The Image Journey

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.

Toronto, street photography, 1980s — Reggae Concert, Toronto, 1984 – © Avard Woolaver

I saw many Toronto faces in the 1980s. My way of approaching people varied, depending on the situation, but I aimed for the moment. — Yonge and Dundas, Toronto, 1982 – © Avard Woolaver

Photography Street Photography Toronto

1980s film photography street photography street portraits Toronto Toronto faces

Published February 22, 2021 by avardw

A Selection of Snow Photos

It’s winter in Canada–a good time to post a selection of snow photos. It a wonderful sight to see the landscape transformed by a blanket of fresh fallen snow. In the following poem Emily Dickinson makes mention of the snow sifting down, making an even face of mountain and plain.

Taking snow photos is a good way to connect with the season, and enjoy the absolutely unique qualities of winter. On windy days, photographing snow is a good way to photograph the elusive wind. There are amazing shadows cast on sunny days, and an abundance of soft textures. I like to go out around twilight time when the snow is coming down. It’s a good opportunity to use a flash to freeze the snowflakes.

Snow by Emily Dickinson

It sifts from leaden sieves,
It powders all the wood,
It fills with alabaster wool
The wrinkles of the road.

It makes an even face
Of mountain and of plain, —
Unbroken forehead from the east
Unto the east again.

It reaches to the fence,
It wraps it, rail by rail,
Till it is lost in fleeces;
It flings a crystal veil

On stump and stack and stem, —
The summer’s empty room,
Acres of seams where harvests were,
Recordless, but for them.

It ruffles wrists of posts,
As ankles of a queen, —
Then stills its artisans like ghosts,
Denying they have been.

snow photos, winter — Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, 2015 – © Avard Woolaver

Colour Landscape New Topographics Photography

landscape Nova Scotia photography snow snow photos winter

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 February 2, 2021 by avardw

Toronto street photos from the 1980s

Toronto street photos, 1980s, — Nathan Phillips Square Toronto, 1982 – © Avard Woolaver

Here are some Toronto street photos from the 1980s. They are images that I scanned quite recently, and have not been previously posted or published. There is a certain satisfaction for me in re-discovering these photos that I took so long ago. They tell me a lot about how much the world has changed, and I myself have changed. And, conversely, they also remind me that so many basic things in the world remain unchanged.

As we cannot travel back in time, photographs are a way to come face to face with the past–to reconnect with it without actually going there. Photographs are also a good memory aid. There is so much information crammed into our brains that forty year old information can slip away very easily. It’s funny that I can remember very clearly taking some of these photos, yet others are a complete mystery. I only know that I must have taken it for a reason. A few photos in this post were taken for a school assignment at Ryerson called “Exploration of the frame” – new and novel ways to frame photos. I’m not sure if I succeeded.

These Toronto street photos bring me joy and feelings of nostalgia. It’s hard to separate them from the memories that surround them: good times with friends at school and at parties, endless hours in the darkroom, the joy of being young and alive with a head full of tunes.