Surf

I havn't picked up my camera in weeks.  Life's just been busy and I've hadn't had much inspiration.  But I decided that I'd make a point of it on Saturday to get out and shoot  Well it turned out I picked an awsome (or terrible) day.
I love inclement weather.  I like bundling up and going for a walk in a snow storm.  I love being outside during a thunderstorm.  When the near hurricane force winds hit, I couldn't resist. I braved the fierce winds Saturday to check out the beach.  I didn't think it was too bad when I left home.  I heard it blowing outside, but it didn't seem to much out of the ordinary.  Well, except for the roar of the surf I could hear from about 4 blocks away.  As  I neared the beach, I could tell I had gotten myself into more than I had bargained for.  Not only was the wind whipping up the waves, but it was also creating a sandstorm.  Any loose sand, not frozen, was blowing around.  I thought about turning around then and there, not wanting to risk my camera in the sandstorm, and after getting a mouth full of sand.  But I pressed on.  I headed for the some shelter at the far end of the beach, near the Coast Guard house.  From there I was blocked from the wind, and upwind of the the beach, so no sand.

After the beach, I thought about heading on to the pier, but the way the waves were breaking, I decided to be smart and not head out there.  I wouldn't stand a chance on foot.  So I headed around the harbour, fighting wind the whole way.  It was violent.  The wind almost knocked me off my feet a few times.  I had never experienced wind like that before.  It really was awe inspiring.  I ended up just watching the fury, and not shooting a whole lot of pictures.  Absolutely amazing!

Left for the birds

Left for the birds, but the birds did not eat.  They'd come by, take a peek and move on.  It's nutritious, delicious sorghum.

Well,  that holiday hiatus from the blog lasted a bit longer than expected.  I can't say things are back to normal around here, because the truth is, I haven't been shooting much.  I don't care to explain why here, because well no one probably reads this anyways. If you are, thanks, and keep an eye out, hopefully there'll be new fuzzification happening more often than not.

Poses

Another thing that I loved about the Zombie Walk is that lots of Zombies were willing to pose for the picture.  Even with all the cameras around, they would stop and strike a pose to get their picture taken.  Where else can you run around in a crowd and get strangers to pose for a photograph?  Zombie Walk!  Now some were really into the zombie routine and would just keep trucking along in search of brains, which was cool too.

Now some places were much easier to get poses, like along the back stretch of the route around Dundas and Bathurst or even in China Town.  The crowd had thinned out quite a bit by then, and there wasn't a throng of photographers as there was along Queen St.    If I were to do this again (and I probably will) I would consider starting the walk in the park, but then heading out away from the mob, and getting ahead of it.  It was too hard to shoot while walking along and plus I kept seeing the same Zombies.   That was until I broke off and got in front of the walk (not completely, but a good portion of it) and walked against the zombie flow.  I got too see a lot more zombies that way and the scenery changed, so as you'll see, there's a good variety in the backgrounds.

I started the day shooting with a long zoom lens in the park, but soon switched to my nifty fifty while in the crowd.  I had crossed to the South side of Queen St at one point to get away from the crowd, so I could do the lens change.  An older gentleman came up to me and started asking me what was going on.  I told him it was the Zombie Walk.  He inquired about what message was?  I didn't know what to tell him.  It's not political it's just fun!  He had a hard time understanding, until I pointed out that Halloween was a week away and it was a fun event.

Mental Zombie

This guy had to be my favorite zombie from the walk for two reasons, he looks like Rob Zombie, and I never saw him out of character.

He would just wander about with that expression.  Not saying anything, not moaning or groaning.  Even after the walk finished and everyone had broken character, he just kept on going.  My friend had a theory that he wasn't pretending and was actually a zombie or a mental patient (his costume consisted of pyjamas and a straight jacket).

Stay tuned for more zombies all this week, leading up to a massive horde post on Halloween!

Horde Unleashed

The dead have risen and declared it ZOMBIE WEEK at Fuzzification.com.

I'll be bringing you my favorite shots from the Toronto Zombie Walk.  This will all culminate with a mass zombie horde post at the end of the week.

The walk took place on Saturday in Toronto kicking off at Trinity Bellwoods Park and heading into China Town.  I was amazed at the number of people that came out.  There had to be at least 2500 people there. I went down with my friend "Wing King".  He became a zombie for the occasion.  I chose not to zombify, but rather go as myself and just move unencumbered through the horde taking pictures.  Although next year, I think I might just leave my camera at home and join the horde.  It was blast and the day was perfect for the walk, dark and dreary!  There was a huge variety in costumes, from the super simple to elaborate group theme costumes.  It was amazing.

So stay tuned this week for some zombies, guts and gore!

Rain Drops from Ricky Patel on Vimeo.