SUMMER ISN’T OFFICIALLY OVER YET, BUT WHO ARE WE KIDDING? Temperatures are dropping and the kids are going back to school and we’re bracing for another corona spike before the leaves start turning. We’re still not back to normal – whatever that might be any more – and the time for parks and patios is running out. God but I hate 2020.
After the self-quarantining of the spring, I’ve tried to spend the summer outside, working on projects like my moribund travel blog. It doesn’t look like we’re going anywhere for a while, so I’ve taken up the challenge of finding what’s worth seeing and talking about in my hometown – a place I tend to take for granted, and hardly one of the world’s more picturesque cities.
In addition to an as-yet-unnamed project, I’ve made my way out to the Toronto Islands and the Leslie Street Spit with my new camera backpack, a tripod and a bag full of lenses. I’ll keep exploring destinations reachable by public transit until the weather finally forces me and everyone else back inside. Until now, though, the biggest challenge has been shooting under relentless blue skies.
As I’ve said many times, since Toronto isn’t the prettiest town, I’ve had to find my joy here finding “ugly beauty” – accidental grandeur and intriguing juxtapositions. And, of course, lurking behind my fellow citizens looking for a good shot – an old activity that’s been made immensely easier thanks to the politely antisocial protocols of “social distancing.”
You could argue that it’s not really a snapshot if you need a camera bag and a tripod, but I’m not going to bother addressing that. It’s my blog and I’ll call it what I want to call it. And as any professional photographer will tell you, any time off where you still have a camera in your hand is really just a busman’s holiday.
My excursions have given me another chance to play with my new pinhole “lens”, outside in the sorts of conditions in which I think it’s meant to be used. I am, frame by frame, slowly getting the hang of this thing. With just another couple of months left to use it outside under sun and sky, I think I might break through to something that’s still forming in my imagination. Let’s see where we are in another three months.
Rick McGinnis Photographs 