The Grey Cup

Toronto Argonauts celebrate winning the Grey Cup after the team is presented with the trophy. LUCAS OLENIUK
 

Rick Madonik, Staff Photographer, @RMadonik

There's no doubt, news photographers always want to be where the action is. Whether its sports, news or entertainment, photogs want to be in a position to capture defining moments and scenes of great emotion. It is, after all, what life is all about.

Our newest incarnation of a boss (we've had six in the last 12 years) is a former picture editor. Since he took the helm of photo - and multimedia - earlier this year, Taras Slawynch, or T as he likes to sign his emails, has shown a lot of passion. He’s brought direction to a department that needed a rudder. This is the 2nd time in the last 5 months we've assembled the vast majority of the 15 staff shooters to converge upon a single "event."

The first installment was Nik Wallenda's walk over Niagara Falls. Last Sunday, we tackled the Grey Cup.

The verdict is in, Mayor Rob Ford is......

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

.....the coach of a pretty good high school football team.

Every year or so, well every year because of Toronto FC, we go to cover a game with the priority on covering the coach.

Raptors, Toronto FC, Leafs, Argonauts, we have trained our lenses on all their coaches, but until Thursday afternoon I couldn't recall a high school game when I had kept my lens on the coach as much.

The coach, of course, is Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. The mayor was coaching his team in the TDSSAA Senior Boys Metro Bowl Qualifier against Northern Secondary School.

Mayor Ford was in court in the morning defending a libel suit against him and on the field at Birchmount Stadium in the afternoon trying to take the next step to the Metro Bowl.

 

Mayor Rob Ford talks to Chris Fickel, a special assistant in his office and football team volunteer.

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.

Best of July

 

        Richard Lautens              

 When it came to finding this month's collection of work, I couldn't resist offering up Richard Lauten's portrait taken on the last day of the month - today! At first, I thought it was an illustration (a picture designed, or conceived, or art directed, and a paid model) and pleasantly surprised to find a portrait (a picture which depicts something about the person). I'll let Lauten's caption speak for itself" Trish is one of more than 186,000 women in the US and Canada have logged on to find their own version of Christian Grey, the character from the book Fifty Shades of Grey. By mid-July 4,931 women from Toronto had altered their profiles on the site seakingarrangements.com indicating they were looking for a Mr. Grey, in other words, a dominant/submissive relationship with BDSM.

What follows is a more day-to-day representation of the types of assignments the staff find themselves up against. Steve Russell is only 4 days in the London 2012 Games, but already working around the clock getting to numerous events, so this is just a tease to the Best of August, when he will be featured prominently.

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.

 

Finding the lighter side of Rob Ford!

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer

"You don't need me in the picture do you?"

"Can you get rid of my second chin?"

"Try to get my good side"

"Try not to make me look too goofy" 

"Can you make me look smaller"

These are a few of the requests I get all the time on assignment. Some of them from people in the public eye all the time.

Like civilians, politicians have the same concerns when a lens is pointed at them.

Unfortunate for them, being in front of cameras is part of the job.

Some politicians are naturals, Jack Layton was one of those that shone in front of the camera.

However, not every politician is that comfortable in front of the camera.

Each politician has his own nuance, Stephen Harper gives the worst thumbs up ever and Michael Ignatieff had some pretty goofy facial expressions before he toned it down.

This brings us to Mayor Rob Ford, it seems that every time we do a story on him or something at City Hall some of the comments readers have made are why do we have to run an unflattering picture of the Mayor.

It's tough, cameras are rumoured to add ten pounds to the subject. Being a guy with a high BMI, I can relate. I'm on the operational end of the camera for a reason! I think my love of taking pictures spawned from how much I dislike being in pictures.

Mayor Ford also doesn't talk to the Toronto Star, which is fine, but it does also mean that us photographers never really have opportunity to photograph him in settings where we can work around the issue and take a more flattering picture. 

I never got the impression that Mayor Ford really cared too much about his weight, but, his recent "Cut the Waist" campaign shows he does. I wish him luck in the endevour. Hopefully he can shed some of the weight while in office like David Miller did.

Some tips on photographing people that are a little heavier than average?

•Try to photograph from a higher angle. Usually you just have to be slightly higher that eye height.

•If you have to shoot from a low angle, at least have the light source coming in from a higher angle. Shadows from the light will hide or minimize any double chin. Try to keep your flash off camera.

•Try to not shoot the subject sitting down and if they have to be sitting down make sure that they sit up straight.

•Selective framing, you do not have to include their entire body.

•Try a shallow depth of field, a selective focus point on the eyes and a sharp drop off in sharpness will bring the reader to the feature that is sharpest. 

Here is a quick look through the Toronto Star photo archive and some of our more flattering Rob Ford pictures.

STEVE RUSSELL - March 25, 2010 - Rob Ford, with his brother Doug on his right registers as a candidate at the Election Services office at City Hall.

Tannis Toohey 2011

Tannis Toohey - Staff Photographer

December 9, 2010 It was festive down on Queen street even with the lack of snow as David Godsoe carries a Christmas tree out from the Toronto Beaches Lions Club Christmas tree lot.

 February 12, 2011 - Amal Albaz, 16, sings and chants at a Toronto rally celebrating the resignation of President Mubarak and the freedom of Egypt, held at Yonge and Dundas Square.

February 6, 2011 - Families take advantage of Glen Stewart Park's two rinks, one for skating and the other for playing hockey Sunday morning. 

July 20, 2011 - Not everyone is trying to escape the heat, some still like a good suntan, and cool breeze down at the beach in Toronto.

 Toronto Argonaut Joe Eppele planned to climb the CN Tower in a Sasquatch suit (because he is from Squamish, BC) to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund.  Regulations state he can't climb in the suit, but can wear it around before and after his climb.  April 12, 2011

January 17, 2011 - Robert Jones' head tailor, Servino Stillo, sizes up a silly posing Matt Dusk as he tries on a Palizileri Cerimonia tuxedo for the Motionball Gala.

February 23, 2011 - Portrait of Toronto Maple Leaf, Joffrey Lupul in street clothes, GQ style, for story about his buying new clothes in Toronto, after his trade from L.A. 

March 7, 2011 - Portrait photo of Donny Osmond for Richard Ouzounian Big Interview feature.

Portrait of AGO director Matthew Teitelbaum, who curated Paterson Ewen's retrospecitve at the museum.  April 7, 2011

Nicholas Mellamphy poses for The Toronto Star's 30 Best Dressed List. May 27, 2011

Ariel Stagni 'ollies over the hip' in the newly opened Eighth Street Community skatepark in Etobicoke. Seen at lower right is J.J. Harrison, wearing a white t-shirt and white and red shorts.  July 16, 2011

Gaelan Connell gives a battle cry and final strong kick across the finish line of the Toronto Goodlife Half Marathon. May 15, 2011

Ayisha Spence, (middle leaning over crime scene tape) doubles over in tears, and Lesley Parker, (right), react with cries and screams of disbelief as they watch the removal of the body of Clifenton Ford, 38, victim of an early morning shooting at G's Chill & Grill on  Eglinton Ave. East near Midland. Both women have children fathered by Clifenton Ford, 38, Spence has 2 and Parker has 4. Ford was shot and killed this morning at 2:20am. March 28, 2011

Darren Smith removes Ivan, a North American bald eagle, from his truck to return to his perch after free flying at the north end of the airport.  Smith is one of a whole team of Wildlife Control experts are utilized by Pearson Airport to use falcons, hawks, a one bald eagle and a dog to keep birds out of the engines of airplanes at Pearson. March 25, 2011 

Tally, a female Harris Hawk flies out fast from the passenger side window in what they call "car hawking" - where the trainer drives the perimeter of the airfield looking for unwelcome wildlife and rolls the window down when they or Tally see something she can scare off.  Darren Smith is one of a whole team of Wildlife Control experts utilized by Pearson Airport to use falcons, hawks, a one bald eagle and a dog to keep birds out of the engines of airplanes at Pearson. March 25, 2011

Portrait of Cathy Anagnostopoulos, middle, in her hospital room at Princess Margaret Hospital, with  her husband Nick and their three children, Angela, 11 and Gregory, 10, and Alexander, 15 . In mid-February Cathy was a part-time pharmacist, raising her three children and kickboxing. She'd been having headaches. In the span of one week, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia. She will need a stem cell transplant, but doesn't have a match in her family. The family is making a public appeal for people to join the registry -- which only takes a mouth swab and what is essentially a donation of blood. April 7, 2011

 

Rick Eglinton 2011

Rick Eglinton - Staff Photographer

 Argos Quaterback Cleo Lemon still holds the ball but loses his helmet after being knocked down by Bombers Joe Lobendahn during first quarter action. July 23, 2011.

Rick Madonik looks back at 2011

Rick Madonik, Staff Photographer

The pictures which follow are a small sample of the last years' work. In no way is the selection scientific, or unbiased. Many are favourites of the past year, or have some sentimental value. But all, I hope, elicit some form of emotion. From humorous to serious, from sad to elation, one of the things a good news photographer tries to do is capture a moment which helps tell the story, or at the very least, attracts the readers attention long enough to read the story.

Have a happy and safe holiday.

Ghadafi Halas! (Ghadafi finished!)

03/04/11 - RAS LANUF, LIBYA - A man motions with a knife to his own neck, and yells "Ghadafi Halas!" to show what he wants done to Libyan leader Muammar Ghadhafi as rebel fighters are greeted at the gates of Ras Lanuf after its liberation from Ghadafi forces. A rebel attack forced Gadhafi forces back towards Sirt. This is the first time the rebellion from the east has advanced into the western part of the country.

 

Best of November

 

COLIN McCONNELL - Florian Schuck is comforted at a memorial at the corner of  Sterling and Dundas for his wife Jenna Morrison, who was killed when a truck ran over her.