editing Archives - The Image Journey

I thought I’d post some pages from my recently released photobook Toronto Hi-Fi, and explain my editing process. Putting together a photobook of forty year old material is a challenging procedure–from scanning the negatives to choosing the photos, to sequencing them in logical fashion. It’s a task that I enjoy and hopefully improve upon with each project.

I’m always pondering what to include and what to leave out. With this book, I wanted to use photos that were not in my previous four Toronto books, ones that were strong on their own, without any context or adhering to a specific theme. There were several hundred images to choose from and I had to narrow it down to about ninety. (Print-on-demand books are expensive already, and any more would make it just too pricey.) I tried not to let subjectivity get in the way–just my strongest black and white shots.

The title eluded me. My wife suggested “Hat and Jacket” as I had lots of photos with elderly men wearing hats, which was still a thing in the 1980s. I ended up doing one spread of “men with hats,” but seized on the idea of my love of music being a theme. The Toronto Hi-Fi photo (taken before I even moved to Toronto) seemed appropriate as the cornerstone. I often walk around with songs in my head and thought of the phrase “a camera full of film and a head full of songs.” The book now had a basic form; choosing the images got easier.

I’m happy with the results and get the usual rush of nostalgia when I think about my early days in Toronto. I said this in the afterword: “This book is dedicated to the people who have helped me along the way. To the lovers of music, and those who roam the world with a camera. To those who love Toronto, and those who bathe in the warm glow of nostalgia. And to the folks who follow me on social media and take an interest in my photos. I appreciate your giving new life to this work that was barely seen in the 1980s.”

Toronto Hi-Fi
Photographs by Avard Woolaver
Hardcover, 42 pages; 89 b&w photos
20 x 25 cm / 8 x 10 in.

Toronto Hi-Fi is available through Blurb Books.

Toronto Hi-Fi (double-page spread), 2021 – © Avard Woolaver

editing, film photography, Toronto, 1983, colour, street photography, — St. Clair West, Toronto, 1983 © Avard Woolaver

Editing photographs takes time and patience. You’ll probably follow different strategies, depending on whether you’re working on an assignment, an exhibition, or a scrapbook. I’ve found it helpful to let some time pass before making choices. That could be a few days, months, or years. It’s important to try to lessen the emotional attachment to an image and see it as objectively as possible.

On his blog, American photographer Eric Kim tells a story of photographer O.C. Garza, who said, about a class he took with master street photographer Gary Winogrand, “He never developed film right after shooting it. He deliberately waited a year or two, so he would have virtually no memory of the act of taking an individual photograph. This, he claimed, made it easier for him to approach his contact sheets more critically. Winogrand said, ‘If I was in a good mood when I was shooting one day, then developed the film right away,’ he told us, ‘I might choose a picture because I remember how good I felt when I took it, not necessarily because it was a great shot.’” (To be clear on how meta this is: I’m quoting Kim quoting Garza, who’s quoting Winogrand. Four layers of photographers finding this a useful insight!)

The photo at the top of this blog post is perhaps a solid example of letting time pass in editing: It was taken in Little Italy in Toronto in 1983, and scanned some 33 years later. I didn’t think it was a worthy photo when I took it, but I do now. Time has given me a different perspective on the photo. Part of the reason is that I’m a better photo editor now than I was in my twenties.

In these days of social media, it seems to be a lot about instant gratification–how many likes a photo received that was taken just five minutes ago. Resisting the urge to post things immediately is sometimes difficult but rewarding.

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St. Clair West, Toronto, 1983 is from the series: Toronto Days

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Putting together the photobook: Toronto Hi-Fi

Editing photographs takes time and patience