City Hall

Phone Call from Nathan Philips Square

A gentleman sits and makes a phonecall at Nathan Philips Square in Toronto

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A gentleman making a phone call by the fountain in front of city hall. This guy had no clue that I had taken a picture of him - so I had to really stop myself from calling it another "random pedestrian" photo. These names are getting too vague - I think naming the image is the hardest part of maintaining the blog actually.

Earth Hour 2010 in Toronto, Canada

Earth Hour 2010 as seen from Cherry Street in Toronto, Canada at 8 30 at night
Earth Hour 2010, Toronto, Ontario
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This is the first picture of the night was taken at 8:32 PM. I will be updating this page for the next few hours with images as I shoot them and switch locations. A lot of cities are participating in the event this year.

I've been thinking about Earth Hour the past few days and realized that although my house isn't using energy I'm still using power during this one hour. For example, I charged my camera, computer and cell phone earlier today so I could update this blog on the run; during the event. I'm sure many people are also using their mobile devices and uploading images, videos and messages to their various social networks as well. We're all still using power in one way or another which I always found weird. Either way the event raises awareness and I think that's the most important thing. 

Earth Hour 2010: 30 minutes before the event actually started, Toronto, Ontario Canada
Earth Hour 2010, 30 Minutes Before
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This was an image that I shot 30 minutes before the event. Clearly this was shot from Cherry St. A lot of buildings still had their lights on fortunately.

A before shot of earth hour 2010 in Toronto Ontario, shot 30 minutes before the event startedEarth Hour 2010 in Toronto Ontario, Shot from Cherry St. at 8:32 PM
Close ups of Before and After during the event.
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It may seem a little disappointing at first, but when you compare before and after shots you realize how many individuals/corporations actually participate. Toronto was one of the first cities to adopt this event. The "after" image has been plucked into this gallery.

Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto during Earth hour in 2010
Nathan Phillips Square
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With the amount of people at Yonge & Dundas Square I decided to go down to City Hall to take some images. I should have went there last year, I don't know I will get an opportunity to shoot that square at night with no lights and people again. It's too bad I heard that Mayor David Miller flipped a big switch which turned off the lights. That would have been good for a laugh.

Toronto's City Hall during Earth Hour 2010
Toronto City Hall during Earth Hour
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People were throwing sparklers around after this shot which was distracting in the actual picture. There's a lot of light on the left side too. I should probably mention that I shot all these without a tripod.

Finding Ambient Light
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Some people didn't seem too pleased there was no light around. Luckily for these guys, the city kept the lights around the rink turned on during the entire event.