An urban constant: change

Cities, like everything in life, are not static. How cities, and the buildings within them, change through time has been a topic of interest to many. I gave a book to a friend delving into this very topic. In some cases, it was downright amazing to see a picture of a structure shortly after it was built published beside another picture of the same building a hundred years later. A lot can happen in a hundred years.

London children celebrate the New Year

Fiona, 3, puts on the hat made earlier.

It is not just adults who enjoy celebrating the arrival of the new year. In London, Ontario, there were are number of celebrations are held about the city aimed at satisfying children ready to party.

The Children's Museum in London held a four hour long event with face painting and new year hat making keeping kids busy while waiting for the 12 o'clock countdown, that's 12 noon and not 12 midnight.

At noon balloons dropped and children screamed: "Happy New Year!" The museum is three floors filled with fun stuff and after the balloons dropped, the children dispersed to all corners of the museum the check out the exhibits.

London Community News found Fiona at Victoria Park.

In the evening, there was a celebration held in Victoria Park in the downtown core. Again, children are encouraged to attend but early in the evening. Since not many toddlers are up at midnight, a truncated fireworks display was presented at 9 p.m keeping the young ones happy.

The local paper (The London Free Press) often runs stories referring to the Southwestern city as boring. Today there are hundreds of young people who would find fault with that description.

Corrigan School of Irish Dancing, London, ON

The Corrigan School of Irish Dancing presented their Christmas show Sunday at the Wolf Performance Hall in the Central Library in downtown London.

The dance troupe, mostly young girls, put on a great show. With taps loudly keeping time, they danced about the stage both to the music of the muscians and while tapping out music themselves.

Legs kicking high, hair and skirts flying, they kicked their heels and spun about the stage.

It was wonderful but no one was too astonished at the talent. During the year, many of the girls on stage travel great distances to compete in Irish dance contests right across North America and even occasionally in Europe.

When I used to work for the local paper, covering something like this was easy. I had a professional camera and fast lenses that let in enough light to shoot at the high shutter speeds action photography demands.

I'm retired. I shoot with two point and shoots: A Canon S90 and a Fuji FinePix HS10. Dance offers great picture moments but capturing these is tough.

The best bet, although it doesn't capture the all important action, is to wait until the end of the reel or the jig and grab a quick shot of the girls posing. This offers good form and almost guarantees a sharp picture.

I can't settle just for images of the girls taking a pose before leaving the stage. I have to at least try for action. Here it is very important to keep the camera steady. The subject movement will destroy almost all your images. Do not add camera movement to the mix. I found a steel post to steady my camera.

And sometimes, sharpness is not the deciding factor on whether a picture is a keeper. When my 3-year-old granddaughter performed a beginner reel with Nora Corrigan, sharp or not the picture was a keeper.

Still even a strong emotional attachment to an image doesn't grant it the right to be played large. It just doesn't have the quality. I upped the contrast of the image to hide a little of its defects.

I wish everyone reading this post, and everyone filing pictures to the City Daily Photo group, a very Merry Christmas and hope you all have better luck than I when shooting the difficult moving subject stuff for your blog.

Cheers!

Most homes do not last forever

 
It looks like it was a fine home not all that many years ago. Sitting on one of London's widest roads — a road that was probably just two, narrow lanes when it was built — today, the classic, little home sits empty of family, awaiting demolition.

I understand that most homes will not last forever. Still, it seems a shame when a home able to deliver many more years of shelter is forced to renege on the promise.

Yes, there are still Christmas pageants!

If you watch Fox News from the States, I can't imagine why you would, you have probably caught one of their mentions of the war on Christmas. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show has had fun poking fun at their seasonal paranoia.

I cannot speak for the U.S., but here in London, Ontario, Christmas is alive and well. (Although, I cannot say the same for my pocket book.)

Last night I attended a Christmas pageant at one of the local schools. The little ones sang Christmas carols, clapped to the music and at the end enjoyed a visit from Santa Claus.

It's official: Christmas is on its way.

 

Saturday morning Santa Claus made his annual visit to the Hyde Park area of London, Ontario. Crowds lined Gainsborough Road from Wonderland Road to Hyde Park Road in anticipation of the red suited gentleman.

Floats, marching bands, dance troops and more preceded the arrival of Saint Nick. And then it was over. Once the kids got a wave from Santa, the parade was done for another year.

 . . . but for many, the shopping has just begun.

Children's Museum still a draw

Fiona, my granddaughter, loved "ice fishing" at the Children's Museum.

 The Children's Museum in London has been going for decades. At one time it was located in some pretty tight quarters on London's main street just east of downtown. It was popular even then.

Today it can be found in the former Riverside Public School which the museum modified for its use. Brilliant. The museum provides three floors of entertaining instruction for area kids, although it attracts children from far and wide. I've encountered children there who are from out-of-province and even out-of-country.

On our last two visits, my granddaughter has been particularly taken with the display featuring life in northern Canada. She loved the "ice fishing" set-up. It was very well done with lots of ice holes and lots of fishing poles. Children did not have to wait to sample the fun.

There is talk of moving the museum, again, this time locating it closer to downtown. If the museum moves I wonder what will happen to the present building.