“Toronto in the 1980s” represents a sort of greatest hits of my 1980s Toronto photos. I’m thankful to Chad Tobin for is valuable assistance in editing this collection. It is available at Blurb Books.
From the introduction:
There is a feeling of freedom walking around a city with a camera. At 66, I still have that feeling but it was more pronounced when I was in my mid twenties, studying photography as a student at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Toronto Metropolitan University.) I took a lot of photographs in my early years in Toronto, capturing street scenes and ordinary aspects of daily life that happened to catch my eye. American photographer Henry Wessel sums up my approach in this way: “Part of it has to do with the discipline of being actively receptive. At the core of this receptivity is a process that might be called soft eyes. It is a physical sensation. You are not looking for something. You are open, receptive. At some point you are in front of something that you cannot ignore.”
Back in the 1980s I would shoot a roll of film (usually black and white), process it a few days later and make a contact sheet. After that I might make an enlargement of one or two of the strongest shots, and then move on. The contact sheets may have been reviewed from time to time when I was preparing for an exhibition, but basically, I didn’t look at them for years and years.
For a long time, my photos were almost all black and white. I paid a great deal of attention to lines and form and the abstract qualities that monochrome provided. My influences had been Robert Frank and Lee Friedlander who were all about documenting the social landscape. It seemed that this type of photography was so much better suited to black and white, or as Frank called it, “the colours of hope and despair.
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I had no way to anticipate how significant these Toronto photos would seem to me 40 years later. They show things that no longer exist, even though it hasn’t been that long. Without necessarily trying to, I caught images of buildings, cars, fashions, gadgets that are no longer part of our world. Toronto’s entire skyline is utterly changed, part of the inevitable growth and evolution. I sometimes think about the children and young adults in these photos who are now in their 50s and 60s. How have their lives been?
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Looking back now at the photos I spent my precious film on back then, so much comes back to me about dropped into a new environment. We use our creative tools as extensions of ourselves; they help us understand and define our place in the world. For me, having a camera in my hand at all times helped me remember, You only get to do this once. We have to take time and see it, as clearly as we can.
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Product Details
10×8 in, 25×20 cm
Softcover, 62 Pages
59 black and white photographs
Store Window, Yonge Street, 1981
Jarvis Street, 1980
Eaton Centre, 1980
Chess players at Yonge and Gould, 1982
Watching TV in the Junction, 1986
Crazy Joe’s Flea Market, 1983
Pay Phone, Union Station, 1986
Photo Booth, Union Station, 1981
Laundromat, Kensington Market, 1983
Mirrors, Kensington Market, 1983
Beer cases, Gould and Yonge, 1985
Allan Gardens, 1985
Pape Avenue, 1986
Bay Street, 1983
Fish market, Kensington Market, 1983
Queen and Yonge, 1981
Dundas West near Lansdowne, 1984
Lakeshore Road, Etobicoke, 1982
Party scene, 1985
Sandwich shop, Yonge Street, 1983
Apartment on Dundonald Street, 1982
Kensington Market, 1983
Nathan Phillips Square, 1982
Film Premiere, Eglinton Theatre, 1986
U.S. Cruise Missile protest, Yonge Street, 1983
Yonge and Gerrard, 1981
Halloween on Yonge Street, 1981
The Spectrum Nightclub, Danforth Avenue, 1986
TV in store window, Yonge Street, 1981
Funland Arcade, Yonge Street, 1981
Streetcar scene, 1984
Dundonald Street, 1982
St. Clair Station, 1984
View from Yonge and Gerrard, 1989
Grace Street, 1986
Gay Rights Toward Equality, 1980
Santa Claus Parade, Yonge Street, 1981
BMX riders at Bloor W. and Dundas W., 1986
Rock and Roll Forever, Yonge Street, 1981
New Wave fashion, Yonge Street, 1985
Art auction at Sotheby’s, 1983
St. Joseph and St. Nicholas, 1984
Toronto Camera store window, 1984
Man and dog, Dundas Street West, 1983
Bay Street, 1983
Dundas and Yonge, 1983
Jarvis Street, 1981
Outside Global Cheese, Kensington Market, 1983
Bay and Dundas West, 1983
Jesus Is The Way, Kensington Market, 1983
View from Neill-Wycik, Gerrard East and Mutual, 1982
Subway Scene, 1984
Bay Street lobby, 1983
On the College streetcar, 1981
Gas Station, Pape Avenue, 1983
Southdown Road and Clarkson Road, Mississauga, 1985
There are various motivations for taking a photo–to capture a moment, to document a place or thing, to record beautiful light, or to fulfill an assignment. One of my interests in photography has been to somehow challenge the viewer so that they do a double take; the image holds their attention because there is something thought provoking about it. The notion of using visual trickery and humour came to me early on after discovering the work of American photographer Lee Friedlander, and also the paintings of Belgian surrealist painter Rene Magritte.
I had never dreamed in colour, until quite recently (which is rather odd since I spent 10 years of my life in a darkroom printing colour photographs.) My dreams are odd vignettes, where not much happens, yet I can almost always pinpoint the exact location of the dream. Since first picking up a camera, I have been interested in recording quirky 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 my “Colour Dreams” 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. This series shows colour images with dream-like qualities that aspire to entertain the senses.
Each photo has been given a short title, that may indicate the general mood or emotion of the image. It is a reflection of the primal nature of dreams where we are left with a strong, sometimes, surreal feeling.
Product Details
10×8 in, 25×20 cm
Hardcover, 30 Pages
26 colour photographs
My latest self-published photo book is titled Found Fields – available through Blurb Books.
Found Fields refers to my approach when taking photos: scenes found in my field of vision. Photographers often call it being a gatherer rather than a hunter—finding scenes by chance, rather than intentionally hunting them down. Many of my photos are taken during my daily routine, or just going somewhere ordinary. Of course, I’m attracted to novelty–going to new places, seeing new things. But I also love seeing familiar scenes, places that I have photographed many times before, and discovering once more that nothing ever looks the same way twice.
Over the years I’ve learned always to carry a camera, and, even more important, to take time to study details of the world around me. In refining my vision and technique, I also strive for images that, I hope, carry some deeper meaning.
The photos in this book show some themes that I have been exploring for a long time now (societal issues; climate change; the failure of capitalism), along with wonderment, and, sometimes, the sheer absurdity of life. I think of the photos collected here as being both optimistic and pessimistic, in roughly equal measure. Ultimately, though, I have a great deal of hope for the future, and I trust these images reflect that. Photography has always been magic for me, and the camera a loyal memory maker.
Found Fields
Photographs by Avard Woolaver
Softcover, 54 pages; 50 colour photos
20 x 25 cm / 8 x 10 in.
Toronto In Colour: the 1980s is my recent collection of Toronto photographs, and is now available at Blurb Books. A recent feature on a popular Toronto site BlogTO has brought my photos to a new audience. I thought I’d post a few of my favourites, as well as some outtakes from the book.
In the years 1980 to 1986, I shot about 800 rolls of film, most of them street photographs. Of the thousands of photos only about 10% were in colour. I tended to look for different scenes when I had colour film in my camera–usually Kodacolor II, but sometimes Ektachrome or Kodachrome. I would think in terms of “light and colour” rather than “tones and the moment.” So, I sought out slightly different subject matter than when shooting in black and white.
Book Introduction to Toronto In Colour: the 1980s
There is a feeling of freedom walking around a city with a camera. At 62, I still have that feeling but it was more pronounced when I was in my mid twenties, studying photography as a student at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. I took a lot of photographs in my early years in Toronto, capturing street scenes and ordinary aspects of daily life that happened to catch my eye. American photographer Henry Wessel sums up my approach in this way: “Part of it has to do with the discipline of being actively receptive. At the core of this receptivity is a process that might be called soft eyes. It is a physical sensation. You are not looking for something. You are open, receptive. At some point you are in front of something that you cannot ignore.”
I had no way to anticipate how significant these Toronto photos would seem to me 30 years later. They show things that no longer exist, even though it hasn’t been that long. Without necessarily trying to, I caught images of buildings, cars, fashions, gadgets that are no longer part of our world. Toronto’s entire skyline is utterly changed, part of the inevitable growth and evolution.
Back in the 1980s I would shoot a roll of film (usually black and white), process it a few days later and make a contact sheet. After that I might make an enlargement of one or two of the strongest shots, and then move on. The contact sheets may have been reviewed from time to time when I was preparing for an exhibition, but basically I didn’t look at them for years and years.
Looking back, I wish I had taken more colour photos, but I’m thankful for the ones I have. There were reasons for not shooting much colour. First, there was the added cost; second, I didn’t have much access to a colour darkroom to make prints. And in those days black and white was the preferred medium for fine art and documentary photographers. Ernst Haas was one of the few to exhibit colour photographs. William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Edward Burtynsky and other colour specialists were just emerging, and colour photography was not yet fully accepted in the art world.
There is a sense of hyper realism in a colour photograph, like looking at a Technicolor movie, that you don’t get with the more abstract black and white view. Japanese photographer Shin Noguchi is one of my favourites. Chuck Patch writes, in the introduction to Noguchi’s In Colour in Japan, “He prefers shooting in colour, because he says, black and white distances his audience by interjecting a layer of artifice between the viewer and the ‘Real World.’” And there’s also the psychological component of how the colours make us feel. Toronto In Colour: the 1980s is a collection of colour photos not seen in the three Toronto books I assembled previously; many of these images, in fact, haven’t ever been posted or published at all.
Toronto In Colour: the 1980s is my recent collection of Toronto photographs, and is now available at Blurb Books. In the years 1980 to 1986, I shot about 800 rolls of film, most of them street photographs. Of the thousands of photos only about 10% were in colour. I tended to look for different scenes when I had colour film in my camera–usually Kodacolor II, but sometimes Ektachrome or Kodachrome. I would think in terms of “light and colour” rather than “tones and the moment.” So, I sought out slightly different subject matter than when shooting in black and white.
Book Introduction to Toronto In Colour: the 1980s – There is a feeling of freedom walking around a city with a camera. At 62, I still have that feeling but it was more pronounced when I was in my mid twenties, studying photography as a student at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. I took a lot of photographs in my early years in Toronto, capturing street scenes and ordinary aspects of daily life that happened to catch my eye. American photographer Henry Wessel sums up my approach in this way: “Part of it has to do with the discipline of being actively receptive. At the core of this receptivity is a process that might be called soft eyes. It is a physical sensation. You are not looking for something. You are open, receptive. At some point you are in front of something that you cannot ignore.”
I had no way to anticipate how significant these Toronto photos would seem to me 30 years later. They show things that no longer exist, even though it hasn’t been that long. Without necessarily trying to, I caught images of buildings, cars, fashions, gadgets that are no longer part of our world. Toronto’s entire skyline is utterly changed, part of the inevitable growth and evolution.
Back in the 1980s I would shoot a roll of film (usually black and white), process it a few days later and make a contact sheet. After that I might make an enlargement of one or two of the strongest shots, and then move on. The contact sheets may have been reviewed from time to time when I was preparing for an exhibition, but basically I didn’t look at them for years and years.
Looking back, I wish I had taken more colour photos, but I’m thankful for the ones I have. There were reasons for not shooting much colour. First, there was the added cost; second, I didn’t have much access to a colour darkroom to make prints. And in those days black and white was the preferred medium for fine art and documentary photographers. Ernst Haas was one of the few to exhibit colour photographs. William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Edward Burtynsky and other colour specialists were just emerging, and colour photography was not yet fully accepted in the art world.
There is a sense of hyper realism in a colour photograph, like looking at a Technicolor movie, that you don’t get with the more abstract black and white view. Japanese photographer Shin Noguchi is one of my favourites. Chuck Patch writes, in the introduction to Noguchi’s In Colour in Japan, “He prefers shooting in colour, because he says, black and white distances his audience by interjecting a layer of artifice between the viewer and the ‘Real World.’” And there’s also the psychological component of how the colours make us feel. Toronto In Colour: the 1980s is a collection of colour photos not seen in the three Toronto books I assembled previously; many of these images, in fact, haven’t ever been posted or published at all.
Toronto In Colour: the 1980s photographs by Avard Woolaver Hardcover, 44 pages; 89 colour photos 20 x 25 cm / 8 x 10 in.
Here are a few photos from the book. I hope you enjoy them!
