Toronto Street Walks

Saturday morning The Toronto Film Photographers group went walking the chilly streets of downtown Toronto. Lead by organizer Bill Smith (in blue on right) and accompanied by my fellow StreetShooter photographer (and wife) Marion West we braved the cold and after gathering at Graination at 208 Spadina (film and development services plus a coffee bar) we were off for a two-hour walk and shoot broken up by a lot of talking and getting to know each other.

There were about 20, maybe more, film photographers shooting everything from point-and-shoots to 35 mm film cameras and a few 2 1/4 medium format treasures.

Street photography comes in a variety of forms. There’s the aggressive shoot and run types who may or may not use a flash to photography people on the street. In competent hands this form of in-your-face photography can result in some amazing images.

There’s the “let’s stake out an interesting background” and wait for someone to walk through it. This can yield some really nice silhouette images with people walking into and out of lit or back lit backgrounds.

Some of the most amazing street photography was shot by the old masters of the art. Henri Cartier-Bresson, a French photographer, developed a style that was called “the decisive moment” of shooting. In his style sometime was just about to happen or was happening in the instant he took the photo.

And then there’s the rest of us. LOL Out for a morning’s walk with new friends and film loaded in our ageing cameras we get out for some fresh air and who knows maybe even a good image or two.