Posts Tagged ‘lights’

Happy Canada Day everyone!

 

large display of fireworks over Lake Ontario

fireworks at Harbourfront, Canada Day Eve, June 30

 

*****

Playing with lights, colours, and reflections at Brookfield Place.

Bay St., south of Wellington

The long passageway through Brookfield Place with it's very high ceiling and lit glass panels on the floor.

From the bottom up, Allen Lambert Galleria, the 6 storey atrium of Brookfield Place, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

.

circles of Christmas lights and ornaments

Looking upwards, Christmas Ring Tree, Brookfield Place.

.

A wall and its reflection in the very polished and shiney floor.  The wall looks like a grid of brown wood surrounding pale blue glass squares. .

Lights from Christmas decorations are reflected in the window of a men's wear store but all you see in this photo is the mannequin's hand and part of the red and white striped shirt that its wearing.

Playing with reflected light from Christmas decorations.

.

abstract looking picture of horizontal shapes in oranges, greens and purples.  The photo is of part of a wall, a metal support beam, and a glass wall.

Horizontal abstraction of light and colour.

.

Walking on thin ice?

Walking on thin ice?

.

Large, high ceilinged atrium space in a building.  It is lit with purple spot lights. Some people are walking through the space.

And now the lights are purple…. The lights change colours after a few minutes – purples, reds, greens, and blues.

.

A group of photographers.  Some of them are reflected in the shiney black surface of the wall.

Photography under the purple lights.

.

abstract picture made by a photo of a metal grid that is lit from behind.

I didn’t see the electrical outlet when I took this photo. I was just attracted to the tiny squares of light by my feet.

*****

One cold Saturday evening, during a snowstorm, in downtown Toronto

Snow, lots of blowing snow!

Ruts in the snow on King St. reflect the light from the street lights.  Snow is blowing across the road.  There is a red stop light in the distance, and you can see the headlights of the cars that are stopped for it.

Snow on the roads and snow blowing across the streets.

.

Snow covered ground lights make round patches of light in the snow.  Small white Christmas  lights are wrapped around a small tree trunk.   The wind is blowing snow across the lights.

A dance of snow and light choreographed by the wind.

.

A shop window with 6 mannequins.  They are all dressed in long dresses or black skirts except one of the mannequins who is wearing a red dress.  They all have large red bows in their hair.  The backdrop makes it look that they are standing in a snowy pine forest.

Ladies of the night – all dressed up but nowhere to go.

.

Night time.  Fresh snow on the ground with only one set of footsteps walking through it.   There are a number of trees along the side of sidewalk and they cast shadows over the snow.

Shadows playing in the drifts of snow.

.

Black & orange construction cones along side a plastic orange fence around a construction site at the side of the road.  Traffic stopped at a stoplight in the distance.

It wouldn’t be a Toronto street unless there was construction on it somewhere, even on the snowiest nights.

.


With the shorter days of December come the lights of Christmas to brighten the longer hours of darkness.

The photos below were all taken in St. James Park.

looking across a snowy St. James Park towards the cathedral whose steeple is partially obscured by trees.  Late afternoon.  Part of the Toronto skyline can be seen in the background.

St. James Cathedral through the snow as twilight falls.

Shining

Shining

Two tree trunks wrapped in strands of multi-coloured Christmas lights are in the foreground.  In the background are  bare tree branches against the sky.  The sky is a grey colour because it is a cloudy winter night.

Spots of colour contrast with the plain grey of the bare tree branches against the grey late afternoon sky.

snow covered benches under trees whose trunks are wrapped in strands of Christmas lights.

Snow covered benches await a warmer day.

Six trees with their trunks wrapped in strands of Christmas lights.  There is a fresh, deep layer of snow on the ground.

Colour, light, and shadow. St. James Park trees in the snow.

A snow covered path through a park.  The tree trunks have been covered with Christmas lights.  A couple of trees have blue lights, a couple of trees are covered with white lights, and some trees have multi-colored lights.

More lights…. a snow covered path through St. James park.

.

at least along Queen Street West……

On display in a shop window are a stuffed toy cat and dog are dressed for Christmas.  THe dog is wearing a Santa hat.  Reflected in the window are people passing by carrying shopping bags.

Christmas is going to the dogs, and cats.

A window display in a T-shirt shop.  THere is a T-shirt with a picture of ROb FOrd with the word yolo printed on it.  There is a black toddler onsie with the words Bad Seed written in red.  There is a green T-shirt with the words Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal written on it.

He knows when you’ve been naughty……

.
.
blog_xmas_bunny.

blog_xmas_fun.
blog_xmas_pirate
.
blog_xmas_records .
blog_xmas_sock
. blog_xmas_socktree.

A drawing on a chalk board of Santa trying to get a hold of a cat that is hiding under his sleigh.  The words on the board say Why Santa has reindeer instead of cats.

Rudolph the red nose cat doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

.

Two christmas tree balls.  Both are white on the bottom half and both are pantone colours on the top - one is red and the other is light blue, pantone universe color 15-5519

A very merry pantone Christmas in 15-5519 aka turquoise, their colour of the year in 2010.

.

The window of the store 'Come as You Are' has been covered with a layer of fake snow.  THere are clear circles in the snow with vibrators hanging in them.  There are also some snowflake shaped clear spots.

Both hot and cold on display for a very, very, merry Christmas!

.

Saturday, 5th October

downtown Toronto

This is only a small selection of the art installations and exhibitions that were on display that night.

part of an art installation where there are small bones hanging from the ceiling,  A man's leg is in the background

Bones, leg bones? Part of the ‘Indicator’ installation at Gareth Bate Art Projects, 401 Richmond St.
“Birds, bats, bees. Indicator species tell us when ecosystems are in peril. Bones, sugar, dripping honey – a meditation on catastrophe and connection.” The bones hung from the ceiling and the honey dripped down the walls.
Artists: Karen Abel, Jessica Marion Barr, Gareth Bate

A man looking at a series of small black & white prints in an art gallery

A timeline of the life of Conrad Black in black & white woodcut prints as shown at a gallery at 401 Richmond Street. Artist, George Walker

 

silhouettes of some people, on glowing pink and blue spheres

silhouettes
at Much Music, Queen Street West

 

The CN tower, with pink and blue lights, is in the background.  In the foreground are people taking pictures with their phones.  In the middle ground are a number of pink and blue lit spheres

phones lifted skyward

 

A woman is taking a picture of an art installation that is flat on a table.  Twelve black & white framed prints are on the wall behind her.

Black & white art made using electric currents & little wires that spun in circles.
401 Richmond Street

 

An art installation featuring pictures of bicylces.  Multicoloured.

bkies, bikes, bikes

 

A man is spray painting a piece of street art using aerosol cans of paint

spraying in the spotlight
On Dundas West near Beverley Street

 

Crowds, at night.  Light is provided by fluorescent lights that spell out a short poem.

‘The rose is without why’ by Boris Achour.
This is a short poem written by Johannes Scheffler aka Angelus Silesius, in the 17th century. The words are written with fluorescent lights and is more than 300 feet long. It was bright enough to light up the square.

 

crowds at Nathan Phillips Square on the night of Nuit Blanche.  Some people are standing on the upper level watching the crowds below.

upper level, Nathan Phillips Square

 

crowds and lights at Nathan Phillips Square.  Toronto city hall is lit with purple lights.

Nathan Phillips Square

 

Two of the art installations at Nathan Phillips Square

Nathan Phillips Square
On the left – ‘Forever Bicycles’ sculpture by Ai Weiwei lit in pink and purple. There are 3144 bicycles.
On the right – ‘Crash Cars’ by Alain Declercq consists of two driverless cars.

 

posing

posing
These metallic figures were not part of Nuit Blanche. They are part of a sculpture close to the Court House on University Ave., just north of Queen St. West.

.