Homes just off the main street of Volendam.

Several years ago I attended the design conference, Semi Permanent, in Sydney. I’m not really a conference person and find design conferences to be quite hit and miss. There is so much content online to learn from that the bar is high for a conference to be worthwhile given the time and expense required. This edition of Semi Permanent was like that for me (mostly things that didn’t peak my interest) and I only remember one talk from it; a talk on “wrong design” by a panel from Wired magazine.

They presented a succinct summary of wrong design in Edgar Degas’ painting, “Jockeys Before the Race”. Degas painted a pole into the foreground, obscuring a key part of the scene. It was an intentional act and one that appears wrong but ultimately adds interest.

This is what I think about when I look at this image from Volendam. Behind the touristy main street of this quaint fishing village are rows of distinctive, small houses. I took a number of photos while wandering the narrow streets and on this one occasion, a local cycled by and into the frame. Of all the images I took in that town, this motion blurred gentleman is the most interesting and stokes up the most memories.

Given how relatively cheap storage is these days, try not to throw out any images you take, especially if you’re looking at an image you just shot and think it looks less than perfect. One of those shots may end up being the one you keep going back to.

Looking down from the suspension bridge over the falls.

Quebec doesn’t have a long list of attractions and I’d been making my way around them in an orderly fashion. Last on the list was Montmorency Falls which I’d left for late in the trip so that my leg could improve enough to be able to run to it.

I arrived later in the afternoon than planned having found that the main-ish looking route on the map was actually a small, undulating road; not uncommon for Quebec as I had regularly discovered. I was just grateful that there was footpath the whole way; again, it’s not uncommon in Quebec for footpaths to abruptly end for no apparent reason and leave pedestrians to come up with their own way to continue their intrepid journey.

The falls are what you would expect a waterfall-turned-tourist-attraction to be. It’s a very worthwhile destination that’s accessible by regular bus. A special shout-out goes to the 2 gentlemen who saw logic in standing for a lengthy amount of time at the base of the falls in the full force of the spray.

Vista Point

Looking across the water from the Vista Point.

The base of Montmorency Falls.

A selfie in the full brunt of the mist.

Watching from a wet distance.