Alan in nice lighting

Alan Joson bathed in warm light

I met up with Alan today. While walking to the coffee shop I noticed the sun was at such an angle that it gave everything a warm glow. Since we were talking about photography anyway, not that I needed that as a reason, I took out my camera and took a photo of Alan near the Ontario College of Art and Design.


Dundas street


Cup of hot chocolate

Jim Butterfield

Jim Butterfield sits at a help desk at the Toronto Computes computer show Feb 7, 2003

I was talking to Rick Dolishny of TAZA (Toronto Animation/Amiga Zeotrope Association) on facebook today. We were reminiscing about the old computer days. The conversation was based on his profile photo being of him with a cake that resembled an old PET computer. Eventually the conversation brought up Jim Butterfield a name synonymous with the Commodore 64 and PET computers. Rick did a search on him.

I'm sad to say we found out Jim had died of cancer on June 29th of this year. The last time I saw him was four years ago at a computer convention (see photo above). Kind of like a comfortable fixture, Jim was sitting there in the usual spot at the help desk, assisting people with computer related questions and problems. I'm kicking myself now for not having the courage to go up to him to thank him for all the help and inspiration he gave to me, my computer life and career.

Way back when I was just starting to learn to program the PET computer I had a friend, Carl Reid. He was about the same age as me but was a programming genius. Where as most people were trying to wrap their heads around the BASIC programming language (The Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, gawd I'm old) at the time, Carl was programming in 6502 machine code.

One weekend while over at Carl's house hacking around on the computer Carl got stumped . He was programming a word processor for "kids" (kids that were younger than us). He decided to phone Jim to ask for help. It was 3am in the morning! Not only did Jim pick up but he answered Carl's questions. From that point on I always had an admiration for the fellow late night programmer.

Another weird instance of geekdom was when Carl and I had figured out how to attach a joystick to the back of the PET computer splicing the joystick's wire and using alligator clips. It was a pretty new thing in those days. Then we thought there wouldn't be any games since the joystick on a PET was pretty unheard of. To our surprise, some StarFighter game (I can't remember the actual name) written by Jim Butterfield worked with the joystick. It was uncanny. How did he even have code that knew about this device? It was hooked on by alligator clips!

As the PET and Toronto Pet Users Group (TPUG) heydays started to fizzle out so did our contact with Jim. I'd see him every now and then at an Amiga convention and then at the odd Toronto Computes show at the help desk and then not at all. I always wondered what happened to him.

Thanks Jim for all your help, rest in peace.

The wall of KISS

The wall of KISS

I took this high resolution shot of the KISS wall at Monster Records. The photo you see here is a scaled down version of the much larger version (5769x3572 pixels) taken by shooting a bunch of photos in a row then stitching them together. I did this so you could zoom in and get more detail should the viewer be interested or on the off chance that I decide to try printing this large. It was really a test to see how well this technique works.

Barrie Bound

Michelle on the waterfront walkway.

Went to Barrie today with Michelle. No real reason to go other than to travel in a car and go somewhere for the sake of going SOME where. It was cold and walking around didn't really do anything for Michelle. We ended up going to a local candy store, bought some chocolate followed up by a grocery store to look for my orange chocolate chip tea.


The Simcoe Hotel


The Roxx


Barrie Transit


Barrie traffic


The Steakhouse


Pharaoh's Pita


Fratellis' hot dog stand

Amanda's Birthday Party

Amanda the birthday girl.

I was invited to crash a birthday party for a girl I didn't know. I did know Trevor and Allison from the Roller Derby and these were the people whose apartment housed the party. At first it was a bit awkward. As soon as I stepped into the living room the occupants just stopped what they were doing and seemed to all stare in my general direction thinking "Who is this guy and why is he taking photos?".

It was like one of those moments in a movie. People stopping while doing various activities, drinking, smoking, listening to music, having a conversation. If it were a western I swear I could see a tumbleweed drift by. The silence was broken by Melanie saying "He's the roller derby photographer. He's good.". Then almost as if someone switched off the pause button everyone went back to what they were doing.


The kitchen


Allison and Marybeth


Melanie laughs at the 70s door phone.


The kitchen with more people.


The Living Room


Carla and the sparkler. Don't try this at home kids.


Maya's sparkler is fading out.


The broken cigarette


The beer hose used by Amanda to chug a king can in under three seconds!


Allison behind a wall of empty beer cans


Guitar Hero


Carla demonstrates the art of the beer hose

Possibly one of the funniest things I've seen in quite a while, Carla demonstrates how to apply and use the funnel and beer hose. Look at the concentration. She's very clinical (if that's such a word). It would make for a great section in a coffee table book one day.


First while holding the hose in U shape fill hose with beer.


Second attach one end of the hose to the beer connoisseur's mouth making sure the U shape is intact.


Finally, raise end of hose not attached to month into the air as fast as possible.

Meanwhile in Trevor's room I got to witness a pile on. It's where a group of people pile on top of one another for no real apparent reason other than the fact they are drunk out of their minds. It makes for some good comedy.


"That's Trevor's foot."


"It doesn't matter because I'm smashed."


Safe sex?


Dave poses with guitar.


Post party ashtray


Dave, the sacred vessel of life.

Photo Showcase at Brownies

Amanda and Mel

It seems like I'm spending a lot of time going back and forth to Hamilton these days. I was invited to see Melanie's photo work at a restaurant called Brownies. It also allowed me to meet up with Marybeth to settle the van bill from the Jersey trip.

Melanie Gillis, Photographer. Specializes in portrait photography in the studio, at least what I could tell from her exhibit, and does a pretty good job of it. Tastefully photographed nudes with nice contrast and grey scale range in her black and white photography. Nice composition, nice posing, nice lighting. These were the things that went through my mind while scrutinizing her images.

It also made me think that I miss doing studio work and I should make more of an effort to shoot more in the future. Maybe even invest in more lighting. Ah, the truth comes out. Buying camera equipment is always fun. Anything for that matter. Especially if you can justify using it for work as well as fun.


Top floor of Brownies


Marybeth!


Suzy aka Peter Kris (from Kiss night)

One Year Cancer Free

Jane Luk, Cancer free for a year

About a year ago, Jane, one of my friends under went surgery for thyroid cancer. Today, about a year later, a bunch of her friends got together to celebrate Jane being cancer free. Take that cancer!


The cake ("It's a thyroid gland not boobs")


Jane Luk one year cancer free


My Nachos


Naomi and Dave see what's on the camera.


Stealing photo poses.


Marsha Mason and Dave Sparrow


Picture of me taken by Dave Sparrow


What's Darryl up to?

Flesh and Fantasy

Melanie's Studio

Hamilton. I was invited to attend the Flesh and Fantasy fashion show. Melanie and some of the girls from the derby travel team were going and thought I might have fun taking photos of it. The evening started at Melanie's studio. This was the meeting place before the party where people could get dressed up. It was Halloween after all.


Melanie, Suzy, Lorraine and Kellie as Kiss

While the girls were getting their make up on I took a few photos using the tripod. I wanted to make a large panoramic photo by stitching a bunch of the smaller photos together. At one point I had to ask Karolina (the girl dressed as Zorro) to freeze while I told the sequential photos. The picture in the end turned out alright.

Once the make up was complete we took a bunch of photos. Melanie allowed me to use her flash set up. I love her lighting gear. It's an old speedotron. The recycle time is incredibly fast. At least it seemed much faster than my Visatec flash back at home.

We eventually made our way via cab to where the fashion show was taking place, the West side Theatre (434 King Street west). A typical theatre room with the theatre chairs missing and as a replacement folding chairs assembled on looking a short runway stage. I was a bit put off by the lighting. Again it probably has something to do with shooting in London where all the lighting is consistent. The lighting here was mixed and just a bit better than Toronto's L'oreal fashion week. One has to keep in mind that it's a much smaller production than that of a Fashion Week.

There were four parts to the show.
Avenue B: The Cat's Meow by Buckshot Bebee
Tallulah's Revenge!! by Kerry Wade
a musical interlude by the Orphans
Stiletto Boys by Buckshot Bebee and Kerry Wade


The Cat's Meow


Mickey Desadist with Kiss



Tullulah's Revenge


Morgan aka B.J. Hooker from the Hamilton Harlots


Part three: Stiletto Boys





Mickey Desadist with Lasha Lorraina


Fashion designers Kerry Wade and Buckshot Bebee