Love & Beauty

Posted by Damon Schreiber (Toronto, Canada) on 1 February 2007 in Cityscape & Urban and Portfolio.

Welcome to February. Get the bad taste of yesterday's image out of your mouth (p-tew), because February is all about Love and Beauty (with a pit stop for Work). As much as I can this month or at least up until Valentine's Day, I'll try putting up images that I think show love and/or beauty. We'll see how that goes. I don't know if this counts, but it at least sets the tone

The title I really want to use for this photo is "Love 美 Beauty" but I'm sure it won't display correctly on everyone's computer. For those who can't see it, the middle character is the kanji in the photo to the left of "Beauty" It means ...wait for it... "Beauty"

hi-res here.

[Bloor at Clinton, Toronto]

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Comments (19)

Rene from Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada

Nice capture, I would have walked by this and missed it for sure. Good idea for a series as well.

1 Feb 2007 5:09am

@Rene: Thanks, Rene! We'll see how the series pans out. I'm not certain what will constitute images of love and/or beauty yet - it's a broad scope. At least they only have to be beautiful to me.

Bronnie from Christchurch, New Zealand

You old romantic, you!! I do like the graffiti and signage, I probably would have missed it too.

1 Feb 2007 5:24am

@Bronnie: Thanks, Bronnie! I've been wanting to photograph that graffiti for quite some time - and I probably have before- but I never connected it with the shop sign until now.

Jerry from Tampa, United States

GREAT capture Damon! Excellent street scene!

1 Feb 2007 10:55am

@Jerry: Thanks very much, Jerry!!!

JS from Brookline, United States

That's how it is: beauty is right out front, but love is cordoned off with a chain.

1 Feb 2007 1:50pm

@JS: Thanks, Jan! One interpretation - and it would appear to ring true. An earlier thought was to use an alternate shot without the shop and call it forbidden love.

Stu from Kyoto, Japan

This lives up to its title Damon it's a beauty of a shot. Great lighting and tones here. And congrats (or condolences?) on an inspired choice for a series - quite a challenge you've set yourself! I can just imagine you 30 seconds before you took this with a can of spraypaint. Are those the frozen clown's footprints in the snow? ;-)

1 Feb 2007 2:52pm

@Stu: Nah, I don't need to contribute to the rich stew of graffiti; there's enough already. And as I mentioned above, love and beauty only need to be relevant to me personally. It'll just be a bonus if others agree. Thanks, Stu!

shiqi from Singapore, Singapore

Feel like there's a huge story behind this. think this photo http://lookoutofthewindow.aminus3.com/would have many different meanings to many people. nice theme. great capture of perhaps one of the largest ironies man has ever known.

1 Feb 2007 2:55pm

@shiqi: Thanks, Shiqi! I love your ideas on this and admit that I wasn't thinking too deeply while composing.

Craiger from Vacaville, California, United States

Nice crisp detail...as usual!

1 Feb 2007 3:05pm

@Craiger: Thanks, Craig!

Zach Siebert from Bologna, Italy

lol! Beauty is closed. love's always open, but exposed to the elements.

1 Feb 2007 3:26pm

@Zach Siebert: And a bit hard to get to :-) Thanks, Zach!

Angry Buddha from United States

I guess beauty is closed. I'll have to settle for love.

1 Feb 2007 3:51pm

@Angry Buddha: :-) Or wait till the morning... Thanks, Sean!

orson from kingstonia, United States

what a beautiful photo, it almost doesn't look real. great job.

1 Feb 2007 10:34pm

@orson: It isn't quite real. I played around with the lighting a fair bit to provide some drama. Thanks, Orson!

Michael Zhang from New York City, United States

Very cool to have the graffiti of "I Love You" and the elegant sign of "Beauty" next to each other. Great tones in his b&w.

1 Feb 2007 10:52pm

@Michael Zhang: Thanks, Michael! "I love you" has been spraypainted in many parts of the city by some anonymous lover.

william from United States

excellent eye

2 Feb 2007 2:43am

@william: Many thanks, William!

Kelvin Chan from New York City, United States

ha. good eye. your bw processing is becoming favorable to me now. you're using ptlens?

2 Feb 2007 3:31am

@Kelvin Chan: Thanks, Kelvin! I'm so happy about my bw processing progress. Let me know when it actually becomes favourable. ;-) I use Photoshop CS3 and am quite happy with it. Big improvements on the RAW conversion section. I could but don't use that for BW conversion as I prefer to do that toward the end of processing. PT lens - does that do monochrome conversions? I thought it was just lens distortion correction. Also, it's not available for the Mac.

Martine Lapointe from Québec, Canada

This is a beauty!

2 Feb 2007 4:06am

@Martine Lapointe: Merci bien, Martine!

H.O from Victoria, Canada

Beautiful shot Damon :-)

2 Feb 2007 5:41am

@H.O: Arigatou, Hiro-san!

Duncan Galbraith from kyoto, Japan

Lovely urban image Damon, and the concept is indeed most enticing. I'm currently trying to see if not the beauty exactly but the finer and more enticing aspects of Kyoto's architecture. Not the traditional examples obviously, that doesn't really need much consideration as to whether it's beautiful or not, but the concrete and steel elements of the city. A most intriguing idea you have here.

2 Feb 2007 2:53pm

@Duncan Galbraith: Thanks, Duncan. My idea isn't architectural per se, though. This was merely to introduce a series of photos that can capture love and or beauty in some way understood perhaps only to me. I'm stuck on snowy macros at the moment, but I'll get over it an on to other examples soon enough. We'll see where the spirit takes me. Anyway, I like where you're going with Kyoto's architecture; a lot to see there that isn't on the tourguide route, I'd imagine.

Craig Persel from Montreal, Canada

Great title/image combo.

2 Feb 2007 8:51pm

@Craig Persel: Thanks, Craig!

Untitled from Kyoto, Japan

Love the narrative here...love...beauty...then the 'closed' sign hanging in the window...nice twist...

3 Feb 2007 11:50am

@Untitled: And the "I love you" is behind a chain. They're all so close yet so inaccessible. Thanks, Shadow!

M.E. from Encino, United States

lovely depiction of the metropolis! I look forward to your love & beauty series!

3 Feb 2007 3:59pm

@M.E.: Thanks! We'll see how it goes - I bet I could find more of both subjects in May or June.

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Canon PowerShot G3
1/20 second
F/3.0
ISO 100
29 mm