.June ‘26.
~ growing over ~
Something remains to be desired—I’m too close too often, and I feel I’ve humbled myself. Last month I lamented my habit to shoot less from the hip and look through the viewfinder, and I did. However, I still found myself too close and comfortable. I will see a scene, within acceptable proximity to and feel I’m too far to take the shot. As to say, I can see the frame that I want, but I’m not firing the shutter and entirely missing the moments. It’s a bit odd to think, how comfortable I am now shooting at close range—within a meter—whether I’m engaging or trespassing. Yet the frames don’t seem to reflect or carry as much emotion as I once felt… It seems that many of the frames this month remind me of my first attempts at street. The painfully simple: man walks through frame. Even if that’s the so hard done by nonsense that keeps me humble, it is pushing me toward something else I’m sure… something is brewin’ but at the end of the day, you know a good frame when you see it, and well.. that is pretty much the brass tacts.
The majority of June happened to be event related photography; of which, I had quite a bit of fun shooting; and that is what it’s all about, or is it? I still hold myself to a certain level of expectation when it comes to street specifically, yet here we are—process and what it takes. I’ll be honest, as subject matter, street fest’s tend to bore me, I’m not [currently] a layer/compositionally inclined photographer. That being said, lemons and lemon-aid or whatever. Taste of Italy was a good time shooting flash at a dance party, got my licks in at another Jr. A lacrosse game in Mimico, stumbled into an amateur wrestling match at the Fairbank Fest, and the most exciting event Go Skate Day! Something I’ve never participated in during my youth, and/or even skated in Toronto. Only now, getting to take a stab at shooting it all on film. Outside of the electric energy, there was some great settings for shooting street and the community. I’ll go into more details when we get to the thread below… and I’ve done my best to cull 30 rolls even if it doesn’t look like it—so strap-in—you know I keep it real, so it’s a bit of everything. A visual journal of ebb and flow—and yet, something remains to be desired.
Enjoi.
Kentmere 400
Kodak Tri-X
Kodacolor 100
UltraMAX 400
Gold 200 [expired]
VISION3 50D
VISION3 200T
VISION3 250D
VISION3 500T
Always be Pushing
DuWest and Street. Came out the gate with a 50mm and low expectations, threw in some expired Kodak Gold and headed out. I mixed in some texture frames when I’m not feeling as social, but as soon as I got into the mix, I conceded the 50mm and went back to the 28mm for the festival, it’s just easier when close proximity is a given. I did find myself more drawn to texture then people during this first segment.
St. Catharines Athletics versus Mimico Mountaineers: Rather than shooting for the highlight reel; this time I was aiming for the collective action and movement of the sport. It’s tough. Lacrosse, is the fastest sport on two feet. Again, floating between a 28mm. 50mm, and 135mm, I pushed UltraMax to 1600 and I think it continues to perform incredibly well, and the lighting of the barn was great. I’ve always preferred the bowl over turf, for the sound and aesthetic. I’ve got one more game to attend this year in Orangeville early July. I love this sport.
Headed back into the streets after a meet-up, Hit some kentmere 400 +2, felt like I was getting back into a groove but still a touch underwhelmed. I do keep reminding myself that results will vary or reveal themselves when I revisit at the end of the year and compile frames for a project. But this is the bends, instant gratification versus the long game.
Night Crawling. This is where I started to have fun and felt excitement again. I headed over a few nights to see what sort of scenes stood out to me, I packed all my gear and hit the road with my bike and no direction. I started at Dundas Square but was immediately underwhelmed, I stumbled into some alley ways and found myself at Nathan Phillips Square. The city actually felt alive in this plaza—more than winter skating or farmers markets—more culture and essence of people enjoying weekday nights and the energy from the pitch pits was incredible. The youth organizing their own king of the court and quick 1-3 goals runs. I thought it would be interesting to shoot the pitch and see what sort of ghosting I would capture. initially I had 50D, so the timing was quite long and delivered interesting results. I think there is much more to be explored here and scenes to uncover, but for now check these out.
Back to the streets, found myself on a Tuesday downtown and able to do some Finance District then needled my way back to Roncey and High Park.
Taste of Italy—whatever I said about street fest being a snooze fest… well I’ll walk it back for this block party. Too fun going in circles engaging and snapping everyone. Captured more than a handful of great shots and a collection of the energy.
Headed back to some old stomping grounds at Fairbank Fest as a point of departure, then explore Eglinton to Yonge and head south back to the city. Needless to say, I was not excited to go to Fairbank, but boy was I pleasantly surprised to be wrong! The Wrestling alone was enough to enjoy as an audience member, but man did the guys put on a show! The kids were loving it, so much trash talk and a truly quality show. Afterward, Eglinton was a tad quiet but I stumbled into another fest on Yonge just north of St Clair so it offered up some more lack luster opportunities, but it was fun, or maybe I’m just being a hater and not looking deep enough.
GO SKATE DAY. O.K. This is the event of the month. I have always wanted to shoot skateboarding ever since I was in my teens and well involved in the culture. Sorry? Yeah Right? Dying to Live? Chomp on This? PJ Ladds Wonderful Horrible Life? 411VM? Transworld? Thrasher? the list goes on… Growing up in St. Catharines we never went to the city and I never even experienced it, so when I see skateboarding I stop and watch. Now a dedicated day I could run into head first. I shot 9 rolls this day and I regret nothing. i wanted to capture it all, the street style and general skateboarding most importantly. So forgive the self -indulgent length of this one. And if anyone can identify anyone I’d be happy to send them photos have them reach out! and if you’re a skater and like this hit me up, i just wanna shoot!
Rogers Rd. What a gem and reason to start hitting the neighbourhoods! Admittedly, I did not capture the same level of work others did I have seen on this photo walk. But it was a lot of fun! I took out a 28mm lens that has macro focus and it produced some very hazy cloudy extra grain I’m not too pleased about so thats what’s below, but overall the street was providing and producing moments non-stop, largely in part of the final group stage Portugal v Colombia game. I opted for some texture and then some gents at the local watering hole.
in hindsight, I may have just had too many frames to digest