It is said that the mirror is the symbol of imagery or of awareness. The mirror has the ability to copy the visible reflections of the world in its own figural reality. I love the use of the mirror in photography, and no one does it better than Lee Friedlander who has incorporated it in his photos for the past sixty years.
Using car mirrors in photos is something I do regularly. I like having the ability to look ahead and behind at the same time, and also the chance to make interesting juxtapositions. I have included a few examples here.
This photo was taken in Toronto, near the corner of Carlton and Parliament, in 1982. The area is known as Cabbagetown and was my neighborhood during my first two years in the city. I’d moved to Toronto to study photography at Ryerson, and I found myself inundated with new images and experiences. Whenever you’re plunked down in a wholly changed environment, there’s lots of space to create new memories.
My apartment was tiny, basically a 12 x 15 room with a fridge and stove, no counter and no kitchen sink. Dishes had to be washed in the bathroom sink. The walls were 1960s era wood paneling, and filled with cockroaches. A window left open allowed easy access for squirrels–one day I came home to discover they had chewed up my prized Bose speakers. It wasn’t exactly a palace, but the rent was only $175 a month, and it was close to school.
I felt at home living in the neighborhood. It was a bit run down but never seemed threatening or dangerous. Having moved from rural Nova Scotia, it was a good place for me to start exploring the streets with my camera. When I look back of my photos from this time, I find I can remember taking so many of these shots. And, of course, there are many others I have no recollection of taking, pictures from places I can’t remember being and sometimes can’t even identify. Moments fly past us, noticed or unnoticed, all with their particular shadings of beauty and uniqueness.
Cabbagetown got its name from reports in the 1870s that Irish immigrants were digging up their front lawns to plant cabbages. The area is known for its large number of preserved Victorian era houses, and also for its numerous homeless shelters and drop-in centres–apparently the highest concentration in Canada. Gentrification began in the 1970s and these days it isn’t so run down and scruffy.
Because its so close to the downtown core, Cabbagetown has long attracted urban professionals as well as writers and artists. Famous residents include Robbie Robertson, Avril Lavigne, and Al Purdy.
This is a short video of me skating on Woolaver’s Pond in Newport, Nova Scotia. I spent countless hours of my youth skating and playing hockey (shinny) on this pond. I imagined that I was Bobby Orr, rushing down the ice to score a goal. My friends and I were absolutely devoted to that pond.
If there was snow on the pond, we’d clear it. If the weather was frigid, we’d bundle up. There was no stopping us. We made wooden goals with burlap bags as the netting and lost many pucks in the cattails.
Climate change in the past two decades has meant that there are very few days in the winter when skating on the pond is possible. It is either unsafe (the ice is not thick enough), or the constant freezing and thawing makes the surface unusable. Also, kids just aren’t into pond hockey like they used to be. On a sunny Saturday in the 1970s there would have been dozens of people on the pond, and even skating parties in the evening. These days, it’s empty.
I was so glad to be back on the pond. I wished that perfect day would last forever.
I should note that the skates I was wearing were CCM Tacks circa 1976. Sadly, they are broken and have become my pond skates. You can see where I have wrapped black tape to mend the holes and cracks in the plastic.
You can get interesting photos using car headlights. High beams which are intense and directed, can be especially effective. You can use them to create mysterious, fairy tale-like effects, because they can brightly light one patch while darkness seems to press in from all around it.
It’s a fun activity to fool around with when you’ve got some extra time. (The long evenings of autumn and winter are a great time to try this; and frost and fog, combined with the strong light, can give you even more interesting possibilities to explore.) Check out the differences between how your high beams and low beams look.
Using car headlights works well at twilight, with sunsets, and can be effective in illuminating reflective signs. You can see the results in these photos.
Just don’t, whatever you do, lose track of time and let your battery run down. (Been there.)
It’s winter in the northern hemisphere, a time of decreased daylight. Some people get the winter blues and use a SAD lamp to alleviate Seasonal Affective Disorder. I am one of them. Others pick up their cameras to capture the beautiful blue light of winter. I am also one of them. You see, there is an upside to the winter blues.
In the winter months, the sun’s angle is lower and this affects the spectrum of light. The light has to travel through more of the atmosphere, directing more blue light to our eyes.
So, if the impulse strikes you, pick up your camera and turn those blues around.
