Life is Short, Eat Candy
Found at Loblaws: words to live by… I couldn’t agree more…
Toronto
Elevated Busking
Last weekend I saw this street performer singing his heart out from atop the underground parking stairway at the intersection of York Street and University Avenue. You gotta get a gimmick!
St. Joseph Street
I love walking down St. Joseph Street in downtown Toronto. The street consists mostly of 1940s-era Art Deco and/or brownstone apartments. Much of the original architecture is still in place and, thankfully, the street has not been totally overrun with towering condos. Yes, there are some condos on this street, but they have been kept low (not counting FIVE St. Joseph near the corner of Yonge Street) and styled to…
Urban Anthems
I’ve been seeing these pop up through downtown, mostly on abandoned buildings:
Today’s PhotoWalk
It was a beautiful day today, so naturally I went for a photowalk with my trusty camera. I wandered down to the Esplanade then back, capturing the city on a Saturday afternoon. Here’s a few shots from earlier today:
Toronto Pride 2021
Well, here we are. One year later and still no physical Pride events, here or elsewhere for that matter, thanks to COVID-19 and the state of the world these days <boo, hiss….>. Regardless, I’ve been thinking about how I could mark this year’s non-event. I could pout and rage (which I feel like doing), but it would be more productive and positive to put together some little tribute to Pride…
Day Trip To Wards Island
As part of my stay-cation this week I took a day trip across the lake to the Toronto Islands – Wards Island to be exact. For some time I’ve wanted to photograph the quirky little cottages in all their splendour. When I arrived I was not disappointed; there was plenty to work with. Here are a few of today’s shots:
Blackout!
On Thursday, August 14, 2003 at 4:11 PM, everything stopped. In my memory, two big events occurred in Toronto that summer of 2003: one was SARStock and the other was the power blackout that affected all of Ontario and parts of Northeastern and Midwestern United States. It was the world’s second most widespread power blackout in history, with 50 million people affected by the outage. For some, the blackout lasted…
Fall Leaves
It’s that time again: Fall – my favourite season! The weather is cooler and the evenings are crisp. It’s also the most colourful season with the trees displaying those gorgeous shades of red, yellow and orange. I made a few photo expeditions around the city this Fall to capture some of the changing leaves; here’s a small sampling of what I found: High Park Allan Gardens Cabbagetown Maitland Place Ahhhhh,…
Toronto Pride: A Look Back
Virtual Pride: June 26-28, 2020… say what???!!! As we all know, COVID-19 has squatted over Toronto Pride this summer of 2020 and taken a huge dump. When it was announced that all large events – or any event for that matter – in the City of Toronto would be cancelled this year, including my beloved Pride, I was crushed beyond measure. Toronto Pride will be celebrated this year with “Virtual…
A Smile During the Pandemic
It had been a busy and hectic day at work last Friday. Walking home I suddenly spotted something unusual coming toward me in the distance. At first I thought I was seeing things courtesy of my fatigued state, but as it drew closer I see it was… Pikachu to the rescue!! Thank you, Pikachu! It was great to have a smile and laugh during our troubled COVID times.
My City, My Six: Toronto’s Stories Told in Six Words
In celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, the City of Toronto launched a public art project called My City, My Six. From May to August that year, the public were invited to submit something about themselves and Toronto, consisting of only 6 words. The best submissions were judged, then posted in the Civic Centres of Toronto. I was working at the East York Civic Centre at the time, and…
Toronto Chinatown Festival 2019
Here’s some shots from this past weekend’s Chinatown Festival in Toronto. The festival stretched along several blocks of Spadina Avenue, and there was lots of colour, food and costumes.
Monday Morning Rainbow
As I stumbled bleary-eyed from my bed this morning, I was greeted by a rainbow over the city: It’s rare we have a rainbow over the city but even rarer when it’s a double one such as this. All too soon it was gone. The rainbow was followed by some unusual light and threatening skies: And then it all gave way to rain…
A Wet Ghost Walk Through The Distillery District
We’d been wanting to do a ghost walk of Toronto’s Distillery District for some time so we bought our tickets for the night of July 6th. One figures with a historic place like the Distillery District there’s bound to be some hauntings and a few lost souls lingering about. The company hosting the walk was The Haunted Walk. They also have offices in Ottawa and Kingston and we have taken…
Stockyards Art
No backstory here – I was simply intrigued by this sculpture we discovered on a visit to The Stockyards Village (St. Clair & Weston Road):
Through The Glass
I took this casual shot with my iPhone while we were waiting to go into a concert at Roy Thomson Hall. I love how the CN Tower is framed by the glass panes and surrounding buildings:
Bloor-Yorkville Icefest 2019
It had been four years since I’d photographed the annual Bloor-Yorkville Icefest. The weather finally cooperated this year and gave us below freezing temperatures which preserved the beautiful sculptures of the ice artists (unlike the last couple of years, when “Icefest” became more like “Dripfest” due to very warm temperatures). It didn’t hurt that the organizers finally moved the event to early February this year instead of the customary late…
Star Wars & The TSO
You’ve probably read the title of this post and thought: “Whhaaaaa??”. It’s an unlikely combo at first glance: the film Star Wars: A New Hope coupled with the TSO (Toronto Symphony Orchestra). Not so weird actually. What a brilliant idea. Over the span of the next couple of years the Toronto Symphony Orchestra is performing the John Williams-composed Star Wars soundtracks live while the movies are projected larger than life…
SARStock / Toronto Rocks
There were two memorable events in Toronto during the summer of 2003: one was the massive power blackout covering most of northeast North America (read my post on that here) and the other was Toronto Rocks or, more informally, SARStock. Held on July 30, 2003 at Downsview Park (previously a former military air base in the north end of the city), the event was a gigantic, marathon rock concert to benefit Toronto’s economy and…
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