Rick Madonik - 2012 year ender

Rick Madonik - Staff Photographer - @Rmadonik

 

Its that time of year again, when we each search out the pictures of the last year and revisit what we liked best, or had the most impact, from stories we've been involved with throughout the year.

Please remember to vote for your favorite picture in order to qualify for a prize offer.

 

 NIAGRA FALLS, ONTARIO -  Nik Wallenda, of the famous Willenda family, attempts to cross Niagra Falls on a tight rope (cable) from Goat Island, New York, to Niagra Falls, Ontario as seen from atop the Skylon Tower, on June 15, 2012.

 

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Four of the famed Canadian Snowbirds pass each other in opposing directions, two headed east, two headed west. The 63rd annual Canadian International Air Show, a featured act of the annual CNE, took off Saturday, September 1, 2012 with three solid hours of air demonstrations. The show featured the Royal Canadian Air Forces Snowbird demonstration team.

 

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.

Best of June 2012

 

RICHARD LAUTENS - 95 year-old Ida Herbert (she turns 96 in August) teaches her first ever yoga class in Toronto.  She held a class for the 30 or so students at Breeze studio in the Junction.

Our favourites from May

 

TARA WALTON - Ottawa's Helene Campbell poses for photos in her Toronto apartment Monday May 28, 2012 where she is recovering from a double lung transplant.  In April Campbell underwent a double lung transplant at Toronto General Hospital.  During her time on the waiting list Helene became Canada's greatest advocate for organ donation, sparking hundreds to sign up through the power of twitter.

Cavalia returns with a new production - Odysseo

 

Elise Verdoncq, aboard Omerio, a 10 year old Lusitano Stallion, rehearses in front of the waterfall set.

 

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.

 

Our April 2012 Favourites!

 

LUCAS OLENIUK - Jasmin Razak, centre, joined her fellow community members to discuss how the Regent Park revitalization effort has affected lives.  Razak, a long-time Regent Park resident, recently moved from an old building to a new building.

Nickelback, Here and Now

Rick Madonik, Staff Photographer - @RMadonik

OK, its incumbent on me to admit, my musical taste lean somewhere between Pink Flyod, Neil Young, The Band and The Beatles, so when I am assigned to shoot a Nickelback concert, well, I make damn sure I have my plugs (as I know they are going to be way loud) and hope the light is good.

Well, the "light" on this tour, aptly coined 'Here and Now,' is pretty good - at least for photos. The rear wall of lights offered some pleasant changes from the norm. I'll admit I shot a good amount of frames during the requisite three song availability. I purposely slowed the shutter speed (usually shooting anywhere between 640 and 1000, generally) down as slow as 1/60th to catch as much of the light as it cycled behind the band.

In the end, there was a bit of variety to offer up, instead of the statutory, isolated picture of a bands' most recognizable member.

 Canadian rock band Nickleback frontman Chad Kroeger, in concert at Air Canada Centre, Sunday, April 22, 2012.

Return to work

Rick Madonik, Staff Photographer

Last Friday I returned to work, after an abscence of almost two months. Maybe some of you noticed, but wouldn't be offended in the least, if you didn't. (I expect I will one day write about why I was off, but for the moment its safe to say it was work related.)

I was a bit apprehensive about returning, if only because I hadn't been in "the swing" of things for a while. It usually takes a few days, a few events, to get my head back "into it" when it comes to the daily requirements. For sports, it also takes a bit of time to regain the timing, and anticipation of play, that is needed.

Although I wanted to "ease" back into it - and working weekends and nights usually helps that equation - I found myself doing just about a bit of everything in the first week. From sports coverage (Leafs, Raptors and Rock), to breaking news (train derailment and TTC shooting), to portraiture (hero kid) to general news (Toronto Hydro demonstration, subway flood, Mayor Rob Ford talk radio show) and even a bit of a feature hunt (Icefest). It was a smorgasbord of assignments, and after a week back on the job, it kinda feels like I never left.

Via Rail train derailment in Burlington, Feb 26, 2012

 

Toronto Star Photo department, good news and great pictures in the shortest month.

February, the shortest month did not leave the Toronto Star photo department short of good news or great pictures.

The Photo Department is now under the direction of a new Visuals Editor, Taras Slawnych. We are pretty excited about that.

We have also won four Society for News Design awards of excellence for photography. So before we get into the February highlights, here are the four winners:

LUCAS OLENIUK - A protestor, unconscious and not breathing, was rushed away from Bahraini security forces after being shot in the head moments earlier.  A group of Shiite anti-regime demonstrators drew fire from Bahrain security forces near Manama when they tried to march downtown to the Pearl Square from the town of Budaiya Friday evening.  A state sanctioned pro-regime rally was underway in downtown Manama when the clash occurred. Read about the story behind this image here!