This week’s photoblog features a wide variety of images from Belleville, Trenton, Wellington, Adolphustown, and Kingston. There’s no thematic arc connecting them, at least not one that I can find. (Please let me know if you find one, dear reader!) The photos do, however, highlight the visual quirkiness of the place I call home. I hope you enjoy the photos and my accompanying thoughts.
Belleville: I’m not the first photographer is say that some of our best images come from happy accidents. Such is the case with this photo. I was walking through Belleville’s Victoria Park, near the parallel highway and railway bridges. This photo shows an eastbound Canadian Pacific Railway freight train in front of an eastbound transport trailer on the highway bridge. I love how the girl is peeking through the freight cars. If I had tried to plan that photo, I likely would have failed. But when the image presents itself...well, you just seize the moment. It’s not so much luck as it is an opportunity. To paraphrase Pierre Trudeau, there’s no such thing as luck – just the intersection of opportunity and preparation.
Belleville: There are actually two bridges in this photo – the rusty one at the front is the Canadian Pacific Railway bridge across the Moira River. Hiding behind it is the Dundas Street West/Highway 2 bridge. I was having a pleasant wander through nearby Victoria Park when I spotted these two school buses crossing the highway bridge but looking like they were on the railway bridge. Moral: always check out the context of a photo before assuming you know what you’re looking at! Looming behind the buses and the bridges is the ungainly Quinte Consolidated Court House. Why do so many contemporary public buildings have to be mind-numbingly ugly?
Belleville: Another view from Victoria Park. I like the juxtaposition of the “Johnnys on the Spot” on the right with the gentleman who has clearly found his spot in the glorious sunlight in the middle. The litter container on the left adds to the lines and textures of this photo.
Trenton/Quinte West: Roy Bonisteel’s hand, detail of a sculpture of the late Mr. Bonisteel by Brett Davis. The sculpture literally sits in Trenton's Bayshore Park and is a tribute to one of the city's best-loved citizens. Similar to many other Canadians of my vintage, I have fond memories of Mr. Bonisteel and his long-running CBC Television program Man Alive, a program that focused on faith and spirituality. Roy Bonisteel helped me appreciate that we are all spiritual beings, each on our own journey. I hope this photo honours his memory.
Wellington: I have such respect for clowns, especially those that serve their community with grace, kindness, and humour. For a number of years, I was a therapeutic clown in Toronto, with a particular interest in working with hospitalized children. My clown’s name was ‘Dougie’, named after my loving father, Douglas Tayler. When I saw this clown in Wellington Park during the recent Pumpkinfest, my heart melted. It was clear that he loved what he was doing, but there was also a sadness about him – pure interpretation on my part, of course. Bless the very special people who transform the lives of others by being so vulnerable.
Wellington: What would be more appropriate than a shiny orange Subaru driven by someone wearing an orange jacket on Wellington’s Main Street during Pumpkinfest? I love the vivid colours and lines in this photo.
Adolphustown: Mailboxes adjacent to the Glenora Ferry docks on the way to Picton. Such wonderful whimsy! What’s missing from the photo is the mailbox labelled “Air Mail” high up on an adjacent hydro pole. There’s a song that says “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” Well, I’m convinced that the world also needs a lot of whimsy!
Near Picton: Such a study in grey! This is the Lehigh Hanson Cement Plant. I photographed it on a wonderfully blustery autumn day from the Glenora Ferry docks at Adolphustown. Beautiful, it is not. But impressive, it certainly is!
Prince Edward County in all its autumn splendour. From the Glenora Ferry docks at Adolphustown.
Belleville: Such a sad image. This is a once-vibrant mural on the south wall of the much-neglected Intelligencer building in downtown Belleville. The newspaper’s distant corporate owners abandoned the building years ago. It sits empty – and unloved. Personally, I think it should be demolished and replaced by a municipal park to add grace and beauty to Belleville’s downtown. The mural features a reproduction of the Intelligencer’s front page the day the last Canadian National Railway train ran down adjacent Pinnacle Street, June 22, 1964.
Kingston: A study in lines and shapes! I found this hydro worker at the west end of Kingston on Highway 2. The dynamic contrasts and textures keep me intrigued. One of the joys of photography is happening upon such visually engaging scenes.
Kingston: You’ve got to love a motel that offers a bridal suit! A delightful sign on Kingston’s Princess Street/Highway 2. Make your reservations now! All kidding aside, I’ll bet the walls of that motel could tell many, many stories!
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