Posts Tagged ‘people’

buskerfest 2015

Posted: September 2, 2015 in events, people
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Toronto International Buskerfest for Epilepsy, 2015,
over 70 acts from Canada and around the world.

Yonge Street, College to Queen,
28th Aug through 31st Aug

below: The Funnykito Show,  Dan Marques is a performer from Brazil, part magician, part mime and part clown.  Here he sets up a trick whereby he tries to remove a beer bottle from the hands of a volunteer with a whip.

A busker, Funnykito, has a volunteer on stage, The man (volunteer) is holding a beer bottle upside down between the palms of his two hands
Part of the Funnykito Show where he tries to remove a beer bottle from the hands of a volunteer using a whip
Two kids, boy and a girl, sit on the pavement while they watch a performer at an outdoor busker festival

below:  MaracaTALL, drummers on stilts

Men on stilts, wearing large gold hats and gold and green costumes, play drums as they walk on stilts above the crowds on Yonge St.
A man in a blue shirt and beige baseball cap watches in fascination at a performance at a street festival. There are other people in the crowd around him.

below: There were four or five members of the Mirror Family roaming around Yonge Dundas Square.  They were covered from head to toe with small pieces of mirror.

A woman with blue reflective sunglasses is standing beside a roaming busker act, one of the Mirror Family, a woman covered from head to toe with small pieces of mirror
In the foreground a person is clapping, in the background is a crowd of people that are out of focus

below: Meow Mur, a cosmic cat from another planet

Meow Mur, a busker character dressed in a bright multicoloured leotard costume with cat like facial features.

Two people watching a performance at a street festival. One of them is wearing a large red and white Dr. Suess hat.

below: Max T. Oz

The busker, Max T. Oz performs his sleight of hand act at a street festival. A crowd is watching he pretends to slice his arm with a large knife.

A picture of the crowd watching a show at buskerfest, they are smiling and clapping. A small table with some oranges and a baseball is the foreground, part of the equipment used by Max T. Oz

A girl sits on her father's shoulders as she watches a show at buskerfest

below: Brant the Fireguy has a burning desire to entertain and does so with his ‘O Yeah’ show.

fireguy juggles three flaming torches at an outdoor street festival, Toronto buskerfest on Yonge St. , in front of a crowd of people

Part of Fireguy's Oh Yeah show where he puts a flaming rod into his mouth.
In the foreground is a close up of the busker Fireguy's feet as he stands on a skateboard that is balancing on a large tube, all on top of a box. On the box is written the words 'A burning desire to entertain'. Many people are watching the show.

people sitting on the sidewalk watching a busker perform

below: Pierre St. Pierre

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below: Buskerfest helps to support Epilepsy Toronto; it is their largest fund raiser.

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below: Lulu’s World, where a black marker and some tissue paper helps to bring a story to life.

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below: Upside down on the rope, Natural Wings

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A woman with part of hair dyed a bright pink colour sits with a group of kids on the pavement, others stand behind them. They are all watching a performance at a street festival

below: Wacky Chad, pogo sticks, dance moves, little bikes, and more

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below: Alakazam, throwing knives and other sharp objects as his show’s finale

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below: Pyromancer, fire breather, entertains the crowd.

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Three boys in orange T-shirts sitting on orange benches. A very orange picture

below: Taking turns conducting a small string orchestra

Two young girls take a turn at conducting a small group of musicians playing string instruments at an outdoor festival

  below: Giant Sauruses wander Yonge Dundas Square looking for food.  They are part of Close Act Theatre Group from the Netherlands.

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A woman with long dark hair and sunglasses is holding a small white dog

below: The Yo-Yo Guy, John Higby, performs.

The Yo yo guy is doing a trick with a yo yo where he makes a shape out of the string and his fingers while the yo yo keeps spinning

below: Part of his act involves removing a coin from behind the ear of a volunteer with a spinning yo-yo.

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we take selfies

Posted: September 1, 2015 in people
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We take selfies, lots of selfies.

I watched a family struggle to take a selfie of the four of them that they were all happy with.  I offered to take their picture for them.  Simultaneously, the husband said “no thanks” and the wife handed me the phone and said “We’d love that”.  The husband rolled his eyes a bit and remarked on how useless selfies were but how we seemed to need to take them.   This post is dedicated to him.

A family dressed in red and white are taking a selfie at a Canada Day celebration at Dundas Square in Toronto

A group of four young women are taking a selfie just before running in the colour me rad race

A woman in a head scarf is taking a selfie while she stands with some other people by a firetruck.

A woman in a pink T-shirt is holding a frame that people are supposed to stand in when they take a selfie. It gives the name of the festival, Franco, and the instagram hasthtag. Except that she is holding it upside down

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A family of four is in the intersection of Yonge and Bloor on the Sunday of Open Streets when the street was closed to traffic. The kids are on scooters.

An Asian man (India heritage) is taking a picture of his family with a selfie stick as they walk in a parade down Yonge Street. His wife is holding a child. Other are walking behind them and holding a banner.

Two women are standing together as they take a selfie at Nathan Phillips Square during the pillow fight that was held there. One woman is holding a phone, the other woman is holding a pillow.

A woman with a brightly coloured umbrella is taking a selfie with three people at the Pride Parade in Toronto. The people are dressed from head to tow in white as part of an HIV awareness campaign, HIV is anonymous (and so are the people totally covered in white)

A couple is taking a selfie at a protest march. SOmeone is holding a sign that says Green Jobs Now behind them.

A man is sitting on a white chair under a pink umbrella on Sugar Beach. Behind him are two people standing on a rock taking a selfie together

A couple dressed in red and white are taking a selfie beside each other in front of the 3D Toronto sign at Nathan Phillips square. Two other people are to the right, also taking pictures. They could be taking a selfie or their camera could be pointed away from them.

A man is taking a selfie as another man wraps his head in a light blue turban.

A group of three people taking a selfie with a selfie stick. Mom is looking as sad as possible, daughter is holding a little dog and sticking out her tongue, dad is just staring at the phone.

Two young women take a selfie with a phone that has a minion cover on it. They are at buskerfest in Toronto and they are posing with a character that is covered in pieces of shiny reflective material

Two women taking a selfie at a yogathon, they are standing. Other people around them are sitting on mats, waiting for the event to begin.

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A young man poses as he sits on the barrier beside Lake Ontario

People taking selfies - a man with a selfie stick at a car show on the Danforth. He is standing in front of a row of cars with their front hoods up.

People taking selfies - two young women are on top of The Archer sculpture in Nathan Phillips Square. Downtown skyscrapers are in the background

What do we do with all these selfies?

mourning faces

Posted: August 29, 2015 in events, people
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Zombie Funeral and Wake

Today there was a zombie funeral and wake, a celebration of the undead afterlife.   The funeral was held at the Royal Cinema on College St. West.  This ceremony was followed by a procession of the walking dead towards the CNE.

people dressed up as zombies - a woman dressed in black including lacey veil, Her chest is full of wounds and so is her forehead

people dressed up as zombies - Robin, the boy wonder as a zombie

people dressed up as zombies - a woman with white wavy hair, black lacy parasol and black necklace

people dressed up as zombies - a man with a reddish beard, up close photo with only the bottom part of his eyes in the picture

people dressed up as zombies - a man with black eyes and a chewed up face

people dressed up as zombies - a woman with long hair and glasses, wearing a white shirt and black tie, with a bullet hole in her head.

people dressed up as zombies - a man with grey ashen face, red lips, wearing dark sunglasses and smoking a cigarette

people dressed up as zombies - a man with a beard, bloody face, and white framed sunglasses. He is wearing a pink and white garland of fake flowers around his neck

people dressed up as zombies - a man and a woman with pirate hats and costumes

people dressed up as zombies - a young woman with dead looking empty eyes and blood dripping from her mouth

people dressed up as zombies - a zombie with a greenish face and missing a nose

people dressed up as zombies - two zombies, a woman in a blue dress waving a white hanky and behind her a man looking directly at the camera

people dressed up as zombies - a man with a necklace made of fingers and bones, covered in blood as he munches on a finger.

people dressed up as zombies - a young woman with white face, and mouth painted to look like it's been stitched together

people dressed up as zombies - a young man with his face painted like a skull on one side, is screaming into a woman's smartphone as she takes a picture of him

people dressed up as zombies - a woman with a black head scarf over the top of head and forehaed. She has long auborn hair and she's smoking a cigarette

people dressed up as zombies - a very green faced zombie biting on brains, there is a knife stuck in the plastic brains too

people dressed up as zombies - man with green hat and holding two large leaf like poles, standing in front of a leafy plant

people dressed up as zombies - a man hams it up for the camera as a zombie pretends to atrtack him from behind

constant evolution

Posted: August 26, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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It was busy in Graffiti Alley on Saturday afternoon.

Graffiti Alley - man on ladder spray painting a street art piece, other people in the alley, some taking pictures of each other, some in a group

Graffiti Alley - man on ladder spray painting a street art piece

…. the finished wall

Graffiti Alley -

below: This cat is new.  It replaces a painting of a woman’s face

Graffiti Alley - in a corner, a grey tones painting of a cat's head, blue recycling bins in front of it and partially obscuring one corner.
below: Another woman’s face is different but instead of being painted over, this one has been drawn on with black marker.   The little red and yellow guy is a recent addition too.

Graffiti Alley - people in the alley in the background. In the foreground is the painting of a woman's face by Insane that has been scribbled over in black marker.
below:  There are other drawings, probably by the same person that took a marker to the woman above.

Graffiti Alley - two black line drawings of faces that have been drawn on top of a pink and purple street art painting.
At Portland, a new larger than life raccoon.

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Plus other murals and street art that I saw this past weekend in the alley.  Some are more recent than others.

Graffiti Alley - uber5000 mural of a boating scene, yellow bird sterring a boat, black dog sitting on the bow, another yellow bird paddling a red canoe

Graffiti Alley - garge door painted in two shades of pink with the words Wanted Woman Gotham painted on the garage door as well

Graffiti Alley - part of a wall painted light blue with the word Yarka painted in purple and orange script

Graffiti Alley - on a light turquoise door, a stylized painting of a woman with yellow hair, red lips, blue dress, long black eye lashes

Graffiti Alley - a wall with a window on one side. Under the window is written the word Don in large pink and red letters. Beside the window is a painting of a man with a pointy top hat that covers his eyes, he has a big nose and a large white beard.

a woman sticks her head out of a window of a building in Graffiti Alley.

painting on a garage door - older man with orange jacket and orange bowler hat. Around the garage door are flowers on a blur background.

A garage door painted orange, then the word Yarka painted in blue letters

Mural of a large monkey sitting, holding a green book with his feet and smoking a pipe using one of his hands.

Chinatown Festival

Posted: August 25, 2015 in events
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A summer in Toronto is a summer of small festivals all over the city.  This past weekend, a part of Spadina was closed to traffic to make way for the Chinatown Festival.

looking north from Dundas, up Spadina. Part of the street is closed to traffic to make room for the Chinatown festival. Many people are waiting at the red light.

There were dragons,

Two women under a white Chinese dragon costume and they are walking beside a black dragon, They are following a girl who is holding a white flag with red Chinese characters on it

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food,

Fried squid on sticks being barbecued at a street festival

deep fried twisted potatos for sale at an outdoor festival

demonstrations and shows,

Four kids, two girls and two boys, practice kicking as part of a muay thai demonstration on an outdoor stage at a festival

Muay thai demonstration

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Two girls wearing shiny red dresses and gold and silver boots perform a dance on an outdoor stage. The audiencee is in the background

dancers from M. Dance school

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magician Stephen Cheung shows a deck of cards at an outdoor show

Stephen Cheung, magician

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A chinese woman sings on an outdoor stage at the Chinatown festival on Spadina Ave

Angel Cheng, singer

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as well as vendors and booths

members of the Toronto Chinese Baptist church making music, singers, accordian, and guitar player

music by members of the Toronto Chinese Baptist Church

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A girl tends a table full of cold drinks that are for sale, on the sidewalk

A young Asian boy sits on his father's shoulders

saluting the sun

Posted: August 23, 2015 in events, people
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4th annual Yogathon,
Rise for a Cause – 108 Sun Salutations

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group - looking toward the stage where the leaders are, arms stretched upwards, YOnge Dundas Square in Toronto

The event started with some warm-ups, some laughter yoga and some Bollywood style dance moves.

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group - a young man in a pink turban, as well as some other people, laughing as they warm up to the yogathon while doing some laughter yoga

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group, warming up to dance music, swinging arms

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group - women laughing as they warm up to the yogathon while doing some laughter yoga

Money raised through the yogathon here in Toronto (along with 45 other cities) helps to support Care for Children, a program dedicated to providing free education  to rural youth in India.

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group - most people are in a lunge position except for one woman who is standing with her arms raised

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group - a yoga instructor is helping another woman with her upward dog position

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group, a young woman with palms of hands pressed together, fingers spread apart

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group, in downward dog position

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group - downward dog time

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group, women in lunge position with arms down and fingers on the ground

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group, woman with ganesha tattoo on her calf

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group - a man stands with his hands around his ankles, knees straight.

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group, two women in downward dog position

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group - arms stretched to the side, standing, getting ready to practice yoga

men and women at a yogathon - doing yoga outside in a large group, young girl sitting on the ground and eating a cookie while her mother does yoga.

#riseforacause

almost around the block

Posted: August 22, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Walking around the block, sort of, near Ossington and Queen.

North from Queen Street, west side of the alley

graffiti and street art by elicser on a wall in an alley, on the side of a Wine Rack store

detail of mural by elicser of two faces, a woman and a man in profile

Little animals crawl along the bottom part of a wall in an alley. They are covered in polka dots, there are two turtles, a hippo, a dinosaur and part of a beaver

street art on a wall in an alley

mural on a wall around, above and below three windows, looking down the along alongside the mural towards Queen St. west

part of a mural on a wall, a couple cheek to cheek with the woman wearing a purple party hat, also a topless green woman

detail of part of a mural showing a snake head and a skull. the snake looks fierce and has his tongue out

East side of the alley

street art, car movement and lights

mural of a jogger and a car with bright headlights shining through the night

Turning, now behind Queen Street West

graffiti and street art on both side of a corner of a building at the intersection of two alleys
street art covered wall in an alley

close up of a door covered with bright yellow, red, and blue graffiti

sticker graffiti, hot dog with line of mustard on it on a blue and yellow door

part of a street art painting on a wall with two windows, two large male faces, one in grey and pink and one in a brownish yellow

close up of a street art painting showing a large hand in front of a blue and red sweater

street art around two windows on a wall, pink on the top, green and brown on the bottom, with two faces, one realistic woman's face and one stylized face with eyes closed

A small corner in an alley that is behind metal bars, has graffiti on the wall. Beyond that is a wall cover with street art.

lovebot playing card wheatpaste high on a wall in an alley

pink swirls and a light purple skull in a street art painting

Where the alley meets Brookfield Street

A wall in a parking lot is covered with a mural with large S A and K letters,

A double garage door is covered with a painting in black andd white of geometric shapes, converging lines, with two faces as well.

two wheatpaste graffiti pieces, one yipyaps and one man's head. The word irony is written as well. They are on a worn black painted wood surface

On Brookfield Street at Queen Street West

street art by amek in pink white on blue background, sidewalk and bicycles in front of it.

below: The red line marks the alleys in which the above photos were taken.

map of Queen West at Ossington showing the northwest quadrant

cars on the Danforth

Posted: August 19, 2015 in events
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6th Annual Wheels on the Danforth
presented by The Crossroads of the Danforth BIA

picture taken at a car show - a boy is standing in front of a yellow car with its front hood open. It is a Pontiac Beaumont SD

As part of the event, Danforth Avenue was closed west of Warden Ave to Byng Ave for a car show. There were nine classes for the cars including Vintage cars (pre-1949) and Classic cars (1949-1979).

above: 1967 Pontiac Beaumont SD

below: 1930 Model A Ford

picture taken at a car show - front of an old green car (1930 Model A Ford), showing two round head lamps and a large metal radiator grille

picture taken at a car show - two black cars with their front hoods up showing the paintings that have been done under the hood

reflection of a blue vintage car in the hubcap of an old car, taken at a car show

picture taken at a car show - Yellow 1969 Camaro car with two black stripes down the front hood.

picture taken at a car show - detail of front of a 1951 Pontiac showing the badge with the Indian headin profile

picture taken at a car show - a Man walking his bike stops to look at two white cars from the 1970's that are on display. One of them has its front hood open. One of the cars is a Ford Mustang

picture taken at a car show - a line of cars on display with their front hoods up

picture taken at a car show - detail of the hood badge of a red car, two crossed flags, one red and one checkered

picture taken at a car show - detail of the hood ornament on a light blue 1951 Pontiac

picture taken at a car show - An old British, original mini, white, is parked in a line of other other cars at a car show.

model car, blue Mini with roof painted as a Union Jack, on the back dash of an original British mini, photo taken from outside the car.

picture taken at a car show - the metal side ornament that says Pontiac in script that is on a light blue car

picture taken at a car show - the backside of a small round rearview mirror on a light blue car

picture taken at a car show - the front corner of a red sports car showing wheel and front head lamps

picture taken at a car show - two men are talking together and looking under the hood of a black Trans Am

photo taken at a car show - hood ornament on a blue ford that is the shape of a bird with it's wings partially down, in the background is on old red truck.

part of the hood of a green and white car with the number 427 on it

V8 hood ornament made to look like an arrow on the hood of a car that has been painted yellow and orange

playing in the streets

Posted: August 16, 2015 in events
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Open Streets,
Yonge and Bloor Streets,
Sunday 16th August 2015

 

looking south on Yonge St. from Bloor street on a morning when no cars allowed. There are people walking on the street. There are also two kids with pink balloons.

Two men wearing red T shirts are riding their bikes on Yonge street, passing a woman who is using chalk to draw a floor on the street

A young boy is playing with a hula hoop in front of a sign that says Give It a Try

below: Slow bike race

A man is riding his bike as slowly as possible and still stay within a narrow path as part of a slow bike race. Other people are standing beside their bikes and watching him

A man is skateboarding on the street

A group of adults and kids are doing the limbo with a long rope on the street on a day when the road is closed to traffic.

A couple is pushing a stroller up Yonge St. past some of the stores. No cars on the street

A few people walk on the streets, two bikes also, the bikes have pink balloons attached to them, they are on Yonge Street, just south of Bloor in front of the construction on the west side of Yonge, the lower storey of old brick stores is boarded up, the upper storeys are still visible

A young man is standing in a doorway beside a hair and nails shop on Yonge Street.

Two women are jogging, and other people are walking, on Yonge street on a Sunday morning at Open Streets Toronto so there is no traffic.

#OpenStreetsTO

41 Esplanadians

Posted: August 15, 2015 in events, people, public art
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FORTY ONE the Esplanadian Connection,
an exhibit inspired by the book ‘FORTY ONE Neighbours’

The book was published earlier this year and there was a book launch at St. Lawrence Hall back in April.  The book is a collection of 41 portraits, one person from each country participating in the Pan Am and Parapan Games.  Each portrait is also of a person with a connection to the Esplanade community. Fifty three students/authors from The Esplanade neighbourhood wrote the stories.

A poster on a lamp pole, a picture of a woman and two boys playing with a ball (pretending to fight over it)

For the exhibit, the portraits were re-enacted by local residents.

A picture of a girl with a dog on a bench is posted on a lamp post as part of an exhibit for the Pan Am games, a bench in the park is in the background

Each portrait consists of three sides.  Two sides have photographs on them – one side with a Esplanadian person or family and the other side with a PanAmerican resident.

An exhibit on a street in Toronto that consists of a three sided sign wrapped around a streetlight pole. Two sides can be seen in this photo. One side is a picture of a woman sitting in an otherwise empty auditorium with red seats. the other side has the word calmness in English and then the translation of that in 4 other languages, French, SPanish, Dutch and Portugese
The third side has one word written in five languages.
From top to bottom – Dutch, French, English, Spanish and Portuguese.

The word performance on a green and blue sign. It is also written in 4 other languages, Dutch, Spanish, French and Portugese

The words were chosen from the stories in the book, one symbolic word from each portrait.

sign on a lamp post that says hope in 5 languages with a basketball court and murals in the background. On the Esplanade in Toronto

The signs are mounted on lamp posts along the Esplanade.

poster on a lamp post with the picture of a mother and her son. Park is in the background. Part of an exhibit in association with the Pan Am Games.

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