Moments and Light

I took a trip to Toronto Island on Tuesday. Ferry access to the island has been shut off do to the municipal workers strike in Toronto. The only way to get to the island is to catch a ride with a private water taxi.

Normally swarmed with people, on the hottest day of the year so far it was deserted.

Toronto Island, Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Toronto Island, Tuesday, June 23, 2009.

Toronto Island, Tuesday, June 23, 2009.

Toronto Island, Tuesday, June 23, 2009.

Last week I did an assigned project for the Avenue section in the Post.

We brought in three holocaust survivors that have recently published their memoirs. I did a video interview with each one of them and shot some portraits.

It ran in the Avenue section on Monday (June 15, 2009) and the videos are still online.

The videos can be viewed here.

Paul-Henri Rips

Alex Levin

Renate Krakauer

No, this blog is not dead. It may have seemed like it due to the lack of posts (a month of no posts- I know) but I like to think that it was on a blog vacation. It has a nice sun burn and is fully rested, ready for posting.

What has happened in the last month in my life? A lot.

Two weekends ago was the wrap up of my Contact show. We had a party on Friday, which was a great time. A lot of people came to check out the work and the performances. We had great food and the wine was flowing, great time overall. Thanks for everyone that made it out; it is great to get the support on this project.

I have also continued to work on my skinhead story in Ontario. I am planning to put more time into the project and see what I can develop it into.

I have also started working on a personal essay, looking at inequality during the recession.

Other then that, lots of daily assignments and I have been boxing in my evenings. My first sparring match resulted in a bloody nose and me realizing that boxing is not as easy as it looks. Lots more work to do there.

Northbuck dance crew performs at the Street Dance Academy in Toronto, Friday May 29. These guys were the subjects of my story.

Portrait of me at my Contact closing party.

Pete McLeod, a Red Bull air race pilot, a Canadian and the youngest competitor to compete in the Red Bull Air Race, poses for a photo at the Toronto City Centre Airport, Wednesday, May 20, 2009.

Murray Reesor, 82 years old, feeds cows on his farm property on Steeles Ave East, Thursday, June 11, 2009. Ressor has lived on his farm all of his life.

A slide from my essay "Where is the recession?"

Archaeologist Ronald Williamson poses for a photo in the Don Jail, in Toronto, Ont. Tuesday, June 9, 2009. Williamson was the head of a dig that uncovered bodies that were buried behind the Don Jail.

Matthew von Teichman, President of Life Choices, an organic food company, poses for a photo in Toronto, Ont. Wednesday, June 17, 2009.

Jordan

Emily

I hung out with some friends on the weekend and rode (well I didn’t ride to much,) during the annual Toronto ICC BMX Street Jam.

BMX was what initially drew me into photography. I have been riding since grade school and my friends on their bikes were the first subjects in my photography. I bugged my mom until she would teach me how to use her cool SLR camera then begged some more to let me take it in my backpack as we rode around the city and through fields.

I haven’t been riding very much since I moved to Toronto, an injury last summer and a busy life has seen my BMX collecting dust. Adversely I have not really shot bmx photos in the last year or two. This weekend was a great, pedaling around and enjoy the atmosphere that I grew up in.

Bluesix Creative, the wedding photography collective that I belong to is offering a special promotion on engagement sessions.

We are offering sessions at a rate of $100 on Sunday, May 31. And as an added bonus, if you reffer a friend who books, you will recieve a $25 gift certificate to Milestones Resturant.

Find more info- Here.

This blog has been a little quiet lately, but my life has been a whirlwind.

I had a double page spread published in the April 27 edition of the National Post on a project that I have been working on for the last six months. I have been fairly quite about this project, but it focuses on a group of Krump dancers and their small apartment in Toronto.

Along with the spread, the post also published a video that I shot- Click Here

And if that is not enough, I will be exhibiting the work in the Contact Photography Festival. I will be showing the work at the Street Dance Acadmey- 160 Spadina Ave. http://streetdanceacademy.com/

http://www.contactphoto.com/view.php?sec=exhibitions&eventid=1579

I will be setting the work up tomorrow and it will be on display until May 29. I will be having a showcase galla on the 29, info is bellow. The event is open to the public and will feature a performance from the Northbuck Dance Crew.

Contact has been a huge process for me that started in December. I had to secure a venue, commit and register for Contact and obviously print the work. Lots of learning in the process, but it will hopefully work out.

I will be posting more info on Contact. I am really excited for the festival and I have already began my gallery tours.

I had a bit of an incident covering court today. To cover court stories, we shoot witnesses and people connected to the case, in the high profile cases we cover. Patrick Knowles was a witness in the murder case of Dennis Hoy, Knowles former roommate. Ashleigh Pechaluk is charged with first-degree murder, for allegedly killing Hoy with an axe, while Knowles slept in his bedroom.

At lunch break in the case, I followed Knowles outside of the court house and began photographing him. He asked why I was taking his picture and I responded it was for the paper.

He made a rapid advance towards me and responded “If I see my picture in the paper tomorrow” and smacked my camera, which was raised to my face.

My editors and I discussed charging Knowles with assault. I decided to let it slide; he has enough to worry about.

Apparently in court he testified that he does not have an anger issue.

Patrick Knowles strikes the photographer, at 361 University Ave. Court House, Thursday, April 16, 2009. Knowles is a witness in the trail of Ashleigh Pechaluk, 24, accused of striking Dennis Hoy with an axe and killing him.

I spotted the Google Street View car cruising the streets of Toronto Yesterday. Will be cool to see if I am on Google Maps when it is online.

A car operated by Google drives through a Toronto neighbourhood near the Distillery District, Wednesday, April 15, 2009. The vehicle is collecting photographs for Google Streetview, which will have a photograph of all of the street in Toronto and other major cities.