When I’m driving and the sun is low in the sky, sometimes it lines lines up in a way that illuminates the painted centre line. It’s a moment I think of as “Roadhenge.” I typically pull over and make sure no traffic is coming, then get the shot from the middle of the road.
I love the sun, and the summer solstice is perhaps the most important day of the year for me. I feel more like myself during this stretch of days than at any other time. These sun-on-the-road photos somehow capture that feeling for me. Road trips, sunshine, peace and quiet: it’s all good. Happy summer, everyone.
Here are my top ten photos of 2024. I took trips to Toronto and Montreal and also spent some time in Halifax-Dartmouth, so there is a mixture of urban and rural. I looked for the usual suspects–good light, juxtapositions, unusual scenes. Most were taken with my iphone, and some with my DSLR. I often revisit locations throughout the year as the light and season can really affect the mood of the photo. Cheers! And all the best for 2025!
A selection of photos from my current exhibition at The Craig Gallery in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Dartmouth Now and Then
I took some photos in Dartmouth in 1978, apparently forgot about them altogether, and rediscovered them 40 years later, tucked into a negative sleeve with the cryptic notation, “Dartmouth — The Enchanted City.” (What a title!) Delighted by this find, I went back to rephotograph the same locations. This exhibition also includes some photos of Dartmouth taken in the past few years. It’s amazing how the area’s natural landscape and urban landscape have transformed over time. When we live our daily lives in a particular place, the change is so gradual that we barely notice it. But when the change is seen as a jump-cut after 40-plus years, the transformations can be drastic. And sometimes there has been barely any change at all.
When I was a young man, I was excited about the future, and yet a part of me dreaded any sort of change. The photos I took then were my way of pinning down moments in time, of grasping and understanding things I’d never seen before in my life. Changes in the physical world—as in our lives—are inevitable.
I do social landscape photography and am interested in New Topographics—the human-altered landscape–recording how human behavior and activity has affected the world. I also look for whimsical scenes, as well as elements of surrealism found in everyday life. My work is firmly planted in the documentary tradition, making photos through observation rather than through set-up and image manipulation. Photography keeps me in touch with the changing seasons and the passage of time. My images are intertwined with childhood memories, music, and locations around Hants County, Nova Scotia.
My work has been exhibited in Canada and, internationally, in France and China. The City of Toronto Archives has a collection of 700 of my digital images. Also, I have eight self-published photo books that are available online (through Blurb Books.)
I’m always on the lookout for quirky, whimsical scenes. Photographer Elliott Erwitt, who passed away last year at age 95, was a master of capturing ironic and absurd situations within everyday settings. He’s certainly been an influence on my photography.
Here are some recent oddities that appeared in my viewfinder. In the words of American clergyman Douglas Horton, “Smile, it’s free therapy.”
Every year ViewPoint Gallery welcomes new exhibiting members with a “NewPoints” exhibition that showcases their work. I am pleased to be part of this exhibition along with Craig Benjamin and Heather Rose. It runs from January 4th – 28th with an artist talk on January 14th. The gallery is located at 1475 Bedford Highway, Unit 109, Bedford, Nova Scotia.
My portion of the show, titled Found Fields, features ten photos from my recently released photo book, available at Blurb Books. Below are the exhibit photos with their captions.
