Knock Twice

Sorry, internet. I've been busy working on a new venture with Eugen Sakhnenko.

Knock Twice is an an online resource to assist and inform budding creative professionals. If you haven't seen the site yet, you can check it out here.

Thank you.

(W.J.S. Ripley, 1945, photographer unknown)

The eleventh day of the eleventh month.
Every year, the parade gets smaller.

Finally, something I haven't shown before....

I am showing some work in a group exhibition at Open Architect this month. Some of my new photographs will be featured, as well as work from four other photographers/friends, Eugen Sakhnenko, Sabrina Maltese, Carmen Cheung and Erin Hogue. The details are as follow:

FINDING ROOM

Open Architect

September 30th - October 25th

Opening - September 30th, 6-9 pm

454 Kingston Road. Toronto.

You can see one of the new images here.

September...

(Kelsey, 2010)

Summer is officially over.
Time to sweep the rooms and turn some new leaves.

Bandwagon jumper.....

(Berlin, 2006)

Four years ago I was traveling in Europe during the world cup. Having once lived in Stuttgart, Germany will always be the team of my heart, and it was tragic to see them lose to Italy in the 2006 semi-final. Though I don't generally follow sports, every four years I pull out my knockoff official German away jersey and cheer for my faves.

I won't be able to watch the first Germany game today (I'm shooting a wedding at Fort York!), but I look forward to the next few weeks of flags, and yelling, and a big bucket of beers of the world.

May

(Laura and Goh, 2010)

In the past four weeks I have photographed:

- A gala at St.Lawrence Hall
- A concert of beautiful children
- Engagement portraits for a perfectly Polish pair
- A couture hat maker's spring collection
- A crucifixion at U of T
- Production stills for a documentary film
- A bank office overlooking the lake
- A bicycle wedding at City Hall (just feature on The Wedding Co. site: www.theweddingco.com)

Time for tomato plants, editing, painting, and lots of coffee. Here comes June.

(Just married, 2010)

He knows not what sequins...is

(Photo for a dear friend, and most epic model, 2010)

I don't have cable tv, so I miss out on most trendy commercials. occasionally, however, something really good makes it through and I am smitten. Most recently this includes the new French Connection campaign. The campaign, creative directed by Richard Flintham, was shot by the photography collective Blinkk. Love love love.

hustle.

(outtake, 2010)


I would be much more productive if the weather would work with me;
scheduling and rescheduling faces in pairs.

A new season

(Outtake, 2010)

It's time for new work. I'm working on a project, and am lucky to have pairs of friends willing to spend the briefest of dusk-hours with me. Hustle hustle hustle. I've been looking at refs, and umps, and soldiers in the field; anyone who signals.

If you're one half of a couple, and your other half wouldn't mind being in a photo too, email me.
(If you're not, but just really want to be in a photo, we can work something out).

Canadian Music Week

(Joel Plaskett - Mod Club Theatre, 2010)

Last week, Toronto hosted Canadian Music Week. Coincidentally, Toronto also hosted a three-day torrential downpour... I packed my cameras into a cloth bag, wore it around my neck, and zipped a goretex jacket over top so my gear wouldn't get wet. It took me a few interactions with super-friendly stranger before I realized that people thought I was pregnant...some stranger waiting for a bus offered me his hat as I walked past.

I photographed a number of shows for Soundproof Magazine, including Forest City Lovers, Hooded Fang, The Trews, and Low Level Flight (which, for those of you that don't know, is the band of Canadian Idol winner Ryan Malcolm. I didn't know, and the enthusiastic fan next to me questioned my patriotism, then elbowed his girlfriend. "She doesn't know them" he scoffed, jerking a thumb towards the stage; and the two of them laughed and laughed.)

(Peter Elkas -Mod Club Theatre, 2010)

(Joel Plaskett - Mod Club Theatre, 2010)

A lot of great musicians played last week, but I think the highlight of the festival was an acoustic set by Joel Plaskett and Peter Elkas at the Mod Club. It was a whole lot of talent crammed into twenty minutes, clean and professional and clever and wonderful. Certainly worth wearing a pregnant goretex jacket for.

family day

Biological family out of commission this weekend, my other family took to the park with skates in tow. Red mittens with maple leaves, toques, long-johns, and my first game of ice hockey. A wonderfully long, long weekend.

this is an example of a blog, alysse.

(alysse, 2009)

The last portrait I shot in way back in 2009.
I don't know many people pursuing a PhD in ancient Greek theatre who also play the banjo. "Well-rounded" doesn't even scratch the surface....This woman broke Plato's heart.

Alysse has started an informal arts working group in Toronto for anyone interested in developing work-in-progress. An opportunity to receive constructive criticism from a cross section of peers in the arts; the group so far includes musicians, writers, filmmakers, visual artists, and one lawyer. The group is a symposion (because 'symposium' is so Roman....), and is part of being on-the-ball in 2010.

5...4...3...2...

it's been busy and will keep going, but faster and bigger.

i'm so grateful for this year, for the changes and happenings.
i'm grateful for support and for blessings.
and i'm grateful that you're reading this (because then, at least, someone is). thank you.

cheers to 2010, year of the hustle.

coffee cream and spirit totems

[marco, 2009]

the best kind of subjects are standing on their front porch when you arrive with your knapsack full of cameras, coffees in their hands. (and the really great ones let you photograph their piles of laundry for an unrelated purpose.)

hands passing bricks and cameras

(lighting test, 2009)

this year has flown by; it's time for holiday shoots.
[guess where i was shooting this afternoon?]

julie fader: "are all these lights for me?"

(julie fader, 2009)

soundproof magazine just published one of my photos alongside an interview with julie fader.

"The velvet-voiced Toronto singer-songwriter has lent vocals and instrumentals to everyone from Justin Rutledge and Attack in Black to Cuff the Duke and Blue Rodeo, all while maintaining occasional membership in Great Lake Swimmers and Sarah Harmer's and Chad VanGaalen's bands."

seriously.

(and i heard a rumor that she taught herself the piano for sarah harmer's i am a mountain.)

in addition to all of her musical affiliations, julie has recently released her own album, outside in. julie is lovely and humble, with a soaring voice. we did the shoot before she took the stage at toronto's el mocambo early this month.

piranha teeth

(mexican day of the dead, 2009)

house full (full) of friends and family. cleaned and cleaned and cleaned.
hand towels, potted flowers, gallon of paint, copious amounts of mortadella, beer caps.

iconic image of our housewarming. it was a good, long, day.

vom Schwäbische Alb

(unrealized dyptich, 2005)

i found these two frames lying next to one another on one of my old rolls of film.

yvonne chose to stay in the city, rather than accompany her german family to the canadian wilderness. canoes were tipped and journals soaked through. she would have none of it.
i remember that some jokes don't translate well. "wieviele Pfannkuchen können Sie in ein panzer passen?" the answer is 'green, because yogourt doesn't have any bones!'

go figure.

the eagle has landed

(nephew, 2009)

halloween 2009 - emmaus tastes his first chocolate.
aunts are the best.

stand-up

(stephanie, 2009)

the very lovely, and very talented, stephanie kaliner.
you can see this lady perform all over the city, and you should, because she's also very funny.
as part of ghost jail theatre, as part of comedy at the ossington, and as herself. very funny.

she is an unassuming superhero in an elevator.

bunny.

(greta and her pets, 2009)

brunch with mandatory walk,
little families that aren't so little anymore.
giving thanks.

having achieved a house as a status symbol

(joe, 2009)

the inimitable j. dunlop, in the apartment we used to share.
he went onto higher things (french monks and oxford 1919), though he is well.


since leaving there, i have left behind another old apartment, and am back in the world again.

the top half

(one half of twins - part two, 2009)

the fourth wall

(belt buckle, 2009)


real shot to follow.

accident face

(devin - as his own self, 2009)

devin jeffrey is a good friend, and a good photographer.
this photo was taken moments before he was a really, really good sport.

sometimes we go to the beach...

(amy & marco, wasaga 2009)


...and sometimes it rains.

dog day

last month i photographed halifax band dog day for soundproof magazine. they were a coffee-lovin' group who were kind enough to stand in a line for me more than once. they also included our shoot in their exclaim magazine tour blog, citing me as a pisce* from the national post**.

that was nice of them.


*correct **incorrect

free hot-sauce

(jacqui - on the day michael jackson died, 2009)

after this shoot, we went out for wings on the lakeshore. afterward, i had to wait for the late streetcar, while a new york entrepreneur in birkenstocks told me about his mother's obsession with m.j.
his opening line was, "the man is dead."


recently: half-hours, tired of houses, showings, planning and planning.
soon: a new website, with man-faces.

skylight

(upstairs window, 2009)
this particular shoot, i drank club soda for the first time, straight out of the can. and learned that the nutritional value of fudgesicles is quite unexpected.

fair is fair.

the elusive jamie campbell - on the threshold, may 2009.

i'm a cat cat cat and i dance dance dance

(mom put water in the soap again, 2009)

the ever-entertaining vanessa m., in her kitchen; a side moment from one of the fastest good shoots of my life. i was on time, we ate crackers, and she gave me an infected bead. vanessa is a fabulous painter, and i spy with my little eye three of her pieces in the above shot.

there were a lot of shots from that afternoon, and the real winners will be on my website soon, i give you my word.

(1988 [sic ])

happy mothers day, mom.
and thanks.

press is press

my photo of grilled eggplant scapicia is in biz bash, running along side an editorial piece on courgette catering. with a photo credit and everything. work is work.

this is kind of what it's like to have tea and photograph with angela.
(you can see the final result here)

(one half of twins - part one , 2009)

the lovely lena

(lena, 2009)

it's officially lena week on blogs.
(sadly, the lovely ms. oehmsen has returned to the fatherland for a spell, but you can still see her work here: www.lenaoehmsen.com)

there are many new images to post from shoots with many new faces.

i'm trying hard to catch up after being selected as juror #2 in my hometown and spending two and a half weeks in civic responsibility limbo.
try to remember it's the right thing to do.

and sometimes the strobe even worked.

(a degree in business, 2009)

oh yes, i have been productive.
1) holey pink tights.
2) false mustaches.
3) a friend who is leaving.

all in one day.

i'm going to be on cbc radio.

for anyone who plans to be awake at 5:45 am on a long weekend monday...


my exhibition at harbourfront centre caught the eye of the show's producer, so this past wednesday i went to the cbc studios here in toronto to be interviewed by jane hawtin for 'metro morning.' my soothing voice will be piped into your home courtesy of 99.1 fm, and if you happen to be up dark and early, you just might get to hear it.

in the 'hood

(the day after a shooting, 2009)

my old and new neighbour, julie, in the house where she's subletting.
she made me tea, and reminded me of things i forgot that i knew. she's great.
(and you should see this girl knit! www.loveknits.ca)

i need some new faces. if you're around, and don't mind too much (it's ok if you mind a little), can i photograph you?

paul mccartney makes a dirty joke

(the first official shoot of 2009)

more of this girl's lovely face here.
(updated, as promised, because it's january.)

the way home

walking through park on friday, going home for lunch, and there are marks in the snow. the same path as i take home, from the edge of the park to the intersection across from the haircuts and sausages. the morning was clear, there was nothing so, returning, i figure out what has happened. people walking their dogs and strollers step carefully and avoid, but i have an orphaned camera in my purse and a forensic upbringing.