Social Landscape Archives - The Image Journey

Published September 21, 2021 by avardw

Recent Black and White Photos

Here are some recent black and white photos, taken over the past few months. With these images, I revisit familiar themes of juxtaposition, societal symbols, isolation, humour, and the human-altered landscape. In the absence of colour, the photographs gain a level of abstraction; we must use our imagination in a sense to complete the picture. The tones and contrast of the black and white also serves to highlight the graphic elements.

Though I shoot mainly colour these days with a digital camera, monochrome takes me back to the 1980s when I shot tons of Tri-X and spent countless hours in the darkroom. I miss those days sometimes, but feel that I can much the same results with digital technology. For me, it’s what you see, and capture, that’s most important, whether it’s with film or digital; Leica or Brownie box camera.

Windsor, Nova Scotia, 2021 – © Avard Woolaver

New Topographics Observation Photography Social Landscape

black and white digital new topographics nostalgia photography

Published July 22, 2021 by avardw

Photographs by Avard Woolaver

Avard Woolaver, photographs, — Bay Street Bus Terminal, Toronto, 1982 – © Avard Woolaver

Hi! If you’re new here, my name is Avard Woolaver, and I’m a photographer based in Nova Scotia, Canada. Many of you have probably found this website from my one of my social media platforms. I’ve recently stopped posting photos on Instagram but hope to spend more time posting on this site. So here’s an introduction to my work!

A lot of the people who follow me are especially interested in my Toronto photos, taken mostly during the 1980s. (The above photo, previously unpublished, is an example.) I did a lot of street photography and urban landscapes during and after my photography studies at Ryerson University. The negatives sat sorted in files on a bookcase for thirty years before I started scanning them in 2016. The photos are very nostalgic for me–a blast from the past.

One of my main interests is New Topographics–the human-altered landscape. With the rapid advance of the climate emergency, our mismanagement of the environment is becoming more central to my work. I want my photos to be visually interesting, but also carry a message.

Avard Woolaver, photography, — Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia, 2013 – © Avard Woolaver

Another one of my interests deals with visual perception. My Wish You Were Here series aims to challenge the viewers’ attention in a subtle way by finding everyday scenes with elements of whimsy and surrealism. Emulating artists like Rene Magritte and Lee Friedlander, I want to make the familiar seem a little strange, but without Photoshop or image manipulation. These photos come about through observation, using juxtaposition, reflection, typography, and scale.

My travels have taken me various places in the world. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I worked in Japan, which gave me a chance to visit southeast Asia. Travel photography is exciting because nearly everything is new and interesting, and you may never be in that place again.

Shibuya Scramble Crossing Tokyo, 2020 – © Avard Woolaver

Along with photographing the unfamiliar, I do a lot of revisiting familiar scenes during different times and seasons. A familiar scene can seem so changed under different lighting conditions. I pass the scene below on a daily basis and have photographed it numerous times. It never gets old.

photography — Wentworth Creek, Nova Scotia, 2018 – © Avard Woolaver

Finally, I like doing self-portraits, and also incorporating humour in my photos when I can. I saw some Lee Friedlander self-portraits when I first got a camera, and they made a lasting impression.

Bee kind. Bee aware. Bee the change.

Black and White Colour Documentary Landscape New Topographics Observation Photography Social Landscape Street Photography Travel

Avard Woolaver Introduction photography

Published February 13, 2021 by avardw

Documentary Photos in New York, 1983

These are some documentary photos taken in New York in 1983. Documentary photography can be defined as style of photography that provides a straightforward and accurate representation of people, places, objects and events, and is often used in reportage. It can be both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life.

For me, documentary photos are ones that are taken without manipulation, or staging. My urban photographs from the 1980s, taken in Toronto, New York, Japan, and Asia are largely street photographs, but are also documentary in that they capture life as it is. And the passage of time makes them more interesting, and valuable, as documents of another era. The above photo, for example, shows a man sitting at the entrance to B. Altman and Company on 5th Avenue. It was the flagship store of a luxury department store chain that opened in 1906 and closed for good in 1989. It’s nice to have a record of this iconic store.

A recent article by Authur Lubow in the New York Times titled, Life As It’s Seen, Not Staged makes the point that documentary photography, which fell out of favor with the rise of manipulated images, is making a comeback. An exhibition at the International Centre of Photography highlights young photographers share “a commitment to portray life as they discover it in the world at large, without staging or manipulation; and by so doing, find and express themselves.” Lubow also makes the point that “nothing is weirder than a straight photograph of an uncanny subject.” In short, truth is stranger than fiction.

In my early sixties, I sill find everyday life endlessly fascinating, and continue to capture it with my documentary photos. They help me make sense of the world we live in, and also help me remember the places I’ve been, and people and things I’ve seen.

Black and White Documentary Film Photography Photography Social Landscape Street Photography

1980s documentary photography film photography New York New York City street photography

Published September 13, 2020 by avardw

The Social Landscape – For me, it all goes back to Lee.

Lee Friedlander, social landscape, — Digby, Nova Scotia, 2020 – © Avard Woolaver

In the 1960s and 1970s, Lee Friedlander evolved an influential and often imitated visual language of urban “social landscape,” with many of his photographs including fragments of store-front reflections, structures framed by fences, posters and street signs. For the past forty years my own photos have focused on the social landscape, and I owe a lot to Lee for setting me on this course.

I’ve been a fan of Friedlander since I discovered his photographs in the 1970s, in a Time-Life book called Documentary Photography. The writer described the photos as chaotic: “There is a brooding message of disorientation, of something having gone askew in these pictures.” For me, his photos are bursting with creativity, intelligence and deadpan humour–they seem to be the visual equivalent of jazz music. He welcomed foreground obstructions such as poles and trees, and also his own shadow, as a way of creating visual interest. When I was a student at Ryerson, I used to look at a leaf through a book of Lee photos before going out to take photos. He has been one of my main sources of photographic inspiration over the years.

Eric Kim writes in his blog: “Friedlander was interested in capturing “The American social landscape.” This included photographs that included people and also photographs that didn’t include people. I think one of the biggest cruxes in my street photography career so far is the idea that all of my shots had to include people.

If you look at some of Friedlander’s best work, many of them don’t include people. Rather, he focuses on signage, interesting sculptures, numbers, words, letters, cars, and other intimate objects. I think this is actually what makes Friedlander’s work stand out from all of the street photographers from history; the fact that his photos that don’t include people still have so much humanity– and tell a lot about American society.”

Everyone has their own visual take on the world. My photos represent my own vision of the social landscape that has evolved over time. It’s important to give a nod to those who inspired you. Most of the photos in this post were taken quite recently. Lee has been on my mind.