'Once Upon a Time in Canada' Chapter 33.

The back pain is acting up again. But I will be hanging out with a bunch of my friends for another photography meetup. So it’s made the thought of the pain go down a bit. But lately, it hasn’t been as bad as it used to be. It’s been a six or seven out of ten, tops. So… should I go out? Not really, I’m not really in the best state yet. But it could be worse. The meetup, as well as the freezing cold, will be on my mind and will help me forget the pain for a while.

I’m not worried about it. If need be, I can just sit down or rest someplace and just review my shots whilst taking it easy. The meetup won’t be as bad as the last one, because this time we’ll be going to the Distillery District for the Lights Festival. Meaning there will be places for me to sit down, for sure. The thing is, the cold isn’t calming down. It’s still going to be chilly.

Okay, technically it’s not Antarctica-level. But it’s not exactly Vancouver-Winter climate either. I may be over exaggerating a bit, but if you were someone who doesn’t live in Toronto (or Canada), you would say the same thing. But it’s a big deal for me since I’ve lived my whole life in New Zealand. I know what you’re saying, I could just wear thicker clothes and dress more warmly then I wouldn’t be that freezing. If only it were that simple.

But the meetup was absolutely fun as always. We got to see and shot a lot of pieces of art that were as bright as Martha Stewart’s house during Christmas. There were all kinds of work on display, and they were bright as hell. To us, it was a gold mine for night photography. To me, it’s the same thing, but just with "God damn, that’s bright" added in.

So instead of the usual photography we’d get up to, we experimented a lot with high ISO and low aperture. Each piece and location required different variations of the ISO and aperture depending on the amount of light that was available in the area.

So far as we were concerned, we were just having a ball. I’m pretty happy of how they turned out, then when we were finished, we went off inside to Mill Street Brew, and had a nice warm dinner and drinks.

Also, see Chapters 32 and 34.