I've been in Montreal for about a week and a half now without a camera.

My batteries died and the charger was in transit on its way from Peterborough to my Moms as well as a few other things that have caused me to not be able to take photographs.

Anyways.

Yesterday I went out and bought a new lens. Later that afternoon my charger finally arrived and I have been shooting non stop since. I had a bit of charge on one of my two batteries last night when we went to The McCord Museum to see two Photo exhibits and then went to China town for dinner.

This is how I feel.

A

Arrrr! I lied.

Since finishing school I have hit a few road blocks.
1) My battery charger was taken with my roommate accidentaly a while back and I have not managed to retreive it. No batteries for my camera.

2) Somehow my lens dissapeared. Wouldnt be a problem if I had a few more.

3) No access to photoshop means no access to editing photos means nothing to post :/

I am sorry.
Soon!

But for now I must go get ready to eat brunch with my oldest friend in Montreal.

Okay.

Here I am. Sorry for the Serious lack of posts in the last little while. The last week and a half of college before the break is Insane.

I will be done Tomorrow afternoon so after that point I will be able to Blog like crazy.
Also Building a website.

Out.

I've been shooting since saturday.
Non stop turnstile house of photo shoots. Its been both amazing and exhausting but here it is.

I've been working on this project called out. The whole plan was to visualize the shades of grey in the coming out process.

So here it is. Well a large portion of it at least.

BELLEVILLE, ON (04/12/10) - _______ _______, 19 "I don’t want to be bound by a ‘sexual preference’. I believe that love is what drives someone to fall in love and see another person as beautiful. I believe I’m perfectly capable of falling in love with either gender but I’m scared of coming out to myself in the sense that a label such as ‘bisexual’ will seem falsified no matter what sex I ultimately fall in love with. I’m scared that if I fall in love with a man, I will be a ‘fake lesbian’, or likewise, if I fall in love with a woman, I will be a ‘fake heterosexual’. I admit that much of this fear is also driven by the possibility of others viewing me in this manner as well." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (05/12/10) - Joni-Beth Andrews, 22 "I know my parents believe that being homosexual is wrong and against God. I fear rejection and it would kill me to be disowned by my family. I know they would never approve...." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (07/12/10) - Tristan Kong, 20 "I am scared to tell my family because I never have seen them talking about gay/lesbian people so I dont know what is their feeling or thoughts about them. I thank them for accepting and supporting me because I am Deaf. I feel not ready to tell them that I am gay just because they know that I am Deaf when I was born so they did not change anything toward me. But, they have no idea that I am gay so if i told them, would they accept me for another reason that I am gay? I also dont know how to tell them because many of them do not know sign language so it is difficult for me to express them or explain that i'm gay" - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE,ON (04/12/10) - Brittany Lees, 18 "Because I'm scared they will not accept me into their family for my dad is just marrying into her family. I'm also scared they will alienate him aswell and he deserves to be happy finally." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (05/12/10) - Ian Beaton, 22 "Because I am his only son and he expects me to meet a nice woman and start a 'perfect' family." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (07/12/10) - Robert Nielsen, 23 "If he was to know he would use it as an excuse to drink!" - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (05/12/10) - Michael Oosting, 16 "My older brother, Mike, has been my role model my entire life. I'm afraid if he knows the truth, I'll loose the best positive influence in my life." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (08/12/10) - Niamh Malcolm, 23 "I'm intimidated by them. I've struggled with my sexual identity since I was in grade school and they are so strong in who they are. I feel silly being scared to come out to my lesbian mothers and aunts but I am." - Photo by Natelie Herault. 

BELLEVILLE, ON (06/12/10) - Tahatie Diabo, 18 "I'm scared they wont accept it." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (05/12/10) - Jamal K. Marshall, 22 "My grandma is very religious and sick as in frail and I dont want to kill her." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (04/12/10) - Caitlin Smith, 18 "She's fucking British!" - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (03/12/10) - Mihal Zada, 26 "I'm afraid to come out to my grandfather because he is old and sick and comes from a small place. I don't know if he'll understand or be able to handle it, and I want that side of my family to be able to accept my girlfriend and I. I'm scared that if he can't than none of them will." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (06/12/10) - MJ Breault, 63 "Peers and students afraid of judgement (homophobia) I was in a position of authority. I didn't feel safe." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (07/12/10) - Adam Geneau, 21 "Scared of their reaction. Scared of what they might think." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE,ON (07/12/10) - Bradley Boyle, 19 "I have a fear of ignorance" - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (07/10/12) - Tammy Stevens, 34 "My students" - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (06/12/10) - Brian Cannon, 20 "It's hard to come out to new people when you're not sure if they are used to gay people or even the world." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (07/10/12) - Sharon Kallaste, 50 "Cause I'm old. No fear of self truth & honesty." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (05/12/10) - Crystal, 20 

- Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (05/12/10) - Michelle K. Stevens, 17 "I used to be afraid to tell everyone, My plan was to come out after I moved to Toronto on my own. But I met a girl, I came out. Over a year later, I'm single and happy. I don't care what anyone thinks. I am me. I am free!!!" - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (03/12/10) - Soizig Provost, 33 "It was scary to come out to my mom, after that I didn't care anymore." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (05/12/10) - Katelynn Way, 15 "I'm not afraid to be me, infront of anyone.Be like a skyscraper, and stand tall." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (03/12/10) - Dylan Fleming, 18 "Love me or hate me there is no in between with me." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

BELLEVILLE, ON (06/12/10) - Karla Kenny, 27 "I came to a point in my life where I realized that I am not defined by a word and I will not let a word define me. To me, being gay is no different then me being interested in photography, for example. It’s a part of what I live, sometimes it dictates decisions in how I live, but it never makes me who I am. I am a lot of things. I am an aunt, a sister, a girlfriend, a friend, an artist, a Capricorn and a female, just to name a few. None of these define me, so why should my sexuality? The day I realized I other peoples definitions do not tell me who I am, whatever that definition may be, was the day I stopped being afraid. I'm not going to live my life to someone else's standards. If other people have an issue with that, then it's their choice to just walk away. I am who I am and I'm finally ok with that." - Photo by Niamh Malcolm

I borrowed the schools broken 5D mark II this weekend and it worked a BIT but not very much. I had hoped that testing it out would help me decide if I wanted to fork over the money to get my own. I wasn't convinced but thats only because of the fact that the screen kept flashing 'ERROR 30' and refused to let me take more then half of the photographs I wanted to to top that off it wouldn't let me do any video.

Here are some photographs I took with it this morning while running to the bus and after I got to the stop.

I had one minute till the bus was scheduled to arrive and I realized I left something at home so I ran home between this and the next photograph.

I will always be jealous of your big beautiful eyes Natelie. You have some of the most incredible eyes.

Obviously Natelie took this one of Me.

Also. ^^^ This is how I feel.

I'm not 100% sure why the lens was vignetting but it was.

Fun fun fun.

I couldn't get enough of this song if I wanted to.

Note Patty's paw. We also call her Binky

My mom rescued this beautiful cat last year. Patty Hurts was the only female alley cat in the neighbourhood that survived the winter or in her case two. A few people decided to catch her and get her fixed and when it came time to take care of her during the recovery process my moms got her. She is so cute and these photos kind of suck but I just felt the need to put them in here. 

Also. My aunt Chris (Doodah) is back from China. The three of us went to Simons in Montreal in search of GinchGonch but instead we found this extremely ugly and over priced hat. Would you believe me if I told you that the price tag said upwards of 600$. Im serious.

My Doodah is in the red version of the over priced ugly hat and my mom is in the Purple over priced ugly hat.

As you can see they are both very silly. < 3

I call my aunt Doodah because both my aunt and my dad are Chris. When I was a baby I called my dad Dadu and my aunt Doodah. I don't actually know if this is the reason why but I have been told something to this effect and I liked how it sounded so I'm sticking to that story. 

I did a shoot last night with Pat Suley, 26. He plays baseball back home.

I'm a little bummed that I shot this at 1600 accidentally but I'm still really happy with the results.

Earlier today I noticed my friends facebook status change to "Train Derailed!"

Twenty minutes later I was trail blazing through the woods so I could get a good shot.

I believe I got a few great shots.

I did a shoot with my friend Dylan today. Dylan is one of the subjects in my Social Issue assignment. These two shots wont be in the final edit of this project.

A few shots of one of my best friends Animal.

And a Charlie cameo of course.

I think it's time for me to introduce you to Charlie my cat.

His other nicknames include: Squishm Squism little man, Nubz (he has no tail), mr buisquit, Ging, Evil kitty and many many more.

At the start of the year we were asked in editing class to choose the most important photo of the summer.

This summer was filled with a lot of very important moments for me but I think that this photograph really says it all.

The Honey Trap.

Members of the Nectar Village theme camp climb the Honey Trap on Friday before the Man burns. Animus a New York City based art collective designed the Honey Trap to replicate mathematical proportions found everywhere in the architecture of nature.

They were trying to highlight the relationship between Architecture and Nature as well as compare different versions of Metropolis in cities and the different versions of metropolis in nature. – Photo by Niamh Malcolm

This photograph actually brings up some bittersweet emotions when I look at it. Burningman in and of itself was the most inspiring event I have been a part of in years. I have already had about ten different documentary ideas sprout from this event and because I am very passionate about them I am excited and cant wait to get started.

This particular photograph was on the Friday night about three hours before ‘the Man’ burned during a succession of sandstorms. The people who are standing and sitting atop ‘The Honey Comb’ here were pounding on the structure while singing and behind me people were dancing and there was even someone playing a trumpet that I recall shooting fire. The theme at Burningman this year was Metropolis and this structure was built to highlight the relationships between Human Metropolis and Metropolis structures in nature as well as the relationships between Architecture and Nature.

On a personal note before and after taking this photograph I was talking to one of my new friends about the things we had decided to release while the Temple burned the next day. I don’t want to go into the things that I wrote down but we spent quite some time picking apart everything in our lives and each wrote several page letters. Some of the most painful words I’ve ever had to write and many strangers will have read it. I felt exposed and this photograph just immediately reminds me of that feeling. The Temple is a place that you write anything you want to write and it’s a place of peace and love. I say that as if the entire event doesn’t have those values exuding from every person when it does, but the Temple takes this all to another level.

F.L.A.P stands for Fatal Light Awareness Program and is an organization in Toronto, On that is dedicated to making the city a safer place for wildlife. While focused on birds they are also determined to make the city safer for other animals as well.
I met up with one of the volunteers at five am last fall to do one of the tours around the downtown core looking for any injured or dead birds. After carefully catching the injured birds they put them into brown paper bags and wait for them to calm down. If their injuries are extreme they bring them to the Toronto Wildlife Centre but if they were just stunned F.L.A.P will take them to the outskirts of the city to realease them.











































1) A single hummingbird with a tag around its ankle lays dead in the hand
of one of the volunteers.
2) The FLAP office is in the basement of one of the least bird safe office towers in downtown Toronto.
3) A display box used by FLAP volunteers to explain the range of migratory birds that are effected by the unsafe conditions the downtown core to school children.
4) A FLAP volunteer cradling a pigeon that has just struck a window in the downtown core.

Since starting F.L.A.P Cities like Chicago, Seattle and NYC formed groups to protect Migratory birds.