Boris Spremo C.M. to be inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame.

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

Retired Toronto Star photographer Boris Spremo, his career spanned four decades,will be inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame in October.

Here is just a very small sample of his images over the years.

Sorry for the lack of captions on some of the images, they were scanned very quickly. 

We included a couple from Boris' favourite subjects, Trudeau and the CN Tower!

Also Chris So interviewed Boris after the announcement, see it here.

Boris Spremo with his 1959 Cadillac outside Queen's Park Monday afternoon. - David Cooper

 

Private David Juliusson cleans his Liverpool Muscat at Fort York. Juliusson is dressed in the 8thRegiment uniform from the 1813 Battle of York.

 

Boris loved to get the high angle, construction of the Toronto Dominion Centre.

 

Angelo Tramonti polishes the statue of Queen Victoria, the nine bronze statues at Queens Park get an annual cleanup.

 

Snow Birds fly over Niagara Falls.

 

Sir John A. Macdonald monument in Queen's Park.

 

Expo 67 Montreal.

 

In an emotional outpouring of joy that even heavy rain could not dampen, Toronto fans went wild at the return home of Team Canada after winning the Summit Series in 1972. Here, as they festoon themselves along the concrete arcs over City Hall pool in Nathan Phillips Square last night, they cheered themselves hoarse for their hockey heroes, who beat Soviet national team by four games to three after a disastrous start to the eight-game series that made many experts fear possible defeat and humiliation. 

 

Johnny Bower. September 11, 1968.

 

Harold Ballard on ice, March 29, 1984.

 

Harold Ballard and wife Yolanda, June 27, 1989.

 

Harry Rosen flashes a new line of coats  at his Bloor Street location.

 

Stompin' Tom Conners in procession on his way to Convocation Hall to be hooded.

 

Alfred Hitchcock. July 9, 1970.

 

Garth Drabinsky back at centre stage -``I've been involved in the varied facets of the arts for the last 25 years, and I expect to be involved for at least the next 25,'' Former LIVENT boss Garth Drabinsky tells very few media representatives at the Bluma Appel Theatre. Drabinsky confirmed he will mount Athol Fugard's "The Island".

 

Robbie Robertson, December 3, 1987.

 

John Lennon and Yoko Ono at Press Conference at the Ontario Science Centre. December 17, 1969.

 

Alice Cooper at Varsity Stadium September 2, 1972.

 

Toronto Star photographer Boris Spremo's NNA award winning picture of John Diefenbaker in Barbados. Diefenbaker is pictured in silhouette reading in a lounge chair during this period when he was writing his memoirs. 

 

Mel Lastman debates at Metro Council, March 29, 1988.

 

Mel Lastman dresses as a Matador for the running of the moose on Bay Street.

 

David Crombie on the Polson Street Pier.

 

Trudeau

 

Pierre Trudeau in his office.

 

Margaret Trudeau balances trays of sandwiches as she hops a fence, April 12, 1977. She was staying at her sister's house in Winchester, a suburb of Boston.

 

Trudeaumania:  During his first term as Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau draws a crowd as he approaches Toronto City Hall for a rally.

 

Pierre Trudeau plays frisbee.

 

The young Princess of Wales was charming and glamorous at a state dinner in Halifax hosted by the Prime Minister. She and Prince Charles were making their first official visit as a couple in 1983.

 

Pierre Trudeau hams it up with media on an airplane.

 

The Queens Park riot.

 

Spremo got knocked over and his pants ripped in the riot.

 

 Sam Kank studies the sculpture "Draped Reclining Figure" made by Henry Moore-1953, at the Henry Moore sculpture centre at Art Gallery of Ontario.

 

Spremo and the Pope, or as the Pope.

Pope John Paul II - Quebec City: Sept. 10, 1984 - The Pope kisses a young boy on the forehead during a walkabout. 

A quick story about Boris on this Papal tour...

While Boris Spremo was covering the Papal visit in 1984, he was on a the Pope John Paul II's train that ran from Sherbrooke to Trois Riveries.  The day was cold and people gathered at the stations to catch a glimpse of the Pope pope who was in the last car of the short four car train. The Pope was sitting by a window with a light on him so that people at the stations could see him as the train crawled past. The media were in the first car of this train and quickly became bored. Spremo folded up one of the blow up cushions into a shape similar to that of the Pope's Mitre. He was egged to go to the window and a table cloth was draped over him, a monopod was placed in in his hand as a staff and one of the TV crews provided a light. Boris provided a Papal wave. So as the train would slow down for the stations, people, cold and wet, would take a picture of the "Pope" in the first car and then turn away before the last car reached them.  Well, officials figured out why people were turning away and Spremo got in some trouble, he was worried for his job.  The incident was told in a Toronto Sun column and some TV picked it up too. The long term effect, Boris was hired just after he retired in 2001 to shoot a book on the World Youth Day Cross for the Vatican.

 

 

World Youth Day Cross, entrusted to the young people of Canada by Pope John Paul II made the journey across the Canada in preparation for World Youth Day which will was held in Toronto. 

 

 

George Chuvalo. Spremo and the Champ were quite close. Boris even gave the heaveyweight some lessons and George loved to take pictures.

 

George Chuvalo fights Muhammad Ali at Maple Leaf Gardens.

 

Terry Fox

 

March 17, 1984.

 

Boris and the CN Tower.

Perched 440 meters above Toronto and 9 meters out from the growing CN Tower iron worker Larry Porter pulls at the hook of giant crane as he installs the outriggers that will be used to lift the restaurant.

 

 CN Tower construction with the Flatiron in the foreground.

 

 

 

 

 

Spremo on assignment May 1965.

 

Other Retired Toronto Star Photographers

Rick Eglinton

Ken Faught

Mike Stuparyk

Tony Bock

Jim Wilkes 

 

 

 

 

 

No Fooling, we had a great March!

 

DAVID COOPER - Leafs  Frazer McLaren decks Senators Dave Dizurzynski during the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators  at the Air Canada Centre.

2012 by Vince Talotta

Vince Talotta - Staff Photographer

Daniel Radcliffe, the Harry Potter star, comes to Toronto to talk about his new movie "The Woman in Black"

Andrew Francis Wallace - 2012

Andrew Francis Wallace - Staff Photographer - @awallacethestar

A high performance Audi R8, priced $134,000, caught on fire on the Toronto Gardiner Expressway in the early evening, June 25, 2012. No one was injured, and the roadway opened shortly after firefighters extinguished the blaze.

 

Our September favourites.

 

RICHARD LAUTENS - Devontae Thomas plays in the park before his second birthday party, he was wounded in the Danzig Street shooting earlier in the summer.

RICHARD LAUTENS - Devontae holds hands with a couple of party-goers just before the party starts with his scar on his head clearly visible.

TIFF: Famous Faces

Pawel Dwulit - @pdwulit

Celebrities are famous for their faces.
A famous face in real life can look quite different than on the big screen.

I was sure to photograph close in on the faces of most of the celebrities that came in front of my camera this year during TIFF. It reminds me how human these people are and how odd it must feel to be recognized almost everywhere and have your photo taken.

So here are some rather normal looking people who just so happen to be famous:

 

Bruce Willis

Catching lights at TIFF

Carlos Osorio - Staff Photographer - @carlososorio

When photographing a red carpet you sometimes catch other camera flashes going off in your photo. Most of the time this ruins a photo but sometimes you can save it. These photographs are the result of light accidents which together make a series of photographs which aren't perfect but are definitely a twist from the traditional glamour shots from the red carpet. 

Anna Kendrick

 

Yonge and Eglinton no longer intersect!

One Yonge Street and Rick Eglinton that is.

Two-time National Newspaper Award winner Rick Eglinton retires this week from the Toronto Star at One Yonge Street.

Here is some of his work over his 26 years at the Toronto Star.

Joe Carter jumps for joy after three-run homer in 1993 World Series win. Rick Eglinton won the National Newspaper Award for Sports Photography for this picture.

 

January 2012 in review!

Our favourites from the first month of 2012.

KEITH BEATY -  Bridal dress shot for the cover of Special Section's Wedding Planner Issue.

 

Jim Wilkes -30-

After more than 36 years at The Star as a reporter/photographer, Jim Wilkes is taking early retirement at age 60. He leaves today.

In that time, he's won more than 75 awards for writing and photography and has helped mentor many of the profession's young stars.

He has covered stories around the world and around the corner, bringing a personal perspective to events of the day.

The following is a selection of some of his photos from over the years.

1975 – Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau at a campaign stop in Port Hope.