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.

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 like my new 50mm 1.4- just incase you were wondering.

Emily poses for my new lens- sort of.

The Post had a good article on Toronto Photographer Jeff Harris today. Harris has been taking photographs of himself everyday for ten years; it kind of goes along with my new idea of my “where in the world” feature, where I photograph my surroundings on Thursdays around 4.

Very cool website and project.

Check it out. Jeffharris.org

Traveled south from Calgary to spend some time in Lethbridge, where I grew up. The most popular things in Lethbridge are 4×4 trucks, churches and Pilsner Beer, in no particular order.

Highway driving

Trees

Jesus was here

I am in Calgary spending time with family and friends. Best wishes to you and yours, 2009 should be another great year.

Bellow is my beautiful girlfriend, who has been making lots of appearances lately on my blog, but I am ok with that.

Emily

I am reading an amazing book right now, The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The novel, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2006, is a story of a father and son pushing a shopping cart full of their personal possessions, traveling across a barren land after some type of unmentioned catastrophe destroyed civilization, the eco system and the majority of life on earth.

They travel across the ash-covered land in search of any type of food that has not been found after years of scavenging by other “survivors.” Found delicacies including, canned beans and vegetables, are treasures and the only thing that keeps the couple alive. The remaining survivors they encounter are bands of cannibals who eat anyone that they can capture and kill, including their wounded and their own newborn children.

It is written so simply, the father and son traveling to the coast, which represents survival, but the simple narrative contrasts the author’s actual message on many different levels.

Underneath the graphic and disturbing pictures in this story are, what I feel, makes it an amazing story and has made an impact on myself. The struggle and fight that the father and son go through just to stay alive. They have no ultimate goal, no hopes, for all they know they are the only non-cannibals left in society- but they walk on.

2008 was a crazy year for me. I would not have believed that I would be working in Toronto at the National Post, one year ago, Dec. 25, 2007. I would not have been able to predict a lot of things that have happened over the year, which is basically a blur as I look back right now.

One year ago today I started dating my girlfriend Emily, who I owe so much to. She has helped me work through so many problems and frustrations that I have encountered over the year that we have been together.

She supported my goals when got the call confirming that I had got the job at the Post and encouraged me to follow my dreams and move away from my family, friends and everything I have ever know. She even came along for the ride and moved a few months after I did. I don’t know if things would have worked out like they have without her help.

I also got complete support from my family, like usual, to move across the country to one of the biggest cities in North America, to take pictures. Although my mom was not thrilled at the initial idea, she and my father did everything they possibly could to help me make it here. I think they have even begun to appreciate the two-province buffer a little, probably not missing the random phone calls looking for vehicle advice or extra money. (Not that they still don’t happen.)

I have had help from so many friends in the industry, and outside of it, that I cannot even begin to make a list. I have really never met anyone with a negative attitude in the photojournalism community that was not willing to encourage and mentor me one my path, (well maybe one, sharing my initials.)

When I reflect on the year, the cool things that I did, the awesome places that I went and the amazing things that I have witnessed are not what I remember, the people are.

As I publish this post, (in Ontario’s time zone,) I turned 23 years old, (I was born on Dec. 25.) I look back at my Road, I am eternally grateful for all of the friends, family and anyone else that helped me along the way. I can’t even begin to thank you all.

I am not sure what my coast will be, but the thought of my family’s support and love gives me the courage to face more challenges as I push my shopping cart on.

I wish everyone a great 2009.

Brett

I finally got a used 24mm 1.4 off of Simon Hayter. I love that lens so much. The sharpness, depth of field and contrast are amazing.

Thats me.

I shot this waiting for Layton.