While I have photos to share about how Babe is doing I thought I’d take an opportunity to write about something else for a change :). Come explore Luminato with me.
The Luminato Festival is celebrating its 10th year. This is the first time I’ve ever been. Andrea had a race planned for today but is still struggling with her throat/lungs and so she abandoned those plans in the hopes of recovering with rest. And I had no plans since I’m now done with my IT contract for the time being. When Andrea suggested we go on Friday night I was totally down with it.
In previous years the festival has had an event or two in the Hearn Generating Station. This year it was the primary site. It’s an impressive & imposing structure – purportedly large enough to house 12 Parthenon inside it. The smoke stack is 70 stories tall, for a while it was one of the tallest structures in Toronto. It started life as a coal-fired power plant and was converted to natural gas part way though its life. Politics and pollution concerns were its demise. And it has stood abandoned since the ’90s. A haunt for urban explorers and movie shoots.
Most but not all of the machinery has been removed. Some structures and walls have been hacked and demolished with abandon. Cables and conduits dangle from the rafters, doors open into nothing several stories up. Water that makes its way in through broken windows pools on the uneven concrete floor. Mix this with the creative imaginings of the Luminato Festival and you have quite a cocktail.
It’s all very visual. So… come take a little tour with me!
A few photos to introduce you to the site. There is daylight coming in through some windows, there are lights put up as part of the festival, and there are very dark nooks and crannies. For some of the photos in these galleries I had to push the ISO up to 12,500. In others I let the exposure go up to 3 seconds. All are taken hand-held on my 5D Mark iii, most with a 16-35mm F2.8.
And now let the tour begin in earnest…
