Simple Darklight

Simple things that we see everyday on our way to wherever it is that we are going day to day. I see this while I'm waiting for the bus, a simple road shot, but I decided to add some abstract crap to it. Fragment is an awesome app for these exact moments, which gives your photos that something extra, you can buy said app in Google Play and the App Store for Apple. This whole photo was taken and edited with my Samsung Note 3. Another darklight moment for sure, so many dark elements to it and the sun is still creeping through. 

This is like darklight on purpose. Literally a dark room with a light. So this is actually a massage therapy room where I work and I find the lighting in this particular room to be amazing. So I took a picture just to be sure. Made my edit of what I wanted you to see and this is what came of it. For months now I could see this image in my head and I needed to make it reality. Even at work my dark side comes out, I know for the most part massage therapy is supposed to be happy and relaxing, and so it is, but I see so much more to how the rooms may look. Tweaked out of course.

Every time that I go out for a cigarette during my break at the Toronto Eaton Centre, I see this. Of course it may not always be so nice out, but this particular day it was beautiful.

Then other days the mall looks like this, usually when I'm having a bad day. Mind you I did take the above shot at night unlike the previous one was during the day. Darklight all over the place.

Interesting Structures

Just another run of the mill modern building in the downtown core of Toronto. Everywhere you look you can see skyscrapers all over the place, mind you not as many as you would see in New York City, but a fair amount. King Street and University Avenue holds promise for the financial district, especially just east of there at Bay Street and King Street, in the center of all that financial stuff. I see this world day in and day out. If you actually watch people that work around there, just take a close look at their faces, you will see an fair amount of unhappy people. On day on Pearl Street, just around the corner from where I took this shot, I see many drug deals going on day after day. At least I think that is what it is, but I ignore it as most people do, as it seems business as usual. This makes me wonder just how many people that we see or work with are high on drugs or who know what, I don't think that is proper, especially if you are going to be at work or behind the wheel of a car. I guess really, it's not my problem, moving on.

Look at this sexy beast, hahahahah, kidding. I do know that the CN Tower is my favourite landmark, along side Niagara Falls. Just look at it, hell I do look at it almost every day. I never get tired of looking at it. What's funny? Torontonians look at this beautiful structure almost all the time and we never go. It's been sixteen years since I've been up there. The 360 Restaurant is my favourite restaurant, however, I never go. I do have to say when a tourist comes to me looking for the CN Tower, most of the time I just have to point and tell them to follow it. Can't miss the damn thing. 

Flowers Down

Flowers, I do love them, just don't buy me them. I'd rather see plant life growing in its natural state, in the earth. Above shows some great depth of field and again I wasn't even trying. We have these flowers that grow every year in the back yard and I just love them. The colour is perfect, in fact it is close to my favourite colour, indigo. 

I think I found the next shot above downtown in some random garden. They were so beautiful and in the best placement that I had to get the shot. Flowers create a sight of happiness in my world, however, if you edit them in black and white I see darkness and depression. The one thing I have trouble wrapping my mind around are that names of the flowers, I never remember. So I just point and say that these flowers right here are pretty and move on. What's funny I that I never like to wear much colourful clothing, but I love to look at colour in everything else, to help cheer up my day. And if winter happens, the corner store has flowers that are absolutely wonderful all year round, so I go there. 

Then I have moments where I try to make a normal shot look abstract. With the one above the sun was out and shining, yet somehow I was able to make this happen. The glowing tulip. In a sense darklight comes into play here. You have the light from the flower itself and the darkness that surrounds it, which means that no matter what there is still hope in anything you do.

I must have been having a bad day when I took and edited this one here. You can see the happiness in the background, but I didn't see it that way. I seen the gloomy world around it. However the gloomy, in a sense, brought out the beauty in the plant and therefore my day. 

In The Darkness

I must say that I have seen this photo taken many times and edited many time on Facebook or Instagram. So I decided that it must be time for me to show my version of the same shot. I was in the concourse one day after work, since I work down there it made for easier access to the shot I was looking for. I walked up to it and there it was, the perfect amount of people going up the escalator, and the right light coming from the sky. Then all I needed was the perfect edit. Of course I forgot about the photo even being on my phone as life passed by. One day upon looking at past photos to edit, I seen it. Now was the time to make it my own and this is what came of it. This is what I seen in my mind.

There is something really moving and emotional about black and white photography. I did this edit today when I was at work. It did work out in my favor, as I took the shot yesterday when I was on my way home on the 504 King Street Streetcar. The sunset was perfect, and of course I had to black and white the heck out of it. So much darklight going on here, it feels perfect. I feel that Toronto is perfect with all its imperfections. 

The Toronto Transit Commission (or TTC) is the best place to find the perfect picture. I could just stand in one stop for one hour and get so many photos to edit I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I took this one above upon making my way to work one morning. You don't actually see the faces of the people moving on the staircase, but you do know that they are all on there many missions of the day that they need to get through, just as yourself would need to do during the same day. I hope that just made sense. What I also see in the shot is, people all trying to reach for the light coming from above and escaping from the darkness from once they came. To return to that same darkness later on that day to make their way home. So there you have it, all in black in white. 

Depressing Clouds

When I see clouds in the sky, whether they are bright or dark, I will find a way to see them dark. In fact most of the time I see my world this way. It's hard to explain to someone how this feels when you don't suffer from depression. It could be the nicest day outside, I will see the dark part of that day. Mind you this day that I took this picture there was a storm coming on. That made my day, storms and rain actually make me smile. It's like music, in my mind, if the music is happy it makes me miserable. But if the music is depressing and dark, I'm the happiest person on the planet, go figure. 

There was sunshine and beauty in the day that I took this next picture, you can almost see it. That's the point, that is darklight. You can almost be happy, but wait there a minute, not you. So I have learned to embrace my depression like this, I create art. Another way I have learned to calm down is the write about it. When I was younger my Mom gave me a great idea. If I don't feel like talking about the darkness or bad feelings that I was going through, I should write them down. I have pages and pages of binders and notebooks all over the place with my thoughts. The really odd part is that when these dark feelings show up, the can turn very fast into sexual feelings. Most people get happy thoughts with sex, not me I see darkness everywhere, in a good way I guess.

I was walking around High Park in Toronto the day I took this one. The cherry blossoms appeared in full bloom. First I seen the sky and I had to make it my own. A bright happy day, how was I going to make this look dark enough to help bring the happiness into my mind. There you go.

Ok so not everything I shoot is gloomy, here is a shot of those same cherry blossoms. Darklight does exist in the picture though, The part of the tree that is hiding from the sun is where the darkness is. As much as the sun is peaking through, not all can be positive. However, in this case a negative makes a positive. I know this might not make sense to every one reading this, but I do hope it can help you understand what a friend or family member might be going through. Something you may think is bad for them, might actually be the one thing that is helping them get back in the game.

Lower Bay Nuit Blanche

Lower Bay Station, not everyone knows about this place. If you go to the actual Bay Station, on the TTC, on the 2 Bloor Danforth subway line, this is a empty station right underneath. Lower Bay, or to some Bay Lower, was only used for a short time, not even a year I believe. However, the station is still there. They use it for functions, train detours, or in the case above, Nuit Blanche (An overnight art installation event that happens all over the Toronto downtown core). So any chance I can get to go down there I do, it feels like I need to do constant photography down there, always something new to find and shoot.

A person or company can rent the space out for the shooting of a movie, TV show, or commercial for a nice fee. Some really popular movies were shot there, apparently. I do enjoy how they don't keep much maintenance up on it, so it's pretty dirty down there, which makes for interesting photography. I did shoot more pictures down there, but I haven't edited as of yet so I will have to get back to you on that. All I have are these shots from 2011. 

Some say the station is haunted, but I think not. I'm usually good at picking up on those ghosty vibes and I got nothing. More or less, it just feel creepy. So I think that is what gives people that idea, and for that matter I don't think anyone was killed or died down there, but I could be wrong. The image above was taken by leaving the shutter open on my camera, so therefore, you get that ghost like vision. Those were real people. 

The ceiling doesn't even look finished. I think it is just falling apart from age, or from commercial use. Sometimes when I go down there I want to sit there and take it all in, just imagine what it was like to be a commuter those many years ago, what were people wearing back then? 

So just know that every time you got riding the rocket through Bay Station, you are actually gliding over the past. Or you may have seen it in a movie, because we all know how much some cities in the U.S. like to use Toronto for filing, and call it something else, like New York or Chicago. Next time you get the chance to visit Lower Bay, do it and have fun with your camera as well, like I did, and will again.

Dark In Mind Video

I give you and extra treat tonight, here is one of the videos that I made some time ago. All my photos, all in tune to music.



Have a great night my friends.

Home Work

Goofing around the house, after a while you start to take photos around the house, especially when you don't want to leave the house. You know how it is when winter appears and outside in not an option, I hate winter just so you all know. I know, I know, I live in Canada I should be used to it by now, you know, since I was born here. Never really liked it, I don't think I even liked playing in the snow as a kid. As I was saying, there are days when you still have the itch to take photos, but don't want to go outside. In that case your home is a great place to find little gems, it could be things you may look at every day, however not everyone has had the privilege to see. Hahahah!! This light fixture you see above is very old and it sits in the from foyer of my house, I'm not sure exactly how old it is, but I do know that it is older than me. Hell the house is almost one hundred years old. At one time a Doctor used to own it and live here, he actually had servants, since there used to be a hidden staircase that lead to no where on the main floor. It actually was the servants staircase to the upper floors of the house, bet was boarded off in later years, and the staircase became a closet. 

Then you begin to look at your cable box and see what weird things you can make the numbers do with the camera. Ghost number is what I call it, ghost numbers at 5:36am. Yeah so I'm a night owl, I do from time to time stay up really late for no particular reason. 

Mitosis of the apple. Mitosis means the separation of a cell, in this case the apple cell is separating into two apples right before your very eyes. Ok, so that didn't really happen. I twirled my camera around really fast as I hit the shutter button and this is what happened. I do remember studying like a maniac that day for a test at school the next day at Everest College, so I was probably majorly tired. 

Not too far away from that apple is my book shelf in which I decided to move the camera really fast back and forth to get this. Look streaks, not sure what I was trying to say here, maybe that I read way too much, or that I have way too many books and no place to put them except piled sideways. Funny thing, they say that Ikea bookshelves can't stand the test of time? Well they lied, this one right here has been through many moves and has been with my for a long time, I think I got it on 1990 some time. 

More light fixtures on the ceiling. I just loved how the design looked with all of the light coming from it. This light is still up there hanging around on the second floor of the house. I do believe we put this one in later, so not old but still interesting, almost abstract. Love your home, no matter where you live love what you have and who you have it with. Even if it's just you, it's still important. 

Abstract Crap

I call these type of photos abstract crap, not that it is crap, just that I didn't know what to really call it. It is a really image that I shot with my smartphone and changed it to look weird or odd, or that you really may not know what it truly is until you glance closely. When my mind is over active or I'm just not in a good mood the above happens. The Halton Radial Railway Museum (Streetcar Museum) was a great place for me to explore all those old TTC vehicles that mean so much to me. Then I found the Decim8 photo editing app. This is one of the options I really love to do, with all the horizontal lines. 

This morning this happened, while I was having a smoke before work I could picture this image in my head. The hard part was creating it. I must say that it took some time to get the right feel that I wanted to show the world of Facebook and Instagram, and now Blogger and the Internet. Here you go world, this is what I'm trying to express now. Close to what I was doing earlier, just slightly odder. 

Have you ever seen a subway train look like this, I think not. Especially in motion. So here it is, more abstract crap. A random orb of swirling magnifying stuff, just there. Never be afraid to express what is deep in your soul, it creates great art you never knew was possible.

This abstract picture above was taken a year ago. I was on the subway, heading downtown after a Doctors appointment and seen something awesome. I actually had to get off the subway train at Eglington West station and take a closer look. The windows of the station were frosted, as the station sits both above ground and underground, and the sun was shining through at the perfect light. It was giving the perfect shadow of the leaves from plants growing on the outside of the station. I literally said, "wow". grabbed the shots I needed and boom, I was back on the train.

The original looked like this above shot. Plain but nice. After a year I decided to look at the shot again and do something even more to the picture. So the previous photograph looks so abstract and different. I used a couple of editing tools and after some trial and error, the other picture was born. More abstract crap, then the one above. I still like both of them, now as separate entities. I hope you like them as well.

TTC Angles

More of the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) is a wonderful thing, just saying. I could take pictures of it all day, every day, and I do. This picture above was taken at Keele Subway Station, as  was standing waiting for my train to come in. At first it was just you average train coming into the station shot, but knowing me I had to give it a different twist. Mirror effect, twisted view. 

Where the hell is this, you ask? The railing that runs between the stairwell where Dundas Subway Station meets up with The Atrium On Bay. Perfect macro, I just had to line it up right and focus on the right thing. What I love about this shot is that you really don't know what it is. You have to think about it. This is one of the most common stairwells I use when I'm working at the Toronto Eaton Centre, as it is the gateway between to worlds. In fact, most people have never heard of the Atrium on Bay, it's like a whole other mall over there. Major picture opp. I must say, those shot are to come on a later date my friends. 

In this post I was trying to show the different angles of things, and how just by tilting the camera will give the picture that is taken a whole new perspective. Above is a shot of the inside of one of the first subway trains in Toronto, which opened in 1954. Going back to my trip to the Halton Region Railway museum, they had two or three cars there of two different models of trains. This one being the old red rocket subway trains. I do remember as a child, waiting with my Grandma for one of these trains, always wishing for the red one to show up at Bloor Subway Station. In fact, it's amazing just how much that station has changed since the 1980's. Just go on Youtube and see videos that show what it used to look like.

Here is a music video by The Spoons called Romantic Traffic, it really gives you an idea as to what the train looked like in motion and what those stations looked like back in the 1980's. Memories. Thank you Youtube.com for the video.

And finally there is this lovely abandoned jailhouse in Niagara Falls, which I have mentioned before. This angle gives you the vision that it is enormous, even though it's really just a normal size. When you look at the building or an object, try looking at it differently, see how you might notice a whole new visual. 

Convenience Of Dark Flowers

Flowers are beautiful in their own right, I love them so much in there alive state. This is why I tell people to never buy me flowers, because I prefer them in soil growing and alive outside. The flower above was actually from a convenience store, which is unfortunate, because it will die sooner rather than later. So I captured its beauty while I could, and now it can live on forever. The black and white aspect gives the photograph so many different elements of shading and darkness, which is the point. The darker and depressing I can make the photo the better I feel emotionally, because I can put all that energy into my art instead of holding onto all that mess.

I do believe that the flowers you see in the above photo was taken in the same location, just a couple months earlier, and warmer. Darklight is always present in most or all of my photography, here it is in extreme amounts. I needed to soften the picture to make it just so, to give it that wonderful feeling I get when it reaches the done and post point. Ta-da!!! I also wanted to show that not all things to do with flowers are used in happy events in our lives. Many times they are used to explain a very serious period in that persons life, or something sad, like a funeral. Personally I use flowers to show what my mind looks like most of the time. My mind looks like most of my photography most of the time. The lightness is there, but most of the time there is sadness and unrest.

Caught this one when I was one my way home, actually it was just outside my house. The depth of field shows the focus I had on just the plant alone, but there is an awareness of the rest that's in view just behind. That is the fun with macro photography, you can bring this right into focus and blur out the unwanted. What made this picture more interesting to me, is that I used my smartphone to take this shot and didn't edit it that much really. I placed myself close enough to the flower that I could create the same effect that most expensive cameras can do. 

In fact all the picture that were placed in this post, had been taken with my smartphone and edited the same way. More convenience store flowers above. The original above shot looked more vibrant and lighter, but that is not what I was trying to say here. I was showing that I'm not well, I suffer from major depression and anxiety, and it can eat you alive if you let it. This is why I decided to start taking pictures and create art all the time, so that I have a place to vent everything that happens in my life. This is also why I started writing again, to get all this anger and sadness, this darklight, out in the open and not deep inside me where it festers and becomes an evil monster.

Fall Past Daylight

Fall is right around the corner, yikes. At least the trees haven't totally changed colour yet, but soon it will be just that, fall!!! The photography you can take during the fall season is amazing and in abundance. The colours and shades are everywhere my friends. There is always a change to what you might see daily. The above picture happened many falls ago, but I can feel it in the air again. I will find every opportunity to shoot fall in that creepy and dark way I always do. 

The chill is back in the air in Toronto folks, which only means that we are about to bring out the sweatshirts and blankets everywhere. I've been bundled up all weekend and part of this week as well, I get chilly fast. I do still have to work so that means I have to face the cold that is coming. Oh man, that means that winter is just around the corner as well, joy oh joy! Not so much. The cold only reminds me how much I hate snow and blowing wind, and how much I will miss summer when it decides to leave us. 

There is that good feeling I get as well, the smell of burning fireplaces. The smell of burning wood is so soothing for the soul, brings peace to all. My Mom loves that smell as well, we always stop and enjoy that lovely smell when walking by all the houses on our street. I guess the reason why I enjoy the fireplace smell is because of my Mom, we are very much the same, Love her to bits. What does suck though is that the days start to get shorter, not that I mind the darkness of night, but that I enjoy that sunshine just as the sun is setting for the day. 

On the positive side, daylight savings time is just around the corner, which means we fall back and gain one hour. One hour of sleep, lovely. So before it gets colder darlings, get out and enjoy every day before the blistering cold is present. And know that summer will come around again. Enjoy every day of your life, because no one knows just how long they have to be here on this planet. 

Looking Up To Creepy

What I saw here was something similar to a scene in Ghostbusters. You know that part where they all look up at the building as they are about to enter the building. Everything gets dark really fast and this is kind of what you see. Ok so I know that the two buildings don't look the same, but they give me the same vibe. Ghostbusters is my favourite movie, so there you go. Come to think of it most of my photography has a Ghostbusters..esk like view to them. It's light but dark, who knows really. He he he, now I have the music from the soundtrack running in my head. 

Then I started to notice just have important buildings are to me, new and old. The one above shares that same idea as the previous photo. You get the idea that it is sunny out, but what I'm trying to show is that no matter how sunny and bright the day is, there is somehow a bit of darkness in everything I see and photograph. The way my brain and mind perceives things, in a visual sense, is just like this. Anyone with depression working its way through your brain on a normal basis will understand this. I also feel that the darklight in every shot is what makes life interesting to me. Ultimately it's what I see that matters here, I'm just letting all of you in to visit my world. 

I would pick different things in the city to shot just because to me it had a creepy aspect to it. It would almost scare me, give me shivers, and then after the edit, wooooo!!! When it scares me I'm more intrigued by it. When ever I walk around to intentionally take photos I play really creepy music, which adds to the emotion of what I'm doing here. It works. That industrial feel really excites my insides, and guess what? It's all over this city. I know that this is just a cell phone tower, but it's a really awesome looking cell phone tower.

Every top of a building looks different from the next, they all have that look. I love them all. The building may look totally normal, however that part on top is what stands out to me. Look up my friends, because that is where things are that you don't normally see. This is where I find everything, I'm not scared to look around my city, to overlook things that I may look at all the time. Then there is that one thing that you didn't see before.

TTC Lost In Time

I miss these buses, the GMC buses. They remind me of caterpillars, now they are rusting away. That could make a great photo as well, now I must be in search of them. Remembering riding on these buses, they used to rock back and forth in a rolley kind of way and that is how I remember them, by feel. Not saying I don't like the new buses, of course I do. They belong to the TTC and that equals awesome. 

Out of all the subway stations in Toronto Runnymede Station is my favourite, it feels like home. In the past I've taken many pictures of it. The subway is part of my everyday life and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

The above shot, taken with my Samsung Note 3, is a vision I needed to put into art. I would see this everyday and never take the time to shoot it, except this one night where everything lines up perfectly. The street light shining in the top left corner, the angle, the fact that it was night time. All made sense. 

Here is a vision, looking at a TTC LRV Streetcar in motion. I was standing at Spadina Subway Station where the 510 Spadina Streetcar come in, getting that in motion photo. I did take many, also looking for the ghost like view of people entering the trolley. 

The above is what I managed to get at the time. I was still experimenting at the time with my style in hopes to do this again one day. You know how busy life can get, where you don't have time to dig out the Nikon to have all this fun. Hell, I still have many photos that I need to edit, time permitting. 

So for the love of the TTC, hug a bus. Ok so I'll hug the damn bus. I will also find the perfect moment at the magic hour to get the perfect shot of the perfect bus in my eyes. There will be so many future stories of the TTC to come. Just one of my obsessions.