Posts Tagged ‘posing’

South Asian Festival

Posted: July 24, 2017 in events, people
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Toronto in the summer means street festivals every weekend.   One of the festivals this past weekend was the 15th annual South Asian Festival in ‘Little India’.   Gerrard Street East was closed to traffic between Greenwood and Coxwell for the occasion.

below: Shopping, strolling and playing games.  Try your skill at cricket or buy some jewellery or some clothing.

street scene at South Asian festival. a man hits a ball with a cricket bat, two women in head scarves are talking, men behind a table are selling jewellery and clothes

a woman leans on the top of a rack of clothing for sale, sidewalk sale, as part of the South Asian Festival on the Gerrard Street.

three women are looking at a blouse (dress?), red and white pattern, on a hanger at an outdoor sidewalk sale, as part of a street festival. They are looking at the same piece of clothing

mother and daughter look at bangles, jewellery, for sale outside, at street festival. Both are wearing sunglasses

an older man sits behind a small table covered with a white cloth. on the table are toys that he is selling. he is holding an orange Nemo shaped bubble maker plastic toy. behind him, a man is standing smoking a cigarette

Like all street festivals, there was lots of food and drink available.

below: Extracting sugar cane juice.

a man shreds sugar cane in a machine to extract the sugar cane juice which he is then selling, outside, street festival, Little India

below: Fresh baked naan, straight from the oven.

a man removes freshly baked naan from a tandoori oven

There were many photo ops provided.  For instance, there were cut outs for faces in pictures of Bollywood actors.

at a street festival, two people are putting their heads through cut outs while others take their picture, cut outs are on faces of Bollywood actors and actresses.

… and a richly decorated cart (What is it’s proper name?)

an older couple pose for a picture while they are sitting in a decorated cart, purple velvet, and many colourful tassles

and mannequins in traditional costumes.

two young boyus pose with a manniquin dressed in traditional Indian (South Asian) costume

below: There was also entertainment.   In this case, a rapper in Hindi and English.

a man with a black shirt with the word security on the back watches a performance of a rap artist who is on a stage with many people watching him

one woman adjusts the floral headband on another woman, both are dressed in traditional South Asian clothing

young kids lean over a yellow barricade as they watch a performance a girl is giving a thumbs up sign

a woman is airbrushing black paint onto a stencil on the upper part of a small girls arm, temporary tattoo

a woman with shiny bangles, bracelets, on her wrist puts her hand on her boyfriend's lower back

… and there was even a large elephant parked beside Victoria Whole Foods!  It looks a bit tacky with the big advertising  banner on its side but it was still a popular place to take selfies.

a couple, man and woman, each with a dog on a leash, is taking a selfie in front of a large elephant sculpture

road losed sign and yellow metal barricades, street festival going on behind the sign & barricade. Also racks of sarees for sale and in the distance, a large fake elephant

nuit rose

Posted: June 28, 2016 in events, people
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Nuit Rose,
a festival of queer art and performance

On Saturday night events were held at a number of venues that were concentrated in two locations, along Queen St. West and in the Church-Wellesley village area.  I hung out around two parks in the village, Norman Jewison Park which runs east of Yonge and Barbara Hall Park on Church street.  In hindsight, I wish I had had more time, or had been more organized, to get to more of the events.

Red Pepper Spectacle Arts led a Light Parade that started at Norman Jewison park.    A small contingent, most wearing or carrying a light-emitting object, walked through the park, along and then back down Church Street.  From the  – sparklers, glow sticks

people walking in a night time parade for nuit rose, down Church St., one man is holding up a light stick, a woman is holding a sparkler, other people have lanterns and glow sticks.

to the more elaborate

Two guys in drag with lights all over their costume, holding large fans

a man holding a large pole with a bird head on the top of it, with rainbow coloured fabric, meant to be the bird's wings.

below: and an eagle on stilts

A woman in a flowing costume with eagle head, up on stilts, in a night time parade for nuit rose

below: Note to self: for night time parades take more photos at the start of the parade because once people start moving it’s more difficult to get them in focus!

people walking in a parade, glow sticks, some costumes, a woman with pink butterfly wings

a paper lantern in the shape of a floating flower, out of focus

below: Where else would you be able to sit on a unicorn and get your picture taken?

two people sitting on unicorns to have their picture taken with a person in a red wig hamming it up in front of them, nuit rose, night time.

A young man is sitting on a pink unicorn

below: And after a unicorn pose, have your photo taken standing with a well-lit couple.

a man with lights in his shirt poses beside two statues that light up

below: 360 degrees by Iain Downie, 360 stars, 60 in each of the six Pride colours in the garden.

under a tree in a park, with roses in the background, many coloured 3D stick shapes that have been covered with yarn, lie on the ground.

a group of people stand around a stage watching a dance performance

below: Dance performance, ‘By Chance’ by Janessa Pudwell and Tanya Svazas Cronin.

We pass by hundreds of people on a daily basis who we may never see again. Sometimes we share a glance that lasts a bit longer. This piece is about the relationships that could be created if we acted on those glances. These are the fleeting chances, exchanged through our eyes that will never be fully realized. Instead these people may only appear once in our lives as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.”

two women performing a dance on a stage., one is seated and the other is standing, some people are sitting beside the stage and watching the show.

Dancers performing in front of a video playing on a screen, night time performance, some of the dancers are partly blurry

blog_dancers_line

blog_dancers_line_close_up

dancers performing in front a screen that's showing a video, night time, nuit rose performance

a hand holding a camera, two dancers out of focus in the background.

#nuitrose | #nuitroseTO | #nuitrosetoronto

playing in bubbles

Posted: October 8, 2015 in events, people
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

Totally unexpected… walked past Yonge Dundas Square this afternoon and happened upon Shopper’s Drug Mart’s 15th birthday party for their Optimum program.   There was a DJ, music playing, and a couple of people dancing.  There were acrobats but I just missed their performance.  The main attraction was a large clear plastic bubble filled with many bits of coloured paper the people were lining up for…. a life sized confetti globe.

blog_optimum_bubble_balloon
Once inside, people were posing for photographs.

Two women stand inside a large clear plastic bubble with many bits of coloured paper. They are posing for a photograph.

Pictures were printed on the spot for those who wanted them.

A man stands inside a large clear plastic bubble with many bits of coloured paper. He is posing for a photograph. In the foreground is part of the back of the photographer, his camera, and the laptop showing the photo.

It was also part of a contest for gift cards and vacations.

A woman stands inside a large clear plastic bubble with many bits of coloured paper. She is posing for a photograph.

A boy stands inside a large clear plastic bubble with many bits of coloured paper. He is batting at the papers and smiling.

I didn’t go in the bubble but I did score a loot bag by showing my Optimum card.
I now have some candy and a small bottle of brown nail polish.

blog_optimum_loot_bags

#15daysofhappy

we take selfies

Posted: September 1, 2015 in people
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

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

blog_selfie_kultura

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.

blog_selfie_yogathon_thru_legs

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?

Toronto selfies and other poses

Posted: July 28, 2015 in locations, people
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Overheard at Nathan Phillips Square on Saturday:
“There must be 10,000 photographs being taken here as we speak”.
I suspect that he was right!

A view of the 3D Toronto sign from the southeast corner of Nathan Phillips Square showing the lights on the arches above the water as well as the Panamania pink and yellow covering on the lights and sound system for the stage.

I think that there is something intriguing about what people will do when there is a camera in front of them, how some people are comfortable while others are not.    The photos that I took by the 3D Toronto sign at Nathan Phillips square on Saturday were of people taking selfies or posing for pictures.  None of them were posing for me, but for their friends or families.

A young couple sits in one of the O's in Toronto while another person takes their picture with a smartphone.

There is also something intriguing about how people behave when they have a camera in their hand.

A toddler sits on her father's shoulders. He is holding onto one of her arms. She is looking at a pink smartphone being held up by a selfie stick almost to her level.

A young blonde woman is posing inside the O of the Toronto sign.

A couple takes a selfie beside water. He has long hair, a beard and is wearing sunglasses.

Two Asian women sit on a concrete wall beside water. They are probably mother and daughter. They are posing for a photograph.

A middle aged man and woman are looking at a selfie that they have just taken on a cellphone.

Three sets of photos taken beside water. Two boys are sitting crossed legged right at the edge. A young woman is posing with her hands in the air and her fingers in peace sign. A south Asian couple are looking at a picture that they have taken on a smartphone.

A family of four, mother, father and two sons, are taking a selfie.

Many people are standing in front of the 3D Toronto sign at Nathan Phillips square. There are also many people standing around the pool.

A young woman with long black hair and an Aeropostale T-Shirt stands beside the water with her arms raised to shoulder level.
three South Asian women are standing beside the Toronto sign. A few other people are in the picture because they are sitting on the base of the sign.

A young man has climbed up the side of the N in the Toronto sign as is sitting on top of it.

A couple poses beside the water in Nathan Phillips Square.

A group of Pan Am games volunteers in their orange T shirts pose in front of the 3D Toronto sign.

A young woman gestures towards the Toronto sign (which is not in the photograph).

A woman with long brown hair and wearing a red T shirt poses beside the water. The 3D Toronto sign is in the background on the other side of the pool.

Two women check a picture on a smartphone. They have just taken a selfie.

Six people, a man and five women, are talking a selfie with a phone on a selfie stick. Two of the women have small Canadian flags. Another woman has her arm up in the air.

#share3DTO  #hostcity2015

our latest photo op

Posted: July 13, 2015 in locations, public art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

A newly installed large 3D sign in Nathan Phillips Square is Toronto’s latest tourist attraction and local photo op.  It is scheduled to remain in the square until the end of 2015 at which point it will be moved to another public location.

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square -

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - a couple sits in the O posing for a picture while a young boy crawls between the O and the R

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - from the back, Toronto is spelled in reverse but there are still people taking their picture by it

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - a couple stands in front of it, a man with a camera walks past it

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - kids standing in between the letters as well as in the round part of the O

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - a man stands in the water in front of the word Toronto

large three dimensional block capital letters that spell Toronto installed alongside the pool fountain in Nathan Phillips Square - a woman stands with her back to the camera and takes a picture

#share3DTO  #hostcity2015

Icefest

Posted: February 23, 2015 in events, locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Bloor Yorkville Icefest, Frozen in Time
Cumberland Ave., February 21 & 22

 Ice sculpture beside a sidewalk. The top part has the words Bloor Yorkville icefest and the bottom part has the words Frozen in time, icefest 15. The middle section looks like a large face made of Egyptian motifs.

The 10th annual Icefest featured the carving of blocks of ice into Ancient Egypt themed sculptures.

Four ice sculptures with Ancient Egyptian themes - King Tut, and a pyramid amongst them. Also a wall of hieroglypics with two guards beside it.

Both Saturday and Sunday were snowy days but the weather didn’t deter the crowds, or their picture taking.  I’m sure that there are thousands of photographs of the sculptures!
Here are a few of mine.

A man in a white parka is standing beside a sculpture with his elbow resting on it. A woman in white coat and hat is taking his picture.

A woman is facing a sculpture of a dinosaur. Both of them have their mouths wide open.

A boy is standing beside a sculpture

A mother with two little kids is posing with an ice sculpture.

A little girl in a pink snow suit it peaking throw a whole in an ice sculpture

A father is taking a photograph of his son beside an ice sculpture

A group of four people are standing around an ice sculpture. They all have puzzled looks on their faces as though they can't figure out what the sculpture is supposed to be.

An ice sculpture of a bear with it's front paws raised, looms over the interesection of Yonge and Bloor.

This bear loomed over the NE corner of Yonge and Bloor.

Most of the sculptures along Cumberland Ave (west of Bellair) are still there and will remain as long as the temperatures remain low and no one vandalizes them.