It was the end of summer. A very nice summer I might add. I went for a long walk over my noon hour, leaving my office and walking down Strachan Avenue to the shore of Lake Ontario and west along the lake front.
As I walked along, I started to pass Ontario Place, a popular summer destination for families, and was captivated by the sight.
As you can see by the images, there is nothing more bittersweet than a tourist attraction without its crowds.
It's like looking at a middle-aged woman without her make-up. The good bones are still there, but the sparkle is missing.
I was further intrigued by the emergence of a strong motif as I looked at the images. From the bars of the fencing around the grounds to the planks in the decking stacked in the parking lot, there is a strong sense of horizontal and vertical lines in all these photographs.
In the summertime, with people milling about, there is chaos and disorder. In the fall, the scene is ordered, aligned, arranged, symmetrical. Things are stacked properly. Gates are closed, spaces are confined.
Strong horizontal and vertical lines suggest imprisonment. We are being kept out, but something is also being kept in.
Who (or what) are the inmates of this prison? Certainly, we know that the chairs will never leave.
These docks are safely stowed as well. They won't be floating away to cause havoc with the freighters out on the lake.
All good things have to come to an end, but despite the sense of imprisonment and foreboding, we are secure in the knowledge that spring will return, the gates will open, the children will pour in and chaos will reign once more!
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