As a young photojournalist in the early ’70s I would spend days shooting urban assignments. I loved this so much that in my spare time I would walk the same streets with Leica M3’s over my shoulder shooting people and cityscapes. The grittier the better.
When I returned to photography after a long absence I resumed my urban wandering. But, I quickly discovered the joys of landscape and nature work. Today I shoot very little in the city, but when I do find something that captures me it makes me feel like I did back when photography was a fresh new passion.
In 1993 I was just beginning to return to photography after more than a decade’s absence. I bought a Nikon F4 and several lenses, and would wander the urban landscape looking for images.
One fall morning I came upon this abandoned shopping cart lying in a stream bed in one of Toronto’s numerous ravines. Though the image satisfied me it was the beginnings of a thought process that lead me away from the urban landscape and into the natural world.
Photographed with a Nikon F4 and 85mm f/1.8 lens.
I’ve always been taken with the similarity between peeling walls and aerial views of the landscape. In some strange way this image too brought me to later photograph the larger natural world.
Taken with a Nikon F4 and 60mm F2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens
Numbered Ship Side, Ontario, 1994
The rusting hull of a ship moored in Toronto harbor creates a landscape of colour and pattern.
Photographed with a Nikon F4 and Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 lens.
Little Debbie — New Orleans, 1996
After a long day at a telecom trade show I spent an early summer evening walking some of the less touristy streets of New Orleans. TheLittle Debbiebread company had their logo on the corrugated metal side of a building.
Photographed with a Leica M6 and 90mm f/2.8 Summicron
I adore Paris and visit there as often as I can. The strong graphic nature of this garage wall captured my attention.
Photographed with a Leica M6 and 35mm Summilux f/1.4 lens on Provia 100 colour transparency film and then converted into a Duotone in PhotoShop.
Tree & Eiffel Tower, Paris 1999
Paris again. I was wandering along the Seine one rainy afternoon and ended up at the inevitable landmark. I was using the wide-format Hasselblad XPan, a replacement for my old Leica M6, but couldn’t bring myself to shoot the inevitable vertical. I walked for a while beneath the tower admiring its architectural grace and came across this wonderful old elm tree whose canopy matched the arch of the girders almost perfectly.
Windows & Benches, Toronto 1999
A walk through an abandoned factory while testing the then new Canon S10 digital camera produced this compelling study. I only do a few images a year of this sort, but it was gratifying to see that I could do so without fancy gear, in this case a hand-held digital point-and-shoot.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
You May Also Enjoy...
Michele Sons Follow-Up: The Feminine Landscape
FacebookTweet In this follow up to our piece on Appalachian landscape photographer Michele Sons, we take a look at Michele’s acclaimed ‘Feminine Landscape’ series which
sm-02-10-20
A Weekly Column By Mike Johnston © Mike Johnston 2002 Good morning! I hope you're enjoying the autumn light. This week, I'd like to catch up