About this blog

Dear Friends and Family,

After five years as publisher of SNAP Guelph, a popular community newspaper in Guelph Ontario, I've recently sold my shares in the business and past on the reins. My brother, Nicolas Bell, will continue as owner/general manager and Chris Tiessen, who has worked for the paper for the past couple of years, will assume the title of publisher. Building a new business from the ground up and getting to know a community in the process has been immensely rewarding on a personal level. Is there anything better than putting smiles on thousands of people's faces each and every month? Well I hope to continue to do that as a freelance SNAP photographer, shooting and reporting on community events in and around Guelph as before, without the daily chores of running the business. And now I have some time to pursue some old interests -  and new projects - which I will share with you as they materialize. 

My first new project is starting this blog! I want it to be a photoblog since sharing images has been a continuous thread through my life: first with family photo albums as a child; then with slideshows and a slide production business in the '80s and '90s; and now, until recently, through a photo-based newspaper. Those of you who know me well know of my photographic interest in Nature. Everything from majestic landscapes to the glint in a wild animal's eye will make me reach for a camera. And sometimes it's two cameras as I've had a passion for 3-D photography for the past 23 years. So if you follow this blog those are the types of images that you may well see a lot of here, plus anything else that I feel is worthy of sharing. If you're patient enough, I'll even teach you how to see 3-D images with no glasses! But that's a subject for another post.

So allow me to welcome you to my new blog which I've called ThirdSpace, a name I've borrowed from my long-neglected web site, simonbell.ca (currently off-line). I'm new to blogging so  bear with me as I get up up to speed. Your patience will be rewarded!

For now,

Simon

My 1st SNAP Guelph covershot - Dec. 2005

My last SNAP Guelph covershot - Sept. 2010

Colouring Ontario

Gail under autumn's glory

At this time of year (Oct. 8th) what better place to do a road trip than right here in Ontario, checking out the gorgeous autumn colours. With no particular destination in mind we headed north taking as many back roads as possible. 

Our first stop was Silvercreek Conservation Area, NW of Georgetown, where there is a lovely stone bridge on Fallingbrook Trail. 'Falling' was the operative word when I slipped on some rocks into the brook right after taking the photo!

stone bridge, Silvercreek CA

We drove on through Orangeville, Primrose, Terra Nova and Rob Roy (I love the names!) eventually stopping for lunch in Creemore, a charming village and home of the Creemore Springs Brewery. We found a table at the bright and airy Bank Cafe, which, as it turned out, had only been open for four days. Owner/chef Charlene was still working out the bugs (trouble with the espresso machine) but nevertheless served up some great soup and panninis for us.

friendly service at the Bank Cafe

helping Stacie with the beer samples

After lunch, beer sampling at the brewery was in order: urBock, Kellerbier and Pilsner, all were exceptional. This microbrewery deserves the excellent reputation it has earned. 

After dawdling around Creemore a while longer we headed off to the Beaver Valley to see what fall colours we might find there. To be honest, we were a bit disappointed that we had missed the peak display. It seemed that a lot of the leaves in this part of Ontario had already fallen. We decided to extend our travels with a journey south to Niagara. But that's the subject for another post. To wrap up this post I leave you with a few of my fav photos from our trip that day.

   

a little local colour on the streets of Creemore

Creemore's Dressup Dance sculpture

Beaver Valley wetlands

last sun on the Beaver Valley