Parts are missing.
DW
1shot #173-commit to trunk
Posted in photography
Tagged 1shot, King Street, mannequin, waterloo
Comments Off on 1shot #173-commit to trunk
1shot #172-call before you dig
Like our very own Sputnik crash at King and William. Like a new Lascaux, these are our cave paintings. Like a big red arrow for the bad guys: “vulnerable infrastructure concentrated here!”
This neon paint always seems like a virtual overlay of what I’m seeing in real life. It blows out colour channels on my camera. We’re pretty far from 18% grey.
With a nod to Paul Kalbfleisch’s series, this is Waterloo.
DW
Posted in photography
Tagged 1shot, King Street, sidewalk, waterloo
Comments Off on 1shot #172-call before you dig
The tallest tower will block out sunlight
“the tallest tower will block out sunlight” said City of Waterloo planner Laura Dewar as reported by Paige Desmond in The Record last week.
The comment wasn’t referring to this Waterloo condo pictured above at Allen and Caroline Streets, which will be disrupting the Iron Horse Trail. The comment was, rather, about the Waterloo City Council approval of a 21 storey and 11 storey tower bracketing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of St. Sophia at King and Noecker Streets. Read Paige’s writeup for the details; I’m considering the broader picture.
1shot #171-hey that’s my bike
Behind Vincenzo’s. King and Allen. This is Waterloo.
DW
Posted in photography
Tagged 1shot, Vincenzos, waterloo
Comments Off on 1shot #171-hey that’s my bike
Grand Porch Party 2014–give an hour, get a lot
I stopped by the pre-event Grand Porch Party volunteer recruiting night on Thursday in mid-town west Waterloo on Roslin Ave to catch up on the GPP progress. Here’s the TL;DR: we really need some volunteers for a short 1-hour stint on the day of the event. It’s simple. You just walk the neighbourhood for 1 of the 3 hours on Sunday, May 8, and help people find their way. New here? Check out a few photos of last year’s GPP.
It doesn’t get any easier than this to shift from consumer to contributor. When we think about shaping the fabric of our community, making it what we want, it’s these small nuts-and-bolts jobs taken in aggregate that make it all go. And it’s pretty damned satisfying to pitch in.
Take a minute right now to email Rachel at info@grandporchparty.com and say “sign me up!”
1shot #170-the impossible physics of mannequins
Forever falling.
This is King Street, Waterloo.
DW
Posted in photography
Tagged 1shot, King Street, mannequin, waterloo
Comments Off on 1shot #170-the impossible physics of mannequins
Grand Porch Party 2014–only 5 weeks away
Weather got you down, friend? This year’s Grand Porch Party is a mere 5 weeks away, on June 8. Above is a pic I took at last year’s event. Look how warm those people are. Listening to awesome live music in mid-town west Waterloo. Get this in your calendar now so you don’t miss it.
Can hardly wait.
DW
Posted in event
Tagged Grand Porch Party, music, waterloo
Comments Off on Grand Porch Party 2014–only 5 weeks away
Juggle joy
Brojangles and I grabbed some dinner at Ethel’s and then walked down to the public square where, so often, serendipity awaits. I saw these two guys juggling in a serious way and it was on. This is Zack Hunt in the t-shirt, with 16 years experience under his belt, and Darren Donelle in the hoodie on smoke break, clocking in with 7 years.
As I usually do, I grabbed a couple of quick shots, chatted them up and showed the shots, gave ‘em the makebright business card, and then the guys were totally down to make some photos. Awesome spontaneous collaboration. Massive thanks to Zack and Darren, and much respect for the skills.
I shot this photo above with the 14-24mm opened wide while lying on the ground, danger-close to falling clubs (I think both guys swatted a few away from smashing me in the face). The way I was positioned and wide-angle distortion made Darren appear as if he was up in the sky, which I thought was a cool complement to Zack juggling. I shot this with (very little) available light. I’m sure there would have been cool things I could have done with a strobe, but I was already hauling around my holy trinity of Nikkor lenses, so no desire to pack even more gear for a Bro Night walkabout.
Before I turn you loose on photos from the rest of the shoot, a quick thought: a lot of people look for “something to do” in the public square. What we’re really looking for is each other. This is Waterloo.
More juggling…
Ignite Waterloo #14–Kitchener Market style
I must be a little like Halley’s Comet, though with a shorter 3-year period, in that I’m getting back around to some events that I haven’t shot in while. Close on the heels of last week’s Felt Lab revisit, was Tuesday night’s return to Ignite Waterloo #14. Well, it’s been far too long since I last shot IW#7 up at The Tannery.
The TL;DR on this one: Kitchener Market as a venue was great, most of the talks were strong, awesome meeting some new friends I only knew virtually, and catching up with old friends.
Above is Ines Markeljevic delivering a hilarious talk on The Junk Mail of Online Dating. Her parody photos of profile pics she had received from guys had me gut-laughing. Bravo.
And before I forget, if you want to get email notifications of new makebright posts, just roll on down to the bottom of this page, put in your email address, and hit Subscribe. You’ll get a confirmation email and you know the rest. I also push posts via twitter/facebook. Thanks to Jude Doble from Red leather booth for the suggestion. Read her stuff, too.
A totally unnecessary number of pics follow…
By artists, for artists
Artists are self-organizing. This isn’t a new thing, but two recent instances of this type of effort have me cheering them on and wondering what drives artists to temporarily put aside their primary creating and do some meta-creating in Waterloo Region.
The first event I heard of was the upcoming Waterloo Region Arts REBOOT, put together by Martin de Groot and Terre Chartrand. That’s happening this Saturday 9am-5pm at THEMUSEUM. I’m not able to attend, but I did pass on my concerns about the lack of affordable studio space anywhere near the spine of our region and the increasing challenge that the condofication of King Street poses for the arts. A lot of the older and larger buildings that would make awesome studio/gathering places are being transmogrified into pricey condos or refitted into top shelf tech digs. I’m still scratching my head over the City of Waterloo’s sale of the St. Louis school to a developer last year for less than $400K. That’s less than the price of a 3-bedroom house on the west side. And it’s right in the middle of our city on Allen Street with lots of parking and ready access to transit. What a missed opportunity for an artists’ den. I try to maintain a holistic view on the issue: people living and working in the core is great, but the consequent jacked rents squeeze artists to the city fringe or back to their basements and garages. The invisible hand of the free market is slanted to the more profitable return, so maybe we need to articulate a vision for a balanced arts/biz/residential mashup and agree on a way to make it happen. Terre told me last week that the intention from this and following sessions is create an ongoing record and extended discussion, so get out there and have your say.
The other event I heard about later and attended first, was the inaugural Chrysalids Theatre Monthly Meet and Greet last Friday. This recurring meet, organized by Jospeh Chen and Gwyneth Mitchell, is intended to happen on the last Friday of the month. I got down to Ontario Street in the pouring rain and met with a great mix of musicians, animators, artists, and actors. There was talk of gaps in communication on sharing events, the availability of venues for music, and a lot of other themes that made me think way back to the Arts & Culture Rally I participated (and shot) a few years back. The discussion turned to the intent of the meetup: to simply network, or to work on projects, or to present work. That line of thinking takes me way back to the community establishment of kwartzlab. Get down there next month to participate. There’s beer and nice people; what more can you ask for?
I have two observations about all of these efforts. 1. They do in fact make a positive difference, and sometimes not in the way expected or intended. 2. As UK Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli is reported to have said: History is made by those who show up. So I keep showing up and contributing.
DW