Toronto Through My Lens

I got into photography because of a friend in Toronto.

He ran a website and would shoot events and functions around the city. We met because we were young and hanging out, and I eventually asked him to take some pictures for me. But the more I talked to him and saw how talented he was, the more curious I got. So I asked him if he could teach me. He told me to come out with him and shoot.

What he meant by that was going out late at night.

Instead of going to the clubs and parties, we’d drive around Toronto or walk through the inner downtown area where we lived and take pictures at 2 or 3 in the morning. King Street. Queen West. North York. Yonge and Eglington. The city had plenty to keep you busy, and at that hour, it all looked different. The huge buildings and bright lights, the empty business towers, the people still out on the streets, the late night spots still open. A big city at night through a lens is its own world.

I eventually bought a Canon 5D, and we’d link up and just run around town and shoot. It was kind of like my version of graffiti. We weren’t breaking the law, but we were going places people normally don’t go to get certain pictures. Our thing was mostly alleys. There was something about walking into a dark alley and finding something dope to shoot that felt like discovering a secret. A different world hiding behind the main streets that everyone walks past during the day without a second thought.

My friend didn’t hold my hand through it. He let me figure it out on the fly, and that’s what it’s about. Finding your voice first, then learning the technical side of what you’re doing. He showed me the basics along the way. ISO, aperture, shutter speed, focus, lenses. All the fundamentals of how to use the camera to capture the vibe of what you’re seeing. And we got to work on all of that while the city was asleep.

Running around at night taught me about light faster than anything else could have. When light is scarce, you learn to respect it. You learn where it falls, how it changes a scene, and what it does to a subject. That education happened naturally, just from chasing shots through Toronto in the dark.

Those nights ended up being some of my final memories of that city. I soon made the decision to move to Miami, and everything changed. But the love for photography came with me.

Since then, I’ve taken more classes over the last twenty years to keep working on my craft. I eventually learned the full language of photography through classes at the Contemporary here in Austin, a common theme in my creative life at this point. Learning those tools helped me express what I was seeing through the lens with more intention. I gravitate toward different subjects now. The late night city shooting is something I keep for my memories. Maybe one day I can revisit it. But the love to shoot is still there, and shooting different things is part of growing. We move on, and our eye moves with us.

What photography showed me is something that connects all the art forms I’ve explored. The frame matters. How you see things is important. Whether it’s through a camera lens, a painting, a drawing, or a guitar chord, it’s all the same thing at its core. You’re expressing yourself and finding inspiration in the process. All art influences the other.

If you’re curious about photography, just start doing it. Don’t wait. Don’t make up a reason why you can’t. Don’t tell yourself it’s too expensive or that you don’t have time or that you need a fancy camera. A phone works. A disposable works. Whatever you have, pick it up and start finding what’s interesting to you. Find your voice. Find the way you speak through the medium.

I was lucky enough to have a friend who showed me the city through a lens at 3 AM. Not everyone has that. But you have a camera in your pocket right now and a world full of things worth looking at.

Go shoot something.