storing and archiving your photos diversify …€¦ · · 2018-01-16and rainy-day fun with...

PHOTOLIFE.COM - OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 - DISPLAY UNTIL NOVEMBER 30, 2017 - $6.99

YOUR GUIDE TO EVERYTHING PHOTO

AND RAINY-DAY FUN WITH MACROPHOTOGRAPHY

THE MAGIC OF PEOPLE AND PLACESENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITS

STREET PHOTOGRAPHYINDUSTRIAL SHOOTS

THE THROUGH LINE. OR CHASING UNITY, NOT STYLE. OR SOMETHING.AN INTERVIEW WITH LARRY TOWELL

PLUS

STORING AND ARCHIVING YOUR PHOTOSDIVERSIFY TO PROTECT YOUR WORK

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3OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 PHOTOLIFE.COM

CONTENTS

EXPOSURE 4 CONTRIBUTORS 6 EDITORIAL 10 THIS AND THAT 22 MISADVENTURES IN PHOTOGRAPHY 24 THE COMMUNITY 66 THE LIVING ROOM

VISION WISDOM, WIT AND OTHER TIDBITS

26 LARRY TOWELLWhether documenting the stories of people in conflict zones or doing an 11-year project on Mennonite migrant workers, Larry Towell’s focus is on people.

WITHOUT THE FRAME

31 CHASING UNITY BY DAVID DUCHEMIN

If you go to a gallery to look at an exhibition by Elliott Erwitt or Annie Leibovitz or Edward Burtynsky—pick your favourite artist—you will, I hope, be struck by the cohesiveness of that work. What accounts for this cohesiveness, why is it important, and how do we incorporate that visual through line in our own work?

34 WALKING & WITNESSING ANNE GIBSON’S LIFELONG COMMITMENT

TO HER NEIGHBOURHOOD

BY JENNY MONTGOMERY

SHOWTIME

40 PARALLEL LINES

TOOLBOX 42 THE MAGIC OF PEOPLE AND PLACES STORYTELLING THROUGH

ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITURE

BY DAVE BROSHA

50 STORING AND ARCHIVING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY DIVERSIFY TO PROTECT YOUR WORK

BY MICHAEL ERNEST SWEET

How organized is your digital archive? Are your photographs stable and protected? Do you have any physical prints, or are your images just piles of silicon chips?

THE MAGIC OF PEOPLE AND PLACESSTORYTELLING THROUGH

ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITURESo how does someone looking to improve their environmental portrait voice

go from simply taking a photograph of a person in some form of surroundings to creating images that are able to elicit a clear emotional connection?

42

WALKING & WITNESSINGANNE GIBSON’S LIFELONG COMMITMENT

TO HER NEIGHBOURHOODThough she makes most of her images around Toronto’s Kensington Market

neighbourhood, Anne Gibson doesn’t really describe herself as a street photographer. Instead, she calls herself a “gather of people and things.”

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PHOTO LIFE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017,VOLUME 42, NUMBER 6

COVER PHOTODale Wilsondalewilson.ca

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4 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 PHOTOLIFE.COM

CONTENTSTOOLBOX (CONTINUED) 56 THE BIG LIFT STEPPING ON DECK TO

COMMUNICATE A CLIENT’S WISHES

BY DALE WILSON

Lost in my thoughts, I’m sitting on an overturned crate on the deck of the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge—the 1.3-kilometre-long suspension bridge spanning Halifax Harbour—waiting for the night’s work to start.

FAQ

62 RAINY-DAY MACROPHOTOGRAPHY BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS LANDRY

64 GADGET GUIDE BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS LANDRY

THE BIG LIFTSTEPPING ON DECK TO

COMMUNICATE A CLIENT’S WISHES

56

PHOTO LIFE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017,VOLUME 42, NUMBER 6

Laurence Butet-Roch fell in love with journalism through Scoop, a Quebec sitcom set inside a newsroom. Studying international relations at the University of British Columbia and photography at the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa led her to become a photographer with the Boreal Collective, a photo editor and a writer. lbrphoto.ca

Holding a passion for the world and an eye for the beauty it contains, Prince Edward Island-based Dave Brosha is one of Canada’s most diverse photographic artists and educators. His work covers a wide spectrum including landscape, portraiture, commercial and adventure imagery. davebrosha.com

Emmanuelle Champagne completed her studies in creative writing and later decided to pursue accounting and administration. She enjoys literature and all forms of art.

David duChemin is a Vancouver-based photographer and adventurer. His bestselling books on

the art of photography have been translated into a dozen languages. davidduchemin.com

Patrick La Roque is a speaker, writer and professional photographer from Montreal. He is an official Fujifilm X-Photographer and founder of the KAGE COLLECTIVE, an international group specializing in visual storytelling and documentary work. laroquephoto.com, kagecollective.com

Jean-François Landry has been providing advice to photographic equipment buyers in Quebec City since 1989. He also shares his passion with amateur photographers through courses and magazine articles. cylidd.com

Guy Langevin has worked in the magazine and photo industry for many years. He has had the chance to collaborate with and befriend some of the best photographers in the country, and you’ll rarely see him without either his running shoes or camera. guylangevin.net

Jenny Montgomery is a theatre director and writer who first learned her way around a darkroom in 1998. Photography runs in her family, so it was probably inevitable that it would be a part of her life.

Valérie Racine has been part of the Photo Life team since 2001. She currently serves as publisher and marketing director. Her background includes studies in art, art history and communications, and she is passionate about photography.

Michael Ernest Sweet is a Canadian writer and photographer who lives in New York City. His work has appeared in Popular Photography, Digital Camera World, Black & White Magazine, Leica Camera and The Huffington Post, among others. michaelsweetphotography.com, Instagram: @disposablestreets

Dale Wilson is a freelance photographer based in Nova Scotia and long-time Photo Life contributor. His practice concentrates on commercial work and creating images for several stock agencies. dalewilson.ca

Curiousabout whoput thistogether?Here’s this issue’swho’s who.

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EXPOSURE THIS AND THAT

WORLDPRESSPHOTO

ONTOUR

ZOOM PHOTOFESTIVAL SAGUENAY

150 YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

THE winning images of this year’s World Press Photo competition are in Toronto from October 3 through 24 and in Chicoutimi from October 20 to November 12. worldpressphoto.org

ZOOM Photo Festival Saguenay: International Meeting of Photojournalism is October 18 through November 12. In addition to the World Press Photo exhibition, you can see work by Arianne Clément (the TWWLI VI grand-prize winner), Amber Bracken, Yoanis Menge, Tim Smith and many more! zoomphotofestival.ca

CANADA POST is celebrating the last 150 years of photography with its fifth and final stamp issue in its five-year series on Canadian photography. The five Permanent domestic stamps feature photographers Claire Beaugrand-Champagne, Robert Bourdeau, Gilbert Duclos, Samuel McLaughlin and William James Topley. canadapost.ca

© TOMAS MUNITA, THE NEW YORK TIMES

© AMBER BRACKEN

© JONATHAN BACHMAN, THOMSON REUTERS


OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 PHOTOLIFE.COM30

VISION WITHOUT THE FRAME

If you go to a gallery to look at an exhibition by Elliott Erwitt or Annie Leibovitz or Edward Burtynsky—pick your favourite artist—you will, I hope, be struck by the cohesiveness of that work. The visual unity will run unmistakably through the work, often over many years; it’s a hallmark of every serious photographer and visual artist. What accounts for this cohesiveness, why is it important, and how do we incorporate that visual through line in our own work?

I think the obvious answer is that this cohesion is accounted for by the artists themselves.

Barring any multiple-personality disorders, we all see the world in one unified kind of way— different from the person next to us and from the billions with whom we share the planet. Some of our differences are strong, and some are more subtle, but we each have a particular point of view. And most of us are self-consistent, that is, and it sounds obvious, we are not different from ourselves. If the work reflects the artist, then it stands to reason that it will not vary so wildly from one piece to another that we begin to think we’re looking at work from 20 different photographers. In other words, it comes down to vision. How one photographer sees the world, what that artist values and feels strongly enough about to make photographs that explore and express that subject or theme, the kind of tastes he or she might have in terms of colour palettes and the ways of shaping and forming them—all these things and more form our vision.

But what marks the work of these more recognizable names, and the thing they seem to have in common, is that they do not treat this vision as an accidental

OR CHASING UNITY,NOT STYLE. OR SOMETHING.

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VISION PROFILE

Though she makes most of her images around Toronto’s Kensington Market neighbourhood, Anne Gibson doesn’t really describe herself

as a street photographer. Instead, she calls herself a “gatherer of people and things.” But even if the genre might be debatable, the

talent is not. The Toronto native’s work has been getting noticed, and a documentary, Making Memories, has even been made about her.

Looking at her portfolio, you’d never guess that Gibson only recently got into photography…at the age of 58!

THE COMMUNITYThough Gibson took a black-and-white developing course in her twenties at OCA (now the Ontario College of Art and Design University), she explained, “I never followed through on it. Four years ago, at 58 years old, I was just over a year clean and sober and was looking at my world through an entirely different lens. I needed a way to not only express what was in my heart but also to communicate and represent the unique community of Kensington Market where I spent my entire adulthood.” So she took a Photography 101 course from Henry’s then went out with her camera into the community that she considers home.

Gibson was 13 years old when she first visited Kensington Market with her mother, and ever since Gibson has lived on her own, she’s lived within walking distance of the neighbourhood. Currently she lives in Queen West, but she emphasized, “Kensington has always been my social and cultural

location especially since Queen West effectively died as a hub of music and creative life in the late 80s as a result of gentrification and corporate investment.” She continued, “I have always felt more at home among multi-ethnic and countercultural, multicultural people. The chaotic, creative, down-to-earth historic vibe has always felt like ‘home’ to me. The neighbourhood embraces quirky, off-the-grid people, and that has always made me feel like I ‘belong.’ I have watched families have children and then watched those children grow up and take over the family business. That kind of community is rare in the city. By now, I am familiar with three generations of people of every kind of background, who all know and watch out for each other. It is probably the most inclusive neighbourhood I have ever seen. Asian, Portuguese, Jewish, Gypsy, Italian, African, Jamaican, South and Central American, First Nations people all living and working together in the same community—and then

there are the hippies, the punks, the musicians, the artisans and the epicures. But you have to have been there a long time to see just how integrated and supporting all these communities are of each other and of the ethos that is Kensington.”

The hope that comes from hearing about such a diverse and inclusive community is quickly tempered by its precariousness. “Gentrification and tourism are turning another chapter in the evolution of the market at an alarming rate. Rents have skyrocketed; expensive cafes and dispensaries are filling up the old vegetable stands effectively driving out the people and the culture that attracted the attention,” she pointed out. “I spend every minute I can there photographing the people I know who still make up the quirky, creative bohemian and old-world population. I feel a kind of desperation to photograph my perspective because so many of the photographers who go there

ANNE GIBSON’S LIFELONG COMMITMENT TO HER NEIGHBOURHOOD

WALKING &WITNESSING

BY JENNY MONTGOMERY

I feel a kind of desperation to photograph my perspective because so many of the photog-raphers who go there from other locations shoot as visitors, observers, outsiders.



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shared, “I am ‘memory making’ with my camera. It is a form of meditation or therapy. When I am photographing, I am not living in my head. I am not with my memories. Rather I am creating new memories of my own design. Once I realized that images are so closely tied to memories, I began to actively rescript my world. In fact, whenever I am down or simply feel lost, I automatically grab my camera and run out of the house. I never know what I will encounter, and I specifically set my goal to see my world with new eyes. I do a little walking meditation to clear out the cobwebs and be open to the world as it is on that day. In that way I am not bound by old narratives that no longer serve me; I am able create and participate in new narratives and experiences. So, it is really my emotional health that motivates my photography.”

THE MOMENTSWhen asked how she chooses what to photograph, she admitted,

from other locations shoot as visitors, observers, outsiders. I want to photograph my point of view as someone from the inside. The sad thing is that, at this point, the market is dependant on tourism for its survival, and so we are constantly under siege and are seen as performers for tourists with cameras. The very thing that makes the market so special is its greatest liability.”

THE COMMITMENTGibson mentioned that she has two distinct motivations for photography, depending on the situation. “My role as a photographer is either entirely personally motivated, i.e., I shoot because I need to. I cannot not shoot. I am simply compelled to photograph. I always have a camera on me and use it, even if it is just my iPhone. Or, I shoot as a gift to my community. I want to document a neighbourhood that is suffering under the weight of gentrification and objectification. My perspective on Kensington Market is just that,

my perspective. But enough of the other locals recognize my perspective and feel connected to the perspective. These are ‘gifts’ to the community that has homed me for so many decades.”

And gifts they are. Gibson’s deep desire to honour her community is evident in her images. “My personal sense of responsibility to the people I photograph is that my work, in some way, ennobles them,” she explained. “I use my photography to connect with humanity—my own and others’. I see the images as artifacts in the world, and I choose to bring artifacts into the world that contribute to the general good. Others like to focus on the decaying, the failing, the diminution of humanity. I see it as a choice. I choose to ennoble that which is often simply overlooked. I want to contribute something of spiritual value.”

Gibson’s belief in the power of photography carries over into the role it plays in her own life. She

Shoot with passion. Shoot what you love. Otherwise it’s just a picture. We have enough of those.

FUJIFILM X100T, 23 MM, F/6.4, 1/250 S, ISO 400. © ANNE GIBSON



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MAGIC OF

PEOPLE& PLACESSTORYTELLING THROUGHENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITURE

It’s about 6:15 a.m. in the Northwest Territories capital city of Yellowknife with weather that can only be described as “September Brisk.” The air temperature is about 2 °C as we—my assistant, Susan; my subject, Erykah; and I—huddle around the open tailgate of my truck. We look at each other with one part dread and one part excitement. We know the process will, at times, be painful. Being cold is inevitable, my equipment is sure to give us some hassle, and brains don’t work properly at 6:15 a.m. If there’s solace to be found, it’s in the fact that at least the mosquitos are no longer out.

BY DAVE BROSHA

THE



MAGIC OF

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If you’re anything like me, things are a disorganized mess. In fact, organizing, storing and

archiving has been the single greatest challenge for me in

the transition from analogue to digital. One might, at first blush, assume that digital photographs are inherently easier to organize than those countless shoeboxes of

negatives. In some way that’s true: it can be easier. I have a great many metaphorical shoeboxes in just one of my external hard drives. Keywords are also a much easier way of finding a photo than the incomplete, illegible or even often missing collection of papers born with the good intention of being a table of contents to those countless shoeboxes. Yet, not everything is better in the era of all-things- digital. There are some very real concerns for anyone intending

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So you’ve made a photograph. Or have you? What actually constitutes a photograph in today’s ephemeral digital world? Will you be able to find and view this photograph again in a year? Ten years? How organized is your digital archive? Are your photographs stable and protected? Do you have any physical prints, or are your images just piles of silicon chips?

STORINGANDARCHIVINGYOURPHOTOGRAPHY

DIVERSIFYTO PROTECT YOUR WORK

BY MICHAEL ERNEST SWEET



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FAMILY BONDS AND BELONGING



STEPPING ON DECK TO COMMUNICATE A CLIENT’S WISHESBY DALE WILSON

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57OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017PHOTOLIFE.COM

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Lost in my thoughts, I’m sitting on an overturned crate on the deck of the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge—the 1.3-kilometre-long suspension bridge spanning Halifax Harbour. The evening temperature is hovering in the vicinity of two degrees, and I am enjoying the warmth of the evening sun. It will drop to around -15 °C before the night is over.

I have just learned my client, Halifax Harbour Bridges, plans to produce a book as a legacy

project of what has become known as “The Big Lift.” As the project’s official photographer, I’m not only to use my images but also to write the captions and produce the book. Up until this point, my mandate was to make images for social media in order to visually transport the local community to the bridge deck for an up-close view of the activities.

And so I sit here waiting for the night’s work to start, camera still in its bag, thinking about what this book should say and show. A book will mean a new strategy to acquire images from a different perspective, and...

“Hey, Wilson. What happened, you break your camera?” “Ya,” I toss back. “The last picture it took was of you.” With a laugh and some more banter, we each go to work.

EARNING TRUST AND RESPECT ON THE JOB SITEThe current situation I enjoy seems so distant from my first few nights working on the deck of the oldest suspension-bridge crossing the Halifax Harbour. So how does one get from having to be escorted to a distant vantage on a job site to actually being accepted as part of the crew? In a simple word: respect.

The work of the photographer begins long before arriving on

the job site. To be successful, we must take a genuine interest in the project by first getting to know the key people and eventually endeavouring to learn the entire crew by name. We need to be familiar with the schedule of activities on each shift as well as which events might provide the best visual opportunities to satisfy the assignment requirements. It’s important to identify great vantage points at the beginning of the process in order to maximize good opportunities while staying discreet. The dynamics on a large industrial site are such that no workers want to have a camera in their face recording every detail or task. This is simply human nature, and we photographers must learn to recognize and accept this fact. The objective is to meld with the environment completely. The last thing we want to hear is “you have to move.” Be aware and be respectful—the photographer cannot afford to be a distraction.

There will eventually be a threshold moment when all our diligence will reap rewards. In my case, I had been working on The Big Lift for about nine months. I made certain to respect the workers by never being a distraction. I learned the schedule of events for each day and got pretty good at predicting the timing of those events as they unfolded. I learned the workers’ names and where they were from. We’d chat about the game the previous night or road conditions on their drive—several ironworkers would drive from Cape Breton ©

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