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.

Chinese New Year 2016 – S11E16

Happy Chinese New Year, Kung Hei Fat Choy. It’s the year of the Monkey for 2016 and as usual, with the start of the new year, there’s always the lion dance performance.

This year, we had a performance at Shaw Centre on Monday morning. The event was for the Loblaw NKO 2016. The NKO standing for National Kick Off. As T&T Supermarket is owned by Loblaw Companies, it’s fitting with the lion dance to coincide with Chinese New Year. After the performance, I had the opportunity to try out some samples from vendors. Well known brands from Pepsi, Lays and Coca-Cola just to name a few. I tried out Ginger Pepsi and wow, it was pretty intense with the ginger taste.
You can check out the photos from below.

Another performance we did was at SurveyMonkey in downtown Ottawa. It’s fitting with the year of the Monkey and bring a nice surprise for the employees at the online survey company to celebrate the festivities.

Since it’s the first day of Chinese New Year, there will be several more lion dance performances for this week. Loads of fun and craziness.

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.

Ballads for Ballets – S11E06

It’s one of the rare times I would write about Canadian politics. Wednesday night at Babylon Nightclub was a free event of live music and getting people informed to vote for the upcoming Canadian election in a non-partisan way. The federal election is less than a couple of days away and so far, there has been a bigger turnout for advance polls during the Thanksgiving weekend and interest among the political parties vying for people’s vote.

The event, Ballads for Ballots was hosted by Ottawa Showbox in conjunction with Beau’s All Natural Brewing & Gallery Recording Studios as they brought the best in the Ottawa music scene. The three acts ranged from Folk to Hip-Hop to Pop. First to perform was Malak, who’s from the US and now based in Ottawa. Her music ranges from Jazz, Opera and Pop. Second was Ottawa’s own Jim Bryson and it’s pretty self-explanatory about him as I written so many times about his music. He did talk about politics and the place he’s living at. Last but not least was G.Grand as he’s become prominent in the Ottawa Hip-Hop scene. He made some accomplishments as he performed two times on different days at the 2015 edition of RBC Ottawa Bluesfest.

There were speeches by Jenn Jefferys (freelance writer) and Elizabeth Gray-Smith (iPolitics) as they told the crowd to get out and vote on October 19th and get their voice heard. As well, there were booths by Samara Canada and Elections Canada to show how to vote and practice come voting day.

It was good event and great to see people I know around as usual. Good job on Ottawa Showbox for holding the event as well as the sponsors that helped out to do raffle draw.
You can check the photos over at Flickr by clicking HERE.

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Sage Wellness Open House – S11E03

Sage Wellness had their open house on Thursday night over on Gladstone Ave in downtown Ottawa. For those that don’t know, Sage Wellness is a space where they specialize in massage therapy, acupuncture, and various health and holistic practices. The reason for going was that I know someone on social media and an opportunity to check out the place for itself.

I was curious to try an acupuncture, which you can see the photo from below and also on Instagram. At first, I wasn’t sure if there was a sting but I felt nothing. It was a relief to get it over with.

With the open house, there were paintings from local artists displayed and appetizers and goodies by Thyme and Again.
Overall, the open house was pretty good and I’m pretty interested in trying out the infrared sauna that they have.

You can check out the photos from below. There’s some Impossible B&W Photos as well.

A Few Goodies and Polaroids from the Polaris Gala – S11E02

The day after the 2015 Polaris Music Prize Gala had been buzzing over Buffy Sainte-Marie’s win on various sites from CBC.ca to The Guardian and other music sites like Exclaim. For some good laughs on Exclaim, they posted Twitter reactions for the 2015 Polaris Music Prize, go to this link. One of my tweets was on it.
Aside from that, it’s great to be back in Ottawa and the day after the Gala in Toronto, I was feeling unwell but have recovered.

Onto the goodies and a couple of more photos. It’s the second year to shoot Polaroids using The Impossible Project film. I didn’t shoot a lot this time because of the big lens for the Sony a7 camera. I was able to take a Polaroid of Sainte-Marie prior to the Gala and later becoming the eventual winner. I was able to snag a copy of The Polaris Cover Sessions #1 on vinyl and the green booklet as pictured above.

With the instant photos, I only took a photo of a radio host on SiriusXM, a photo of the band, Dwayne Gretzky at the afterparty. Those were it. You can view it below.

Due to pulling an all nighter from the Gala on Monday night, I didn’t get a chance to post more photos. Posted below are the 2015 shortlist posters. I added a couple of photos over on Flickr, just click HERE to view the album.

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 Fashion Show on Saturday Afternoon – S10E23

Sante Restaurant presented their spring fashion show on Saturday afternoon and the second in their series was by Marcelle Benedicte. Marcelle Benedicte showed off a sneak peak of the Spring/Summer 2015 collection to the restaurant. The colour from the dresses brought the essence of Spring arriving, which is quite fitting as people in Ottawa have been suffering with the frigid cold temperatures from old man Winter.

Aside from the creative dresses, there were jewelry from Originals by Andrea and makeup provided by Orchid Cosmetics. For the men’s side, there were provided by L’Hexagon Menswear. The best thing of all are that they’re done locally in Ottawa. Which stuck out for me? There were one with pinstripes and a yellow dress which caught my attention as they looked lovely and amazing. It’s what makes Marcelle Benedicte interesting as it brings it own creativity for ready-to-wear clothing. It shows excitement and the beauty of creating the designs. What’s next for Marcelle Benedict is a fashion show for May 30th. It will be a can’t miss event.

I was able to shoot some Impossible Project instant photos but two photos didn’t turn out very well. As you know that I have another Polaroid SX-70 camera, which got repaired thanks to Mint Camera. I’m having some trouble using it as I have press the red button two times. The SX-70 will have to be used for outdoors. The instant photos are posted below.

Saturday Night with The Elwins and a Haunted House Pop Up Show – S10E06

It’s been awhile I have written a blog post and it’s most likely a Polaris Music Prize Gala withdrawal. October has been a slow month and it’s been a crazy and sombre time in Ottawa. The shooting in Ottawa on October 22, 2014 has been a tense and sad time as we all know that Cpl. Nathan Cirillo lost his life at the National War Memorial. People in Ottawa have bringing life back to normal after the tragedy. On Saturday night, I had the opportunity to drop by to the National War Memorial and pay my respect. It has been a week that I haven’t gone to downtown Ottawa. It’s a new reality set in the Nation’s Capital. Onto the entry.

The Elwins in Ottawa
On Saturday night, The Elwins were performing at Mavericks as they’re on tour with the Manitoba band, Royal Canoe. The band from Keswick, Ontario, which is north of Toronto are having a surprising year as they got signed to Hidden Pony Records. It’s worth mentioning that the band is taking up a challenge as they’re going to be TV critics. You can follow them at elwinsTVclub and @TheElwins on Twitter as well as blogging at The Huffington Post.
As for the concert, they played some of the usual songs and played some new songs. There was a good crowd for the show at Mavericks and for my experience, I was near two young ladies who were dancing enthusiastically and a bit of robo movements. The Elwins definitely brought the crowd to its feet as the city is moving back to normalcy from the tragic event of the past week. Prior to The Elwins playing was the Ottawa band, Pith and the Parenchymas.
I didn’t stay too long for Royal Canoe’s performance but there was a good turnout for the Winnipeg band.

You can check the photos via Flickr by clicking HERE. There’s also two Impossible B&W photos of The Elwins below.

The Haunted House Pop Up Show
Before going to the concert, I decided to drop by in the Westboro area for this event. It was a pop up shop as well as a Halloween costume party and festivities. Entering the pop up shop was a terrifying but creative entrance in time for Halloween.
The pop up show had paintings on display and sale as well as a photo booth and fortune telling. It was a fun event
I was there to give some support to DJ 2 Creamz as he spun some Halloween tunes. I decided to take some photos from the Polaroid camera and the digital camera. The Impossible Project B&W photos will be posted below.
Kudos to Dream Love Grow for hosting the event.

You can check the photo via Flickr by clicking HERE.

Since I hadn’t written anything for the month of October, I’m going to post some photos taken from the iPhone 6. That’s right, I changed phones as I finally upgraded. I had been using the iPhone 4S for about three years and needed to replace a phone. From below, some photos from Saturday’s event.

It has been whirlwind of a week in Ottawa and hoping you are safe with the loved ones.
Enjoy!