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Dec
17
I’ve written about World Press Photo before, blogging three years of exhibits at Brookfield Place in Toronto when I worked across the street at Royal Bank Plaza (200 Bay).
World Press Photo 2009
World Press Photo 2010
World Press Photo 2011
This annual photojournalism exhibit shows in 100 venues in 45 countries, but I was still surprised to find out (via search on the World Press Photo website) that here in Portugal there is no Porto venue, only Maia. Tomorrow is the final day of the exhibit, so I scurried over to Fórum da Maia to check out this year’s installment.
If you have never seen a World Press Photo exhibit, I would recommend not eating directly beforehand. Apart from technical skill, the photos in the exhibit are curated for emotional impact and if you are particularly sensitive, it could impact your ability to keep the latest meal down. The exhibit covers world events of which natural disasters and warfare are typically the most graphic, but I also find the man-made disasters make my stomach turn, too — in 2013 that would include the collapse of the Rana Plaza in Savar, Bangladesh, where the death toll reached 1,129.
But one of the first set of photos I viewed hit much closer to home for me: Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The photo above by Philippe Lopez of France carries the following description:
18 November 2013
Tolosa, Leyte, PhilippinesSurvivors carry religious images, ten days after Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the central Philippines. One of the strongest typhoons ever recorded, Haiyan raged through 47 provinces, causing immense destruction. Over a million houses were damaged, half of them totally destroyed, and more than 4 million people were displaced. Large areas were left without electricity or an adequate water supply for weeks, and the devastation of infrastructure made food distribution and medical services difficult. Many people made their way to less-affected areas, such as the capital Manila, and some cities reported a near doubling of their populations.
The exhibit covers more than headline news, however, there are human interest stories and portraiture (although to a lesser extent), the natural world and wildlife, too. No need to bring airline-grade sick bags to World Press Photo, it’s merely a very small caution about a certain section of pictures. The rest are more thought-provoking than nausea-provoking and definitely worth at least an hour of viewing time. But for heaven’s sake, save your appetite for later!
December 17, 2014
Album: Portugal [Autumn 2014]
Oct
11
street art in Porto
I gave up on a more descriptive title for this post because today was such a mixed bag of activity that it defied a title. Our main plan was to check out the Festival Internacional de Marionetas do Porto (International Puppet Festival of Porto), but we wound up seeing a puppet show only at the end of the day and spent the rest of the time walking around and visiting the Centro Português de Fotografia (Portuguese Centre for Photography). There is always so much going on in Porto — all year — that I find it’s often easier just to show up around the centre and stumble upon events spontaneously than to try and fit them all in through rigorous planning.
These photos are just a smattering of what we saw (and ate) today, including street art, exhibits, churches, and Galician food. The rest you’ll find in the Autumn 2014 album.
heritage tram at Clérigos
Tram 22 on Rua de Santa Catarina
Rua de Santa Catarina
Rua 31 de Janeiro
Praça da Batalha
capoeira in front of Sáo Bento Station
Porto has no shortage of street art
pimento padron (Galician specialty) in Largo São Domingos
street cats and street art
Clérigos and heritage tram
Igreja de São José das Taipas
Igreja de São José das Taipas
The rest of the photos are from Centro Português de Fotografia, where we happened upon the launch of two exhibits: TOET, The Other European Travellers, and a tapestry rug, which you’ll see further below (I’m still searching for info about this rug!).
Centro Português de Fotografia’s courtyard doubles as a football pitch
map of Europe, in photos (Exhibit: TOET – The Other European Travellers)
The TOET exhibit — The Other European Travellers — is a project of contemporary stories of mostly southern Europeans who left their homelands for countries further north in Europe to work. The travelling exhibition is a compilation of personal archives, from family albums and collections:
THE OTHER EUROPEAN TRAVELLERS is a photographic project developed by a selection of european photographers with the support of a group of experts and reknown artists.
This initiative – supported by EU Cultural Programme – aims to explore through a map of contemporary stories, the experiences of european citizens and their families who, for economic reasons, left their countries of birth to starting a new life in new lands.
TOET focuses on migrations between 1950 and 1980, mainly from south (Spain, Portugal, Greece and southern Italy) to central and northern Europe (France, Germany, UK and Belgium).
TOET aims to recover the memory and the collective imagination of these citizens, key figures in the construction of modern Europe, and also intending to offer an artistic and archival legacy for future generations, using the image as a vehicle for transmitting experiences.
TOET has been conducted by 1 coordinator, 3 co-organisers and a network of european cultural institutions.
As an expat and migrant several times over, this exhibit was very interesting to me. My favourite part was the one below, by Alberto Rojas Maza, of Spain:
postcard magnets (Exhibit: TOET – The Other European Travellers)
Paint, Paint, Paint!
In 1958, and after finishing his studies of medicine, my uncle Enrique (1932-2009) left to Mannheim in Germany, where he started to do odd jobs until he could exercise his profession as a doctor in a hospital. He stayed there ’til 1965. Throughout this period, and in a permanent manner, he sent a series of postcards to his brother, Antonio (1930-1994), an artist who lived in Seville. The majority of the postcards depicted paintings from the museums he visited in his free time. Antonio “deposited” those postcards among the pages of an Art encyclopaedia, which I received years later through my father.
magnetized postcards written by the artist’s uncle to his brother in Spain (Exhibit: TOET – The Other European Travellers)
The building that houses the centre used to be a jail back in the day… can you tell?
artist’s opening
artist’s opening
taking in the views
spy cameras
Centro Português de Fotografia has a modern jailbird (hand by Paulo)
October 11, 2014
Album: Portugal [Autumn 2014]
Jul
25
Helena Sarmento at Palco 1 Cais de Gaia
The preview posts continue for Day 2 of Cais de Fado 2014, only because we’re road-tripping early tomorrow and there’s no time to edit today’s captures after the trip prep. So I leave you with a few images and all the videoclips I managed to shoot this evening (I had to scoot home before the big show at Serra do Pilar). Full post next week.
Helena Sarmento at Palco 1 Cais de Gaia
Alexandra Guimarães at Praça Sandeman
Micaela Vaz at Praça Sandeman
Rui Oliveira at Praça Sandeman
July 25, 2014
Album: Cais de Fado 2014
Jul
24
Gisela João at Serra do Pilar
Fado has a new fan… me! Cais de Fado 2014, Day 1: I saw fadistas Patrícia Costa and Gisela João perform and they were sensational!
But I now have a huge batch of photos that need processing; here’s a preview in the meantime, and a backgrounder on fado.
Patrícia Costa at Taylor’s Port Wine Cellars
Serra do Pilar
Portugal does it right: mobile sangria!
I didn’t take any video of Patrícia Costa, only photos. Paulo took some videos of Gisela João’s show at Serra do Pilar. The first one it’s a bit shaky because he’s dancing, and partway through you can hear him singing along:
July 24, 2014
Album: Cais de Fado 2014
Dec
07
Arrábida Bridge
Preview shots because Saturday was filled with a series of activities but my chest cold is sending me to bed now, in protest. More to follow.
an appliance shop window
Christmas concert at Igreja da lapa
Christmas lights in Porto
Album: Portugal Autumn 2013
Oct
06
Serralves: Sweetgum Tree Avenue
Serralves is Paulo’s favourite garden in the city of Porto. We spent all of Sunday here, to take in an Autumn Festival (“Festa De Outono”) loaded with family activities. As you can imagine the park was teeming with kids, but most of the time it is very tranquil. Serralves is much more than a garden, however, it’s actually a very large complex and grounds which would take much more than one visit to explore.
Official site: Serralves (Portuguese), English version
From Wikipedia:
Serralves is a cultural institution located in Porto, Portugal, and one of the most important of all the country. It includes a Contemporary Art Museum, a Park and a Villa, each one an example of contemporary architecture, Modernism, and Art Deco architecture. The Museum, designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira, is now the most visited museum in Portugal (more than 300,000 visitors per year) and one of most relevant in the contemporary art circuit in Europe.
We’ll be back again soon, when there isn’t an event going on. I’ve started an album here:
Jul
13
Maple Leaf Square
From http://www.streetpianos.com:
Toronto: 2012
Touring internationally since 2008, Play Me, I’m Yours is an artwork project by artist Luke Jerram. Located in public parks, streets and squares, the pianos are available for any member of the public to play and enjoy.
The Toronto debut presentation of Play Me, I’m Yours is brought to you in part by CIBC, Lead Partner of the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games. From July 11th – 31st, 41 pianos will be installed throughout the streets of Toronto in celebration of the three-year countdown to the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games.
The 41 pianos represent the 41 countries participating in the TORONTO 2015 Games and each has been painted by an artist from the country it represents.
Maple Leaf Square
Maple Leaf Square
tickling the ivories in Maple Leaf Square
Jul
01
It’s quite fitting that the 32nd Pride Parade in Toronto happens to fall on Canada Day, because when I think of Canada I think of diversity, people of all stripes. The parade, like the country, is a rainbow of people with differing ideologies, ethnicities, ages, religions, politics, lifestyles, body types, professions, supported causes, handicaps, and genders. For people who are part of the visible majority a parade may not be a big deal, but for those who identify with the minority — visible or invisible — this is YOUR day.
Last week when I was Vancouver I was explaining my reasons for the Turning 40 Series to my friends. I said that part of my motivation is that I imagine what kind of society I want to live in, and this is my contribution towards a society where people accept each other (differences and all), are kind to each other, support and help each other. I do not personally know of anyone who has done what I’m doing, and I want to change that… (if that isn’t a big clue, I don’t know what is!) I don’t know if this act will become commonplace in society during my lifetime, but at least I am doing my part. The last thing I want to be is one of those people who complains about society and does nothing about it.
But widescale change does not happen overnight. Canada is 145 years old today, which is very young by world standards. We have a long way to go before we get rid of bigotry, prejudices, and fear. You might be wondering what good a parade can possibly do for a city, let alone an entire country, besides boost the local economy a little by bringing in spectators and corporate floats.
I’ll tell you, I shot hundreds of photos of people this afternoon who were standing together, smiling and laughing and representing all walks of life. Without the gathering, without the parade banners, how would you know who they are and who they represent? Many of these people are the visible and invisible minority in this country. Further, minorities within minorities — eg., Ontario Rainbow Alliance For The Deaf, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (sparking controversy), Totally Naked Toronto Men Enjoying Nudity (yes, I’ve got photos of them, too).
I’m proud to live in a country where its citizens have a right to live freely, and those rights are protected. People come to Canada to escape from persecution*, and we must uphold these values, as a nation. The Pride Parade is a way to remind us of our values — that we need to be accepting, that we shouldn’t live in fear of each other.
Happy Canada Day!
*the current federal government’s recently passed cuts to refugee health care notwithstanding
There are 196 photos in the Pride Parade set! There are six shots which are definitely NSFW, so I’m skipping the auto slideshow as they will all show up in an RSS Reader. Here’s the link to the full-screen slideshow if you aren’t at work or this isn’t an issue, and the link to the thumbnails if you prefer to preview the set and selectively view larger.
May
24
Shooting for Subtle Technologies (where science meets art) once again, this time the opening (at 401 Richmond) to their big event which takes place all weekend. I’m only around to shoot a small part of it — their opening reception and Friday night — so it will be a tiny preview. Check out the Festival details here.
More about the opening reception at Red Head Gallery:
Cc: me is an installation of drawings, live bacteria, poetry, and sound by artist Elaine Whittaker. It is based on the content of a collection of facsimile thermal transfer carbon rolls, technological remnants of the rapidly disappearing world of the fax, collected at the Toronto Environmental Alliance over a ten-year period. The pieces contain the imprint of past faxes that included both campaign, political—and now historical—documents of the organization, and a plethora of unwanted commercial advertisements. For Cc: me Whittaker reuses the rolls as drawing material and montage, and as the base for the Bioart installations. A copy of the transfers traces and fragments onto prepared wax boards, sheets of mylar, and inserted into petri dishes cultured with Halobacterium sp. NRC-1. Sketched in the form of human figures, the artworks become shadowy iterations of the body, conveying images of mutable histories, degraded texts and transformative ecology. Several pieces are interpreted by four established local poets, transformed into evocative expressions of wit, longing, memory, hardship and life – installations of word and object. The carbon copy of yesterday becomes the transfigured art of today.
Poetry reading by Julie Roorda, Jim Johnstone, Ruth Roach Pierson and Larry Sulky. Ambient sound work by Tom Auger.
More photos to come!
Mar
25
This weekend’s theme: too many photos, not enough time. Just a few pics until I get the rest processed and catch up on sleep. Brunch sent me into a food coma!
Dec
18
Left the Loft at nearly 2am, and I have a family shoot at 9:30 (followed by a helicopter trip and another shoot), so this is going to be the abbreviated version.
So many photos, so little time to post… more to follow.
May
18
Who knew I would be totally preoccupied with birthdays for two days straight??? (Not even me.)
Last night was a super-late dinner at Spice Thai Cafe at Queens Quay to celebrate E’s birthday, and it continued through the night and rolled on to 6am. I didn’t have my camera with me, but I got a terrific shot with E’s point-and-shoot digicam of a streetcar streaking by at Queens Quay, and the lights on the boat behind it are still visible. I’ll have to see if I can get the file.
Tonight there were two birthdays including two cakes, plus bellydancing and platters of Argentinian meat at Malbec.
Some edited pics before I crash. The set thus far can be found here.
This photo cracks me up! The adults with their eatin’ irons and the kid munching away.
May
09
There I go with the alliteration again. I must be sleepy. (9 out of 10 posts are written in the middle of the night, with one eye open.)
I’m forcing myself to take a break from the wedding/engagement photo editing that’s gobbled up most of the weekend. Let’s roll back the clock to Saturday afternoon when I was location scouting in Streetsville for some places to photograph the upcoming wedding party. (Streetsville is an historic hamlet in the middle of the suburban sprawl that is the city of Mississauga, west of Toronto.) I found the church, which happened to be hosting a wedding in progress, but I wasn’t dressed properly and decided to continue scouting since I’ll be at the church on Thursday attending the rehearsal, anyway.
I went to the reception hall to scope the building, and noted the inn is smaller than I expected, which meant I had to come up with another plan. I can use it for my Rain Plan, but even if it’s just sprinkling I’d rather be outside. One criterion that is important when I’m searching locations is their proximity to the reception venue — my ideal radius is five minutes or less. It took me a while to find suitable spots where a limousine could access and park easily (that’s what ruled out Streetsville’s business district), but after about an hour of scouting, I found spots for the group at various locations around the University of Toronto campus. The best spot was one I almost didn’t find — it was only curiosity that urged me to drive all the way down this road after the second time I drove by.
In case it isn’t obvious, I love location scouting. It’s a necessary part of preparation, but I love exploring anyway, and it’s given me the chance to become more familiar with places around the GTA. Consequently, I know parts of the city better than the locals do. I identify more as an environmental photographer, a studio is too confining for me. Shooting outside has its disadvantages, i.e., I can’t control the weather, but I’ll work with it. Improvisation is a very useful skill, in many areas in life.
(Here’s a tip: cemeteries are peaceful, well-kept spaces for reflection. Maybe not for a wedding party, but for yourself.)
Now that I’ve done my scout, let’s hope Mother Mature doesn’t make me resort to my Rain Plan.
Mar
08
Somehow Shrove Tuesday doesn’t have the same ring to it when I’m posting photos of food.
Went out for a short-notice dinner with some friends and their friends, a Japanese/Korean place named Ho Su Bistro that’s pretty handy to my office. If you’ve ever been to a Korean restaurant, you’ll know never to eat anything beforehand — between the little appetizer plates and the big bowl/platter of the mains, you can skip a couple of meals afterward and won’t even notice.
It’s also International Women’s Day, so I took some portraits of Neesa at the restaurant and futzed about with body positioning so I could get her lit properly. (Restaurant lighting is usually too dim. Spotlights are also unflattering.) Neesa got a free makeover today because it’s IWD and I wanted to photograph her with her “new” face and hair…
After dinner the others were planning to see Adjustment Bureau at the cinema nearby but I had work to do, so I parted ways after rolling out of the restaurant and took some pics of the CN Tower with my nifty-fifty f/1.4 on the way home:
The journey took a little longer since the streetcar short-turned a couple of stops from my house, so I shot a few more at a neighbourhood shoe shop. While I was standing there with my camera, a guy spotted me taking photos and picked my brain for advice on purchasing a camera. It happens fairly often and it always amuses me that the simple act of just holding a DSLR breaks down a social barrier and emboldens people to ask questions of complete strangers.
“I knew it was worth asking you!” he said, thanking me for my advice. “I’ve been wanting to buy a DSLR to use with my SLR lenses and I didn’t know what to do.” (For the record, I advised him to buy used and the previous generation DSLRs without video, after I asked him about it.)
Nov
02
No time for commentary, unfortunately, I’ll add some later and leave you with some pics for now… here are last year’s. The alligator/crocodile pumpkin creature (above) was really impressive! Being adjacent to a scene of pumpkin carnage added to the Halloween effect.
Justin Bieber really gets around, doesn’t he?
I loved the bicycle! The flame in the second wheel went out, so I put my flash behind it to light it up. You can see the flash head through the hole.
For those who don’t live in Toronto, Rob Ford is the city’s mayor-elect. No, I did not vote for him; I’m trying to ignore the sound of his voice.
I haven’t figured out who this is. He looks like a cross between Freddie Mercury and a young Vincent Price.
The photos are best viewed as a [full-screen slideshow], or just sit back and watch the smaller slideshow below (click on it to view thumbnails):
Aug
29
I had a couple of “missions” yesterday, and I fulfilled the second one, leaving the first one for another attempt today. I took a different approach and headed out to Mississauga, where I was able to complete it, with some improvisation. One more check off the weekend list.
On the way home I spotted power lines that nearly made me stop to photograph them, then I thought the better of it as there wasn’t anywhere safe to pull over. Driving further east, I spotted shipping containers piled one on top of the other and it was just too tempting to pass up. Having lived in various coastal cities around the world (Melbourne, Sydney, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Vancouver, etc.), I’ve become somewhat of a cargo ship spotter. I’m fascinated by shipping and will stop to watch freighters go by. You get a sense of the immense size of these vessels while standing on shore, but especially when you’re in a motorboat on the water.
This afternoon when I saw the stacked containers from the Queensway, I searched for a road and followed it past fences and gates to an area full of containers by a railroad track. It was deserted — not a single security guard — and I parked my car near the entrance.
This is probably a good time to talk about safety…
Read More»Apr
24
Shots scads ‘o photos yesterday, between Nicole and Jeremy’s engagement shoot in High Park and Jan’s birthday at Sutra Tiki Bar in Little Italy last night. Also, I was excited to see what developed out of my Chinon CE-4 film roll, which was started in 2008 (!) and only finished recently. I picked up the index print and CD yesterday. It’s only my second roll out of that camera, and I am even happier with the results this second time around. I really should use it more often, but between the film and developing it can be rather expensive.
I only have time to upload a few photos before heading back to High Park to shoot another engagement session with Sandra and Jon. Hope it doesn’t rain, it keeps threatening to…
Reading the menu by the light of an LED duck — it quacks, even! I love this photo. View larger.
Nicole and Jeremy in High Park.
Chinon CE-4 film camera (scanned negative). The vignetting is in the camera, I didn’t process it aside from removing a big piece of dust in the corner.
Eric during our trip last August to Montreal, writing a postcard to his grandmother. This is my favourite from the roll.
Sep
27
It’s taken me all summer but I finally went to Pedestrian Sunday in Kensington Market, which happens on the last Sunday of every month in the summertime. This summer has sped by, and every Sunday I’ve either been out of town or working at The Brides’ Project. Between that and all the photography work, most of my friends are beginning to wonder where I’ve been lately! Today I even forgot it was the last Pedestrian Sunday of the year, except I was meeting Jan and Natalia for brunch and they told me about it. I suggested we have brunch in the market today so I could finally get to P.S. and see them at the same time.
It also gave me the opportunity to take the rented Nikon 85mm f/1.4 for a proper spin, since the shooting conditions of yesterday’s wedding were such that I used the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 exclusively. (I think I took only one photo with the 85mm.) The reason why the 85mm worked better at the market today is because its focal length (85mm x 1.5 since the D300 is a DX/crop camera) is generally better-suited to street shooting than my 17-55mm f/2.8. With a field of view equivalent to a focal length of nearly 128mm, I can stand far enough away from the subject that I’m not so obvious, and the fact that it’s a prime lens (not a zoom) means it’s not nearly as bulky or as noticeable. Shooting with a prime lens gives great bokeh, but without a zoom you need a lot of space to move around and this doesn’t work so well if you’re in a crowd. Anyway, enough tech talk, on with the photos!
For the full set, click through the Pictobrowser below (there’s also a slideshow option — the play button is beside the word ‘Link’), or check out the set as [thumbnails] or a [full-screen slideshow]:
[pictobrowser 44124342631@N01 72157622343310915]
May
23
I’m posting this on the run to event #2 (Wings & Wheels – aviation show), wishing I could clone myself to cover the three events I’m trying to attend this weekend:
Carassauga
Wings & Wheels
Doors Open
I shot 2.3GBs of photos last night at three pavilions — Philippines, India, and Egypt (the stage lighting requires major editing, so no photos yet) — and here’s a small preview before I head out the door:
(Got lots of video, too, but haven’t had time to download those yet. So much fantastic dancing! Can’t wait to show you!)
May
09
It’s time for Toronto’s annual CONTACT Photography Festival, and our first attempt at a gallery opening was a bust! Somehow all of us got the date wrong and we showed up at the Barbershop Art Gallery a day late. Ah well, the festival takes place all month, which makes our chances of actual attendance pretty good… if we pay attention to such things as dates.
Anyway, it was still a good night with friends once Plan B kicked in, which was the back patio at Mitzi’s Sister. I shot these with the 50mm f/1.8 prime and the onboard flash (didn’t have my SB-800 with me) so they’re a little too “flashy” (as in direct light = hotspots) for my taste, but still better than my point-and-shoot:
Read More»
