photography Archives - Page 5 of 18

Published August 16, 2021 by avardw

From a folder on my computer titled: Toronto Unseen

These are photos from a folder on my computer titled: Toronto Unseen. They are images of Toronto taken in the 1980s and 1990s that have previously not been posted or published–unseen by the public. I will post them periodically on my blog and talk a little about them.

The photo above was taken in 1982, and I’m unsure of the location. I sometimes look at the contact sheet for clues, and it seems that went to the Danforth Music Hall to see a movie, so it may have been taken on the Danforth. I like this one–people waiting for the bus, or a taxi, life in the big city. I was in my second year of photography studies at Ryerson and taking street photos almost every day, on the lookout for scenes like this one. It was on one of the first rolls taken with my Rollei 35–an amazing little camera with a fixed 40mm Zeiss Sonar lens. Totally manual–you even have to guess the focus. It took a bit of getting used to!

This photo was on the first roll of film after I arrived in Toronto in September 1980. It was across the street from my apartment, literally the first thing I saw when I stepped outside to do my first day of shooting and exploring the city. My camera was still loaded with Kodak Panatomic-X that I was shooting in Nova Scotia. I quickly found out that this 32 ASA fine grain film was unsuitable for street photography and switched to Tri-X after that. These two store fronts were a revelation of sorts. I could never have taken this photo anywhere in Nova Scotia. These type of storefronts just didn’t exist, or at least they weren’t easily seen. Toronto was so foreign, and multicultural that it seemed like a different country. It was exciting and amazing, and I had a camera. It was the start of my love affair with Toronto.

Fast forward fourteen years. I’m back in Toronto after the previous six years teaching English in Japan. Toronto seems smaller and more spacious compared to Japanese cities. I’m still shooting with the Rollei 35, doing less street photography, but trying to refine my approach. I wanted my pictures to be more clever, or at least say something more. With this one I tried to juxtapose the sign “for the human race” with the boy, (racing!) across the bridge with his dog.

These days I’m back living in rural Nova Scotia, where I started out. I have few opportunities to do any kind of street photography, but I’m still refining my vision and trying to take time to observe the world around me.

Black and White Photography Toronto

black and white film photography photography street photography Toronto Toronto Unseen

Published August 11, 2021 by avardw

Straight photos of unusual scenes

For me, nothing beats a straight photo of an unusual scene. I’ve never had much interest in image manipulation after the photo has been taken. I’d rather see the scene and try to record it in an interesting way–a sort of truth is stranger than fiction approach.

There are plenty of famous photographers out there who have a knack for recording oddball scenes. Lee Friedlander, Martin Parr, and Elliott Erwitt are three that come to mind. Their images can make you laugh out loud, or shake your head in wonder. You ponder how they were able be in that place and capture that fleeting moment. Part of the answer, I think, is natural ability, but the bigger part is just practice. They were out shooting everyday, honing their skills, and sharpening their eye.

My photos of unusual scenes are mostly things I come across in everyday life. Seeing them sometimes makes me chuckle, or makes me think that the world is , indeed, a strange and wonderful place.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2012 – © Avard Woolaver

Newport Station, Nova Scotia, 2010 – © Avard Woolaver

For me, nothing beats a straight photo of an unusual scene. It's a sort of truth is stranger than fiction approach. — Blomidon, Nova Scotia, 2021 – © Avard Woolaver

Documentary Observation Photography

documentary observation photography unusual scenes Wish You Were Here

Published July 22, 2021 by avardw

Photographs by Avard Woolaver

Avard Woolaver, photographs, — Bay Street Bus Terminal, Toronto, 1982 – © Avard Woolaver

Hi! If you’re new here, my name is Avard Woolaver, and I’m a photographer based in Nova Scotia, Canada. Many of you have probably found this website from my one of my social media platforms. I’ve recently stopped posting photos on Instagram but hope to spend more time posting on this site. So here’s an introduction to my work!

A lot of the people who follow me are especially interested in my Toronto photos, taken mostly during the 1980s. (The above photo, previously unpublished, is an example.) I did a lot of street photography and urban landscapes during and after my photography studies at Ryerson University. The negatives sat sorted in files on a bookcase for thirty years before I started scanning them in 2016. The photos are very nostalgic for me–a blast from the past.

One of my main interests is New Topographics–the human-altered landscape. With the rapid advance of the climate emergency, our mismanagement of the environment is becoming more central to my work. I want my photos to be visually interesting, but also carry a message.

Avard Woolaver, photography, — Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia, 2013 – © Avard Woolaver

Another one of my interests deals with visual perception. My Wish You Were Here series aims to challenge the viewers’ attention in a subtle way by finding everyday scenes with elements of whimsy and surrealism. Emulating artists like Rene Magritte and Lee Friedlander, I want to make the familiar seem a little strange, but without Photoshop or image manipulation. These photos come about through observation, using juxtaposition, reflection, typography, and scale.

My travels have taken me various places in the world. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I worked in Japan, which gave me a chance to visit southeast Asia. Travel photography is exciting because nearly everything is new and interesting, and you may never be in that place again.

Shibuya Scramble Crossing Tokyo, 2020 – © Avard Woolaver

Along with photographing the unfamiliar, I do a lot of revisiting familiar scenes during different times and seasons. A familiar scene can seem so changed under different lighting conditions. I pass the scene below on a daily basis and have photographed it numerous times. It never gets old.

photography — Wentworth Creek, Nova Scotia, 2018 – © Avard Woolaver

Finally, I like doing self-portraits, and also incorporating humour in my photos when I can. I saw some Lee Friedlander self-portraits when I first got a camera, and they made a lasting impression.

Bee kind. Bee aware. Bee the change.

Black and White Colour Documentary Landscape New Topographics Observation Photography Social Landscape Street Photography Travel

Avard Woolaver Introduction photography

Published April 28, 2021 by avardw

I only know how to take one photo

In some way, I only know how to take one photo. I just do it at different times and locations. It brings to mind a quote from blues harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite: “I only know one tune, and I play it faster or slower, or I change the key, but it’s just the one tune I’ve ever played in my life. It’s all I know.” There is a particular photo by Lee Friedlander that I believe may be the basis for my photographic approach. I discovered it in 1978, in a book titled Concerning Photography. At that time, I was just learning how to use a camera and was very passionate about this new endeavor.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1972 – Lee Friedlander

The black and white photo, titled “Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1972,” shows an intersection cluttered with a hydrant and various poles. There is a car tire in frame on the right, as well as a high-rise apartment building. In the centre, there is a small house (or small bank building), and on the right—the pièce de résistance – a dog sitting on the sidewalk, partially obscured by a pole, looking like it’s waiting to use the crosswalk. So much information, and wonderful balance of so many elements. And such beautiful, creamy black and white tones. The photo is bursting with creativity, intelligence and deadpan humour–and seems to be the visual equivalent of jazz music.

Over the course of forty years, I have taken many kinds of photos—landscapes, portraits, documentary, editorial, but I keep returning to this wonderful Lee Friedlander photo with its delicate balance of design elements, its visual humour and social commentary. When I go out into the world with my camera, the most satisfying moments come when I know I have taken a quirky photo, one that makes the viewer do a double take. It may be the only photo I know how to take, yet I was there, and I saw that!

Black and White Documentary Photography

black and white photography Charlie Musselwhite Lee Friedlander photography

Published February 22, 2021 by avardw

A Selection of Snow Photos

It’s winter in Canada–a good time to post a selection of snow photos. It a wonderful sight to see the landscape transformed by a blanket of fresh fallen snow. In the following poem Emily Dickinson makes mention of the snow sifting down, making an even face of mountain and plain.

Taking snow photos is a good way to connect with the season, and enjoy the absolutely unique qualities of winter. On windy days, photographing snow is a good way to photograph the elusive wind. There are amazing shadows cast on sunny days, and an abundance of soft textures. I like to go out around twilight time when the snow is coming down. It’s a good opportunity to use a flash to freeze the snowflakes.

Snow by Emily Dickinson

It sifts from leaden sieves,
It powders all the wood,
It fills with alabaster wool
The wrinkles of the road.

It makes an even face
Of mountain and of plain, —
Unbroken forehead from the east
Unto the east again.

It reaches to the fence,
It wraps it, rail by rail,
Till it is lost in fleeces;
It flings a crystal veil

On stump and stack and stem, —
The summer’s empty room,
Acres of seams where harvests were,
Recordless, but for them.

It ruffles wrists of posts,
As ankles of a queen, —
Then stills its artisans like ghosts,
Denying they have been.