A Week of Toronto: Day 6 + 7: Edward Gardens + Mirvish Village

Just in case you don't know what I'm doing, click [THIS] to be updated on my 2011 summer photoshoot!


Day 1 at The Distillery District is here - [Here]
Day 2 at Chinatown and Kensington Market is here - [Here]
Day 3 at the Toronto Islands is here - [Here]
Day 4 at Allan Garden's Conservatory - [Here]
Day 5 at the St. Lawrence Marketplace is here - [Here]

Day 6 - Edward Gardens               

Anyone remember this shot I did a year ago? I still love it, it's probably still my favourite shot that I ever took.

Edward Garden's was BORING. Maybe it was cause it was hot, and I was hungry, but there was no good landscape shots I could've taken anyways. This guy basically shows just how boring it was.

Day 7 - Mirvish College (Bloor + Bathurst)       

Mirvish Village was actually a neat little neighbourhood. Even if their website seems like it hasn't been updated in ages, the 'village' itself seems pretty updated. so many pubs and restaurants to be seen. and even the GIANT Honest Eds, I wonder if it's still in business, all i saw around it was other stores.

I also ended up in Korean town...so many Karaoke places and smokers everywhere, never felt so out of place in my life.

-Canon Ma

A Week of Toronto: Day 5 - St. Lawrence Marketplace

Just in case you don't know what I'm doing, click [THIS] to be updated on my 2011 summer photoshoot!


Day 1 at The Distillery District is here - [Here]
Day 2 at Chinatown and Kensington Market is here - [Here]
Day 3 at the Toronto Islands is here - [Here]
Day 4 at Allan Garden's Conservatory - [Here]

I hate how all the photos I liked aren't even the ones that I took at the destination. Maybe whoever said "It's not about the destination, but the journey there that's important" was right. My fave? the top 3 B&W photos, I think i'm getting just a tad better at shooting/editing street pics. Comments?

"HI!" child to baby

3 more with a stripped road and BAM, epic album cover.

This woman ain't playin.

I'm sure everyone has alrdy been to St.Lawrence Marketplace, so what's new about it? They're renovating it so instead of metal gates you now have an electronic door, there are now more Asians as the sellers, and the other marketplace I visited just north of it was all cleared out. 

There was also a cool gallery of photos on the 2nd floor, so of course I checked it out. 


-Canon Ma


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A Week of Toronto: Day 4 - Allan Garden's Conservatory (+ Chinatown + AGO + Ryerson University)

Just in case you don't know what I'm doing, click [THIS] to be updated on my 2011 summer photoshoot!


Day 1 at The Distillery District is here - [Here]
Day 2 at Chinatown and Kensington Market is here - [Here]
Day 3 at the Toronto Islands is here - [Here]
Day 5 at the St. Lawrence Marketplace is here - [Here]

Allan Gardens was surprising. I thought it'd just be a normal greenhouse filled with flowers and trees, but no. It was surprising because it was much larger than I thought, and had much more things than I thought. The gardens had an entrance to a huge circular dome which housed a lot of tropical and exotic plants, which is completely normal, nothing out of the ordinary. 

But look through door number 1 and you'll see a whole desert area (which was incredibly hot), and through door number 2 had an area filled with plants that were more accessible for us to plant, and had I think 3 or 4 ponds (one filled with goldfish, another with a watermill, this conservatory was high bawling).

After the gardens (which was beside a huge dog park btw, puppies galore), we decided to walk around Ryerson University, and asked for the most interesting building to visit. We eventually decided that the archetectural building had the most to offer, and even if I wasn't that impressed, there WERE a lot of projects hanging everywhere.i.which is cool...I guess...

After Ryerson we decided to hop on the streetcar and go to University of Toronto  Chinatown (by accident). But for some reason I didn't see a lot of asian people. Wierd.

And lastly, the last place we decided to visit was University of Toronto  Art Gallery of Ontario. In where I found out that I can't care about art statues, paintings, or ship models. They had a very little section for photography and it wasn't even modern photography. I had to admit...I was sad. But on the flip side, the AGO and ROM are free on wednesday. Go visit if if you have time.

Btw, does anyone know the photography laws in Canada/Ontario? I would love to know them in detail because everytime I take a picture for this blog/flickr, I feel like I'm breaking some privacy law or something.

And yes, there is no love for UoT, Sorry.

-Canon Ma

(Feel free to leave comments, or like the Facebook link, everything you do helps out!)

A Week of Toronto: Day 3 - Toronto Islands

Just in case you don't know what I'm doing, click [THIS] to be updated on my 2011 summer photoshoot!


Day 1 at The Distillery District is here - [Here]
Day 2 at Chinatown and Kensington Market is here - [Here]
Day 4 at Allan Garden's Conservatory - [Here]
Day 5 at the St. Lawrence Marketplace is here - [Here]

Whoever said that you can't get lost in downtown Toronto clearly did not travel with me. I walked around for what felt like forever until I found that damn ferry docking station, so I guess I was suppose to get off at King instead of Union, but good thing I did leave at union or else I wouldn't have been able to capture these.

The dock was probably the most relaxing part of my travel. Albeit I did feel really alone because everyone had babies, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, strollers, uncles, and aunts with them, and I never felt more like a creep with a camera. As much as I wanted to take pictures of the families doing their thing, I feel like I'd get attacked and accused of advocating child pornography.

The more I write about Toronto the more I'm beginning to think i'm a tourist or a tour guide. "Did you know that there is more to the islands than just Centre Island?" While the majority of people know what Centre Island is, I don't think a lot of people know about ALL the islands. Surrounding Centre island, there are 4 other islands named Forestry Island, Snake Island, South Island, and RCYC Island (Royal Canadian Yacht Club).

I have no idea if I walked through all of them, but all i know is that it's a much more interesting place than I originally thought.

The only thing I have to complain about is the amount of bird crap EVERYWHERE, there's a sign that clearly says "Please walk on the grass", but there's bird excrements EVERYWHERE. Now why would the park put us through all that...

-Canon Ma


(Feel free to leave comments, or like the Facebook link, everything you do helps out!)

A Week of Toronto: Day 2 - Chinatown + Kensington Market

Just in case you don't know what I'm doing, click [THIS] to be updated on my 2011 summer photoshoot!


Day 1 at The Distillery District is here - [Here]
Day 3 at Toronto Islands is here - [Here]
Day 4 at Allan Garden's Conservatory - [Here]
Day 5 at the St. Lawrence Marketplace is here - [Here]

Kensington's locked piano...

Visited my roots and and discovered that nothing has changed in Chinatown. Everything is still kind of in it's raw state with shoppers everywhere and shifty-merchandise being sold off to people. Howevere, that's the exact reason why I wanted to come.

My ONLY photo from Chinatown that I'll publish

While North York is filled with an asian community that has wealth, the majority of Chinatown doesn't have the luxury of money. So even if I know that this community enforces whatever poor stereotypes that been placed on my culture, at the same time, it needs to be there to teach me that there are always going to be people who are not as well off.

Kensington on the other hand was a very nice area to walk around. Although the area itself was kind of ghetto-y, the feel of the community was exactly the same as the Distillery District that I visited yesterday.

If you ignore the odd smells of suspicious looking liquid on the ground, the market does have a lot to offer. We found this cool shop guarded by an asian man reading a newspaper and we found guitars, statues of musicians, and so many wordly treasures. And apparently there's a really good burger joint there called "Burger Bar".

Another day another community, I'm kind of sad I couldn't get to Little Italy, but time and weather cut me short and now I'm forced to go to it another day.

And Celina? thanks for treating me to Sushi, you're never getting that money back.

-Canon Ma

A Week of Toronto: Day 1 - Distillery District

Just in case you don't know what I'm doing, click [THIS] to be updated on my 2011 summer photoshoot!


Day 2 at Chinatown and Kensington Market is here - [Here]
Day 3 at Toronto Islands is here - [Here]
Day 4 at Allan Garden's Conservatory - [Here]
Day 5 at the St. Lawrence Marketplace is here - [Here]

The Distillery District was probably the best part of Toronto I've seen so far. Everything was beautiful, the stores there were so nice, it was like walking into an entirely different mini-city. People have even been known to want to take wedding photos in this area because the area is so nice

My only complaint of the whole trip was the new buildings that were being built around this place. I absolutely hate them, not only because they ruined a lot of my shots, they ruin the natural beauty that this area has.

I also fell in love with the areas of this district that were dedicated to art studios, studios, and galleries. If you want a 'nuit blanche' feel all year around, this is definitely the place to go. They had a whole building filled with studios, me and a friend even took a peek inside and all we saw were clothings and fabrics. It was as if we walked into a young, budding fashion designer's studio.

This place is definitely worth the visit, it was also free. Before I even walked in there was music playing, and from that point on I knew I'd love it. And the coolest part was there was beer...EVERYWHERE. patios and bistros set up with people in them all holding some sort of unique looking glass with beer inside it. We opted out of the beer and just decided to get some gelato, and even that was amazing.

Just a added note, these pictures looked a lot better on my computer than they do on flickr, and I have no idea why their colours aren't as strong on Flickr. I'll give it a day or 2, maybe they have to fully develop them for web but until then, look at these photos and imagine a bit more colour...if that's even possible.

Until next time

-Canon Ma

Ansel Adams

So I don't know if everyone knows this but I would like to share who my main inspiration for photography is.

The person who has influenced my work probably the most would be the photographer named Ansel Adams.

His images are basically stunning. In a world where anyone can take a picture in black and white and dispose of it in a second, Adams has made a lifetime's worth of photos, each and every one of them worthy of being framed and put on display.

He lived in a world where if you were going to become a photographer, it was not a hobby, it had to somehow bring in cash because the equipment and the trips to these places were just too expensive. He ditched his career as a pianist and began photographing as a main job. He was also one of the major figureheads to influence the american government to preserve the natural scenes of Yosemite and parts all around California.

While a lot of black and white images can be considered "old" and "traditional", I'm sure everyone can agree that his images can and will last a lifetime. He will always be considered one of the strongest landscape photographer this world has ever seen and I hope I can even just copy a bit of his beautiful style.

Go look his images up on google. I don't want to break any image sharing law, and even if I don't, I wouldn't want Adams' images to be shared illegally, as I hope to purchase a replica in the future.

But I will share my favourite photo of his

Simply Amazing.

Canadian Identitiy and the 2010 Olympics.

(Written in December 2010)

In trying to answer just what the Canadian identity, I had to ask myself just what I do as a Canadian. I classify myself as one and had to run through so many things before coming to a dead conclusion.

I have never questioned my citizenship, it's legal. I was born in Hong Kong and got my citizenship when i was around 5 or 6 (i think). Although I'd love going back to visit family and shop a bit; staying there for longer than a week might kill me. The amount of people, the amount of culture clashes, and the amount of strangers trying to talk to me in Cantonese (and ultimately forcing them to realize their english is below par) are all what repels me from ever going back.

I am Canadian. No matter how many many Asian friends I have, and how little non-Asian friends I have, I am Canadian. I have never been able to understand why I felt so white with asian friends, and so asian when around non-Asian people (I feel like being an immigrant Canadian has to do with it). It's hard to always feel like your not close with anyone.

But my closest friends are just that. They acknowledge their cultural background and love it to some varying degree, have their citizenship, and will more likely stay in Canada than go back to their 'homeland' for work. They have been in Canada for a huge portion of their life and can't imagine losing their citizenship suddenly. But at the same time, they do Canadian things, but have no idea just what our identity is.

Maybe something that would help with the answer would be the games that happened from February 12 -28, 2010.

They (and everyone on Facebook) cheered with me and looked on as Canada owned the latest winter Olympics (which I was a huge fan of). And never have I felt so proud to be Canadian. We don't have the army, the international presence, the money, but at least now we have the 2010 Olympics. It was so sad to see the Olympics end and seeing it take the energy around the country. The only consollation was that we showed the world, and ourselves, that we are proud of our country, and we'll show it when we have to.

Just don't expect us to flash our ego as often as our Southern counterpart, we like to be a bit more classy than that (only a bit). 

It's been almost a year since then and I still wear my red Olympic gloves, and when I see other people wearing the same thing it just reminds me of how amazing those 2 and a half weeks were for Canada.

Still, we know Canadians have pride in themselves, but what is our actual identity? A lot of people outside of Canada classify us as 'nice'. But as my friend said,

Nice is bland, nice is not exciting

So is that it? Is 'nice' our identity? Or is there something more, and we just have to take more time to find it? 

Edit (July 1, 2011) - I thought it was quite fitting to publish this on Canada Day. I need to go out and buy a huge Canadian flag and wear it like a toga one day.

-Canon Ma

Lomography

Started off in the 1980s and has had a cult following ever since. Although I barely know anything about it, I've known about it's existence for awhile and took it as a challenge to see if I can emulate the photos via Photoshop.

Before

After

What I learned from looking at photos online about lomography, is that this is purely the "fun" photojournalism style. You can take pictures of literally anything (to me, it seems better when it's not of people/live things), and the effects itself create a visual meaning to it.

The original camera created as a copy to another camera that was popular but the difference was, it had a lot of problems. Lens defects, light leaks, and the list goes on, but from the list of these problems, a new style of art had been born, Lomography.

Before

After

There are no rules, no point to these photos. All you need is any kind of camera (I feel like iPhone has this the 'lomo' effect preinstalled), and just take all the photos you want. There's not point to these photos except one, and that's to be able to show what you have, what you see, and what's around you.

Bigger in the hipster world, I've already seen 'Lomo' cameras (known as Diana) sold in urban behaviour, and I wouldn't be surprised if H&M or American Apparel starts selling them soon (them being known for showcasing all things hipster-like).

Nothing says "I'm a bitchin' Hipster" like Converse (Before)

After

Because Lomography is much easier to do then pure on black and white, and commercial shooting, I think I've become a Lomo-fan. I'm loco for lomo. I'm....there's no other words that rhyme with Lomo...

...Dammit

-Canon Ma

Photographer Interview

I got through the interview on thursday to become a paid photographer with...strong points.. i think. And they said they'd notify me if i get hired ASAP....it's been a couple of days already.

I really hope I get it.

On a lighter note, me (and a billion other photographers) went out to high park around 2 weeks ago to shoot the beautiful sakura trees.

I went on mothers day, FML right? and also went there 2 days after (to see if there were less people...there was), and I knew by the moment i arrived i would not be taking sakura tree shots. I mean, we've seen it all on facebook and if I wanted a shot I could easily just snatch one from google (i'm sure a bit of envy and anger from not going earlier like regular people is being stitched into my message right now). So I instead did what I feel like i do best, street photography!

I only had 2 shots that i liked, and this was one of them...the other will be uploaded soon.

-Canon Ma

Posting

It's been awhile.

Like...a long while.

I wonder if I'm going to get back to posting.

-lalala-