Writings, Reviews, Cultural Criticism
I vacillate between wilderness and city, between landscape and street, between wildlife and urban living. I think most of us experience a consciousness divided between the natural world and our cultural accumulations, between innocence and experience, heart and mind. I take my camera into that divide to see what it reveals.
Photography in the rain is a pain the ass. Water on the lens can wreck the shot. Water in the lens can wreck the lens. And yet rain produces reflective surfaces.
In Toronto, it can be easy to overlook the change of colours if you spend a lot of time in the downtown core, or walking through the PATH, or commuting by subway. An antidote to all the concrete is a walk through a cemetery.
This fall, I observe different species of birds passing through the Toronto Brickworks. First, I saw finches: Then the American tree sparrows: It’s not like the birds book a reservation in the quarry. There’s plenty of overlap as one species checks in and another checks out. Here’s a common starling: Over the past week, I’ve…
In Toronto, the leaves have pretty much turned and a good portion have fallen. The colours peaked and now begins the drear November.
There’s a culvert I’ve taken to photographing that is quickly becoming my favourite. It’s a continuation of Yellow Creek on the east side of Mount Pleasant Avenue.
When I see someone panhandling, or simply sitting there, obviously homeless, my usual response is no response at all. I stare straight ahead and direct all my energy to reaching a point further along the sidewalk. I pretend there is no hand outstretched, no voice asking if I can spare some change.
As a rule, I don’t do event photography. I prefer tramping around alone in a landscape (forest/urban/whatever). But every rule has its exceptions.
Is this a thing? I’ve noticed random arrows popping up. White arrows on an orange background. They don’t really point at anything. Or maybe they do. I don’t know. Maybe I’m supposed to follow them.
The name, Fario, keeps popping up on walls in downtown Toronto. But who is Fario?
One place I like to go when I need to scratch my photographic itch is Tommy Thompson Park on the Leslie Street Spit.
Toronto had its first frost on October 12th. But it wasn’t a killing frost and it didn’t happen much of anywhere. In fact, because it was Thanksgiving holiday, most people missed it.
Here’s an image of the Canada Malting Silos at the foot of Bathurst Street in Toronto. They’re abandoned and, I expect, will be dismantled. I’ve often wondered how much beer you could get from those silos if they were full of hops.
This is the A. E. Gooderham mausoleum in St. James Cemetery. Gooderham was the grandson of William Gooderham, co-founder of Gooderham & Worts, the reason Toronto has its so-called Distillery District.