avardwoolaver

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"Toronto in the 1980s" is available at Blurb Books - https://www.blurb.ca/b/12407731-toronto-in-the-1980s

There is a feeling of freedom walking around a city with a camera. At 66, I still have that feeling but it was more pronounced when I was in my mid twenties, studying photography as a student at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Toronto Metropolitan University.) I took a lot of photographs in my early years in Toronto, capturing street scenes and ordinary aspects of daily life that happened to catch my eye. American photographer Henry Wessel sums up my approach in this way: “Part of it has to do with the discipline of being actively receptive. At the core of this receptivity is a process that might be called soft eyes. It is a physical sensation. You are not looking for something. You are open, receptive. At some point you are in front of something that you cannot ignore.” Back in the 1980s I would shoot a roll of film (usually black and white), process it a few days later and make a contact sheet. After that I might make an enlargement of one or two of the strongest shots, and then move on. The contact sheets may have been reviewed from time to time when I was preparing for an exhibition, but basically, I didn’t look at them for years and years. For a long time, my photos were almost all black and white. I paid a great deal of attention to lines and form and the abstract qualities that monochrome provided. My influences had been Robert Frank and Lee Friedlander who were all about documenting the social landscape. It seemed that this type of photography was so much better suited to black and white, or as Frank called it, “the colours of hope and despair.” I had no way to anticipate how significant these Toronto photos would seem to me 40 years later. They show things that no longer exist, even though it hasn’t been that long. Without necessarily trying to, I caught images of buildings, cars, fashions, gadgets that are no longer part of our world. Toronto’s entire skyline is utterly changed, part of the inevitable growth and evolution. I sometimes think about the children and young adults in these photos who are now in their 50s and 60s. How have their lives been? Looking back now at the photos I spent my precious film on back then, so much comes back to me about dropped into a new environment. We use our creative tools as extensions of ourselves; they help us understand and define our place in the world. For me, having a camera in my hand at all times helped me remember, You only get to do this once. We have to take time and see it, as clearly as we can.

Product Details 10×8 in, 25×20 cm Softcover, 62 Pages 59 black and white photographs

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In and Around Dartmouth: Featured Member Exhibit at ViewPoint Gallery

I took some photos in Dartmouth in 1978, apparently forgot about them altogether, and rediscovered them 40 years later, tucked into a negative sleeve with the cryptic notation, “Dartmouth — The Enchanted City.” (What a title!) I realized that I have been taking photos in Dartmouth off and on for a long time. My wife Martha worked in Dartmouth for several years, and sometimes I would accompany her…

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Old Burying Ground, Cambridge, MA © Avard Woolaver

It's sad, so sad

It's a sad, sad situation

And it's gettin' more and more absurd

It's sad, so sad

Why can't we talk it over?

Oh, it seems to me

That sorry seems to be the hardest word

"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"

Elton John/Bernie Taupin

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Elm Street at Yonge (looking west), Toronto, 1982 & 2022 by Avard Woolaver Via Flickr: On a recent trip to Toronto I did some before and after "comparison" photos, revisiting some locations from the 1980s. In some images, the changes are quite drastic.

This image is by far my most viewed image on Flickr with over 330,000 views. I’m not sure how this happened, but I’ll take it!

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Hardwood Lands, Nova Scotia, 2014

From the photo book: Found Fields

https://www.blurb.ca/b/11840587-found-fields

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Blindman’s Bluff, Niagara Falls, Ontario, 1995

from the photo book: Wish You Were Here

https://www.blurb.ca/b/8955306-wish-you-were-here

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Snow House by Avard Woolaver on Flickr 

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Yonge Street, Toronto, 1982 from the book: Toronto Flashback (1980-1986) https://goo.gl/Ryu1xN

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Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia

from the photo book: Wish You Were Here https://www.blurb.ca/b/8955306-wish-you-were-here

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by Avard Woolaver on Flickr.

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December Afternoon by Avard Woolaver on Flickr.

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Toronto Skyline, 1989

from the photo book: Toronto Days https://www.blurb.ca/b/8537132-toronto-days

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Moscow, 1993

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Wentworth Creek, Nova Scotia, 2016

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Halifax, Nova Scotia View from Halifax Central Library

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Why can’t we be friends? NHL legends Chris Nilan, Al Iafrate, and John LeClair share a fun moment at Long Pond. They may have been tough competitors on the ice, but off the ice they are polite gentlemen willing to give lots of time for autographs and photo ops.

NHL legends Al Iafrate, John LeClair, Ron Duguay, Chris Nilan, Chris Kotsopoulos, Darren Langdon, Darius Kasparaitis, and John LeBlanc were in Windsor, Nova Scotia, for the 8th annual Long Pond Heritage Classic–a fundraiser for The Birthplace of Hockey and Windsor Hockey Heritage Museum. Hurley on ice, which evolved into the game of ice hockey, was played on this pond in 1800.