist in nature. I see it, however, as an image of raw beauty.

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Valley Road

A view of a road down in a Rwandan valley located somewhere in between the capital Kigali and the Kayonza District, close to Akagera National Park.

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The Dreaded Mototaxi

One could say that I am rather skittish. When I shared this photo on my Instagram while in Rwanda, sharing my reluctance to use those, people who responded disagreed, poked fun at my unwillingness to use them, and just proudly saw the mototaxi as some kind of a symbol of Rwanda's resilience, energy, and willingness to take risks.

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One of the Thousand Hills

The beauty of the road to the Bisesero Memorial is a stark contrast to the horrors that took place in the area in 1994.

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Shore of Lake Kivu

On my first time to Lake Kivu, I had no idea what I would find. The last expectation I had would be to find a landscape of such idyllic beauty, itself quite the contrast with the lake's conflict-ridden history.

Moon In a Black Sky

Or, as I like to think of it in French, L’astre solitaire.

So quintessentially Canadian of me to try and come up with both French and English titles for my photos…except they are not really translations of each other.

I do not have much else to say, despite not having posted for a while now. This photo, and the atmosphere that is in it, translates my mood so perfectly. It did so in one fortieth of a second. An image of this astral body, hurtling through space in what feels like the most absurd of relationships with the Earth. In what feels like utter solitude.

I will be back (for anyone who has been on this website more than once!).

Images of Solitude

This is the Clocktower place where I shot that delicious-looking pint in my post Longing for Normalcy (May 16, 2020). Just a great pub.

That delicious Clocktower meatloaf.

It is probably no surprise that I have been craving going to a restaurant for a little while. Talk about having beautiful problems in the current situation: I am eating well (wink-wink past posts) and what I am thinking about is to be able to take a breather from all the cooking I’m doing and just enjoying a meal in one of my favorite joints.

Although restaurants are reopening very soon in Ottawa (and are probably not too far off in Gatineau), I have never really been one for being an early adopter, and I think that this is going to be one of these cases where I try to hold off on my cravings for a little bit. I fully encourage economic recovery, but I have concerns over re-opening restaurants the day just before a weekend, potentially leading to a relative rush of people trying to get in. Hopefully my fears will remain unfounded and I will be proven wrong in my misgivings.

Which is not to say that there are not a few places that I very much am looking forward to visiting once the initial rush has passed - and not necessarily in the order in which I’m presenting them here.

#1 - Clocktower Brew Pub. You’ve seen the delicious pint and the even more delicious meatloaf. ‘Nuff said!

#2 - Pho by Night. I’ve heard it said by people that their name was somewhat unfortunate for a eatery, and I tend to agree. However, they are very rigorous in the preparation of their broths and recipes, and their reputation in Ottawa is very well deserved. Definitely more of a casual lunch place for me. Main craving: the rare beef pho.

#3 - Green Papaya on Hull Island. Has one of the most pleasant patios in town, overlooking the Museum of History. Has a wide variety of Thai dishes which are prepared to perfection i.e. which feels neither too pretentious nor too much like mere comfort food. Looking forward to the pad ki mew - I was positively distraught when I found out that the restaurant, despite normally doing take-out, has been completely closed since lockdown started.

#4 - Palais impérial. It is only when taking this photo that I realized that the name of the Chinese ‘half’ of this restaurant is only in French, which I find interesting (but which is quite the triviality). As is patently obvious from the façade, this place shares its space with a Thai restaurant. Different menus and kitchens, but commonly shared great dining atmosphere and quality. I mostly go there for the Singapore vermicelli.

#5 - Chu Shing. Now that’s the Chinese place to go to in Ottawa for the best dim sum experience. It is a well-established annual tradition to go there every year for a friend’s birthday in early June - so it’s a miss for this year. However, the celebration will only have to be better once everything gets back into place. I might do a bit of a photo essay on this if the group lets me.

#6 - Chez Lucien. In many ways, it does not look too different from any other day, but the photo has that vibe of such emptiness. This is probably one of the most quintessentially French places in downtown Ottawa. It’s cool, trendy, laid-back, and the food and service never fail to be great. If I’m going for more than the ambience and a pint, I go for one of their excellent burgers.

It puts a lump in my throat to see this place so empty on such a beautiful day at a time where all the tables could be full. I do not know what the ideal light would be for this photo, but I think it properly translates my mood.

#7 - Le Cellier. A bit more of chic French place, but still not pretentious. Food is excellent - I never know what will be on the menu, but I still have the occasional (and very pleasant) flashback from the lamb I ate there a few years back. It set the tone for the place for me.

#8 - Pizza’za. There is a lot of construction by that place nowadays, so getting a photo of that place can be difficult right now. Even then, the façade is very unassuming and does not really set the tone well for the place. As its name indicates, it is first and foremost a pizza place (I cannot even remember if it has anything else on the menu!) complemented by a comprehensive and easily recommendable wine list.

#9 - Vineyards. Last on the list but definitely not the least place… Actually, Vineyards has got to be my favorite place in the region, hands down. Located in a cellar - which is super cool even in the most humid summer days - it has unequaled ambience, a wine list that I’m pretty sure only Pizza’za could confidently rival, and the occasional jazz performance… The $17 French fries (served with a side of steak and salad) are worth every penny and my definite choice every time I go.

Now, why did I have to go and write this at dinnertime!??

Admiring the Tulips

This is not a tulip…and not even a photo of a tulip that grew in 2020. This is from my first time going to Ottawa’s Tulip Festival in 2012. I had just gotten my first macro lens, the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8, and was excited to put it through its paces on some flowers. This was not only my first macro lens, but the first “fast” prime with a decent focusing motor. As we all know, gear does not make the photographer, and I did not come back from that day with several worthwhile photos, but this is one of the few, and I like it to this day.

Under the circumstances, this is the only way in which I will be admiring any kind of tulips this year. Crossings between Ottawa and Hull Island remain restricted, and with this the only possibility I might have had to go to one of the locations of the festival.

And, frankly, even if the bridges were open, I doubt that I would have gone in any case. As much as I wish for a return to normalcy (don’t we all?), and even I would because I want us to go back to normal, I still believe that staying home is the best way the most of us have to contribute to seeking an end to this crisis.

It is that much of a shame as this year ended up being one of the very few in which the weather did not turn entirely grey and rainy on Victoria Day weekend. So much for a great 2020!

Longing for Normalcy

For a bit of time, I was wondering what I should write about for my minimal once-per-month May post. The video chat I had with friends this Friday evening gave me the idea of what I should do: I should describe, with some almost-photojournalistic accuracy, the day I had the very day before lockdown measures were first implemented in my region. As you will agree, this was a pretty non-descript day overall, but at the same time it kinda shows just how much we take for granted.

My usual haunt on Rideau Street still had their special Valentine brew on tap… which is as good, as it is the closest substitute to the excellent Clocktower Brown that had been recently discontinued.

Equipped with my a7 III, a couple of prime lenses (including the 100L adapted through the MC-11), and a travel tripod plus a few filters, I set out and crossed the bridge from Quebec to Ontario, as I do so often, without a thought as to whether I would be questioned by police officers regarding the necessity of my trip. The trip was not necessary at all, I just felt like doing a first photo walk with a definitely luxury camera I had bought for myself at Christmas and was dying to finally put through some of its paces. (I had had a photoshoot and done some birding with it already, but this did not feel like enough of a ‘test’. at least not relative to how much I had spent on the new gear.)

My first stop was the Clocktower Brew Pub on Rideau Street, where I had a pint and some munchies (I had mostly skipped lunch) before I really set out on a longer walk. I was even hoping to find spots to attempt longer exposures. When I left the pub, which was nearly empty (not entirely unusual for the time and day), I forgot my travel tripod on the chair. I noticed almost right away and went back to get it - while walking back, I decided that it was a bit too windy to really use it today anyway.

Pedestrian in front of a shop on Rideau Street.

I cannot remember specifically if I took the photo before or after I retrieved my tripod, but for some reason I was inspired to take a photo of the small mini-neighborhood nestled in between Rideau Centre, the Market and the University of Ottawa campus, because I found the light ‘interesting’. Maybe not so much after all. Perhaps it was because it felt even emptier than usual? That might make more sense. To be honest, though, this being Ottawa, at this point I was not sure at all and I might never know.

The more I proceeded towards the more regular neighborhoods and specifically Bank Street, the idea of that nearly empty part of the city left my mind: the place was packed. It was one of the first sunny days of the early Spring, it was comfortably hot outside for this time in March, and people were out and about: navigating the sidewalk was almost challenging there were so many people out and about. Signs that we were in a pandemic were few and far between, actually they were nearly absent, very much the exception.

Wilf and Ada’s, a place I’d never been to, had already closed even before the state of emergency and its mandatory closures. I’m not saying that this is the only place that did something like that in Ottawa, but it is certainly the only I’ve seen either downtown or elsewhere.

Note to self: This will be the first restaurant I visit once everything reopens.

Otherwise, I was slowly rediscovering parts of the city that I had not been to for so long, the new murals, and just photographing stuff to my heart’s content, making plans to rent an ultra-wide zoom to really try that out. From Rideau Centre, I walked to Bank Street, then went all the way down to Lansdowne Park.

A mural in the Glebe.

The front of the main exhibition building of Lansdowne Park was deserted, but the rest of the place was actually bustling.

And then from Lansdowne Park I made my way back towards Rideau Centre by walking north along the Rideau Canal.

I had actually seen the first one of the pair back at Lansdowne Park, which by then was already far.

One of the ‘purposes’, if it really could be said to have one, was to scout out potentially places to do portrait photoshoots with models. I found a couple of places that I think could be suitable, if I only used a bit of a wider angle and a flash.

At this rate, though, I am not sure at all when it is that I could possibly be trying out those locations. Even if I were to be the kind of person to take that risk (I’m not) and finding someone else who would also do a photoshoot in those conditions, there is no way that physical distancing would be possible in those places, not without completely changing the background.

Once past that place, I made it more or less directly to Rideau Centre. I remember having been somewhat hungry (by that point I had already walked well over 10 km, for a total of approx. thirteen that day), but I cannot remember if I stopped at Rideau Centre for a snack, or cannot even really remember if I walked back all the way home or took the bus. Not that I should be able to remember details that felt so trivial back then.

When is the future when something like that will be possible again? I do not know, and I’d almost rather not speculate.

The Reading Room

So far, I cannot say that I think of photographers as the most intellectual bunch I’ve ever encountered in my life. It has to be expected to some extent, but for me, who has done doctoral studies, I find that community to sometimes be coming a bit short of my expectations in that way. (Not sure why I needed to say this, since it has not much to do with the subject of this post…)

But anyway, as I am feeling more intellectual right now than photographic, I felt like I would take up the ‘challenge’ or activity of some people on the web that I’ve seen post book covers of book covers on Facebook, without comment or otherwise. I felt like I’d do something similar, but take it a bit of a step further, and actually share some thoughts about each book, what it made me think about or reflect on, and why in general I think people should read it/them. Though I would present those thoughts as reasons for which you should read the books, these are by no means reviews in any sense of the word.

So, without further ado, from top to bottom of the pile (yes, there are only nine):

La femme à venir de Christian Bobin: Beyond its entrancing story, this book made realize that ‘writing well’ really should not be equated with using long sentences, lots of commas, or really-big-words.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton: Much better than the movie, like just about all adaptations, I read the book as principally a reflection on the potential ills of unregulated science, which is, beyond all appearances, still a community made of flawed individuals with an agenda.

Noise by Russell Smith: In the great style of the author, rants about the tendency of society to be short on musical (or frankly any other kind of) literacy beyond what is considered ‘productive’. (And I’m not even getting started on the author being Canadian here!)

World War Z by Max Brooks: A thoughtful piece (yes!) about government and policy, both sarcastic, ironic (sometimes not deliberately?), but always incisive. Could also possibly be a handbook to the post-COVID-19 world?

Во власти женщины by Эрленд Лу: So I’m staying true to the fact that I read the Russian translation of this Norwegian novel and that I’m lazy (could this also be the big takeaway? I mean, if I were not, I’d have photographed each novel separately…). But seriously, this is a great but, riffing off of Christian Bobin, simply written novel about relationships.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel: Ok, you’ve probably all heard of this novel by now. A pandemic wipes out human civilization as we know it. Grim enough to make COVID-19 look almost good by comparison? I’m not sure, but it is a piece whereby the author makes us reflect on how we cut corners in everyday communications (thx, lol and all that), for reasons that we cannot seem to really explain. (It is really about appreciating the people next to you… it is also about hope. I certainly need some of that right now!)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: I read this in 2010 when I studied in Istanbul. Any book would have been good after the one I’d read before (I won’t bore you with the details here), and it made the bus ride to the university much more enjoyable. (It also made me miss class.) I already knew back then that this would be made into a movie, which I still have not watched since I do not want to ruin my idea of the book.

Wizard of the Crow by Ngûgî wa Thiong’o: Touches on so many themes that I cannot remember all of them. All around great humour in exploring the lives of people in an unnamed fictional African country. Its references to international development challenges (mostly corruption) just invariably makes me think of how my own career started.

NW by Zadie Smith: I am at a loss for words to describe the novel, frankly. In many ways, an anglophone counterpart to La femme à venir, also extolling the virtue of simple words and sentences in telling a complex and rich story.

There are so many other books that I could have mentioned here, such as War & Peace, A Star Called Henry, The Cairo Trilogy… but there is almost no way that most of you even read all the way to here, so I’m going to finish this post right now anyway.

What are some of your favorites?

Sweet & Savoury

As you have now seen, I have recently made several attempts at food photography while staying at home. Those I have posted so far concern my dinners, but one must also consider the breakfasts and desserts. (My lunches, if I ever have them, remain lazy and generally unworthy of photography. Steady as she goes there.)

Anyone who has ever known me would know that I have a sweet tooth. When I was living in Moscow (which feels like forever ago), just about everyone smarted up to this pretty fast, even the building staff. If you were to ask everyone there who knew, they would readily tell you that the three photos down there are very all breakfast photos for me.

Maple Syrup Waffles. With a very North American glass of milk. Partly but decidedly not entirely because tea would simply not be quite as photogenic.

There is a lot that I miss about my time in Moscow, listing all of them may overload the Internet. We need it badly, so I’ll spare us all the massive inconvenience. What I am really craving now though, writing this, a blin. Oh dear, those were good. Teremok, do you hear me?! No. Well, like I was discussing earlier, I figured that I would try some “baking” during those times. Everyone is baking bread, I might very well be making my own crepes.

Still not sure how to best photograph eggs. Hell, I’m not even really sure that this is even close to what scrambled eggs should look like… (Yes, this is what they are supposed to be. They were delicious.)

As will become even more painfully apparent than on the previous post’s photos, I really need to work on my form a bit more when it comes to food photography. But it is difficult right to find many angles and possible compositions, especially since I lack any real macro capabilities. Cannot do close-ups. Backgrounds are a bit problematic too.

I know that they are different, but even I had to compare the eggs and the sugar cream pie photos several times just to ascertain that the serving tray was not positioned exactly the same in both photos.

(For the time being, food supply is good, so this is at least one thing that I will not be complaining about. Let’s hope it stays that way.)

Going Bananas

Alright, so I just need to put this photo out there. It’s special to me because this is one of the very first photos I took when I traveled to Rwanda back in the autumn 2017. The subject, or at least the way I treated it, in a very ‘fake anthropological’ way. I promise I’ll do better next time ;-)

Woman carrying bananas balanced on her head. Gisenyi, Western Province of Rwanda, September 2017. Being the geek I am, I need to point out just how I took that photo less than 2 km away from the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo which is, arguably, one of the most dangerous places on the planet (the eastern region at least). You would not be able to say that based on the peaceful image that I was a witness to just right next door in Gisenyi that morning.

The title and subject of the photo is, as can be reasonably be guessed, rather linked to my current frame of mind after so many days of wondering if it’s justifiable for me to go to the corner store for a particular errand. That gets at you… altogether holding strong, though :-)

It probably shows that I’m just itching to finally push out an album of travel photos, right? Sadly, I’m not significantly closer to that goal just yet, but it’s still very much on the horizon.

A Feast for the Soul

Easter 2020 is here and, regardless of what denomination and what specific label and meaning there is in this weekend, no one can be entirely disregard the current context, which prevents many of us from being with friends and family. Since I’m hoping that we may be out of lockdown by autumn, I’m thinking I should hijack the significance and symbolism of Thanksgiving (which is more or less the same regardless whether you mark the day in October or November). Beyond an opportunity to be with friends and family and reminisce together about what you are thankful for (I’m not/not reflecting here on how we got there in terms of an excuse for the holiday - I know that I’m always grateful for the extra time off, and I’ll leave it at that), it is above everything an opportunity to #makegoodfood.

So, for the purpose of this post, I want to pretend that this is what Easter/Passover/Ramadan are all about. Now, food has never been a significant part of my life beyond sustenance+. Sustenance, because we all need it, + because my situation in life allows me to approach this with a degree of comfort and choice - even if it sustenance is the object, it does not mean that I would rob myself of the type of quality I normally seek in my other endeavours.

I do want eating to be a good and enjoyable experience, and so eating with friends is ever a pleasure - my closest friends are all cooks, whether it be a specialization in making delicious fajitas (maybe that good because, like his wife once said, they represent a third of his culinary bag of tricks?), Middle Eastern/Eurasian delicacies, or innovative French-North American fusion dishes. With my family, I’m usually treated to traditional Quebecker fare. But I generally do not entertain myself. I mean, I barely really ever cook for myself, so I certainly would not go and commit to cooking for other people.

The idea of cooking is so anathema to me that, one of those friends kept pushing me to take up cooking as what he described as ‘a very rewarding hobby’, the only thing I could see were the dishes piling up in my sink. (And yes, they’re piled up high in my kitchen sink as I’m writing this - I’ll spare you the imagery!) I did commit to better food for myself when I signed up to Goodfood, a meal plan for adults (services like that exist in many places: you sign up, choose meals for a week, and you receive a box with the ingredients and a recipe to make it all come together). Even then, I was at best reluctant to adopt this way of eating.

At the same time, because I’m generally reluctant to cook, my efforts to make my meals look good become compromised. And so would my willingness to really indulge in food photography a.k.a. #foodporn.

My take on shrimp bugatini, made in early February 2020. Photographed handheld with my Sony a7 III.

When cooking the dish above, I had 80% of my attention to watching television and 20% on actually making sure that my food would end up being edible, let alone look good enough to make a palatable photo. Needless to say, I was not particularly rigorous at following the recipe. I can tell you, though, that boy didn’t end up getting girl; instead, he uses his makeshift time machine to stalk her through time - as it was a French production, it is sweetly ambiguous whether it is a romantic or truly creepy resolution to the story (I’m also ambivalent whether this ambiguity is deliberate or not).

The food did end up being delicious.

The current situation, where so many of us and confined to our homes because of a global pandemic, has strongly diminished both of these inhibitions. I had also happened to have recently acquired a speedlite and an umbrella softbox, mostly for portraits of course, but which can also be put to good use to photograph what I put on the dinner table.

Cacio e Pepe Pork Chops

Teriyaki Haddock, with the baby bok choy which is such an appreciated #makegoodfood staple.

I am afraid that I have been terrible at properly preserving portions, or more specifically divvying them up efficiently between two identical meals, especially nowadays. For that reason, my meal planning strategy involves ordering add-on meat and garnish, and splitting up the veggies/rice I get in my pre-arranged recipe envelopes to make more balanced meals.

So this is why you would see a lot of plates with two big pieces of meat. It does make it a lot less likely that I would lose and therefore waste food.

Hoisin Chicken on Soba Noodles

Piri-Piri Trout

Note: I only eat like that about every other day. I still eat my fair share of pasta ;-)

My Easter Supper: French-style Bangers & Mash

Cooking like that, I feel like I am best able to, instead of learning recipes that I still have to follow, I am better able to focus on actually learning how I can cook something, and why/how it tastes different if I do it one way or the other. Then I can be more creative about what I eat without having to be preoccupied with getting Y quantity of X ingredient, which for me just misses the point of cooking. You could say I’ve been impressed by the opening lines of Alton Brown’s I’m only here for the food - not so much that I went a lot past it, at least not yet: I’m making my culinary journey at a very slow pace ;).

In any case, I hope that you’ve appreciated this post. For me, this is my way of dining my friends and family, and of letting them know how much I miss them, and how much I look forward to seeing them again. (Please, oh please, don’t get your hopes up too much for an in-person experience! …of the food I mean, of course :P)

Soonish, I’m planning to make another post for a sweet & savoury photexploration of recent breakfast choices. :-) See ya!

#Kwibuka26

As I’m writing this, Humankind is traversing what seems like the worst pandemic in its history. The worst, even if casualties do not end up reaching the same numbers as the Spanish Flu, the disease does not catch the imagination as much as Ebola does, or earn the almost-too-banal “Black Death” nickname that the bubonic plague earned for itself in the 14th century. (I guess I’m self-centered enough to also comment that the others do not seem as bad at least in part because I was not around for any of them, and I am probably not alone for this.)

During these times, so-called “leaders” are adopting wartime language to incite us to “fight against the virus” that is assailing us all. Some are doing it as a way to incite us to do more (or, technically, less) to participate in the effort to save lives, some to distract us from their own fear and uncertainty about how to deal with this daunting challenge.

One might be tempted, in such trying times, to forgive the language as being justified for being almost literal. However, in this times as in others, what we must do is not to succumb to adversity or to demonise an ‘other’ (even if that other is just a faceless microscopic lifeform), but to rally to what makes us human.

In 1994, some who had forsaken their own humanity and wanted to take the lives of others used analogous language to persuade the citizens of Rwanda to take up whatever arms they could find and slaughter their neighbors over what are, when all is said and done, petty differences.

‘Tombstones’ of two of the Belgian peacekeepers that were assassinated by Rwandan usurpers on the early hours of the genocide against the Tutsi on April 7, 1994. ‘Madame Agathe’, the Rwandan Prime Minister, and her husband were assassinated shortly after. Photo by myself in Kigali, Rwanda, October 2017.

More importantly than remembering not to rely on dangerous ideas and language (even when they seem justified) is the idea of taking some time to remember those who also lived (and died) in terrible times.

This April, under the sign of COVID-19, remembering those who, out of a sheer commitment to what makes us all human, helped those who were hunted down by a criminal regime and militia takes special significance. Needless (but important nonetheless) to say, they were helping others at the risk of their own lives. In fact, not only were they faced with near-certain death if they were found out, but also very likely with torture. Some were made to witness the horrible deaths that were meted out on their charges before they were themselves executed.

Right now, those leaders who are focused on caring for their citizens are asking for people to stay home in order to protect not only ourselves, but more importantly others. In this case, only very little physical effort is required, and it comes with the benefit of mitigating the risk to ourselves and staying in the relative safety of our own homes. We should all seize the opportunity to do so.

And, while doing so, we can take a short while to remember the genocide against the Tutsi of 1994, and renew our commitment to never again.

The Flame of Remembrance at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, photo by my good self when I visited it in October 2017.

Food for the Apocalypse

And so it came to pass that we were all put on… not quite quarantine, or self-isolation, or something which may or may not have or need a technical term. Basically, we were told that we should stay home as much as possible, avoid groups of 10+ or 50+ according to jurisdiction (the only constant here being the arbitrariness and non-sensicality - yes it’s a word, at least it is now - of the number… it would not have been ‘woke’, I guess, to tell us how we should be deciding on our social interactions. Other mixed messages came and went, and I am not even considering what was said in a jurisdiction vs another, that would be quite the mindcuss. (Don’t our elected officials know that we use the Internet?)

In any case, this confusing situation led me somewhat high-strung to the corner store (actual grocery stores were too packed with people and too little with any actual food) to stock up on a few essentials, just a little bit than I usually would to be on the safe side. With me, the ‘safe side’ is buying four cans of pasta sauce only to realize when coming home that I don’t even have pasta in the cupboard. (Note to self: Immediately put in an order for some from the regular grocery store.)

The inspiration for the waffles came in that same moment. I grabbed the box impulsively, without really knowing why - I never eat waffles, they are neither nutritious nor really filling - probably just because I had a craving. (I did know for a fact that I had a can of maple syrup that was begging to be put on something.)

Naturally, when I came home, I was already feeling somewhat snacky from carrying bigger bags of food that were bigger than usual (just kidding: I can’t remember the last time I carried grocery bags, since I hardly need a recommendation of social distancing to rely on home delivery), I opened the waffle box right away (in my defense, it was dinner time) and proceeded to put them where anyone remotely reasonable would: the toaster oven.

It might have been disuse, I might have been that the appliance felt abandoned in the corner of my kitchen, it might even have been that it wasn’t plugged in… (I did end up checking, and it turned out that I was doing at least that right that day: the toaster was plugged in!) It never came alive to lay on the heat on those lovely waffles. ;( When it died, I will never know. It had been months, years since I last used it. I couldn’t remember when was the last time I had deigned using it.

Next best thing: let’s fry the hell of those waffles!

I wonder if an indoor BBQ could have produced better results?

The first two I had that evening weren’t exactly “well-cooked”. But they were delicious, as they were doused in maple syrup.

Delicious!

…and I will wait for some time at least before I make a decision on a new toaster oven - if I even get one.

Happy St. Patrick - Covid-19 Edition

Out just barely before midnight ET…! Boring theme for this year: safety before party ;-)

Good & Bad News

The good news are mostly of a non-photographic nature: I have gotten an offer, which I immediately accepted, for a new position, which I will start sometime at a future date that yet needs to be determined.

But these are not the only good news. It seems like I have, at least temporarily, beaten the specter of GAS for now, if not for entirely the right reasons. I went to a general electronics store to have a look at the Sony a6xxx line of APS-C cameras - having acquired the E 70-350G lens during the Holidays, and wanting to be able to put it to full use for birding, I need an APS-C camera - to test out its ergonomics as well as its general usability. I always had been nervous about the ‘rangefinder-type’ body with the viewfinder so low and offset completely to the left side of the body, but hadn’t given it much more thought until I saw a video where the presenter did point out that, if you are “left-eyed”, this could be an issue.

It had never really occurred to me that “right-” or “left-eyedness” was a thing, but it turns out it is, and of course I’m part of the assumed (by that same presenter) minority of left-eyed people (I wonder if this somehow linked to whether I am left-handed?).

The store I went to only had the a6000, a6100 and a6400 on display, but boy was I disappointed in pretty much all of them. They all felt alright in the hand, well built in general, and the discomfort from having to use a weirdly positioned viewfinder which didn’t even have an eyecup (yes, I know that it is the store that removed it) wasn’t quite as bad as I feared it would. My rudimentary tests indicated that even the a6000 had snappy AF. However, I couldn’t even change the focus point of the a6400 without going through the touch screen. What is up with that?

All the bodies, though, felt really small, even with the lowly and diminutive 16-50 kit lens mounted. I don’t particularly want to find out what they would be like if one were to use them with the 70-350G mounted. It must not be so bad if people are using (reluctantly?) the combo successfully.

What I know is that, because of this experience, I’m putting off buying one of Sony’s APS-C cameras for the time being. It is a shame, because I was looking forward to optimizing pixel coverage with my 70-350G which, thus far, feels like it is insane sharp at all focal lengths and a pleasure to use for birding. In the meantime, I’ll continue to fall back on my trust a7 III for my APS-C needs.

(And yes, I wanted to make a point of having a post on February 29 :-))

Goodbye, Mirrors!

This February has finally brought some of the changes I’ve been making to my gear to bear. Late last year, I made the acquisition of a brand new Sony a7 III, and with it came the decision that it was high time that I should let go of the past and sell, for now, at least my last DSLR holdout: the 77D.

The 77D with the ever great EF-S 15-85

While it has served me well enough during the time I’ve had it, the 77D has been fully and truly superseded in my gear by my RP and M6 (especially since I added the external EVF to the latter, making adapted EF-S lenses more comfortable to use). In my last shooting experience with the 77D, I found the optical viewfinder way too small, I had trouble focusing, and the rinse-repeat of getting exposure almost but not quite right proved to be too tiresome after shooting mirrorless for several months. It’s not that I couldn’t get sufficiently well with an OVF, but an EVF makes it so much easier and seamless. The shooting experience is simply better.

For some reason, forest and more general nature shots have been more of a challenge for me than cityscapes, and this translated to many, many blurry images of a photo walk in Gatineau Park on that last outing with the 77D. The experience was much worse than what I experienced during my vacation in Washington, DC, where various architectural and city shots were very good overall. Still, with mirrorless, I just get the idea that I shoot much fewer photos to get it ‘right’, which itself results in faster post-processing.

Simply put, the 77D simply did not have a place in my gear line-up and I was able to sell it used for a reasonable price a few weeks ago, of which I am very pleased.

At the same time, I had my first shoot with the a7 III. I had gone out to take a few bird photos in January, but had so far not used it for what I really bought it for: portraits.

Needless to say, I very much look forward to sharing more photos through this website; however the time is not right yet, as I am still rediscovering my own portfolio by re-post-processing my entire library, something that I started when I acquired Capture One and left Adobe Camera Raw behind relatively early last year — I will be sharing my impressions on Capture One and its recent ‘upgrade’ in one of my next posts.

As for the shoot itself, the a7 III performed admirably, with so little time wasted on acquiring the correct focus point (it is the first camera I own which has a joystick, which I’m loving so far), thanks to Sony’s top-of-the-line Eye AF. The vast majority of my photos were in focus, something that I cannot imagine would have happened if I had been shooting with my RP. Some photos were even so sharp that I felt like I should desharpen them, not a common occurrence for me.

In any case, although I am taking more time than I ever thought I would to populate this website, I have now added a Social Media section that is a library of my portrait Instagram feed. I know that I am behind in posting there too, but catching will be much easier (I hope!).

Swimming Around

In what has become the ‘tradition’ of this blog, to the extent that this blog has even existed long enough to have anything approaching a tradition, and what likely has always been if not its intent but its fate, I wanted to share a random thought about a tourist attraction I visited last year. My 2019 photographic retrospective, after all, focused all too much on my portrait photography to the expense of my travel photography.

Read down below to find out more about where this is…

Not that I can seriously claim that the image above is a ‘photo’ rather than a ‘snapshot’. I’ve ever been interested in the difference between the two, and usually continue to have a mostly internal dialogue as to what constitutes one or the other.

For me, a photo is what happens (hopefully) when one sets out to create an image and engages in a generally deliberate artistic/creative process to create on such image. Generally speaking, the gear and depth of field used, and even the subject (whether it is something that has been photographed before by someone else of how frequently), has no bearing on whether an image is a snapshot or a photo.

A snapshot, on the other hand, would be defined as being spontaneous, casual.

In many ways, the image above qualifies for both definitions. Whether it is a photo or a snapshot is irrelevant to the fact that it is a great memory of a place I did not intend to go to when I went to Atlanta in May 2019.

I normally find aquariums to be almost worse than boring to be in: dark, populated by creatures I find largely uninteresting, crowded by a lot of children. This combination of factors makes them rather not conducive to photography and just pointless to visit even if they were. There’s just nothing to see there, and too many people blocking your way to enjoy it anyway.

My experience at Georgia Aquarium makes me review this pessimistic view of aquariums. Although certainly packed, I was positively surprised by the variety of species and the presentation of "exhibits”, which were both excellent. It’s just my luck, though, that I was visiting during what seemed the busiest weekend of the spring for schoolkids, but eh, nothing really is ever perfect!

I’m happy that I finally caved in to my friend’s suggestion that I visit the aquarium.

When May 2019 Where Georgia Aquarium @ Atlanta GA

2020 - The Road Ahead

Happy New Year! May it be filled with many a new adventure!

Annie Lemay (tan dress) & Geneviève Dupuis (black dress). Auto Boneyard @ Cardinal ON, October 2019.

2019 in Review VII - Human Rainbow

When July 2019 Where Andrew Haydon Park @ Ottawa ON Who Emily, Sophie, Shyllean

Camera Canon RP Lens Canon 70-300L