In Toronto, bronze bulls lounge reassuringly on the grass by the North Tower of the Toronto Dominion Bank, keeping the bears away on Bay Street.
On College, people queue for lunch at trendy diners as a long line forms at the food bank. Across the street, a tent city behind Trinity Church, where Cowboy Junkies recorded ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’.
On Queen, shops selling bongs, vapes, and weed are shunted further West, displaced by designer bags, limited edition sneakers, and New Luxury High-Rise Condominiums. But The Rex is still there.
On Bloor, the reflection of a woman with colourful hair walking a matching tie-dyed dog is shattered into a thousand pieces as she passes The Crystal that explodes from the North face of the Royal Ontario Museum and into the street.
On Yonge, the setting sun lights up the Zanzibar strip club, performing in a cheap gold negligee, brash and unashamed, anonymous towers rising on either side.
On King West, somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, an Emerald City of green glass is growing. Plant me in a penthouse.
On Bathurst Street, an unknown soldier, lying in a concrete trench, curses into the night air, camouflaged by cardboard, bundles of rags, and a soiled sleeping bag, wounded and left for dead.
What’s next?
I recently returned to Dunedin, New Zealand from a six-week visit to Canada with my family. We visited Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and a few smaller places in between. It will take me a while to edit and process all the photos I took. I will share some of them as I return to my regular practice of posting a newsletter every weekend. You can receive the next post by email by subscribing below.
What do you think?
I am still working out what I am trying to do with this newsletter and what readers and viewers might find interesting or useful. I’m also designing a personal website, which will enable me to share edited collections of photographs and commentary. I’m still wrestling with the relationship between image and text. At the risk of losing (or failing to build) an audience, I think I should try different approaches and be more experimental. We’ll see how it goes. Feel free to leave a comment below. Just say hello if you like.