Here’s a suggestion to could make your day more interesting. Spotted in Calgary’s Kensington commercial area.
Outside your comfort zone
13 Saturday Feb 2016
Posted in Calgary, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, urban
Category Archives: photography
Warm colours at Vendôme métro station
12 Friday Feb 2016
Posted in montreal, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, trains, Trains & Transit, Travel, urban
Cinema V/Empress Theatre
11 Thursday Feb 2016
Posted in montreal, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel, urban
Montreal’s old Empress Theatre, also knows as Cinema V, is the last-remaining Egyptian-revival theatre building in Canada. (A WikiPedia entry for this building suggests it might have been the only one ever built.)
It’s been closed for years, but its exterior gives clues to its colourful past, first as a silent movie house, a repertory cinema and a first-run theatre. A fire in 1992 forced it to close for good.
After decades of decay and many failed efforts to revive the place, the local government recently tried for a new push to renovate and re-open the institution in time for Montreal’s 375th birthday in 2017.
Architectural reflection
09 Tuesday Feb 2016
Posted in architecture, montreal, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel
Tags
architecture, canada, iPhoneography, montreal, photography, photowalk, quebec, random, Travel, urban
Once upon a time, taking a photo at this location would not have produced the same result. This now-aluminum/glass-shell building, part of the Place Ville Marie complex in downtown Montreal, had its exterior replaced several years ago to remove its deteriorating pre-fabricated concrete components.
How much is that Minion in the window?
06 Saturday Feb 2016
Posted in montreal, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel
All to myself
05 Friday Feb 2016
Posted in montreal, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel
Tags
art, canada, design, iPhonegraphy, montreal, photography, photowalk, quebec, random, Travel, urban
This is one of the innumerable corridors making up Montreal’s so-called underground city. Whether it’s to avoid bone-chilling cold in the winter or face-melting heat in the summer, this maze of connections allows one to walk all over the city’s downtown in sheltered comfort.
With its judicious use of building materials and accent lighting, this specimen definitely falls into the art world, in my opinion, while others are a tad more utilitarian or commercial in nature.
Taste of Paris
03 Wednesday Feb 2016
Posted in montreal, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, trains, Trains & Transit, Travel, urban
Tags
Art Nouveau, canada, métro, montreal, Paris, photowalk, quebec, rail, railroad, railway, random, RATP, signage, station, train, trains, Travel, typography, urban
When Montreal was planning its métro system some half a century ago, it decided to go with Parisian-style trains fitted with tires in addition to steel wheels.
Consequently, experts from the RATP, the Parisian public transportation authority, acted as consultants throughout the planning and construction stages.
That cross-Atlantic connection is symbolized in one of the entrances to Square Victoria station, which has authentic Art Nouveau signage as you’d find in the French capital, a gift from the RATP first installed in 1967.
Rotterdam Centraal
30 Saturday Jan 2016
Posted in Netherlands, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Rotterdam, trains, Trains & Transit, Travel, urban
Tags
Netherlands, photography, photowalk, rail, railroad, railway, random, Rotterdam, station, train, trains, Travel, urban
This building doesn’t look like much from this angle but to borrow from a popular science-fiction TV series … Rotterdam’s central train station is way bigger from the inside. Its modest facades definitely belie the structure’s cavernous interior.
Embrace the world
24 Sunday Jan 2016
Posted in Phoenix, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel, urban
Tags
arizona, art, Phoenix, photography, random, street art, Travel, urban
This view of our globe stands high up in an alley in downtown Phoenix, another image snapped on my visit there this past November.
Rural Arizona: View from the passenger seat
18 Monday Jan 2016
Posted in Arizona, photography, random, rural, Travel
It’s fun when someone else is driving … otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to snap these shots.
The first two were shot on the approach to Sedona, Arizona, from the south.
The third was taken in ranch country east of Prescott Valley, after coming down the winding, hilly road from Jerome, Arizona, on the long route back to Phoenix.
Thanks to my sister for her excellent piloting on this beautiful Saturday back in November.
Ricky Leong 