The 2016 Polaris Music Prize Gala – S12E01

It’s become a tradition to start the new season in Toronto for the Polaris Music Prize Gala at The Carlu. Congratulations goes out to Kaytranada for winning the 2016 edition of the music prize for the album, 99.9%. It beat out the likes of 9 artists and bands from Black Mountain, Basia Bulat, Grimes, Carly Rae Jepsen, Jessy Lanza, Pup, Andy Shauf, U.S. Girls and White Lung.

At the gala, there were live performances from Black Mountain, Jessy Lanza, Basia Bulat, Andy Shauf, White Lung, Carly Rae Jepsen and U.S. Girls. All of the performances were. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra assisted in Bulat’s and Jepsen’s performances. The gala were hosted by Amanda Parris of The Exhibitionist on CBC and Tom Power, new host of CBC Radio q.

To my own delight, there were food served at the Gala. There were perogies, sliders and five spices pork.

Got to hand to Steve Jordan and the Polaris Music Prize staff for the great work as usual.

Don’t forget to check out the photos here.
Enjoy!

Friday at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival – S11E32

Friday night at the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival was crazy hot. I had to do a lot of running around because I decided to take some photos of The Beaches playing and then rush to my lion dance troupe for the opening ceremony. I definitely was in a sweaty mess.

I’ve been hearing good things about the Toronto female indie rock band, The Beaches. Their music is like glam rock meets new wave and just having a good time. It was a short time checking them out but they’re just wonderful. The band opened up Mia Rae and Mother Mother.

Onto the lion dance performance, it was different than the previous years because we were part of the parade of champions led by the RCAF Pipes and Drums. At least it was time efficient for us to start lion dancing right away than to wait for the speeches.

It was crazy and fun Friday night to be at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. The concert lineup is the best there is with Canadian content and it’s totally free.

The photos are below and there’s a lot to look at.

It Has To Be a YOW mini – S11E26

Tuesday night at Stoneface Dolly’s, there was an event called YOW mini. It was hosted by YOW City Style and Maria Saracino. This exhibit combined the fashionable people of Ottawa and mixed it with sculptures in a miniaturized form.

It’s the who’s who of Ottawa from bloggers, fashionistas, musicians and the local business people.

The sculptures were based on photos shot by the creator of YOW City Style. It’s also to celebrate the blog’s one year anniversary.

At the event, there were bite sized apps by Stoneface Dolly’s, some treats by Little Jo Berry and cocktail drinks by Renew Cold Press.

It was a privilege to meet with Katie of Yow City Style as she’s pretty active on social media with the postings.

Don’t forget to check out the photos from the event.

Some Expired Impossible Photos While in Toronto – S11E25

Returned from Toronto after a four day excursion. I had the chance to check out live music on Saturday and the Field Trip Music and Arts Festival on Sunday. The festival was held at Fort York and Garrison Common.

I didn’t take much photos as I didn’t bring the Sony a7 camera. I only used the iPhone and the Polaroid SX-70 camera. I’m currently using expired instant film from The Impossible Project. My initial worry from the expired film would be the image looking very washed out. It’s been good so far with the outcome. It was great to see a friend and former co-host, Lauren in Toronto as she’s doing her Masters at Ryerson.

In one of the photos, I was able to get one with Lennon and Maisy, the sisters who were on recently cancelled TV show, Nashville. They were suppose to perform at Field Trip but there was a severe storm which impacted the festival and had music fans evacuate the area. Fortunately, they didn’t disappoint fans with the meet and greet.

From Sunday’s Field Trip, I also got to see Basia Bulat perform and she did not disappoint. Hope she will be back in Ottawa for a concert.

I was staying in the Lakeshore area of Toronto and surprised how revitalized it has been with all the condos and lofts being situated.

You can check out the Impossible photos from below. There’s photos from Wes of Darcys to The Kents playing at The Horseshoe Tavern.

Ottawa’s Music Scene: Class of 2015 – S11E07

It was a chilly and windy Saturday afternoon in downtown Ottawa as I attended the Ottawa’s Music Scene // Class of 2015 group photo. There was a similar one which happened in Toronto not too long ago and why not have one for Ottawa as the music scene has been unique and creative.

There’s been a diverse genre spread throughout the music scene in the Nation’s Capital. It’s like a who’s who of the music scene and more like a six degrees of separation as the community is always interconnected.

At the photo shoot, there were bloggers, musicians and fans congregating for the group photo. As usual, it was great seeing G.Grand and Scary Bear Soundtrack. Danielle Allard, Malak and others who I might forgot their name as they were part of the fun photo shoot.

The photo above was shot on the Polaroid camera using The Impossible Project film and it didn’t turn out as great because of the cold temperatures.

You can check the photos over at Flickr by clicking HERE.

The 2015 Art Battle National Championship – [Summer Special]

July is full of events in Ottawa and in the last minute, I didn’t realize about the Art Battle National Championship. A good friend from Toronto mentioned on social media that she was in Ottawa to host the event. Luckily, I was able to make it to event and to The Westin Ottawa. The Art Battle National Championship was their final event of the sixth season and Ottawa played host to it.

The live painting competition pitted 16 winners from coast-to-coast, province to province and to become sole winner for the 2015 edition of Art Battle National Champion. Plus, the winner would get a spot for the International Live Painting Championships at the Pan Am Games in Toronto. There were 3 rounds and people voted for the artists to advance to the 3rd and final round. It was a load of fun as people walked around to see how the artists were painting within 20 minutes.
Oh yeah, for those wondering, the winner of the National Championship was Leanna Teneycke from Oakville, Ontario.

You can check out the photos over at Flickr by clicking HERE. You can check out the Impossible photos from below.

This is a Summer entry as I’m not posting often. Keep checking my feeds on social media.

Impossible Photos in Toronto (2015 Edition) – S10E31

For the third or technically second year, I have been bringing the Polaroid SX-70 camera to shoot some fun instant photos in Toronto. The first year was using a Fujifilm Instax.
Don’t worry, I was still shooting digital with the Sony a7 and the iPhone 6, there was a lot of juggling to do.

I know people will still call it Polaroids as I’ve been using The Impossible Project films to use it. It’s just fun to shoot analog photos and bringing a sense of originality. It’s more like a dying art but younger generations are using the Fujifilm Instax Mini. It’s the competitor to Impossible and is more stable with their instant photos.
I didn’t shoot Polaroids during live shows as I was not sure about using flash and possibly getting told by the security or the NXNE volunteers. It was better to use it to shoot with people outside of the shows.

During the CBC Radio 3 Unofficial Fan Picnic, I took a bunch or Polaroids and gave them away to people. There was no chance in scanning them to the Impossible iOS app. I was able to keep some that I took. On the first day, I gave away two round frames to friends and was able to scan it from the app.

Lastly, You can the photos from below. I’m making sure these are posted first to the blog and then onto various social media sites.
As the saying goes, film is not dead.

A Midsummer’s Fun Time – [Summer Special]

Here’s a bit of a update with a Summer special entry. In a way, it’s more of a midsummer update as Summer is halfway through and there’s been interesting events I was able to check out.
There were Canada Day (2014 edition), a trip to Stratford, Ontario, the Casino Lac Leamy Sound of Light Fireworks and Etsy Road Trip.

You check out the photos from below. There’s also some Impossible Project photos that were taken.
Enjoy!

Briefly Checking Out Chinatown Remixed 2014 – S09E37

After returning from Niagara Falls and Toronto, I rushed backed to Ottawa to check out Chinatown Remixed 2014. It’s located in Ottawa Chinatown on Somerset Street West. Chinatown Remixed is a month long event where artists promote their contemporary art to put at various businesses in Ottawa Chinatown. The event also provide live music and cultural performance to kick off the month long event.

For six years that Chinatown Remixed has been running, they got a major sponsor in the form of Porter Airlines and also promoting a contest as well. It’s great to see a small festival get good support from sponsors.
At Raw Sugar Cafe, there’s the #WeLoveOttCtown exhibit and one of my Instagram photos is on it.

I didn’t get a chance to check out all of the artists and there was some people I know who are participating. I was able to drop by one of the artists as I usually keep in touch on social media. It was Justyna Czujko aka Neon Lilith. She has unique photographs which she displayed at Chinatown Remixed.

Lastly, I finally got to take instant photos with her. The Impossible photos will be posted up later.
As usual, you can check the photos from my brief check out of Chinatown Remixed below.

Have a great Victoria Day weekend.

Wandering Around Ottawa Comiccon – S09E35

The second day of Ottawa Comiccon was crazy busy and very packed. I was in a hot sweaty mess having to wander around to see people in costumes and try to recognize people that I may know.

On Saturday’s agenda, I had the opportunity to check out a few Q&As (from Summer Glau and Sean Astin) and a panel on cosplay harassment.
The panel was hosted by Hollaback! Ottawa and it was to explore how people are being harassed in their costumes. Since conventions have become popular over time, there’s become a sense of negativity from online as people posts photos over on blogs and social media. Mentioned in the panel is that if you make a crappy costume, you still make an effort to be part of the fun. Cosplay have really stepped up the notch from fans being very creative and dedicated their time making their costumes.

It’s Hollaback! Ottawa’s first time being at the convention and I would give kudos to the group and the organizers of Ottawa Comiccon for stepping it up and bring awareness to the subject. Their slogan was Cosplay =/= Consent, meaning cosplays is not consent.
The reason for checking the panel was that I know a friend who was part of the discussion. Unfortunately, she was late due to car trouble. I was able to meet with her later. The photos from the group is posted below.

As usual, I took several photos of the cosplayers and there are a few I remember from last convention, Ottawa Pop Expo. At least I was able to get a few Sailor Moon related photos and there seems to be a lot of cosplayers who dressed up as Poison Ivy. I didn’t take any photos of cosplayers dressing up from the Doctor Who characters.

After attending Ottawa Comiccon for two days, I’m feeling pretty sore from all the walking and there was another event I went after Comiccon, that will be on the next entry.
You can view the photos below.

Thanks to Ottawa Comiccon for making a fun jam-packed event in its third year.
Note: I noticed some of the quality from the photos didn’t turn out great. Late night editing can get to you. I apologize for the mistakes I made. To the cosplayers I photographed, I have the non-watermarked version if you want it.