photos | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘photos’

always in the way

Posted: September 2, 2014 in general Toronto
Tags: church, city, CN Tower, downtown, graffiti, Music Garden, photos, sculpture, skyline, skyscrapers, Toronto

If you can’t beat them, join them.

No matter where I went this summer, I seemed to always find the CN Tower lurking in the background.
It photobombs a lot of pictures! 🙂

A bright red tugboat is tied up in the foreground. Many glass windows of many condos are in the photo. The top of the CN tower is peaking up over the top of the condos on Toronto's waterfront.

The M.R. Kane, a bright red tugboat sits tied up at the waterfront near the foot of Spadina Ave. The CN Tower stands tall above the condos the line Queens Quay West.

An SUV and a red truck are parked in a parking lot. On the left side of the picture are two walls that are covered with graffiti. The CN Tower is above one of those walls.

behind graffiti walls in a parking lot on College Street

Black eyed Susan flowers in the foreground, some taller buildings including the CN tower in the background. There is also a tall thin sculpture (decorated pole?) in the picture

Trying to hide behind the sculpture in the Music Garden, waterfront

The pink wall of faces is a fountain and it is on the left side of the photo. People at the ex and the CN Tower are also in the photo.

…. and at the Ex too!

The CN Tower and the Toronto skyline as seen from the east part of downtown Toronto.

Where Eastern Ave. joins Richmond Street East before they cross the Don River.

Part of a bright red metal sculpture is in the foreground. The CN tower is in the background (the top part of it anyhow)

Lurking under sculptures….

Part of the stone church, St. Andrews Presbyterian, dominates the photo. Part of a tree, the edge of a skyscraper and the CN Tower are on the right side of the photo.

Peeking out from behind St. Andrews Presbyterian Church on King St. at Simcoe.

buskerfest 2014

Posted: August 26, 2014 in events, people
Tags: #samsungsbbf, Ariel, art, balloons, buskers, chalk, chalk chick, clowns, crowds, dogs, DyneMike, entertainment, epilepsy toronto, great dane, littlest mermaid, music, ninja turtles, people, performances, photos, ponies, screech, Screeched Inn, shows, sidewalk, silver Elvis, smiles, stilts, street performers, toast, Toronto, touch2catch, Yonge St.

Buskerfest 2014

Yonge Street was closed from College to Queen for the event.

Yonge St. at Dundas, barrier across Yonge St. as it is pedestrians only. Lots of signs, lots of people,

Yonge Street on the Saturday afternoon of Buskerfest, looking north from Dundas Street

A man dressed in green is on stilts as he walks up Yonge St.

Hovering above the crowd.

There were street performers……

A group of four people are on stilts but dressed in very long pants. Two are playing a drum and two are playing shaking instruments. They are walking down Yonge St. People are on the sidewalks watching them. Street performance as part of buskerfest.

towering over the audience as they walk down Yonge Street

A performer is on a very tall unicycle. He is juggling lit torches as he slowly goes around in a tight circle.

DyneMike, playing with fire on high

A street performer is using a diabolo to entertain a crowd of people who are sitting and standing on the sidewalk around him.

This guy, part of Touch2Catch, was amazing to watch. Great diabolo action!

A performer has been launched into the air. He is holding a large ring that is on fire. He is turning himself through the ring while in the air.

more Touch2Catch – jumping through a ring of fire

One of the street performers from the group Touch2Catch is doing a side flip over a man who is on all fours on the street.

side flip over Dimitri

A picture of buskerfest is displayed on an electronic billboard.

Samsung was putting tweets and instagram postings with their buskerfest hashtag on the electronic billboard above Yonge & Dundas. At one point I looked up and saw this one. A great photo! She captured an unobscured view of the exact moment the performer from Touch2Catch did a side flip over five people.

A woman has taken the silver guitar from Silver Elvis and is pretending to play it while hamming it up for the small group of people that are watching.

sharing the limelight with Silver Elvis …. or taking over? All in good fun!

A woman is having her picture taken with a performer who is dressed in a white dress made of balloons. She has balloon wings and white feathers in her hair.

Photo op with an angel in white balloons. Balloon dresses are available from The Twisted Ones

A street performer is twisting the upper part of his body in order to fit it through a tennis racquet.

What one does in the name of entertainment – putting one’s shoulders through a tennis racquet…. don’t try it at home kids.

….. music

A toast to the cod, screeching in at Dundas Square. The Screeched Inn performed on the stage at Yonge-Dundas Square, their “kitchen party”.

All money raised by performers on the stage at Yonge-Dundas Square went to Epilepsy Toronto.
In addition, Samsung donated $1 to Epilepsy Toronto for every tweet of buskerfest that included the hashtag #samsungsbbf

….. sidewalk artists

A woman is using chalk to make a large picture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the sidewalk

ninja turtles taking shape on the sidewalk (artist: the Chalk Chick)

A chalk drawing of Ariel, the little mermaid in the Disney movie on a sidewalk. A man's legs are also in the photo.

Ariel, Disney’s little mermaid is on the sidewalk. Another drawing by the Chalk Chick.

… and curious kids, entertained kids

Some children are watching buskers perform by peeking through a gap in the red and white plastic banners that are the backdrop to the show.

vantage point

A dog, a Great Dane, is standing in front of two women dressed as clowns on pink and white ponies. The dog has barked at them and they are reacting by making faces and moving back

Some dogs don’t like clowns either. Great Danes have quite the bark!

A large electronic billboard high above Yonge St. A picture of one of my buskerfest tweets is being displayed.

a narcissistic moment

With thanks to the Second Cup on Mt. Pleasant where I hung out while putting this blog entry together.

from pork to park

Posted: August 9, 2014 in history, locations
Tags: bee, butterflies, construction, corktown, corktown commons, DOn River, Gooderham & Worts, green trees, hogs, hogtown, images, map, park, pavillion, photos, plants, pork, Toronto, urban, West Don Lands, William Davies Co..

Corktown Common

One of Toronto’s newest parks

In one corner of the park there is a plaque that commemorates the William Davies Company, once the owners of the land and buildings in this part of the city.

“From 1874 to 1927, this site was home to the William Davies Company, reputed to be the largest pork packing plant in the British Empire. Established in 1857 by William Davies (1831-1921), the company made its fortune preparing and exporting cured sides of pork to England. Later, its products were sold through William Davies Company shops, one of Canada’s first store chains. In its buildings here, the innovative company controlled the entire process from slaughter to shipment. Processing nearly 500,000 hogs annually by 1900, the company contributed to the city’s nickname “Hogtown”.
In 1892, Joseph Flavelle (1858-1939) became a partner and managing director of the company. Under Flavelle, the business flourished until the 1920’s when it was hurt by falling markets. The William Davies Company merged with three other packing firms to create Canada Packers, which continued to operate from this site until 1932. The last of the company’s buildings here were demolished in the 1990’s.”

An old coloured map of the area now called the West Don Lands. This illustration also appeared in a blogTO post about the William Davies Company. http://www.blogto.com/city/2013/10/how_toronto_got_the_nickname_hogtown/

An old illustrated map of the area now called the West Don Lands. The red letters are as follows:
A – Gooderham & Worts, now the Distillery District
B – William Davies Company, now Corktown Common
C – CNR tracks
D – the Don River
A version of this illustration also appeared in a blogTO post about the William Davies Company.

The last remains of the pork processing business disappeared long ago. After remaining vacant for a number of years, the site was developed into a park as part of the West Don Lands rebuilding.

small trees and other greenery , with a path and bench in the middle, in the foreground and the Toronto skyline is in the background.

The park is starting to look a lot greener as the plants and trees grow. This photo was taken from on top of one of the man made hills in the park. August 2014

A black, grey, white and orange butterfly on a pink flower

There are now lots of butterflies….

A bee and a butterfly on a tall upright light purple flower.

… and bees

A pavilion made of steel and wood sits atop a small hill in the middle of the play area. The pavilion was designed by by Maryann Thompson Architects of Boston The blue and green ovals are where there are fountains for warm weather water play.

a woman is sitting on a bench, looking at her phone. Behind her there are a number of buildings under construction

Looking west, and slightly north, from the pavilion towards the downtown area. West Don Lands redevelopment in the immediate background. Autumn 2013 (the building under construction is now almost complete – see above)

Part of a large red metal sculpture is in the foreground, looking past it you can see the pavillaion on top of a small hill that is part of Corktown Common park

Looking northeast through the wood and red metal sculpture, ‘No Shoes’, by Mark di Suvero. May 2014

Newly planted trees surroounded by grass.

The trees are starting to grow. They don’t look like much at the moment but give them time!

raspberries, not quite ripe, on a raspberry canes

There is even a large raspberry bush but by the looks of it, only the birds and insects have found it!

A map, screenshot from google maps, of West Don Lands and vicinity.

A map of the area today. The red X marks the spot of the new park.

When the park opened in 2013, urbantoronto.ca had an article about it. You can read about it here

Some wonderful aerial views of the area can be seen in another wordpress blog

******

facing outward from the wall

Posted: July 18, 2014 in graffiti and street art
Tags: alley, city, downtown, dude, face, faces, garage, graffiti, graffiti faces, head, lane, laneway, people, photos, spray paint, street art, tags, Toronto, urban

Graffiti faces seen in alleys and lanes recently.

A street art painting of a bust of a woman, all white, looks like white marble Greek or Roman statue, very classical looking

White bust on a wall near Bathurst subway station. She has been here for quite some time now; it’s good to see that no one has tagged over her

Large black & white & grey face of a famous black musician, probably jazz or blues but I'm not sure

musician – and my apologies because I am not sure who it is.

A small black & white & grey face made on paper, surrounded by green , yellow, blue & oranges squiggly lines

colourful face

A street art painting of a woman's face. Her eyes are closed and her head is tilted upwards

Closed eyes between the garages

Graffiti, or street art, on a blue background, of a little black and white animal with a spray paint can in his hand. Beside him is a tag in yellows and olive greens.

Love Spraying Dude, a colourful little guy

A few small trees are growing in front of an older building that has been painted white. Two brown figures have been stencilled onto the wall.

Hiding behind the trees

*****

slaps in the alley

Posted: July 14, 2014 in graffiti and street art
Tags: balaclava, bandana, brown brick, city, College St., dog, downtown, graffiti, licking, persevering, phinite, photos, purple, purple flower, rabbit, slaps, socks, stickers, street art, thanks, Toronto, urban, window, woman

In a small alley running behind the south side of College St., west of Bathurst, we discovered a large number of sticker graffiti pieces.

brown brick wall with a window that has been boarded over and painted the same brown colour. In the window, and on the window frame, are a large number of sticker graffiti pieces.

once it was a window, now it is a canvas of sorts

close up of some of the stickers that are in the window. One has words on it that asks if you have thanked yourself for persevering. Another is a red lizard with the words No Pipelines written on it, and another is a dog that is licking socks.

persevering thank you very much, while the dog licks the socks

A woman wearing a light purple cloth over the lower part of her face is holding a large white sign with the letter A inside a circle on it. Beside her is a large purple flower. Both are sticker.

partially obscured with purple and purple flower

An assortment of some of the stickers. These are the ones that were on the top part of the window. A person wearing a balaclava, a black haired girl with the lower part of her face covered in black, an outline drawing of a rabbit,

I did what I could with this photo as it was taken looking upward into the shadows of the window. Strange angle too – being much taller might have helped!

A black and white sticker on a yellow pole. The words on the sticker say Rad Brad. It is weird looking two legged creature.

Rad Brad hanging out on a yellow pole

******

summer in the city

Posted: July 7, 2014 in general Toronto, people
Tags: aquarium, baseball, bikes, downtown, Dundas Square, enjoying, fish, food, food trucks, Kensington, kids, people, photography, photos, Ryerson, street, streets, summer, sunny, Sweet Alibi, T-shirts, Toronto, Uncle Smokes, walking, warm, waterfront

Summer in the city – although the summer feels like it’s only just begun!

A cyclist and his bike are sitting at the edge of Lake Ontario, behind the chain fence. It is evening and the sky is strating to turn pink

Early evening rest at the waterfront

Two food trucks are parked on the street. People are buying food, or sitting on the conrete bench (low wall) that runs parallel to the sidewalk

Ice cream, slushies, hot dogs, chips, poutine…. food trucks on Queen Street in front of City Hall.

Two people are standing behind a table that is covered with a red and white checkered table cloth. The menu is written on a chalk board in front of them. The last item on the menu is love, and it's cost is free.

Uncle Smoke gives away free love! Pulled pork with beans, corn bread and veg will cost you $10 though! Pedestrian Sunday, Kensington Market.

A man is sitting beside a stroller in the foreground. Behind him is a pool of water and then a large glass building. On the wall of the building are black and white images of some famous people including Andy Warhol, JFK, and Albert Einstein

Under the watchful eye of a few famous people – Ryerson Image Centre building.

Some people are walking towards the camera as the cross a street including a couple who are holding hands. He is wearing an orange Tshirt that says Cool story babe, Now Make me a Sandwich.

“Cool Story Babe, Now make me a sandwich.” Any replies ladies?

A girl is standing very close to one of the tanks at the aquarium, she has her hands open and on the glass.

hands on at the aquarium

Dundas Square with many people sitting on chairs, under red umbrellas, watching a band play on stage

‘Sweet Alibi’ plays at Dundas Square

A large group of people, inlcuding many kids, are walking towards Rogers Stadium for a Blue Jays baseball game. Most of them are wearing blue Blue Jays shirts.

game day, Jays fans

******

Bulwer Street

Posted: June 10, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, bird, Bulwer, car windows, chain link, city, concrete walls, downtown, eyes, face, fish, graffiti, lane, photos, reflections, stickers, street art, tags, teeth, Toronto, urban, wall, weeds, yellow bird

Bulwer Street is a short street that runs parallel to, and one block north of, Queen Street West. It is only one block long, running east from Spadina Ave to Soho St.

graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., the angle of the photograph makes it look like there is a large chain link fence in front of the wall.

children behind the fence

graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., children including a larger than life sized boy wearing an orange T-shirt

children playing in the parking lot

white eyes

detail of graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., a large brown hand is holding miniature size city buildings in blues and purples

he’s got the whole city in his hands

rooftop reflections

reflections of a mural in the windows and side panels of a black car

mirrored in the glass

facing the alley

sticker of half of a man's face (cut vertically)

only half the man he used to be

picture of people in blues and reds beside a nondescript grey door at the back of a small parking lot (or driveway)

the back door

bright blue, pink and orange tag on lime green background

tag – suniti? BA Kings?

parts of three tags on a wall

A concrete wall with tags on the lower part. There are hydro wires in front of the top part of the wall, and they are casting shadows on the wall

wired tags on concrete

large paper stencil of the top part of a woman is still there although parts of it have worn away

worn away but clinging on

Uber 500’s little yellow bird shows up on this street too

little fish, big teethfish

graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., with the CN tower behind in the distance

one of the many, many, views of the CN tower

*****

stuck on behind Bathurst

Posted: June 9, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, bathurst st., black and white, brick wall, calzone, decolonize, dog, Dundas, eye, graffiti, lane, line drawings, mug shot, paper, phinite, photos, red eye, scribbled, stickers, strawberry, street art, tags, tongue, Toronto, window

There is an alley that runs behind Bathurst, on the west side. Most of these photos were taken in that alley. All of the photos are of sticker, or paper, graffiti that I saw when I walked that alley a week or so ago.

A window space in a brick wall that was covered over a long time ago. Now there are tags and stickers covering the space as well as graffiti on the walls around the space.

It used to be a window, now it is an ever changing canvas.

black and white line drawing that looks like something you'd create with spirograph

spirograph on the metal pole.

four stickers on a wall. One is a mask that looks either African or BC First Nations. One is a hairy dog like creature with a long tongue that is licking a red strawberry with legs. One has the word 'decolonize' on it along with a picture of a group of men. The last sticker is just the word 'phi-nite' with a symbol.

strawberry man gets licked by dog, a mask looks at you, decolonize and phi-nite, all in a small space

two stickers on a tag & scribble covered space. One sticker is a silhouette of a man on a skateboard. He has large wings coming out of his back. Ths other sticker is a greenish colour geometric design within a greyish white circle.

have wings, will skateboard

a purple and white sticker that has been defaced by the tag 'calzone'. Beside it is a sticker that says 'decolonize history' with a mug shot of a man.

calzone tag unfortunately scribbled on top.

five stickers on the back of a metal sign.

Billy and friends

black ink on brown paper graffiti of a woman's head & shoulders

brown girl on the wall

two stickers on a wall. One is the head of a blue cat. The other is a lacey looking circular design.

blue cat with lace

Someone has placed a red & white circular sticker over the iris of an eye that is part of a black and white eye graffiti picture

red eye

*****

down on the shadowy concrete

Posted: June 6, 2014 in locations, people
Tags: abstract, afternoon, city hall, concrete, diagonal, fountain, groups, lines, nathan phillips square, people, photos, shadows, sun, Toronto, walking, water

From a vantage point over Nathan Phillips Square, we looked down on the people as they passed by. It was late in the afternoon so the shadows were long. Although we were looking for interesting characters, we were also creating compositions with people, concrete lines, and shadows as elements.