Wow, Toronto Maple Leafs win again

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

Leafs drop the Wild 4-1!


 Nazem Kadri sprints out onto the ice as the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Minnesota Wild at Air Canada Centre.

 

A win over the Edmonton Oilers gives Maple Leafs best start since 1993-94 season

Richard Lautens, @rlautens & Steve Russell, @RussellPhotos - Staff Photographers

 

STEVE RUSSELL - Jonathan Bernier and the Leafs get ready to take to the ice.

September 2013, summer ends, boys of summer out, Leafs rise.

 

STEVE RUSSELL - Rose and Amin Ghaemi hang upside down on the apex of the Bonsai ride  during the final weekend of the Canadian National Exhibition.

Tribute to the fans that rode the Toronto Blue Jays roller coaster of a season.

Remember Opening Day, so much promise,

 

DAVID COOPER - Captain Blue Jays - aka - Warren Baxter of Oakville gets ready for the game as  the Toronto Blue Jays play their home opener against the Cleveland Indians.

Goalie fight breaks out at Leafs versus Sabres

Andrew Francis Wallace, @awallacethestar & Steve Russell, @RussellPhotos        - Staff Photographers

Less than 24 hours after an Ultimate Fighting Championship octagon had been dismantled at centre ice after UFC 165 it seemed that the blood letting had not finished.

An otherwise uneventful, well, boring game erupted in the third period to a series of bloody brawls that climaxed in a goalie fight.

ANDREW FRANCIS WALLACE - Aquired in the off season Jonathan Bernier stretches prior to Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres NHL pre-season game at Air Canada Centre.

 

Riveria helps Yankees dump the Blue Jays 4-3

Steve Russell - @RussellPhotos with Richard Lautens, @rlautens & Carlos Osorio, @carlososorio - Staff Photographers

 

The layars edition of the Toronto Star allowed us to cover a baseball game in a manner that is usually reserved for covering a sporting play-off game.

We sat in the two photo dug-outs, at first and third, and placed another photographer up high.

While we hoped to capture an exciting play for the Layars project, the photo gods and baseball gods failed to align for us. 

 

STEVE RUSSELL - New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera warms up before the game.

A look back at August in photos

 

We begin with a look back at Jack...

RANDY RISLING - Olivia Chow works on the Jack Layton Memorial sculpture titled "Jack's Got Your Back" at MST Bronze in Etobicoke. The sculpture was unveiled on the second anniversary of Jack's death, August 22 at the Toronto Island Ferry Terminal. Olivia holds a Fine Arts degree and is a trained sculptor. 

Bitchy the Hawk takes me to new heights.

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

 

 Bitchy is a working Harris hawk.

 

Rob Wernaart cares for Bitchy at his home outside of Toronto. Bitchy is a working Harris hawk in Toronto whose mere presence is enough to scare away gulls at BMO Field and the Molson Ampitheatre.Wernaart, is a wildlife management specialist.

 

Rob Wernaart gives Bitchy's beak a caress. Bitchy is also the unofficial mascot for Toronto FC.

 

Bitchy sits on Rob Wernaart's glove.

 

Bitchy has been working at BMO field since the opening season, he added the Molson Amphitheatre this year.

 

Rob Wernaart, loads Bitchy into her travelling box for the drive into the city for a gig at the Molson Amphitheatre for the John Mayer concert. Her box has air holes below her sightlines so she does not get motion sick.

 

Rob Wernaart and Bitchy cross the bridge for a gig at the Molson Amphitheatre.

 

Rob Wernaart hauls a boxed Bitchy through the ceiling on the way to her perch on the roof of the Molson Amphitheatre.

 

Rob Wernaart hauls a boxed Bitchy to the top of the stage enroute to her perch on the roof of the Molson Amphitheatre.

 

Rob Wernaart walks across the stage towards her perch on the roof of the Molson Amphitheatre.

 

Rob Wernaart takes Bitchy out of her box on top of the roof of the Molson Amphitheatre.

 

Rob Wernaart pats Bitchy after placing her on her perch on the roof for the John Mayer concert. 

 

Gulls might fly by once or twice but never lower than the roof once they catch sight of Bitchy.

 

A fan that lost an entire slice of pizza to a gull was the catalyst for the Amphitheatre to hire Bitchy.

 

Rob Wernaart checks Bitchy on her perch before the concert starts. Bitchy doesn't have to fly to keep gulls at bay.

 

Birds give Bitchy a wide berth as they fly by.

 

Phillip Phillips performs as Bitchy keeps the gulls away.

 

Bitchy walks along the edge of the roof.

 

Rob Wernaart picks up Bitchy at twilight, by the time the sun goes down most gulls are back on Leslie Spit and Bitchy might fall prey to an owl. 

 

 

 

 

Toronto Blue Jays games 99 &100, it was like Déjà Jay, er, vu.

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

"It's like déjà vu all over again."

                                        -Yogi Berra

If you missed the Blue Jays 99th game of the season, you need not have worried, the Jays offered up a rerun for game 100.

The two games were almost identical, the Los Angels Dodgers jump out to am early lead, Jays come back, Dodgers come back and win.

If the fans on that emotional roller coaster that ends with a puch to the solar plexus noticed it, photographers notice it too.

But we have the added stress that game story is being re-written by the half inning in a game that is well into its fourth hour.

The pressure to file is tempered by the fact that we fear being stuck under the stands missing a pivotal play.

Here are the two games in photos,

Déjà vu - Brett Lawrie's pregame stretch

Blue Jays game 99

Blue Jays game 100

 

The Prom, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

 

Late June was prom season across North America, not all the kids out their could attend. 

The Hospital for Sick Children offers an event for those that could not make their proms because of medical reasons. 

The event at Sick Kids brings in hair stylists and makeup artists to treat the kids and their friends to an evening of fun.

 Ambika Paul has her make-up done before the annual Prom Night at the Hospital for Sick Children.