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.
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.
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.
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.
Continue reading "Yonge and Eglinton no longer intersect!" »
Once again, The Star photo department (as edited by Steve Russell) offers up the Best Pictures of the Month. From city politics to news to features to sports, Star photogs cover a variety of assignments bringing their unique eye to the photograph.
TARA WALTON - A Toronto Police Officer stands watch over a taped off area on the edge of Toronto's Don Valley Golf Course Thursday March 1, 2012 near the 401 and Yonge Street . Human remains were found in the area on Tuesday and are rumoured to be those of missing girl Mariam Makhniashvili, who disappeared Monday September 14, 2009 before school.
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
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!
Steve Russell - Staff Photographer
I'd be lying if I told you I don't get a thrill out of seeing one of my pictures across a page in the paper when I open it up at breakfast.
The level of that thrill is tempered by a number of factors. Was it the best picture from that assignment? How did it reproduce? How could I have made it better?
However, I've discovered that the thrill of seeing my picture in print pales in comparison to seeing a picture of mine being printed.
I had to shoot something up at the presses in Vaughan as luck would have it the main art on the Entertainment front was mine. A picture of Rob Gregorini and a porketta (in Sudbury they spell it with a 'k' rather than the 'ch')
I was walking by the press with the plate with my picture on it. Very cool to see. Even cooler when the presses were fired up and began getting up speed.
At speed the presses, which are three stories tall, are printing close to 60,000 newspapers an hour. That breaks down to about 15 pages or papers per second. Wow, my camera shoots 10 frames per second.
The plate, several are made for each of the three presses and each of the colour separations.
Our favourites from the first month of 2012.
KEITH BEATY - Bridal dress shot for the cover of Special Section's Wedding Planner Issue.
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.
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.
