Doing time

Most people do not ever want to see the inside of a prison. Most inmates want to break out of them. Myself and a few friends tend to break in to them. Now, when I say break, I don't mean physically breaking anything to get in, usually with abandoned places, there is some sort of poe made my someone else.

On a very cold day we set off from Toronto on a long drive to our destination. Upon arrival we parked the cars and set about finding our way in to prison, hoping that they hadn't forgotten any inmates inside.

There was still soap in the showers, inmate writing on the walls and everything from solitary to a medium security wing. Although they cut out all the locks in case someone were to be trapped inside, an operating prison is not a place I would like to spend any time in.

This shot is from the control room of the prison. This is where inmates would have loved to have gotten in to I am sure.

Man! Keeping up with this blogging thing is hard. I think perhaps, as I post more and more, it will start to be something I get used to doing. Right now it certainly isn't. Today's blog will be about, Wasps!

No, not White Anglo Saxons, but the little flying creatures that pack a mean sting. While away at the cottage for the May 2-4 weekend, I was informed of a winged intruder in the adjacent room. I grabbed the swatter and rushed in to confront my foe! It was a Wasp alright, banging his head in to the glass trying to figure out what sort of force field was in his way.

With one good "thwack* he met his demise and ended up on the rug. Even better was the pose, it looked like he had gotten a couple arms up in an "oh no" block the hit look. Classic!

Cheers,
Zen

5.10

I bought myself a new pair of shoes last month and having been wearing them for a little while now, I can say that I am leaving my love of Pumas in the past for this company. I bought the 5.10 (Five Ten) Freerunner black. The soles are a cool pattern, most importantly however, is the fact that the sole is made of stealth rubber! This stuff grips. I have a pair of 5.10 climbing shoes and while those are better, these aren't far off. I have done some bouldering with them and wear them around the city and they continue to be uber comfy! Next up, a pair of 5.10 SAR water shoes!

Cheers,
Zen

It is May, 2012!!! I really need to get my act together and start blogging on a daily basis. That was my whole intention when I started this blog. To post every day and to share with you my rambling thoughts, my adventures and some of my photography. So! From here on in, I will be making a concerted effort to keep this up!

My most recent adventure was my annual solo canoe trip in Algonquin Park. Algonquin has a very special place in my heart, it was the first provincial park I can recall ever going to with my folks. The very first time I saw Moose, a Bear, Loons! It was the first place I ever paddled a canoe solo, I believe I was under the age of 10, if I recall correctly, I was 6.

I am so grateful to my parents for helping instil a love of the outdoors in me. Being able to get away from it all, paddle a canoe across a glassy lake, surrounded by nothing but the wilderness is a special thing. Sitting by a roaring fire, the sky dancing with millions and millions of stars, it simply does not get any better in my humble opinion. Combine that with S'mores and you can't go wrong.



Cheers,
Zen

Crane your neck

krayning! For some odd reason it gets spelled this way, but whatever way you spell it, it's awesome! Sitting up top, overlooking the beautiful city I live in, is peaceful. The loud noises of the city fade slightly and everything takes on more of a surreal quality.

On this night, the counter jib was pointing towards the financial core of Toronto, quite an impressive sight.

On the other side, the jib was pointing out towards the Portlands of Toronto, one of my fave spots int he city.

Looking north you can see the St. Lawrence market, my favourite place to get fresh meat, veggies and fruit in the city. That's Jarvis St. there stretching north. St. James park looks peaceful from up here and if you didn't know there was a camp in going on you wouldn't have a clue.

 Looking out the top of the cab towards the Gardiner Expressway, cars streaming in and out of the city.

This is the level of the cranes cab, just a short trip up one ladder to get up top. From this angle you get a view of the counter jib as well as the counter weights used to keep the crane from falling over when lifting the heavy loads.

Last nights particular adventure started with an invite to my good friend Neil Ta's birthday celebrations at Nirvana. Heading out early allowed me to stop and scratch the itch of wanting to get up on a crane. Out of all the urbexing I do, sitting way up high, over the city I love is one of my favourite parts. Climbing up is always fun and when you get up top it's like a reward. The city stretches out in all directions and glistens with twinkling lights.

I find it interesting seeing the different kinds of cranes that are being used. Sometimes they are older models and they show their age, while others are brand spanking new and glisten in the moon light. No matter what the age, they all have common features.. Generally these are things like grease and grease buckets, t.p. in the operators cab along with the relief bucket. Some cabs have pictures of families, I guess as a reminder of what they are working hard for. The workplace view is something else as well, as they get taller it only gets better.

There are quite a few projects going up across Toronto and I intend to check out as many as I can to get new and unique first views of our growing metropolis. Stay tuned for more posts on this subject.

Cheers,
Zen

On set Retribution

Headed back to the set to see what I could see. Seems most of the signage including the giant mural and what was on the walls is now down. The giant ring was still up and was where they were filming mainly. I was not expecting to stay as long as I did but with so many people about, leaving wasn't going to be easy.

Hearn at night is something else. I know a lot of people would probably find it pretty creepy, but as I wandered around the upper reaches, I would pause, turn off my light and listen to the silence (when there was some).  I find it a very peaceful place.

Like most movies I have seen filmed this followed the same method of, take eons to set up shot, then finally do a take or two lasting all of 5-10 mins, then start again. This allowed me to get some shots of Hearn this time, illuminated by the sets lights.

I have watched a couple of the Resident Evil movies and I will certainly be watching this one, Red was also shot partly in Hearn as were a few other movies.

Cheers,
Zen

Resident Evil: Retribution. Film set!

Well, I keep saying I am going to post every day and then months go by in a blink! I will try to post more often and hopefully can get in the habit of making it an every day thing.

For those of you who know me well, you know how much I love urban exploring and in particular the Hearn power plant. Hearn is a cavernous space, the only way to really appreciate just how massive this place is, is to be inside. Standing just about anywhere in here makes you feel very small. With so much space Hearn was destined to become a movie studio. Safe to say that never happened, however to this day, Hearn is used for the odd movie shoot. The last time I was there to see it turned in to Hollywood north was when they were shooting part of Silent Hill 2. Over the last week Hearn has once again been transformed in to Hollywood north, this time for Resident Evil: Retribution.

A few of us made plans to shoot the set and headed off in hopes of good luck. Sure enough, the set was devoid of people and we were able to take it all in and get as many shots as we wanted. Hearn looks incredible as a Soviet base, I hope they leave up the decorations!

Check out the entire set over @ Flickr

Cheers,


Zen