I wanted the man to understand that I’m not just another callous photographer, that I care about animals and abhor cruelty. Who would do such a thing? I asked. He pointed at me. You did this. You and your camera.
Tag: Black & White
Sherbourne Street Bridge Fire
On Tuesday January 7th, the City of Toronto conducted a sweep of homeless people from the Rosedale Valley ravine. Mayor Tory cited “health and safety” as an important reason for the sweep. News sources also cited “risks such as fire when open flames are used.”
Two Kinds of Seeing
As a photographer, I pride myself on my keen powers of observation, especially when I’m out wandering in the streets. Seeing is supposed to be my thing. How is it, then, that I could be so bad at it?
Doughnuts in the Don Valley
The winter solstice (plus or minus a couple weeks) is the only time of the year when I can photograph Go Trains before sunrise. The first train of the morning commute passes a level crossing along the Lower Don Trail just north of Pottery Road at 7:00 am when the sky is still dark.
The Future
I have lived long enough to have had a past. In that past, I remember there was a future. It was the future of the science fiction novels I read, and of the movies I watched.
Listening To Images
When I look at the photographs I took of the nighttime cutting, I hear a crackling sound. This is not memory; at the time, I could not hear the workers for all the traffic on the street. It’s more a synaesthetic experience. I ‘hear’ the images.
Everybody’s got a Hungry Horse
When I’m out with my camera, I’m drawn to horses the same way I’m drawn to children blowing bubbles and protesters rioting. Photographically speaking, horses make a great subject, especially on a 21st century city street where they seem so out-of-place.
Toronto Santa Claus Parade
If Dr. Seuss were writing his “How The Grinch Stole Christmas!” in 2019, I think the Grinch would be a fanatical Christian.
Vagueness
I went out in the first snowfall of the season. The snow itself produces a sense of vagueness. But that wasn’t enough for me. I went one further and framed shots of snow falling over steam vents. Then I waited for people to walk through the frame.
Degrees Of Separation
Whether six degrees or three, separation is still separation. Sometimes I feel separation when there are no degrees.
Stroll Through A Cemetery
As I walked through the cemetery, I found myself entering a Zen state. First was the enveloping silence. As I pressed further into the grounds, the sounds of the city—traffic, construction, shouts—receded and other gentler sounds drew to the foreground…
Yellow Creek Rehabilitation
This is the endemic neglect one can expect from a long string of mayors and city councillors who have drunk the neoliberal Kool-Aid: slash government, lower taxes, defund social spending on things like public health, social housing, road repair, snow removal, libraries, public parks and, of course, the TRCA.
Two Conversations
His name is Raymond Joseph Robichaud and he was born near St. John NB to a French Canadian mother and Irish/Scottish father, so he is a self-described mongrel. He asked if I could spare some change; he needed money for art supplies. Seriously, he said.
The Discovery of Nehru
In Geoff Dyer’s Otherwise Known as the Human Condition, there is a piece called “Jacques Henri Lartigue and the Discovery of India.” It opens with a Lartigue photo “Cap d’Antibes, August 1953”—a woman in a bathing suit…
Climate Strike
I had seen signs around the downtown core declaring a Global Climate Strike on September 26th 2019. Inspired by the outspoken activism of Swedish high school student, Greta Thunberg…