Tony Sweet Workshop

I had the good fortune to attend a workshop given by the renowned photographer, Tony Sweet, that was organized by the RA Photo Club, and one of the shooting locations was the former E.B. Eddy paper mill that straddles the river between Ottawa and Gatineau. This was a great location and one that required special permission to access. I really enjoyed this workshop, and Tony was a great guy who provided a wealth of information and knowledge. The workshop spanned the better part of two days and there were three shooting locations in total, although the E.B. Eddy paper mill was the highlight of the sites that we visited. This vacant industrial site will soon be demolished and replaced with residential, commercial and retail buildings. I could have spent a week there, but we only had a couple of hours. We were guided through the part of the site that we visited by Paul Harrison, who with a small group of volunteer photographers, has spent more than a year photographing the site for historical purposes before demolition. We needed a guide because the area was quite dangerous. The lighting was poor in many locations (we had flashlights), there were sharp objects protruding from the floor where machinery had been bolted down (I was wearing hiking boots), and there were sheer drops to lower floors (mostly barricaded off). Despite the modest risk, it was a delight to photograph.

While the area now stands open, the indented concrete floor suggests this area once held large objects

Diagonal lines are a feature of this stairway inside the former E. B. Eddy mill that spans the Quebec and Ontario sides of the Chaudière Falls

Circles big and small are easily found in an industrial site such as the former E. B. Eddy Mill

Horizontal and diagonal lines contrasting with curved wires offered up an interesting image

Part of the fun of exploring an old industrial site is trying to guess what things were used for, like this opening in a wall

Once home to large machines, this room is now empty and boarded off to prevent the unwary from falling to the floor below

Colour and shape contrasts are the main features of this image taken in the former E. B. Eddy Mill

Sometimes it pays to look up as well as around, since the ceiling also holds interest

Light painting within the former E. B. Eddy Mill and a fortuitous accident.

Mist in the air from the damp conditions gives this corridor a ghoulish feeling

↑Back to Top