TRAVELS

field notes | EVAN MITSUI | photography

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Lake house interior. Duluth, MN Summer 2016.

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Lake house. Duluth, MN

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Ontario firesky on the first day of fall. October 2016

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Filter through the noise | Somewhere in Southern Ontario. 2016

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Killarney Provincial Park on the most Canadian Canada Day trip ever. Ain’t no party like a portage after party. Summer 2016.

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Chart: Is There A Cute Girl at the Climbing Gym? From Brendan at Semi-Rad

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Sometimes, randomly, we find the pieces falling into place in just the right way. Take this spot, for instance, where we turned up to climb one recent summer weekend half expecting to be run off either by the heat or bugs or an unwelcoming landowner. To the happy contrary, the crag (climber talk for a slab of rock not quite a mountain but big enough for a few routes) was cool, (mostly) pest-free and empty… at least until a group of friends who’d been kicked out of a more popular nearby zone by hired security guards turned up. Access is a tricky thing and there are many reasons why limiting it can be a good and right thing (the health of the ecosystem being the only good one that comes to mind right now). Other times it’s more complex, as in the case of this Southern Ontario spot. At the end of the day, this little mission went down as a great success: what better way to spend a day then with friends outside, conquering nothing but our own fears.

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I don't always climb strong, but when I do, I make sure @arts-and-rec is there to capture the moment. This one is from a river-side boulder cave in the Niagara Glenn, nearish the famous falls, taken on my first trip to the popular Onatrio bouldering zone.

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This shot, taken with an XT-1 body and xf23mm f1.4R lens, just landed my first major, cross-Canada ad campaign. It's being used in a series of bus stop posters, newspaper spreads and billboards featuring reporters with CBC News like Connie Walker, who I photographed on King St., in Toronto, in March. One of the largest (that I saw) was hung above Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Square and must have been 20 feet long. While I didn't really make any extra money off it (I'm a staffer at CBC) it's still cool to see my work out there in public.

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Picked up the camera a little early on this shot of the tent one night while on a climbing trip to Kentucky’s Red River Gorge. It’s mid April and the days were already nearing 30 C — too hot to climb in direct sunlight. Luckily, many of the crags in the Red are overhung and shaded. This was my second trip to the area around Slade and the Daniel Boone National Forest, the first being last fall when the volume and quality the Red’s routes got me hooked, and this time we linked up with some friends from the gym. There were good times and some improvement. Climbing is a long game, however, and after a couple days rest at home, I’m back in the gym with new areas to work on for the next trip south. Spring 2016.

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Sunday. Spent the morning getting a haircut in our old neighbourhood (we lived nearish the Junction, in Toronto) at a spot called the Rod & Gun Club. Beards, back issues of Playboy, Rockabilly... Antlers on the wall. That kind of place. Happy with my cut, I strolled the block and settled on a coffee at Full Stop, which was both airy and homey as well as new to me. Anastasiya was out with a friend (gym, brunch) so I luxuriated with a coffee... Specifically this one pictured, and enjoyed the people watching and left with a pound of beans. Browsed the furniture stores before cruising home through the weekend traffic.

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Not often, er ever, you see one of my shots on a massive billboard! This one, of @cbcnews reporter Connie Walker, was taken for the CBC's 'Investigates' campaign – which is on across Canada at the moment – and spotted in Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Sq. I put the original shot on my website: EvanMitsui.com

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First day of spring

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While visiting family in Minnesota we dropped by the Walker Arts Center, in Minneapolis. I've been in 10k- lake-land more than a few times now, for the above stated purpose, but this was my first trip to Walker. Beyond being a very cool building – I like the way this 70s era tile grades to ultra modern all-white walls – the galleries house some interesting and oft-changing modern American art. It was Saturday and admission was free. This hip Mid West couple looked like an exhibit so I snapped this shot. The people watching was the highlight. We also bought a cool wall clock made of cement and copper at the gift shop because we're hip, too. I then got the flu and have spent the last 4 days at home in and out of a fever. That was the lowlight.

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Pow day on King street | On the walk home the other day. March often brings snow storms to the coast, where I'm from, and it looks like it's the same in the Great Lakes region, too.

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It’s always Friday in Shinjuku. The variety show at the Robot Restaurant is a full on assault to the senses and the kind of glittering, techno-fusion collision of worlds only possible in Japan. It’s loud, a touch expensive and predictably filled with tourists but, as a slingshot into a trip to Tokyo, perhaps especially for a first timer, it’s a high intensity way to clear the jet lag and start a night in the city that never sleeps. Created with VSCO®

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Hokkaido: the rumours are true. Japan’s north island has been a deep snow destination for decades but, despite the cat being out of the bag, there are still plenty of stashes off the main trails. This abandoned tram station, on Mt. Annupuri, remains as a reminder of a quieter past.