Toronto Shooters Club

May 3rd Photo Walk – West Toronto Railpath Park

Apr 292010

I know this wasn’t in the poll, but we’ve talked about it on previous photo walks, and I think it’s perfect timing to venture along the West Toronto Railpath Park. This is a fascinating part of Toronto that is more than worthy of our attention. It is a project of Evergreen, a national non-profit organization with the important mission of greening our cities, and Community Bicycle Network. If Evergreen rings a bell it’s llikely because we’ve explored another of their projects, the Brick Works, on a previous photo walk.

We’ll start our walk at the current south end of the path, located at Dundas and Sterling. Here is a Google Map of the intersection.

Here is a Google Street View of the intersection the entrance is just to the left in this image which shows the path leading down to the Railpath itself as it was under construction last summer. Click on the little square icon in the top right corner of the Street View to view it full screen. You can then pan around and zoom to get a sense of the area.

West Toronto Railpath Entrance at Dundas & Sterling

So, to get there, either head west on the Dundas streetcar, pass Lansdowne, and get off at the Sterling stop or, from the subway, take the Lansdowne bus south and get off at College and walk west, up onto the bridge until you get to Sterling. We’ll gather at the northwest corner of Sterling and Dundas, before heading down the path.

The Community Bicycle Network has a more complete map of the Railpath on their Railpath website. There is also a website administered by Friends of West Toronto Railpath. They have a Flickr photostream with photos of the railpath.

Necropolis Photo Walk – Peaceful and Pleasant

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Apr 212010

The third spring photo walk of the Toronto Shooters Club was an extremely pleasant outing. Unseasonably warm weather continues to make our photo walks comfortable adventures in Toronto. This time out, Roman, Neil, Patricia and I enjoyed exploring Riverdale Farm from the outside (sad that it closes at 5pm every day) and the Toronto Necropolis from the inside. Stone monuments, spring blossoms and the slanting afternoon sun dominated our photography subjects.

The Necropolis is a fascinating place, full of history, emotion, and a rich visual combination of natural and hand-made elements. Buildings dominate the entrance, and include such diverse textures as stained glass, iron work, rough and smooth stone work, and carved and painted wooden forms. These artifacts of human activity are contrasted by organic features and the photo walk was well timed with beautiful magnolia blossoms and the earliest delicate foliage making their spring appearances.

Further into the city of the dead, neat pathways thread their way through various sections of burial grounds. A large variety of monuments, many of them very large and impressive, offered a number of photographic opportunities. Still other organic subjects were interspersed; from large scale magnolia trees in full bloom to tiny squill, mushrooms and other tiny blossoms. In springtime, there is a sense of renewal and new life, a strong counterpoint to the weight of history and death that the grave markers convey. It would be interesting to go back and explore on a stormy fall day; I have not doubt there would be a moody, gothic atmosphere under those conditions at that time of year – a great inspiration for some richly textured photos.

Brick Works Photo Walk

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Apr 142010

The Toronto Shooters Club’s second photo walk was held on Monday, April 12th from 5:45pm until about sunset. The group of four; Meghan, Ted, Kristen and Roman, set out from Castle Frank to head for Craigleigh Park and the Milkman’s Lane. We had a great map, courtesy of the Evergreen Brick Works website, but still weren’t sure exactly where to find the trail. Some friendly Rosedale dog walkers in Craigleigh Park happily directed us to the entrance.

Once into the wooded ravine trail, photo opportunities presented themselves immediately and we all had our cameras ready and shooting. Slanting early evening sunlight filtered through the sparse foliage of early spring, making for some medium contrast, softly lit scenes. Initially, natural subjects plus some scenes with walking, cycling or jogging folk were plentiful. A bit later, some early spring wildflowers and urban features like rusty fences presented some shallow depth of field, closer up compositional opportunities.

Coming around the bend adjacent to the one of the Don Valley highway system ramps, the group had the chance to capture some views of urban features, including highways, apartments, lighting, wiring, fences and highway maintenance structures. A little further on, dramatic skies featuring jet trails and cloud formations presented themselves. This gave rise to the first of several discussions of settings and exposure principles.

Pressing on, we passed through a more heavily wooded path and soon approached the Brick Works site. The brick buildings, paver stone walkways, ponds and various types of birds and vegatation provided so many possibilities that the group broke up as we each pursued our individual inspirations. Having each explored a number of the many photographic possibilities for the better part of a half hour, Roman was inspired to climb a steep hill just as we had gradually drifted closer together, and we all flocked along behind.

Great thing we did too; we were all presently treated to the awesome views provided from the Governor’s Bridge Lookout. To the northwest, the namesake of the Lookout, the Governor’s Bridge which carries Governor’s Road as it traverses the Moore Park Ravine ravine between Rosedale and the neighbourhood of Governor’s Bridge was visible through the trees. To the west, the ponds were laid out before us with the setting sun and dramatic clouds beyond the tree lined edge of the valley. To the south, in the foreground lay the buildings of the Brick Works, currently under construction towards eventual restoration. Further beyond to the south lay the somewhat distant skyline, featuring the CN Tower and tall buildings of the downtown core. To the south east, the Prince Edward Viaduct was fully visible along with sections of the Don Valley Parkway system.

Here we remained, shooting contentedly and occasionally discussing various technical and artistic points until the sun began to set. After a brief discussion which concluded with the sad realization that heavy clouds at the horizon would prevent any decent golden hour shots from developing, we decided to head off. Another great photo walk! Wish you could have been there with us!