Battling the light at Casa Loma

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer

The say that Casa Loma might be haunted, but last month the only demon I battled in the Castle on Spadina was the one that every photographer fears, the absence of light.

The challenges faced while doing a history piece on Casa Loma's organ during the screening of a silent film were daunting!

During the 100 minutes of the show, I had to shoot video, stills and recorded audio just in case.

I didn't use a tripod, because I only had a limited amount of time and did not want to waste time setting up and tearing down. 

The next performances on the organ will be a concert by Simon Gledhill on March 6, 2012 and a silent movie screening of the 1928 French silent classic "The Italian Straw Hat" on April 2, 2012.

John Struve tunes the 1,400 pipes that make up the Wurlitzer Organ at Casa Loma by gently tapping little plunger wires. The Toronto Theatre Organ Society performs on the pipe organ accompanying the silent film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at Casa Loma.

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.

September's favourites

 

DAVID COOPER - Olivia Chow, sits beside the Koi pond in the backyard of the home she shared with her husband Jack Layton.

TIFF sixty seconds at a time.

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer

It's my Toronto International Film Festival joke.

It all starts with the publicist saying the same thing, "You have about a minute"

My reply is always the same, "I only need a sixtieth of a second"

 My filmfest was relatively tame, I covered portraits mostly.

And was almost spared the press conference room and the sardine can sized photo pits of the red carpet.

 The portrait sessions almost all work the same way, the paper is allocated 10, 15 or 20 minutes for an interview with a actor or director. The photographer will get a minute or two to shoot the portrait. The reporter will get the bulk of the time for the interview. Most of the interviews happen in the same hotel, ergo, almost the same room.

 The result or the challenge is to try to make the pictures as diverse as possible.

 The strategies for pictures vary and depend on how much time I have between assignments. If you have to do a picture at the beginning of the allotted time it is usually window light. If it is at the end of the interview there is some time to set up a light. And sometimes we have the option to shoot during the interview.

Sarah Polley was my first Toronto International Film Festival portrait. She directed Take this Waltz, I shot her in the hallway of the Sutton Place Hotel. I wish that the reporter would have clued me in that she was pregnant, but, the next couple groups of media teams were waiting so there was no opportunity. The Star had the exclusive on the story.

 

Johnny's "still" Rotten to Neil "not so" Young @ TIFF

Johnny Rotten (John Lydon), the frontman for the late 70s original Punkers, The Sex Pistols. His facial expressions are a photographers bounty. The connection with Neil Young is interesting since Young suggested "its better to burn out, then it is to rust" when he included the reference to Johnny Rotten. (The King is gone, but not forgotten, is this the story of Johnny Rotten).

A little more of The Bieb

Tara Walton, Staff Photographer

I'm often asked if I ever photograph any of the celebrities that roll through Toronto.  Today, 11-year-old Briana Spence and her 8-year-old brother Jacob asked that very question.  I smiled and began to reply, "Well, yesterday I photographed Justin Bie…".  They finished my sentence for me.  I thought their enthusiasm alone deserved a post. 

Here's a few more pictures for Briana and Jacob and all the other Bieber fans.

 

Justin Bieber greets Toronto rapper Drake at the screening of his new movie "Never Say Never".

 

Bieber strikes a pose along the purple carpet.

 

Bieber in 3D.

 

Bieber with the fam.

 

 

A kiss from his great grandmother Estelle Corbeil.

 

 

Exiting the purple carpet.

 

Fans scream as Justin enters the theatre.

 

Bieber makes a desperate attempt to calm fans so the screening can begin.

 

2010 Photo Roundup

Richard Lautens/Staff Photographer

It is so tough looking back at a year's worth of pictures and picking out a dozen or so of my favourites.  For a photographer, images become like children and difficult to choose between them.  I find that many of those that people like are not my favourites. I get swayed by how difficult a picture may be to get or whether or not I liked the subject, even if it got good play in the paper or not.

With the Olympics and G20, some choices are naturals and I notice that I chose too many sports pictures to include which is unusual for me.  I have included below a few that I really like and a few I just couldn't exclude.

Perhaps my favourite of the year.  Actor Will Farrell was in town promoting his new movie, Everything Must Go, on at the Toronto International Film Festival.  I only had 10 minutes or so with him but he was as nice and funny as I had hoped he would be.  It's great when I can shoot someone my kids like.

 

2010 : Vince Talotta

Vince Talotta - Staff Photographer

A Guiness World Record attempt in Support of Windfall was successfully made beating a standing record of 250 brides in one room. A total of 273 brides were present at the Sheration Hotel in Toronto.

A look back at September.

DAVID COOPER - Apartment fire at 200 Wellesley still burning. Woman stands on her balcony several stories above the flames trapped by the smoke in her apartment. The fire was has left everyone in the building homeless.

DAVID COOPER - Apartment fire on the 24th floor at St. James Town 200 Wellesley Street east Friday evening has put close to 1200 people out of their homes. Demetre Papadopoulos and his 14 year old dog Pluto, live on the 11th floor.

STEVE RUSSELL - Energy minister Brad Duguid tours Hydro One control centre in Barrie. The control centre divides the province into four sectors where controlers keep an eye out for problems and run through senarios in case of power shortages or other problems. 

LUCAS OLENIUK - Top NHL draft pick, Taylor Hall, took to the ice in Etobicoke as part of the 2010 NHLPA Rookie Showcase.  The event provided Upper Deck and Panini trading cards with an opportunity to photograph the top prospects for the upcoming season.  Unfortunately, useasonably warm conditions outside and a ventilation problem inside the arena, a fog took over the ice and the shoot had to move to an adjacent rink.

STEVE RUSSELL -  Giuseppe Piterna and his son Mauro have finished packing almost everything in their home. The elderly and quite ill couple (his wife Francesca is in the hospital) fell behind on their mortgage and are were evicted.

RENE JOHNSTON - The Toronto City skyline takes the late summer light from the west as the CityPlace condos rise.

LUCAS OLENIUK - Crews work to dry off the rain soaked rides at the CNE. 

CARLOS OSORIO - Kids paint in Jaylene Kostiuk's all day kindergarten class at James S. Bell Elementary School on the first day of school.

CARLOS OSORIO - Mayor Hazel McCallion announces that she plans to run again in Mississauga. 

STEVE RUSSELL - Anthony Russo, flanked by Kassie Brown in yellow and Robyn Baltzer in grey leap as they rehearse a number for Cirque du Soleil on Queen Street West for the show "Banana Shpeel" which will run until October 10 at the Canon Theatre.

COLIN McCONNELL -  Violinist Adrian Anantawan is reheasing with Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

ANDREW WALLACE - A smoker flings his butt.

COLIN McCONNELL -  Thousands of Muslims gathered at Exhibition Place in Toronto to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which commemorates the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

RICK MADONIK - Rafi Karim, 3, drinks a juice box as he waits with his family on chairs in the recepiton area of the centre, Access Point on Danforth, a centre which brings together a number of services from health care to youth programs, and greatly serves newcomers to Canada.

DAVID COOPER -  Terence Houle, a Blackfoot artist who plays - with pleasant comic effect - with his ethnic identity and how it fits into the modern world in his new show Givn'R, at the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU). The piece he is standing beside is titled "Trail's End / End Trail's" playing on the noble savage on horseback.

DAVID COOPER - Katie Riley, tosses cake into the air after winning a $35,000 wedding at the Boiler House. Two Brides-to-be, Riley and Hayley-Shea Charuk dove into a 500lb wedding cake to find a key to win a $35,000 wedding at the Boiler House in the Distillery District.

RENE JOHNSTON - Mayoral frontrunner Rob Ford loses his umbrella in the storm.  Rob Ford coached his Don Bosco football team to a win in the rain.

TANNIS TOOHEY - Mayoral Candidate George Smitherman laps up a drink from the water fountain at the newly opened Sugar Beach before he talks to the media.

LUCAS OLENIUK - Aboard the Number 7 Snowbird plane piloted by Marco Rusconi during the Snowbird media flight.  The team toured Ontario's cottage country through sun and rain before returning to Pearson Airport for debriefing. 

DAVID COOPER - The Canadian International Air Show went ahead on the last day of the CNE down at the waterfront. Gray skies and some light rain didn't affect the show. A Westjet 737 aircraft passes in the background as The Canadian Forces Snowbirds finished of the show is spectacular fashion.

LUCAS OLENIUK - Actor Edward Norton photographed at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.  Norton was promoting his film "Stone".

RICHARD LAUTENS - Well known comedic actor Will Farrell was in town promoting his new movie, "Everything Must Go", on at the Toronto International Film Festival. 

RICHARD LAUTENS - Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is the director and star of the Movie 'Jack Goes Boating' at the Toronto International Film Festival.

LUCAS OLENIUK - Actress Kalki Koeclin photographed in Toronto at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

STEVE RUSSELL - National Film Board, NFB, chair Tom Perlmutter for Atkinson Fellow Kate Taylor's look into the identity and the gatekeepers of Canadian Culture through media

STEVE RUSSELL - Toronto International Film Festival Piers Handling for Atkinson Fellow Kate Taylor's look into the identity and the gatekeepers of Canadian Culture through media.

 

SPORTS

DAVID COOPER - Toronto Argonauts Quarterback Cleo Lemon stretches at practice at University of Toronto, Mississauga campus as they prepare for Labour Day game in Hamilton.

RENE JOHNSTON - Rob Friend of Canadian National soccer team gets pulled down by Santiago Acasiete of the Peru National Team in first half action in a friendly in Toronto.

RENE JOHNSTON - Canadian National soccer team goalie Lars Hirschfeld tries to keep the ball out of the net with help from Kevin McKenna as Jefferson Farfan (17) of the the Peru National Team in second half action in a friendly. Canada lost 2-0.

RENE JOHNSTON - The Toronto Argos Chad Lucas gets hammered and loses the ball from the hit by Hamilton Ti-Cat Dylan Barker at Ivor Wynne in Hamilton on Labour Day in the first half.

RICK MADONIK - Rangers Nelson Cruz breaks his bat as he flies out during MLB action between Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

RICK MADONIK - Vernon Wells fouls off a ball during an at bat during MLB Action between Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays.

RICK MADONIK - Fred Lewis can't come up with the ball as a runner turns on the Kyle Crawford triple during MLB Action between Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays.

CARLOS OSORIO - Toronto Blue Jays Jose Bautista waits in the dugout with his jersey off after defeating the Baltimore Orioles 5-2. Some of the Jays players gave the jersey's they wore in the game to some fans.

TANNIS TOOHEY - Toronto FC's Dwayne de Rosario and Chad Barrett react in their 3-2 loss versus San Jose Earthquakes.

TARA WALTON - Toronto Maple Leafs' Captain Dion Phaneuf rocks Buffalo Sabres' Chris Butler during the first period of action Monday September 27, 2010.

RICHARD LAUTENS - The crowd jeers as Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez throws after catching a foul ball from Adam Lind. In their last home stand of the season, the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 7-5 at the Rogers Centre.

The END(s)

RICK MADONIK - People gave the clothes off their backs at a fundraiser at the Carlu in support of the Canadian Art Foundation. The models were actually part of a performance piece.