Two journalists two different paths : Best of 2011

They are the same, but different, outside of the obvious difference, of course.

He is Canon, she is Nikon but they are both photographers.

Jim Wilkes and Michelle Shephard's path to photography was much different. Jim was a photographer first who early on discovered he could write. Michelle Shephard, a writer, whose beat and the expense of covering it meant she had to pick up the camera, discovered she had an eye.

Their beats mean they both cover a lot of ground. He puts a lot of miles on a Ford Fusion and she collects a lot of air miles.

They are both based out of Toronto, but their work is rarely in Toronto or about Toronto. It is mostly about what interests the people of Toronto.

Jim covers the Greater Toronto Area, basically everything but Toronto, Beat and Michelle covers the Terror beat.

Here are their favourites from 2011, notice that the Toronto place line is nowhere to be found.

 

JIM WILKES - @newsboy

MISSISSAUGA - Alexander Palubjak, 5, gets relief from 30 Celcius plus temperatures at a splash pad at Mississauga's Lake Aquitaine Park. Kids and their parents beat the heat at pools and splash pads across the city. July 12, 2011.

 

LISTOWEL - Firefighters in honour guard salute as bodies of two dead volunteeer firefighters are brought out from fire scene in Listowel. The men died March 17 in fire at a dollar store. March 18, 2011.

OAKVILLE -  Animal care supervisor Roxanne Johns holds an armful of chihuahuas, some of the 33 rescued from a squalid home earlier this month by the Oakville and Milton Humane Society. It's been overwhelmed by more than 200 applications to adopt the little critters. April 14, 2011.

BRAMPTON -  Detrawork Wondmemeh takes pictures from his porch of the scene of devastation at his Vodden St. W. home in Brampton after a black SUV being pursued by police lost control, hit a tree next door and slammed into his home shortly after 4:30am, tearing off the front of the garage. Two women are under police guard in hospital. No one in the house was hurt.  April 28, 2011.

MISSISSAUGA - Striking Air Canada worker Sam Ponzi carved a message in his hair to let Air Canada management know what workers want. JUNE 14, 2011.

BARRIE - Al and Frances Briggs look at two male wild turkeys that wander fromnthe woods behind their south end Barrie home and occasionally interfere with traffic along Cox Mill Rd. City council has gotten involved and has asked the Ministry of Natural Resources what it can do. Two females are more shy and don't venture onto the road. June 24, 2011.

BURLINGTON - Rebecca MacTavish looks askance at a Galeuse d'Eysines, a French heirloom pumpkin grown at her folks' Hutchinson Farm in rural Burlington. Its salmon-pink skin is covered with bumps which resemble peanut shells. Its name means 'embroidered with warts'. September 20, 2011.

MISSISSAUGA - Robert Gerlai, a professor at the University of Toronto's Mississauga campus, peers through an aquarium of zebra fish. He studying the effects of alcohol on the fish to learn how to treat alcohol problems in humans. February 3, 2011.

 

MICHELLE SHEPHARD - @shephardm

 OSLO, NORWAY- Thousands clutching roses filled the square outside Oslo's City Hall Monday night to mourn the victims of the July 22, 2011 twin attacks.

 OSLO, NORWAY- A rose hangs above thousands filling the square outside Oslo's City Hall  to mourn the victims of the July 22, 2011 twin attacks.

OSLO - Andrea Louisa Karlsen, 9, lights a candle for the victims of Norway's massacre July 22, 2011. Flowers and candles spilled out on to the street outside the downtown cathedral.

OSLO - People mourn outside a shrine for the victims of the July 22, 2011 attacks. Flowers and candles spilled out on to the street outside the downtown cathedral.

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA - People wait with relatives in Benadir Hospital for care on October 20, 2011. The hospital is struggling to cope with the influx of famine victims.

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA - A lack of resources and an influx of famine victims has patients laying on the ground in Benadir Hospital on October 20, 2011. The hospital is struggling to cope with the influx of famine victims.

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA - A mother and child in Benadir Hospital wait for care on October 20, 2011. The hospital is struggling to cope with the influx of famine victims.

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA - An influx of famine victims keeps the grave diggers at the cemetary busy.

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA - A freshly-caught hammerhead shark is carried to Mogadishu's downtown fish market. The city is teeming as it  struggles back to life following the withdrawal of al Shabab and the onset of thousands of refugees, who have fled the southern famine and fighting.

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA - Business is booming at Mogadishu's fish market. Since al Shabab left the capital in August 2011, residents have started to move about the city more freely. 

SANA'A, YEMEN - A cardboard cutout of President Ali Abdullah Saleh hangs by a noose over the anti-government protest camp in Sanaa February 24. Saleh told reporters about the protest, "This disease is alien to Yemen and it’s its culture...as soon as you sit with someone who is infected, you'll be infected."

SANA'A, YEMEN - Thousands held Friday prayers on February 25, then demonstrators took to the streets in Sanaa to hold a massive protest against President Ali Abdullah Saleh. 

SANA'A, YEMEN - Anti-government demonstrators in Sanaa took to the streets in February, at the start of Yemen's uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, clashing with pro-government forces.

SANA'A, YEMEN - A pro-government protestor is praised after being struck in the head with concrete thrown by demonstrators calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. 

SANA'A, YEMEN - Pro-government demonstrators, many paid by the regime to occupy the city's Tahrir Square, praise President Ali Abdullah Saleh during a February rally.

SANA'A, YEMEN - An impromptu game of soccer in the streets of the Old City of Sana'a Feb.11, a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

HARSTAD, NORWAY - Somali refugee Ismail Khalif Abdulle tries to warm up in the city of 23,500 about 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. The 18-year-old had his right hand and left foot amputated by members of al Shabab, a Somali-based group aligned with Al Qaeda. He was rescued from Mogadishu after the Toronto Star wrote about his plight. Norway has given him refuge. 

 HARSTAD, NORWAY - Somali refugee Ismail Khalif Abdulle sees snow for the first time in his new home, a city of 23,500 about 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. The 18-year-old had his right hand and left foot amputated by members of al Shabab, a Somali-based group aligned with Al Qaeda. He was rescued from Mogadishu after the Toronto Star wrote about his plight. Norway has given him refuge.