Sometimes certain photos seem to be suspended in time. This one was taken in Toronto in 1980, though it almost looks as if it could be have been from decades earlier, say the 1920s, or 1930s. One thing is for sure, you won’t find this kind of scene in Toronto these days, unless it is on a film set.
I try to put some pizzaz into my photos from time to time. This self portrait from 1980 does that quite literally. If you listen carefully to this photo, you can hear my stomach rumbling, anticipating a tasty pizza slice.
My personal favourite spot for a pizza slice was “John’s New York Pizza and Spaghetti Palace” at Danforth and Greenwood. I lived just around the corner, and went there often. (It disappeared quite suddenly in 2004.) After that it was Vesuvio’s, Pizza Gigi, Bitondo’s, and The Big Slice. I’m starting to get hungry!
Taken in the fall of 1980 on Parliament Street, Toronto, the photo shows three men talking in the doorway of a men’s clothing shop. The sign reads Canadian-made dress shoes: $29.95. This photo is previously unpublished.
Taken on Yonge Street in the autumn of 1981, this photo always gives me a little chuckle. It features a very 1980s-looking garbage bin (trash receptacle), some sidewalk art, and the phrase: Spend Your $avings. Also, a cigarette butt and a few scattered leaves. The shadows cross the frame in an interesting way. It suits my mood at the moment as I listen to Jefferson Airplane’s 1967 experimental psychedelic album, After Bathing at Baxters, and sip cold coffee.
This photo appears in the photo book: Toronto Hi-Fi.
In my first few months in Toronto in 1980, I used a square format, twin lens reflex (TLR) camera–the Yashica-Mat 124G. The camera is held at waist level and you look down into the viewfinder, it is a unique perspective as usually cameras such as the SLR are held up at eye level. Famed outsider photographer Vivian Maier used a TLR camera for much of her work. The low angle gives her street portraits a more noble, stately look. Sometimes it’s hip to be square!
I recently purchased a new scanner–an Epson V600, and at last can scan the medium format negatives that I shot in Toronto many years ago. I find that I’m remembering my 22 year old self.