Taber Hill, Scarborough

I did a little research to find out what 'unusual' burial sites might be close to me here in Scarborough (part of Toronto) that would be appropriate to include in this blog. I've done the small country cemeteries in the outlying areas but nothing from the metropolitan area (although I have photographed a couple of other locations). I did a bit of research and found out about this site, an ancient ossuary located in a park not far from where I live, and made a point of visiting it.

Through the trees to the top

There is the the hill of course, as the name implies, at the top of which sits a stone on a pedestal. Located just in front of it and a little to the side is a limb from a tree, one end embedded in the ground, with a single feather attached.

Stone and branch

Park, hill and stone sit in a well established housing subdivision. The details of the bone cache's discovery are on one of the two plaques which are affixed to the stone, the one facing west. I'll let you read it from the photograph.

West facing plaque

The plaque on the other side, facing east, has a prayer on it. I'll print the prayer here because it's a little difficult to read from the photograph itself.

Iroquois prayer

It says:

'O Great Spirit whose voice I hear in the winds and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me. I am a man before you, one of your many children. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunsets. Make my hands respect the things you have made, my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so I may know the things you have taught my people, the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. I seek strength, O Creator, not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy, myself. Make me ever ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eye, so that when life fades as the setting sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.'

Very nice sentiments.

Taber Hill

And there's one other detail, and one that means no disrespect to the site or the people who are interred there. It appears that this is a great sledding hill in the winter time.

Colin

The Enigma - Key West Cemetery, 2014

Memorial statuary tends to fall into basic groups:  angels, Christs, cherubs, the occasional portrait, perhaps a dove, and so on.  But during my visit to Key West Cemetery, there was one statue that fell into none of the standard categories.

How did this unexpected nude, with its unusual position and flattened features, come to be in the cemetery? It stands over the grave of Archibald John Sheldon Yates, 1911 - 1966, whose gravestone lies in the centre of his shattered tomb.

The statue's weatherworn face is almost expressionless, but its tilted head and closed eyes project a sort of ecstasy - or is it suffering?  In retrospect, I cannot say if the statue's hands are bound or not, but their position appears to be one of bondage.

I suspect that some research online would reveal the story behind this figure, but I decided not to investigate.  Some mysteries are more satisfying when left unsolved.

- Sid

Vicksburg

Sid actually asked me whether I had any shots of Vicksburg Mississippi that might be appropriate for this blog. I knew I had taken at least a couple of shots when we were there so I took a look for them.

In case you don't know Vicksburg was the site of a major battle which took place during the Civil War.

I was originally going to make the shots look like old photographs but didn't like the final result, the same for black and white, I thought the images needed a bit more oomph. I played around with the images some more and liked this pastel rendition, almost like a hand painted photograph. It still had a bit of that eerie feel which I was looking for.

Colin

St. Louis Cemetery Revisited

I thought I'd take a moment just to revisit the Saint Lousis Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans and post a few more photographs that were taken that day.

Entrance gate and signs

Crypt grouping

Brick crypt

Iron Cross

Row Housing

Stepped Crypts

Niche and bricks

Colin

The Campbell-Plested Agreement of 1984.

Sid:
Before we go any further, I think that some explanation of the Campbell-Plested Agreement of 1984 (or thereabouts) is in order.

Colin and I first met in 1983 at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now University) in Toronto. To be more specific, we first met while waiting to get into a lecture hall on the fourth floor of the Film and Photography Building - for our first History of Film class, perhaps? Or was it the technical class taught by Emil Kolompar?  Regardless, I'd been attacked by a rabid fanboy because of a Cerebus the Aardvark button I was wearing, and we shared a moment of eye-rolling commiseration over this fellow's over-enthusiasm.

Although we quickly became friends, we actually didn't share all that many classes together during our four years in the Film and Photography program, which is odd considering that we were in the same major for the last two years.  For the first two years, we were in different sections (groups of students), and therein lies the telling of the tale.

Among other arcane and obsolete skills that we learned during our time at Ryerson (like developing film and making prints with an enlarger, both lost arts) we were instructed in the use of the large format view camera.

For those of you unfamiliar with view cameras, it's basically a set of bellows with a ground glass focusing screen/film holder at one end and a lens holder at the other. This arrangement allows for adjustment of the angle and alignment of both the lens and the film in order to achieve whatever sort of depth of field is most appropriate to the photographer's needs. These cameras came in 4x5 and 8x10 inch format - perhaps 11x14 as well, although that was less common.

To use a view camera, the photographer would set up a tripod, mount the camera on top, and then drape a black cloth over their head and the ground glass in order to focus the image, a complex task given all the possible adjustments of the two elements.

Personally, I was a terrible view camera operator, I greatly preferred the convenience of hand-held 35mm, but Colin was far more involved in large format, and I believe that even before coming to Ryerson he had done some 4x5 work with a small wooden view camera that he had built from a kit.

During the architectural portion of the Still Photography class, students went out to photograph whatever portion of Toronto that caught their eye.  The assignment was not restricted to the area around the school, but given the cumbersome weight of the equipment - well, let's just say that there was an inverse square relationship between the distance from the school and the amount of photography that took place.  In fact, the two or three blocks closest to the school may well be the most photographed portion of Canada, Niagara Falls included.

At this point, I will let Colin continue the story.


Colin here.

So in the course of our courses we were given a number of photographic assignments with said large format cameras, some in house (in the school, still lifes and such) and some out house (er, possibly not the best use of language there) and so, as Sid has said, we often wandered the neighbourhood of the school prowling for subjects, and ones that stayed put because of the length of time required to set up the camera.

One afternoon I set out, spider over my shoulder (tripod), carrying the box which contained the view camera and various film holders and other paraphernalia of the arcane art, filters, draping cloth, brushes, all that kind of stuff. If I had to give a name to this moment it would have been 'awkward and heavy'.

I don't even remember how it was that I found myself shadowed by another student, similarly equipped. I had certainly met him before at school, shared some classes, and didn't think anything of his joining me, just another loaded down photography student seeking company, and so we wandered north from the school.

I found what I thought was an interesting subject behind one of the old Eaton's buildings (now converted to stores and condos), a metal tube sculpture which I believe was called (if the memory server is working correctly) 'The Sonic Corridor'. I set up the tripod and started to unpack.

Note: I actually looked around to see if I still had a copy of the photograph to add here but I think I must have purged it a number of years ago.

Meanwhile back at the camera, to my great annoyance, (and I actually believe it was after I had taken the shot and moved the camera)  this other git set up his gear in the same spot I had just vacated, and made his exposures.

I think I took that as a cue and just wandered off at that point. He never caught me up, ever, after that. I don't think I ever shared more than a couple words with him from that time.

And he wasn't the only person to try to pull that stunt.

So later on, possibly over a beer, this event was related to Sid and we both agreed that it was, number one, annoying to the nth degree and, number the second, we promised not to do same with each other, thus the pact was formed.

What the practicality of the agreement is is that when we photograph in an area at the same time (as in but not limited to cemeteries) we don't dog each others footsteps.


Oh, I think the class we were waiting for that first day was Sue Dickenson's 'History of Photography' lecture.

Key West Cemetery, 2014

 The Key West Cemetery is a fascinating location. Over time I've become a bit of a connoisseur of cemeteries, each of which has its own look and feel. 

First, let's get the obligatory photo out of the way. Key West is home to what may well be one of the most photographed monuments in the world.  It doesn't lend itself to artistic interpretation, so here it is, shot in what you might call an evidentiary style:  been there, done that.  (Although I didn't see t-shirts documenting this particular attraction anywhere on Duval Street.)

And, in the interests of being thorough, three feet higher on the same wall:

Key West has some raised crypts, which gives it some of the feel of the cemeteries in New Orleans, but there are far more standard ground-level graves than there were in New Orleans.  It is very obviously a frequently visited location (although in the first of my three visits I didn't see a soul, so to speak.)  

Something that sets the Key West Cemetery apart is the astonishing range of little statuettes and figurines that have been added to the graves.  I'll do a couple more posts showcasing this, there were just too many examples to reasonably put into a single post.

- Sid

Variations on variations on a theme: Marie Laveau.

Colin has already posted some images of the resting place of Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans.  In this case, my take on the subject was more of a wide view, whereas he had chosen to go with closer framing.

Now, let's take a moment and talk about the unacknowledged participant in the process:  Photoshop.  I believe that Colin uses other pieces of software, but that's where I do my editing and cropping and so on.

Although I've done lots of image composition and special effects and retouching and so on with Photoshop, when it comes to my own photography I tend to use it pretty much the way I was taught to use a darkroom - I brighten, I darken, dodge and burn* selectively, change contrast and saturation, and that's about it. 

 I also make a decision about colour versus grey scale.  (It's interesting that black and white has survived the end of film as an artistic decision that one makes in a piece of software rather than a choice of film types - although, that being said, I think both Colin and I often plan for that choice when shooting the original images.)

One of the features of Photoshop that I almost NEVER use are the special effects filters:  Brush Strokes and Graphic Pen and Plastic Wrap and so on.  However, just for fun, I did the above image with a 50% overlay of Find Edges, which brought an additional level of grunge to the look of the monument - but, frankly,makes me feels like I'm trying too hard to find something that I didn't get in the original image.

 - Sid

 

* I recently had to explain to someone what dodging and burning was in terms of the icons for those tools in Photoshop, which shows a curled hand for burning, and a circular piece of material on a wire for dodging, which is how those actions were traditionally done in the darkroom.

Tell Tchaikovsky the news.

(Guest post from Chris Sumner.)

On my 1995 trip to East Central Europe I hooked up with some fellow Canadians in Vienna. One was a classical music enthusiast. I tagged along with them on an excursion to a graveyard outside of Vienna where many notable Austrians (and some Germans) of the 19th century were buried. I assume that he brought a map with him or one was provided at the entrance.

 - Chris

Variations on a theme II.

Colin suggested that we post images of common subjects from the Stirling Cemetery, and here's my somewhat belated response on the topic. 

To be honest, the two subjects he selected are both ones that I photographed but I can't really say that I did anything brilliant with either one. (I was far more interested in the nearby pyramidal Rock of Ages memorial.)

Regardless, here is my take on the Black Panther Angel and the Like-Minded Sisters.

Of the two, I'm least pleased with my shots of the Black Panther Angel - a description which inexplicably puzzled Colin.  Given that Colin is far more a child of the 60s than I am, I would think that the following pose would make the connection obvious.  In fact, it's an odd pose for an angel, when you think about it. And is it me or does she only have four fingers?

I do wonder how the Angel lost half her star, which seems a sad fate for an angel.

The Like-Minded Sisters offered a more interesting subject - virgins under glass, as it were.

I refer the curious reader to the plaque on the casement:

I'm intrigued as to the tale behind Margaret and Agnes, virgin martyrs of the ocean waves - or wave.  Why does Margaret take precedence in virginity and martyrdom?  Is it based on age?  Is "impearled" a bad aquatic pun or a typographical error?  How was their martyrdom achieved?  I assume it took place at the same time, and that the two figures with the angel represent the sisters in question, with the lamb at their feet as a symbol of innocence.  And, somewhat unusual for a memorial - what was their last name?

In this case (no pun intended), I can offer little in terms of variety from Colin's approach: putting statues under glass can limit a photographer's choices purely on the basis of reflection.

- Sid

Variations on a theme

At Stirling Cemetery there were many graves and stones that were iconic or striking or both and Sid and I photographed them individually. What I mean by 'individually' is that each of us wandered around taking photographs but, and I believe it's part of the Campbell Plested Agreement, we made a point of not shadowing each other or trying to take their shot. But sometimes we did shoot the same thing.

I thought it might be interesting to show the images that were produced.

Here are the subjects.

 The first, and close to the wall of the cliff and castle itself, is this angel.



The second, in a different part of the cemetery, is this enclosed memorial.

Because the subject matter seemed to call out for it I did a black and white conversion of the first image (you've seen lots of that sort of thing in this blog).

And this is the detail of the face.

For the enclosed grouping on the other memorial I took this group shot.

Colin

Brompton Cemetery, 2011

As Colin has already mentioned, Brompton Cemetery in London is a wondrous location.  It is quite literally a necropolis, a city of the dead that sprawls over 39 acres and has seen over 200,000 burials.  I stumbled across Brompton Cemetery in 2011 while somewhat frantically trying to find the Doctor Who Experience for which I had purchased a ticket as part of the London portion of my fiftieth birthday trip to Europe.

I was instantly captivated by the prospect of photographing Brompton, but my time was running out and I was still lost in the pouring rain.  Reluctantly I turned my back and continued my hunt. 

I managed to find the Experience with ten minutes to spare, but when it was over I retraced my tracks to the cemetery and pulled out my camera. 

It was a horribly frustrating experience - never before have I spent so much time trying to capture the vision of a location with so little success, and the following shots are the best of a poor lot, in my opinion.  It is possible that I did a slightly better job when Colin and I visited London last year, but for now I'll start with these black and white images from 2011.

 

- Sid

P.S. the first image is the same melancholy figure that Colin posted in his earlier introduction to Brompton Cemetery.  Again, I think that the pictures that I took on my second visit do her more justice, although it's interesting to see that in the intervening years she added a garland of ivy to her ensemble.