photography Archives - Page 10 of 18

Published August 16, 2020 by avardw

Toronto Gone – photos from 1980s Toronto

Yonge and Bloor, Toronto, 1982 – © Avard Woolaver

During the years 1980-1986, I did a lot of street photography in Toronto. For the past four years I have been scanning an archive of this material, and posting it online. Toronto Gone represents the final photos, the ones I have not posted before or published.

That Toronto is gone. Or at least parts of it. Buildings, businesses, parking lots, and people that used to be a part of the city in the 1980s have disappeared, and been replaced by others. It’s part of the inevitable cycle of death and rebirth, of disappearance and reappearance. There is no way to know exactly what aspects of a place will change. So in some sense the photos are accidental. Their significance now is something I never could have foreseen.

I still feel the same way about Toronto as I did when I took the photos, thirty-odd years ago. I still love the vibrant neighborhoods, the parks, the restaurants and beaches. And the people are nice, not overly friendly but civil and courteous. I haven’t lived there for 15 years but it still feels comfortable, like home.

There are roughly 25,000 images in my files, with 90 percent of them black and white negatives. There hasn’t been a much of a method to the scanning–just choose the strongest photos. It has made me realize that I was a poor editor when I took the photos, and I’m a bit more proficient today. In the ’80s, I mostly processed the film, made contact sheets, and moved on. Sometimes I took the time to study the contact sheets, and on occasion made work prints or exhibition prints of the best images.

Looking at these images today I have a lot of time to reflect on them. Many of the photos I have no recollection of taking; I just know they were taken for a reason. (And the reason usually had to be good one. I didn’t waste much film then on frivolous photos; film, paper, and chemicals were not cheap on a student budget.) Colour cost more than black-and-white, and my access to a colour darkroom was limited. I usually took only one photo of a person or scene, unless it was an event like a parade. And even then, most of the photo were one-offs. For this reason it is sometimes difficult to pinpoint a location.

I will be posting more from the series: Toronto Gone over the coming months, and it may lead to a new book.

Yonge Street Toronto, 1980 – © Avard Woolaver

Blogging Photography Toronto

photography Toronto Gone

Published March 26, 2019 by avardw

A question of scale

Windsor, Nova Scotia, 2012, scale — Windsor, Nova Scotia, 2012 – © Avard Woolaver

Scale can be deceiving in photographs, and sometimes it intended to be that way. A photograph can be both fact and fiction, both a document and a lie. It may contain numerous narratives that spring from our imagination. It can be staged or manipulated in Photoshop, yet still be a document. These days the line between fact and fiction has become blurred.

My photography has always been rooted in the documentary tradition–I’m not one for manipulation, or post-production. Most everything is achieved by where I stand and when I take the photo. (Light is a crucial component as well.) But sometimes I aim to take photos that are ambiguous. They look like manipulated photos, yet they are not. Using scale is one way to achieve this sense of ambiguity.

The interesting thing about scale (and taking photos in general) is that sometimes elements are unintentional and noticed well after the photo is taken. In my case, it is usually pointed out by someone on social media. French photographer David Farreny has a group on Flickr called Uncertain Scales in which he chooses photos that have a sense of ambiguous scale. Most of the photos in this post were chosen by him for his Flickr group.

Scale is one more element that brings playfulness, mystery, or whimsy into the frame, and thus reminds us that those are all part of our everyday life.

Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia, 2017, scale, — Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia, 2017 – © Avard Woolaver

Newport, Nova Scotia, 2017 – © Avard Woolaver

Windsor, Nova Scotia, 2013, scale — Windsor, Nova Scotia, 2013 – © Avard Woolaver

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, 2010, scale, — Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, 2010 – © Avard Woolaver

Windsor, Nova Scotia, 2014, — Windsor, Nova Scotia, 2014 – © Avard Woolaver

Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2012, scale — Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2012 – © Avard Woolaver

Blogging Photography

photography scale

Published March 24, 2019 by avardw

Edmonton, Alberta in 1979

Klondike Days, 1979, — Klondike Days, Edmonton, Alberta, 1979 – © Avard Woolaver

I worked in Alberta in the summer of 1979–a summer job on the railway gang and a break from my studies at Acadia University. I managed to get into Edmonton a few weekends that summer and was eager to photograph in an urban environment as I had been living in the small town of Wolfville and hadn’t done much city photography.

I would stay at a dive hotel off Jasper Avenue in Edmonton called the Gateway Hotel (now long gone)–$15 a night, or $16 with a small black and white TV. It was the most basic of accommodation but such a feeling of freedom and independence. I was twenty years old and free to explore the city with my camera–my Jack Kerouac days. And being alone was a big part of it. Photography for me, has mostly been a solitary pursuit. I don’t prefer to be with others when I’m wandering with my camera.

I remember the city being really quiet on Sundays. Almost no stores were open, but you could see a movie, go to the library, or to a restaurant. I saw Woody Allen’s Manhattan that summer and heard Blondie’s Heart of Glass for the first time in a department store. Alberta seemed like the wild west in some ways–lots of red necks driving pick-up trucks. But Edmonton is quite a cultural center with a thriving arts scene. I really enjoyed my time there.

Alberta, 1979, — Edmonton, Alberta, 1979 – © Avard Woolaver

Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, 1979, — Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, 1979 – © Avard Woolaver

Kinsmen Park, Edmonton, Alberta, 1979, — Kinsmen Park, Edmonton, Alberta, 1979 – © Avard Woolaver

Black and White Blogging Film Photography Photography

1979 Alberta Edmonton photography street photography

Published March 21, 2019 by avardw

Forty years ago in 1979

Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, 1979 – © Avard Woolaver

My life was quite different forty years ago in 1979. I remember some of that time, but a lot is forgotten. But photographs have a way of bringing the past into sharp focus in a way that almost nothing else can. A moment in 1979, frozen in time.

In 1979, I was in my second year at Acadia University living in residence at Chipman House. I had bought my first guitar–a used Marlin for $25. (This guitar is a Korean knockoff of the legendary Martin guitar–I still play that guitar to this day.) Although I spent some time on my studies, my real passion was taking photographs. Doing assignments for the school paper The Athenaeum was good training and taught me a lot about getting the shot even under difficult conditions. It also taught me the importance of meeting deadlines. We would often be working frantically in the darkroom right up until the last minute before putting the paper to bed.

In the summer of 1979, I got a job working on a railway gang in Wainwright, Alberta. How I got that job, and ended up there is a long and winding story. It was a summer of physical labour, working in the sun doing track maintenance–a good job for a twenty year old. With my photographs, I tried then as I do now, to capture a mood, or a feeling. I didn’t know much back then, but I could recognize good light and at times could capture a moment. It’s what Henri Cartier-Bresson called “a joint operation of the brain, the eye and the heart.”

Railway gang bunk cars, Wainwright, Alberta, 1979 – © Avard Woolaver

100A Street NW, Edmonton, Alberta, 1979 – © Avard Woolaver

Viking, Alberta, 1979 – © Avard Woolaver

Wainwright, Alberta, 1979 – © Avard Woolaver

Black and White Blogging Photography

1979 Alberta film photography photography

Published March 20, 2019 by avardw

Photos to welcome spring

Newport, Nova Scotia, 2019, spring, — Newport, Nova Scotia, 2019 – © Avard Woolaver

Today is the first day of spring. Here in Nova Scotia the vernal equinox will occur a few hours from now at 6:58 pm. Although it hasn’t been a particularly rough winter in this part of the world, there is still an unusually thick layer of frost in the earth (about a meter’s worth). This was caused by a lot of cold weather, and little snow (that usually provides a layer of insulation). In a recent rainstorm my basement flooded with 4 inches ( 10 cm) of water–the drains were frozen and there was nowhere for the water to go. I’m sure this happened to many people in Nova Scotia. I haven’t had the courage to plug in my guitar amp to see if it still works.

Still, spring fills me with optimism. I like to put on Hello Mr. Blue Sky by New Brunswick’s John Campbelljohn and turn up the volume. I can forget all about flooded basements and cold weather, and look forward to fat robins hopping around in my backyard.

And the spring light is great for photography. With Daylight Saving Time starting on March 10, the sun sets at 7:30 pm these days. The golden hour is back and this is a good reason to celebrate. Here are a few recent photos of this wonderful time of year. Happy spring, everyone!

Newport, Nova Scotia, 2019, — Newport, Nova Scotia, 2019 – © Avard Woolaver

Bayers Lake, Nova Scotia, 2019, spring, — Bayers Lake, Nova Scotia, 2019 – © Avard Woolaver

Newport, Nova Scotia, 2019 – © Avard Woolaver