Things You Find As You Clean Up...

It's amazing what you'll find as you clean up around the house - or even around your computer.

I was scanning my hard drive for pictures to keep, remove and just plain ol' walk through memories. This photo popped up and I thought it was interesting enough to share...

My wife and I lived in the Beaches Area of Toronto around 2004 and from time to time, I'd just grab my gear and go see what I could find.  This one day in May, I decided to shoot some of the old buildings at the Distillery.  When I got there, there were antique cars, people dressed like it was 1930 - and other obvious signs of a movie shoot.  It turned out they were shooting Russell Crowe's Cinderella Man.  I got so interested in watching how they did what they did, that I barely took any photo's.  No, I didn't knowingly see Russell, though I'm sure he's in the crowd you see milling in front of those gates.  You see, this photo was taken in between "action" and is of the scene where all the men are hoping their name is called for work that day and if you've seen the movie, you know Russell's character is there many times, hoping to get just one more day's pay.

Though I didn't get any pictures of other parts of Toronto that were involved in this movie, I can tell you that when you see scenes of storefronts, you are actually looking at Queen Street in Toronto, also in May of 2004.  They placed 'cotton batting' along the street (near River St) and constructed 'masks' over the current store fronts, making the whole area look like 1930 again.  Ironic, isn't it?  The area used to look like that - then it gets many 'facelifts' through time until 2004 and then some movie crew turns back time by 60-70 years - all for two weeks of filming.  It really is interesting to watch.  To see photo's of the Queen Street set, visit Jason Nolan's Flickr Photostream.  He shot his photo's before they 'winterized' Queen Street.

You'd be surprised just how many movies have been shot in the Distillery District.  One that comes to mind immediately is Blues Brothers 2000.  As the Bluesmobile rolls through a dark city street, you can see the distinctive green shutters over the Distillery windows and doors.  The now closed Canary Restaurant at Front and Cherry Streets was also very clearly shown in one such scene.

Anyway, enough already...  It was just fun for me to go sifting through files and see this particular shot...  Just thought I'd share it.

Bird Sees Stars (and birdies)






Canon 50D w/EF 24-70 2.8L USM
@ 70mm, 1/100, f10, 100 ISO

I likely won't ever get an opportunaty like this again!  ...The chance to take an unlimited number of pictures of a wild bird - at less than arm's length!

During one of my trips into the garage, I heard a 'thumping' overhead.  An oriole had become trapped in the rafters and was now trying to get out of the garage through what appeared to be the only exit on her level - a window.  ...A CLOSED window.  The little thing kept trying and trying, only to thump her noggin so hard she had become dazed.  She was so dazed in fact, she willingly stepped onto a broom that I'd reached up near her feet.  I let hert loose on the grass, where she just sat there, staring at me.  Realizing this was likely going to last for a few minutes, I ran for the camera!

This was GREAT!  An oriole - not able to move an inch and as a result of disorientation, was now willing to be my subject for quite a time.  Eventually, it flew into a not yet blossomed snowball bush and rested about a foot off the ground and then safely took off another few minutes later.

Both my wife and mother love orioles, so it looks like I'll be doing some printing soon.