The Toronto Alphabet

So I've put together an alphabet based on signs and various other things on the streets of Toronto - captured through Google Street View, of course. This is what it looks like:



Probably by looking at many of them, you can guess what they come from. Some are more obscure. Here's the list:

• A - Mark's - Danforth and Pape
• B - The Big Bop - Queen and Bathurst
• C - Elephant and Castle - University and King
• D - Dollarama - Orfus and Dufferin
• E - Esso - Jane and Finch
• F - Future Shop - Yonge and Dundas
• G - Construction - University and College
• H - BH Jeans - Orfus and Dufferin
• I - XXI - Yonge and Dundas
• J - J.R. Wilcox Community School - Eglinton and Oakwood
• K - St. Lawrence Market - Front and Jarvis
• L - LCBO - Bloor and Royal York
• M - Metro - Yonge and Eglinton
• N - Danforth Neighbourhood Dental Centre - Danforth and Pape
• O - Toronto General Hospital - University and College
• P - Shoppers Drug Mart - St. Clair and Keele
• Q - Seoul House - Orfus and Dufferin
• R - RBC - Dundas and Spadina
• S - Spadina Court - Dundas and Spadina
• T - The Health Garden - Bloor and Royal York
• U - Toys R Us - Yonge and Eglinton
• V - Grenview's - Bloor and Royal York
• W - Town Shoes - Yonge and Eglinton
• X - Rexall - Yonge and Eglinton
• Y - Demolition - St. Clair and Keele
• Z - Graffito - Queen and Bathurst

Let's see it in practice:

Tilt Shift Toronto

There's a new thing out there called tilt-shift photography, where images or videos of normal life-sized things are made to look like miniatures. It's impressive when done well, and it seems to have entirely to do with altering the focus of the foreground and background, so that things nearer to or further from the eye get blurrier than you'd expect. There is a website, called http://tiltshiftmaker.com/, that will turn any picture you upload into a tilt-shift picture. With the ones I tried, it did... well, not a great job, but good enough that you can get a sense of the effect in action. I took five pictures that I've already uploaded from Google Maps in other entries on this blog, and subjected them to the focus of that particular website. Here they are:

Union Station:

Casa Loma:

Tim Hortons, Mount Pleasant Rd.

Victoria Park TTC Station:

Hockey Hall of Fame:

Yonge and Finch:

It's this last one I like best. Little dinky cars... I might do this again some time. It's not perfect, but it was a fun attempt. Clicking on any pictures will make them bigger, of course.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Miniaturize Your Photos With TiltShift Generator (maketecheasier.com)
• The Sandpit, Tilt-Shift Video of New York City (laughingsquid.com)
• Make a molehill out of a mountain with Tilt Shift Focus (tuaw.com)
• Awesome Tilt-Shift Time-Lapse Video of NYC (geeksaresexy.net)