The Image Journey

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 (The above photo, previously unpublished, is an example.)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 July 14, 2021 by avardw

More from the Monochrome Dreaming series

Monochrome, Monochrome Dreaming, photography,

I have always been monochrome dreaming. Since first picking up a camera, I have been interested in recording odd scenes; photos that make you do a double take. In the early days, I didn’t concentrate on it very much. I’d take a photo whenever I came across something unusual. It wasn’t until I got a digital camera in 2006 that I began to actively look for everyday scenes that make the familiar seem a little strange.

With a digital camera, I could experiment more–take many photos of the same scene in order to change the angle of a reflection or align elements perfectly. My image making went from taking a one-off of a particular scene to exploring the scene more fully to get the best possible shot. In this post I show photos taken over the past decade

In my Wish You Were Here series, I aim to challenge the viewers’ attention in a subtle way by finding everyday scenes with elements of whimsy and surrealism. Like Magritte, and Friedlander, I want to make the familiar seem a little strange, but without Photoshop and image manipulation. These photos come about through observation, using juxtaposition, reflection, typography, and scale. My new project, “Monochrome Dreaming” shows black and white images with dream-like qualities that aspire to entertain the senses.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2011 – © Avard Woolaver

Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2013 – © Avard Woolaver

Black and White Observation Photography

black and white black and white photography monochrome Monochrome Dreaming

Published May 3, 2021 by avardw

Photographs taken on Echo Beach

This is the location that inspired Mark Gane of Martha and the Muffins to write the 1980 hit song “Echo Beach.” The photo was taken at Sunnyside Beach, Toronto, in 1984.

On a silent summer evening/The sky’s alive with lights/A building in the distance/Surrealistic sight

From Wikipedia: “Echo Beach, as mentioned in the song, does not refer to a real beach, but rather a symbolic notion of somewhere the narrator would rather be, somewhere ‘far away in time.’ The song was created while Gane was working checking wallpaper for printing faults. He found the work rather dull and his mind drifted to times he would like to live over again. One such time was an evening spent at Sunnyside Beach on the shoreline of Lake Ontario in Toronto in summer. It was only the third song that Gane had written.”

When I took the photo, I had no notion of the connection with the song. I did, however, think that the lone building was quite surreal, appearing like a non sequitor on the blank shoreline.

The song that comes to mind when I look at the photo is “You Never Give Me Your Money” and the line “Oh, that magic feeling, nowhere to go.” I had just graduated from Ryerson, and was uncertain about my future in the recession of the 1980s. Little did I know that three years later I’d be living in Japan.

When I reflect on the photo now, that stage of my life does seem “faraway in time.” I was in my twenties then, and I’m in my sixties now. I have a different perspective, looking back at those years. Some may call it wisdom, but I prefer the term “road tested.”

Black and White Film Photography Photography Toronto

Echo Beach film photography Martha and the Muffins Sunnyside Beach Toronto

Published April 28, 2021 by avardw

I only know how to take one photo

In some way, I only know how to take one photo. I just do it at different times and locations. It brings to mind a quote from blues harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite: “I only know one tune, and I play it faster or slower, or I change the key, but it’s just the one tune I’ve ever played in my life. It’s all I know.” There is a particular photo by Lee Friedlander that I believe may be the basis for my photographic approach. I discovered it in 1978, in a book titled Concerning Photography. At that time, I was just learning how to use a camera and was very passionate about this new endeavor.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1972 – Lee Friedlander

The black and white photo, titled “Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1972,” shows an intersection cluttered with a hydrant and various poles. There is a car tire in frame on the right, as well as a high-rise apartment building. In the centre, there is a small house (or small bank building), and on the right—the pièce de résistance – a dog sitting on the sidewalk, partially obscured by a pole, looking like it’s waiting to use the crosswalk. So much information, and wonderful balance of so many elements. And such beautiful, creamy black and white tones. The photo is bursting with creativity, intelligence and deadpan humour–and seems to be the visual equivalent of jazz music.

Over the course of forty years, I have taken many kinds of photos—landscapes, portraits, documentary, editorial, but I keep returning to this wonderful Lee Friedlander photo with its delicate balance of design elements, its visual humour and social commentary. When I go out into the world with my camera, the most satisfying moments come when I know I have taken a quirky photo, one that makes the viewer do a double take. It may be the only photo I know how to take, yet I was there, and I saw that!

Black and White Documentary Photography

black and white photography Charlie Musselwhite Lee Friedlander photography

Published March 19, 2021 by avardw

Toronto Faces in the 1980s

I saw many Toronto faces in the 1980s. Often people were present in my street scenes, but not the main feature. But sometimes the people were front and center. My way of approaching people varied, depending on the situation, but I aimed for the moment. Sometimes it seemed better to take a candid photo, whereas other times it seemed more appropriate to talk to the person and ask if I could take a photo.

Many of these photos were taken at Yonge and Dundas, near the entrance to the Eaton Centre–a hub of activity where people of all stripes mixed and mingled and crossed paths. There were buskers, office workers, students, homeless people, and people out shopping. I mostly used a wide angle lens and tried to blend into the environment rather than call attention to myself. And I usually took only one photo of a particular person or group.

Looking back at these photos, I wonder what the children have done in their lives, if the adults are happy in their old age, and if the older adults are still alive. Forty years have passed since I took many of these photos, and so much has changed in Toronto, yet I don’t believe the people have changed much. They still enjoy the thing that make the city unique–sports, entertainment, restaurants, parks, and vibrant neighborhoods. These Toronto faces remind me that although I live in Nova Scotia now, the city keeps calling me back.