The Park 2

More from the park on some quieter nights.

The Park 1

Recently I have been spending some of my evenings in the park photographing the people who use it and the scenery that catches my eye. I live very near Park Jeanne Mance and Mont Royal Park, and I visit the park many times a day with my daughter. Even before having a kid my husband and I would spend a lot of time in the parks around our house. In the Mile End/Plateau neighbourhood few people have their own private patch of earth and so the parks become our backyards. That is where you meet friends, have a picnic and a drink, play games, have a party, go swimming, or read a book when your apartment is too hot. Montreal's parks are so well used it is amazing. On a nice night hundreds of people will be peacefully occupying a single park. It is really such a wonderful thing to see and so I wanted to try to capture some of this convivial spirit. The images above were taken on my first photographic foray into this potential project. It was one of the first nice Sundays of this season and so many people were in the park enjoying the weather and the tam-tam beats. I have been photographing in the park for a few weeks now and incredibly everyone that I have approached to photograph has said yes. I think that the Hasselblad helps but none the less I was amazed that in this internet age people were so willing to be photographed by a stranger, so thanks everyone. I'll be visiting the park again soon.

Chris and little I. at the cottage in March.

Self portrait (54.5 liters pumped in 3 and 3/4 months)

This image describes my fall. Too much time spent with that machine. But now life is much more back to normal. And I feel like it is time to look outside of myself and the small world that is my family. So tonight I went out and took some photos of strangers. It was good to exercise that muscle again and it is something that I am going to continue to do. Some of it will make its way onto this blog. But there will be some family photos too of course. 

"Little I. at 7 months"

I am excited to be part of the recently launched "Someone I Know" project. This brings together so many amazing photographers whose work I admire. Thanks for including me Stuart!

On Friday, to mark the beginning of black history month, and to pay homage to a Canadian legend, Canada Post released a stamp of Oliver Jones. The inset photo of Oliver at the piano was taken by me a few years ago.

I just started teaching photography again recently. I thought that I would be teaching part-time but I ended up taking on a full load, and that is why this poor blog has suffered again! Hopefully I will be able to manage my time better as the semester progresses.

My grandmother died this morning. She was 91, still living alone and independently, and she went quickly, as she would have wanted. I didn't see her as often as I would have liked, but I am so sad that she is not there anymore, waiting for me to visit her in Dublin. An important link has been broken. She was a tough nut, but I loved her. Bye Donie.

I recently finished reading "Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis" by Timothy Egan. It was a really great read about an amazingly adventurous and dedicated man; a man obsessed by his quest to photograph all native tribes in North America and complete his 20 volume book set "The North American Indian". Curtis' photographs were at times posed and always portrayed what Curtis considered to be the "authentic" native, both of which have made his work somewhat controversial in recent years. But what is not often know is how much time and effort Curtis also put into recording the native languages, songs, myths and other cultural elements that were fast fading from practice and memory. If you were able to catch the Curtis exhibit at the McCord Museum you may be interested in reading about the man behind the images.

Father and daughter in the kitchen.

Photos from a baby road trip from Montreal to Moncton. That was in August and I. was just 6 weeks old then. Our usual 10 hour drive took us two days instead of one!


Things to see and do in Montreal right now:

Jacynthe Carrier's "Parcours" at Occurence, till January 12th (her video is a must see, I could watch it for hours, and I don't usually say that about video work)

Chih-Chien Wang's "Aussi loin que nous soyons, aussi pres que je peux" at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, till March 17th (I haven't been yet but am excited to see it, I'm sure it's a great show)

And tomorrow (Friday) evening le Cabinet is hosting an artist talk and group critique with a few artists presenting their work, including my friend and great photographer Louis Perreault (if you don't know about le Cabinet it is a new resource for printing in Montreal and well worth checking out if you are about to print a big project)

Well after almost 10 months away I am back! And you can see what has kept me busy for the past 5 months. Little I. was born this summer and life hasn't been the same since. I will hopefully be back to blogging as normal, and not only baby photos I promise!

Chris at sunrise in the tent, just outside Key West, Florida.

Chris in Miami.

During our March trip to Florida, after camping along the Florida Keys and in the Everglades we spent one night in Miami staying with my sister and brother in law in their fancy hotel (Fontainebleu). We only spent the one night in Miami so I don't really know the place but to me this image captures what I imagine Miami is supposed to be.

Self portraits taken in Florida a few weeks ago. Yes I am expecting. Chris and I will become parents this summer!

More from relaxing times at the cottage.

Tomorrow I get a whole bunch of film back from our recent trip to Florida among other things. It's always an exciting time, waiting for the film. Inevitably I am disappointed on the first look through, but the second and third looks are better, and each batch of film pushes me to do better next time. Never satisfied: a good way to be?

With the weather the way it is right now I feel like the above scene is almost possible. But really it will take a few months till we get to this point. And of course that's the way it should be. But oh to have my morning coffee in a raft!

Our cat Pigeonz is not a fan of most people. In fact she strongly dislikes most people. But she is in love with Chris. Few people believe it or get to see their bond. Above is the proof!

Going to take a little March break hiatus from the blog. Back in business March 19th! In the meantime if in Montreal check out these photo shows:

Kotama Bouabane at The Parisian Laundry (his MFA thesis show) till March 17th

Taryn Simon at DHC Art till May 13th

Janieta Eyre at Samuel Lallouz till March 31st

Images from my Red Counter series are up on Feature Shoot, along with a short interview conducted by Kevin J. Miyazaki.

Three documentaries that I would like to see: Soth, Crewdson, and Parr.

Paint palette on the red counter.

Chris eating a sandwich.

Same path as here

Did this snake try to cross the road in winter or was it earlier in the year that it met its demise?

Chris reading.

After breakfast at the cottage.

I regret that I missed Miranda July's Montreal talk last year.

Yawning cat.

Chris in the summer. He's still biking these days. Not me, I'd rather walk.