# Sneakerzoom's Blog

> Recording life one film roll at a time.


## Posts

- [Widescreen Poutine](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2026/07/widescreen-poutine/): Who says you need a nine-hour transatlantic flight to get a taste of France? This July, we packed our bags and headed east to soak up some distilled joie de vivre in Montréal—and the city showed off.
- [Roadtrip!](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2026/06/roadtrip/): Picture the scene: it’s late June, Canada Day is lurking just around the corner, it’s a balmy 27°C, and by some miracle of modern scheduling, you actually have a day off. Do you responsibly tackle the laundry pile? Catch up on sleep? Clean out the fridge? Absolutely not. You jump in the car and hit the road.
- [Storming Unionville](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2026/06/storming-unionville/): This annual festival was born from a 1969 protest by concerned citizens fearing that the widening of a nearby road (Kennedy Road) may destroy homes and businesses along the historic Main Street in Unionville. Their rallies resulted in a bypass of Kennedy Road and secured this beautiful street for future generations to enjoy.
- [Festival Season](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2026/06/festival-season/): Taste of North York has quickly evolved into a serious community & food festival. The annual event is held at the Mel Lastman Square, just north-west of Yonge Street and North York Boulevard. In its first year, the three-day festival already attracted 40,000 visitors, and I am pretty sure that number must have grown by now.
- [Ghost Busted](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2026/05/ghost-busted/): On the same day of the Whild Whitby 'excursion', my friend V and myself went looking for a 'ghost town' in the Durham Region, but not as the end-destination of this trip. More like 'would be great if we can pass through there, but we'll stop wherever we see something interesting along the way'.
- [Whild Whitby](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2026/05/whild-whitby/): Whitby is a city east of Toronto, between Ajax and Oshawa, along Highway 401. That enormous -busiest highway in North America- vein that connects Toronto to Ottawa & Montreal to the east as well as London & Detroit to the west. As many other cities in Canada it has a borrowed name, in this case from the seaport town of Whitby in Yorkshire, England
- [Sakura](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2026/04/sakura/): Behold: the sole survivor of an entire 36-exposure roll.
- [Easter Eggs](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2026/03/easter-eggs/): Our Ottawa trips usually consist of lots of family-time, some nature hikes here and there, some restauranting or museuming, and -of course- tons of food. This time was not much different. Over the past decade-and-a-bit I've seen the food scene diversify steadily, but the museums have always been very good.
- [Sawlog Bay](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2026/02/sawlog-bay/): At this northern outskirt of Simcoe County between Nottawasaga Bay and Georgian Bay, Awenda Provincial Park is a must-go destination. We went there a few years ago as part of a larger road trip, but that was in summer. It was seriously enjoyable even though there were quite some tourists and campers - especially near the waterfall/waterslide.
- [Coyotes?!](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2026/01/coyotes/): Scarborough, Ontario. January 25th, 2026. Minus 20 Celsius. It's a blurry, flurry, bitterly cold day. There's a snowstorm raging, but it's calm inside. Suddenly, the sound of a cup of tea being set back on the table with more conviction than appropriate for a Sunday afternoon. "Let's go out for a walk!", she says.
- [Bleue Bog](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2025/10/bleue-bog/): And so it came to pass that on this day I encountered a Blue Jay as close as 4 feet. Those screechy little fuckers (Blue Jays are beautiful blue birds as well as my defacto baseball team, but once they start 'talking', you want to reach for your ear buds) usually are skittish as hell and like to skedaddle out of sight.
- [Look Where You're Walking](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2025/08/look-where-youre-walking/): We had driven around a bit earlier that month, did a few small hikes around the countryside and I snapped some pics with this little thing. What stood out to me was the vast diversity of the ground we were standing on. Fossil-studded shale, alien looking bedrock, rocky forest floor...and all with their own particular pecularities.
- [Dragon Meat BBQ](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2025/07/dragon-meat-bbq/): Snapshot inbetween races during a dragonboating regatta in Hamilton during July of 2025. On the grill: freshly slaughtered dragon meat.
- [It's Your Birthday](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2025/06/its-your-birthday/): A milestone birthday in a typical Canadian cottage backyard. Or was it a wedding anniversary? I simply cannot remember and might revise this post at some time.
- [Toronto Islands](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2025/06/toronto-islands/): The Toronto Islands is a group of 15(!) islands in Lake Ontario, south of Toronto. You can find everything from walking trails, public parks, restaurants, an airport to yacht clubs, an amusement park and public beaches here. It is also the largest urban car-free community in North America, with around 300 homes, a school and a church. In other words, it's a little paradise.
- [The Circuit](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2025/05/the-circuit/): Walking around Kensington (this seems to be a recurring theme), trying out a camera I've never used before. This Minolta came to me through a favourable eBay deal, and whilst the machine looks great, looking through it turned out to be a problem.
- [Killer Cheese](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2025/04/killer-cheese/): On the first beautiful day of the year, my partner in crime V and myself took up our cameras for a stroll in and around Kensington Market, downtown Toronto. I don't go here often (which is a shame because there's a killer cheese shop here) as it's 'downtown', which for Scarborians is like driving to the third city over. Too far and too much hassle.
- [It's A Sign](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2025/04/its-a-sign/): The (locally) famous Kensington sign on top of a parking structure at the north of Kensington Market, Toronto. That's it. A sign on an HVAC-structure.
- [Commensaliy](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2025/03/commensaliy/): The "Commensality" project started in the early days of 2025 and is still going strong.
- [Fine Japanese Cuisine](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2025/02/fine-japanese-cuisine/): The state of the sign lied about the state of the kitchen it alluded to.
- [Cobra Chicken](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2024/11/cobra-chicken/): L'oie du Canada, or the Canadian Goose, is a particularly large brand of goose, and considered assholes - at least here in Canada.
- [The Chase Is On](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2018/10/the-chase-is-on/): These images come from a roll shot in October 2018, when the world was a different place. Funny how quickly things can change, isn't it. Just a few years after this, going outside was a whole endeavour, if at all possible for city folk like me.
- [The Terrible Transit Conspiracy](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2018/09/the-terrible-transit-conspiracy/): The title of this article is a weak jab to the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission), who are not the only one to blame for the malay transit is in here. Metrolinx as well as the Ontario government have made just as much of a mess of it than previous municipal governments have over the years (read: decades). But that's a topic for an entirely different podium.
- [Walk This Way](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2018/08/walk-this-way/): On a random hot Sunday sometime in the summer of 2018, we learned that there would be a car-less Sunday in parts of the downtown core of Toronto. Err...what? Say no more, we're coming! So, for no other reason than to experience what a big city without cars looks and feels like, we made our way there and walked around. That was the entire game plan. And you know what, it was enjoyable. There were plenty people afoot; crazy people, relaxing people, running people, fashionable people, dancing people, happy people...many peoples.
- [Sugar Beach](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2018/07/sugar-beach/): From a walk along the lakefront downtown Toronto ending up at the historic Cherry Beach Life Guard Station.
- [National Pride](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2016/05/national-pride/): In my opinion, tulips are always a good idea.
- [Ah, Bollocks!](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2015/12/ah-bollocks/): Or 'when your sister comes to town and you want to give her a little memory in the form of a nice print but your chosen film goes tata' (or you just suck as a photographer). So, yes my sister did come to town and flew thousands of feet to do so, and yes I wanted to give her something nice to remember her trip by (a picture of Niagara Falls on medium format film for example - excellent for a nice, large photograph on her wall back home)...and I messed it all up.
- [What Is The Reason For Your Visit?](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2015/10/what-is-the-reason-for-your-visit/): "To explore Detroit and all it has to offer, officer".
- [Freezicle](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2014/12/freezicle/): An open open sign. We get it. You're open.
- [Clifton Hill](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2014/09/clifton-hill/): The Falls (and it's recent upgrades such as 'Behind the Falls') can be magical in winter when parts of the river & Falls are frozen over and everything else is covered in tiny frozen and sparkling ice crystals. And there's fewer people, cuz it's coooold. The boat ride is cool, though but I don't think it runs through the winter.
- [Lady In Red](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2014/08/lady-in-red/): From one of the first rolls of film I shot in Scarborough, waaay back in 2014, taken with an Olympus XA I had brought along with me when moving to Canada.
- [Dang It](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2014/08/dang-it/): It was a typical hot Toronto day, humid and sweaty, but all the foods & beverages on offer were a sight for sore eyes, and delicious to boot. Establishments along the street extended their patios, so people could have a seat and enjoy ice-cold items as well. Some entertainment for children, some music, and not too many people.
- [Pure Brightness](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/2014/04/pure-brightness/): The Qingming Festival, or Ching Ming Festival, also known as the Festival of Pure Brightness and Tomb Sweeping Day, involves families visiting and cleaning the graves of ancestors, making offerings of food, burning joss paper, and paying respects to the deceased.

## Pages

- [Blogroll](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/blogroll/): Drop a line below if you have or know of a blog that should be listed here, too.
- [Visitor Map](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/visitor-map/): Where are you visiting from?
- [Thank you](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/thank-you/): Thank you so much!
- [Follow](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/follow/): Receive an email with the full post, including pictures, every time a new one is uploaded to the blog. Guaranteed spam-free.
- [Browse](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/browse/): Hey Edward, thanks for your reply and suggestion. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be corroded contacts, the camera is old enough for that.
- [About Sneakerzoom](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/about/): An Old World immigrant now based in the Greater Toronto Area, I’ve fallen hard for this vast country—its wild landscapes, dense multicultural energy, and complex layers of history.
- [Privacy Policy](https://blog.sneakerzoom.ca/privacy-policy/): Updated and Effective as of February 25th, 2026.

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