John FitzGerald's photos

I like the big version better. You be the judge -- click the pic or type Z.

New City Hall on the left in back.

An old photo re-edited. The earlier version was brighter.

A souped-up version of an old photo. It looks both blacker and orangier on black (click the pic or type Z to see if you agree). I do not know who designed this installation.

In the early twentieth century in Toronto a lot of the new houses featured porch roofs supported by wooden columns mounted on taller brick piers. By the 1950s the columns and piers were often out of alignment. Many were replaced by ironwork like that here. This is a festive group of porches; others are more traditionally staid.

Honest Ed's was a discount store in Toronto that occupied most of an entire block (and, I think, owned the rest). When the store couldn't get permission to tear down some houses on the block, the store established an artists' colony in them instead. The store began in 1948 (after expansion of an original business established in 1943) and lasted till 2016. In 2018 the entire block was razed and a new neighbourhood is building there. My favourite memory of Ed's is in the 1970s seeing a group of Asian men in Mao suits being led goggle-eyed past the illuminated Last Suppers. The company now concentrates on entertainment (it owns six live theatres in Toronto alone, and once owned the Old Vic) and on real estate development. Oh, the founders were Ed Mirvish and his wife Mary.

Click 'er to make 'er bigger.

A Hopperian note seems to have crept into the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario. Compare (only if you feel like it, of course) Hopper's Morning Sun : www.edwardhopper.net/images/paintings/morning-sun.jpg Yes, Hopper forgot to paint her left arm, although it's in his sketch for the painting. He got her left hand in, though. I don't think the McMichael Collection is well known to tourists to Toronto. The collection is spectacular, though, featuring, according to its website, "over 6,500 artworks by Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, their contemporaries, and First Nations, Métis, Inuit and contemporary artists who have contributed to the development of Canadian art." The grounds are spectacular, too. A 45-minute drive from Toronto City Hall. More tributes to painters and photographers: www.ipernity.com/doc/fitzgerald/album/1294982?with=45547580

Looking east on King Street from University Avenue, Toronto. The bigger versions reveal how much I sharpened this picture-- which is to say a great deal. Nevertheless, I believe they have a certain charm. Click the pic or type Z to see a bigger version, and then, if you like, click the frame at top right to see it on the full screen.

I prefer the bigger versions of this one; your opinion may vary. For a bigger version click the pic or type Z. Then if you click the frame at top right you can see it on the full screen.