Edmonton, July 1961

It's funny how you'll find solid little gems in the strangest places! I bought a pile o' slides from somewhere I've never heard of in Ontario, and lo and behold there are some wonderful shots of my hometown in it. There are some other magnificent finds in this lot too, and I'll share those sooner than later, but these come first. Most of these are downtown Edmonton, but you'll recognize some other locations too. So fresh, so young, so fabulously 1961.

My favourite photographer: Anonymous.

I don't particularly like to post stuff that doesn't belong to me, but this trailer for the very exciting upcoming documentary "Finding Vivian Maier" really sums up my drive for buying slides and albums. The beauty of snapshot photography is anyone can get lucky - and in every bag of crap I buy there's always at least one shot that makes me say, "this is why I bought these." In this case, Vivian Maier was genuinely good - but until very recently, she was just another homemade photographer doing it for the love of snapping away. I think it makes us a better person: to look for beauty in the absence of a label.To judge for ourselves.

Dreaming of Summer

Hello! And a frosty good afternoon to all. For us in Canada, the hardest part of the winter is the second half, all the city rabbits are getting a little leaner and the weather tends to take a turn for the worse before the sun goes back to being a source of heat as well as light and melts all this infernal snow. So let's just dwell on one brief summer moment somewhere rustic some time ago where a boy and a raccoon hung out long enough for someone to take a couple snaps:

It's not about focus or artistic intention - a good photo has "feel".