Articles in Photo Essay

Autumn Leaves
What is death to the western sensibility but the ultimate assault on identity?
by Mark Fenton
Published November 30, 2017 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

No Loitering: A Rapid Tour of the Mountain Brow
It's the uneasy space between cultivation and chaos that enables the most transcendental consideration of human culture in the cosmos.
by Mark Fenton
Published July 21, 2017 in Photo Essay (2 comments)

Delta Block, or Life on the Wedge
Solid though they are, the survival of buildings is as precarious as the survival of texts.
by Mark Fenton
Published March 06, 2017 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

Two Countries, Five Films, A Silent Movie Pianist, LRT, Three Walking Tours, Four Poets, And Some Creepy Mummies
It is surely no accident that Halloween in Canada and the Day of the Dead in Mexico (November 1st and 2nd) happen in the exact middle of Fall.
by Mark Fenton
Published November 25, 2016 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

Waterfront Trail Sunset Photo Tour
It doesn't get much nicer than dinner on the waterfront, followed by a bike ride along the Waterfront Trail between Hamilton and Burlington.
by Jason Leach
Published August 24, 2016 in Photo Essay (5 comments)

Summer Destinations I Have Explored Without Leaving Hamilton (Some of Them With a Companion Named Édouard)
Our companions can encourage us to view the familiar through fresh eyes.
by Mark Fenton
Published August 15, 2016 in Photo Essay (1 comment)

Undiscovered Country
Unlike flesh and blood people, forgetting about fictional characters is all it takes to make them go away. This difference can be a bad thing or a good thing, depending on the companion you've brought with you.
by Mark Fenton
Published May 31, 2016 in Photo Essay (1 comment)

Blue Sky, Beautiful City
Sometimes it's nice to set aside policy and politics and just take a moment to enjoy how beautiful our city really is.
by Jason Leach
Published March 30, 2016 in Photo Essay (3 comments)

Curious Purple, Remembered Snow
How relentlessly audiences look for a feature that identifies this artist and this artist alone.
by Mark Fenton
Published March 17, 2016 in Photo Essay (3 comments)

Requiem for a Coin: Regina ... Hamilton ... Edmonton ... Marienbad ... Winnipeg
Before the Internet, before cable, before we had more than CBC on a black and white TV, my friends and I knew the joy of squashing pennies on railroad tracks.
by Mark Fenton
Published December 04, 2015 in Photo Essay (1 comment)

Central Park: Open 24/7
I'd lived in Hamilton almost a decade before I discovered Central Park. Subsequently it would come upon me like an old friend with answers to questions I didn't know I'd asked.
by Mark Fenton
Published September 28, 2015 in Photo Essay (2 comments)

Above the Level of a Railway Guide
At a certain age there is simply too much information, too many distinctions to be made, too many identities to be confirmed.
by Mark Fenton
Published June 10, 2015 in Photo Essay (5 comments)

Chasing Sydenham Creek Upstream from Cootes Drive
There's nothing like following a creek upstream through a traditional neighbourhood to make you fall in love with your city all over again.
by Ryan McGreal
Published March 20, 2015 in Photo Essay (11 comments)

Sugaring Off at Westfield Heritage Village
The wafting smells of wood smoke and boiling sap are a intoxicating combination when walking from display to display.
by Margaret Lindsay Holton
Published March 10, 2015 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

Sherman Cut: A Survival Kit for Motorist and Pedestrian
If this preamble is menacing, that may be because it's the first of a planned series on the more extreme motoring challenges to be found in the Hamilton area.
by Mark Fenton
Published January 20, 2015 in Photo Essay (5 comments)

Two National Anthems, Two Toy American Flags, Seven Canadian Flags (various sizes), and a Headless Giraffe
I confess to being puzzled at the attention 'field stripping' gets, compared to 'field assembly'. I'm not the world's handiest guy but I'm nearly always able to make a machine break into its components. It's putting the pieces back together that trips me
by Mark Fenton
Published July 07, 2014 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

Let's Go Fly a Kite!
Conditions were perfect for last weekend's annual Burlington Kite Festival.
by Margaret Lindsay Holton
Published June 03, 2014 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

Heisenberg, or Thirteen ways of Getting to Work
A memoir is necessarily about memory and memory is necessarily about loss - a loss that is filled in with imagination.
by Mark Fenton
Published April 04, 2014 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

Flâneur for a Day in Downtown Hamilton
In which the fruits of idleness are considered to be more precious than the fruits of labour.
by Ryan McGreal
Published March 12, 2014 in Photo Essay (6 comments)

Going to Nebo Road and Back: A Winter Journey
Is it possible to compute the amount of time subtracted in tiny increments from our lives, as we locate and insert keys into property that was never imperiled to begin with?
by Mark Fenton
Published February 03, 2014 in Photo Essay (3 comments)

Just Razors, That's All
While unqualified to critique either Russell or Cantor on set theory, I don't hesitate to recommend they both make the leap beyond barber-as-character-in-a-paradox and actually visit one and get rid of that hideous growth!
by Mark Fenton
Published November 13, 2013 in Photo Essay (8 comments)

How to Get from Breadalbane Street to the Fortinos Dundurn Parking Lot and Back Without Dying
If you want to feel humble and small compared to the great painters, pick a colour and paint a room it.
by Mark Fenton
Published August 16, 2013 in Photo Essay (14 comments)

Photos From the Big Storm
A collection of photos from the storm and the aftermath on Saturday morning.
by Ryan McGreal
Published July 21, 2013 in Photo Essay (5 comments)

Hamilton's James Street North: A Hidden Gem
James Street North is a Jane Jacobs urban village with a diversity of buildings, activities and people and its mixture of local pubs, clubs, cafes, bistros and shops.
by Richard White
Published July 09, 2013 in Photo Essay (26 comments)

First Look at New Nations Fresh Foods
All in all, the new Nations Fresh looks very, well, fresh: clean, modern, spacious and stylish. It also successfully avoids looking cheap or cut-rate.
by Ryan McGreal
Published July 04, 2013 in Photo Essay (36 comments)

Sanatorium and Sanatorium: A Winter Collage
The setting of the Hamilton Sanatorium satisfies the early 20th century medical belief that high altitude and positioning on a slope contribute to the best conditions for consumptive patients.
by Mark Fenton
Published April 20, 2013 in Photo Essay (4 comments)

The Deconstruction of Crestwood School
Think about it: tools used for building are depicted on the side of a building that's being destroyed.
by Mark Fenton
Published January 03, 2013 in Photo Essay (6 comments)

Way Side, or The Tao of Lunch
Nietzsche lived in a world where you could expect to meet the enemy face to face. You weren't worrying about the surveillance cameras on your back.
by Mark Fenton
Published September 28, 2012 in Photo Essay (12 comments)

Thoughts on Thoughts About Persons from Porlock
Is this that bizarre North American directive where we're ordered to do something that only makes sense as a personal reflex of spontaneous happiness?
by Mark Fenton
Published June 05, 2012 in Photo Essay (3 comments)

BradI Ching: A Photo Journey to the End of my Driveway and Back Again
Are we all guilty of pursuing the horizon? Of pursuing an end that is but a beginning the moment we reach it?
by Mark Fenton
Published January 26, 2012 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

The Sadness of Pencils: Art, Ethics, and a Recipe for Baba Ghanoush
Including a shout-out to Paul Gauguin for abandoning his wife and five children for a hedonistic and selfish existence on the backs (literally) of poor uneducated Tahitian women.
by Mark Fenton
Published November 11, 2011 in Photo Essay (16 comments)

Vancouver: 40 Years of Urbanism in Pictures
A series of photos to illustrate some aspects of the Vancouver Model of urban development.
by Nicholas Kevlahan
Published August 05, 2011 in Photo Essay (26 comments)

Deaths in Venice: A Centenary Tourist Experience
All holidays are fabrications. The fact of moving through a place we won't remain in means we don't put down foundations, but instead invent brief possible selves that we never become.
by Mark Fenton
Published July 10, 2011 in Photo Essay (4 comments)

Odradek for the 21st Century
Odradek shows up in the strangest places, when least expected.
by Mark Fenton
Published April 04, 2011 in Photo Essay (9 comments)

Erasure 1953-2011: A Journey To Extinction
I've been haunted by the idea of walking though urban streets, looking for a perfect eraser. I will not live forever. Carpe diem.
by Mark Fenton
Published January 30, 2011 in Photo Essay (9 comments)

A Shortcut From Dundurn To Frid That Readers Are Strongly Advised Not To Take
Mark resolved to travel from The First Unitarian Church of Hamilton to Soccer World, on foot, as directly as the crow flies, and to hell with any obstacles between the two.
by Mark Fenton
Published December 18, 2010 in Photo Essay (7 comments)

London Calling
Downtown London, Ontario felt like a parallel universe version of Hamilton in which Main Street was two-way and McMaster had a proper downtown campus.
by Ryan McGreal
Published November 08, 2010 in Photo Essay (21 comments)

Ottawa, Summer 2010 (in a Convex Mirror)
If you can't imagine a purposeless walk from one strip mall to another being beautiful, spend two hours in the Diefenbunker.
by Mark Fenton
Published October 01, 2010 in Photo Essay (1 comment)

March Break in Saskatchewan
Items discussed: public space, triangles, deep ruts, grandmothers, synthetic frogs, creepy ways to hang not particularly creepy pictures, and ruminations on the Christian drama.
by Mark Fenton
Published April 07, 2010 in Photo Essay (3 comments)

Kay Drage Park and the Origins of Written Language
As I advance into old age I suspect I'll retreat ever deeper into solitude. To this end I will write in my own language, in my own alphabet, and produce photo essays comprehensible to no one but myself.
by Mark Fenton
Published February 01, 2010 in Photo Essay (11 comments)

The Sunday Peninudes at Valens Conservation Area
Given the mid-to-late 20th Century beach culture that was instilled in me, it is hardly surprising that by my mid-teens I had completely eradicated the beach from my life.
by Mark Fenton
Published October 06, 2009 in Photo Essay (1 comment)

Things to Do in Hamilton When You're Unemployed
Strange to think of a place like this just being occupied by dead people. It could never happen in Toronto. A century crypt like this is just too tantalizing as real estate. You could sublet it in a heartbeat.
by Mark Fenton
Published August 06, 2009 in Photo Essay (9 comments)

Fractured Giraffe, or The Shards of Post-Industrial Life
A great source for the random detritus of urban life is the varied scraps of paper readers grab impulsively for bookmarks, which the books can inadvertently preserve for decades.
by Mark Fenton
Published June 05, 2009 in Photo Essay (3 comments)

Left Turn at Albuquerque
Whether I'm going to the moon or out to buy shoe-laces, the anxiety I accumulate between waking and finally steeling myself up but to put both feet on the floor next to the bed is always more than double the anxiety of any other journey in my day.
by Mark Fenton
Published April 28, 2009 in Photo Essay (2 comments)

RTH Does Northwest Part 2: Portland, Oregon
A successful urban environment like Portland offers lessons for Hamilton on how cities can grow, develop and thrive.
by Jason Leach
Published April 12, 2009 in Photo Essay (19 comments)

RTH Does Northwest Part 1: Seattle, Washington
A successful urban environment like Seattle offers lessons for Hamilton on how cities can grow, develop and thrive.
by Jason Leach
Published April 12, 2009 in Photo Essay (3 comments)

The Ballad of Mountain Garage
Two busspottings a day was not difficult, even without really trying.
by Mark Fenton
Published March 14, 2009 in Photo Essay (10 comments)

The Other Mark Fenton
An Examination of Love, Death, the Pursuit of Happiness, the Ineffable Construct of the Self, and Undelivered Mail.
by Mark Fenton
Published February 11, 2009 in Photo Essay (2 comments)

RATDROP: An Exploration of Altitude, Liberty and the Inevitable Heaviness of Being
It's a constitutional right to own a jet that exceeds the sound barrier, burns a fantastic amount of fuel for what can only be short range flights, has no significant space for luggage, and can be fitted for weapons of mass destruction.
by Mark Fenton
Published November 26, 2008 in Photo Essay (4 comments)

Lost Word, Lost Image: Photo Tour of a Sentence
All literature is about loss, and Malcolm Lowry and Proust are each exceptional in their hourly agonizing over, and meticulous accounting of loss.
by Mark Fenton
Published November 04, 2008 in Photo Essay (2 comments)

The Fly: A Consideration of Animal Rights, Landscape Sketches, and Mortality
I didn't free the fly. I didn't terminate the fly. I walked away. How would a Jain judge me? How would William Stafford? How would The Cramps?
by Mark Fenton
Published October 02, 2008 in Photo Essay (1 comment)

The Bardo of the Canadian Prairies: Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg (with a new translation by Jeffrey Stewart)
We are allowed five minutes exactly. We must not wander from the bus and we are told: "You may not cross the street because if you are hit by a car you will probably be injured and I will be fired."
by Mark Fenton
Published September 11, 2008 in Photo Essay (2 comments)

Waiting for Denis Johnson
That's what we want from art: something that penetrates the material body, passes through it and into our mind.
by Mark Fenton
Published July 07, 2008 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

The Yurts of Bronte Park, or: The Possibility of Camping on the 403
Easy to Mapquest, and aside from being stuck-on-a-site-with-a-pole, it should end the griping about how all the good sites were already taken. A campground on the 403. You heard it here first.
by Mark Fenton
Published June 05, 2008 in Photo Essay (1 comment)

Eaton Centre Parkade: Parking Garage or Lifestyle Choice?
Whenever I turn down a street I've been away from for a while I'm presented with something in ruins.
by Mark Fenton
Published March 24, 2008 in Photo Essay (2 comments)

Shadows: A Walking Tour of Mount Hope
I'm waiting for the phone to ring for having taken these pictures earlier this afternoon, as citizens of Mount Hope describe my suspicious activities to the authorities.
by Mark Fenton
Published February 14, 2008 in Photo Essay (2 comments)

The Enigma of Cats, or A Cautionary Tale About Electricity
In my dream I see the Sphinx fading up mysteriously onto the screen of my darkened Blackberry. And we talk.
by Mark Fenton
Published January 18, 2008 in Photo Essay (1 comment)

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Christ the King Cathedral
Such is the human spirit that it overreaches itself.
by Mark Fenton
Published December 20, 2007 in Photo Essay (1 comment)

Orpheus in Burlington
It does not pay to look back. Except sometimes it does.
by Mark Fenton
Published November 27, 2007 in Photo Essay (4 comments)

Ottawa Street: Way Too Close to Hallowe'en For Comfort
Ottawa Street is to fabric shopping as West 47 Street, New York, NY is to diamond shopping.
by Mark Fenton
Published November 08, 2007 in Photo Essay (2 comments)

Hammer Walk-Up (Part 1)
A Guided Tour Of East Mohawk With Two Mini-Dramas, A Consideration Of The War Of 1812, And An Unexpected Bunch Of References To Islamic Textiles
by Mark Fenton
Published October 22, 2007 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

Hammer Walk-Up (Part 2)
A Guided Tour Of East Mohawk With Two Mini-Dramas, A Consideration Of The War Of 1812, And An Unexpected Bunch Of References To Islamic Textiles
by Mark Fenton
Published October 22, 2007 in Photo Essay (3 comments)

The West Hamilton Rail Trail
A journey through the Hamilton part of the Brantford - Hamilton rail trail, the one that follows the old TH&B line, but does not officially exist.
by Ted Mitchell
Published June 27, 2007 in Photo Essay (15 comments)

The Narrow Road to Rymal and Nebo
A travelogue with some new poetry by Jeffrey Stewart in it.
by Mark Fenton
Published June 27, 2007 in Photo Essay (1 comment)

Adventures In Har[dw]are
What do B. Kliban, Lewis Caroll, Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Wittgenstein, and Harare, Zimbabwe have in common?
by Mark Fenton
Published May 18, 2007 in Photo Essay (3 comments)

Possibility for a Camera Obscura and Garth and Stonechurch
Mark sees through a glass, darkly.
by Mark Fenton
Published April 30, 2007 in Photo Essay (3 comments)

How I Wrote "How I Wrote 'Fisk'"
If you like movies about how movies are made, you'll love this story about how a story was made.
by Mark Fenton
Published March 19, 2007 in Photo Essay (2 comments)

Ancaster [Business Park]: An exploration in three mini-dramas, two snacks and a graveyard
We owe it to ourselves to walk (in stages, not necessarily consecutively) the entire route from home to the places we travel routinely.
by Mark Fenton
Published January 24, 2007 in Photo Essay (1 comment)

The Roof Warrior
A stark figure zaprudered on the roof of a church spawns a genre-busting, apocalyptic literary thriller.
by Mark Fenton
Published November 23, 2006 in Photo Essay (2 comments)

Ped Versus Pod
If you are in a lobby, you'd rather be somewhere else, or have no place to go, or have reached a psychic limit and have found a momentary sanctuary midway through life's journey.
by Mark Fenton
Published October 06, 2006 in Photo Essay (2 comments)

Appleby Line and Highway 5
Cars as well as houses are what we shut ourselves in to avoid the terror of the crowd.
by Mark Fenton
Published July 05, 2006 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

From Centre Mall to the Fringe
Can a photo essayist and a documentary filmmaker find each other if there's no Tim Horton's to guide them?
by Mark Fenton
Published June 16, 2006 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

A Lot in an Empty Lot
Mark tours an overlooked empty lot near the otherwise-bustling corner of Upper James and Rymal, and survives to tell the tale.
by Mark Fenton
Published May 26, 2006 in Photo Essay (7 comments)

Jackson Square Rooftop
I fell in love with the Jackson Square Rooftop shortly after I moved to Hamilton. There's so nothing like this in Edmonton.
by Mark Fenton
Published May 05, 2006 in Photo Essay (7 comments)

Meadowlands Power Centre: A Photographic Odyssey
Mark Fenton dares the impossible and discovers serendipity in a pedestrian walkway.
by Mark Fenton
Published April 21, 2006 in Photo Essay (9 comments)

Hamilton Bookstore Tour
See a photo essay on some of the bookstores Hamilton has to offer.
by Trey Shaughnessy
Published March 14, 2005 in Photo Essay (0 comments)

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