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.

Our Best of June, Super Moon, Rob Ford, Blue Jays, MMVA, etc.

 

RANDY RISLING -  Cyclists get a rare opportunity to ride traffic-free along the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway for the Becel Heart & Stroke Ride for Heart. June 2, 2013.

 

Boris Spremo C.M. inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame.

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

Retired Toronto Star photographer Boris Spremo, his career spanned four decades,will be inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame in October.

Here is just a very small sample of his images over the years.

We included a couple from Boris' favourite subjects, Trudeau and the CN Tower!

Also Chris So interviewed Boris after the announcement, see it here.

Boris Spremo with his 1959 Cadillac outside Queen's Park Monday afternoon. - David Cooper

 

Private David Juliusson cleans his Liverpool Musket at Fort York. Juliusson is dressed in the 8th Regiment uniform from the 1813 Battle of York.

 

Boris loved to get the high angle, construction of the Toronto Dominion Centre.

 

Angelo Tramonti polishes the statue of Queen Victoria, the nine bronze statues at Queens Park get an annual cleanup.

 

Snow Birds fly over Niagara Falls.

 

Sir John A. Macdonald monument in Queen's Park.

 

Expo 67 Montreal.

 

In an emotional outpouring of joy that even heavy rain could not dampen, Toronto fans went wild at the return home of Team Canada after winning the Summit Series in 1972. Here, as they festoon themselves along the concrete arcs over City Hall pool in Nathan Phillips Square last night, they cheered themselves hoarse for their hockey heroes, who beat Soviet national team by four games to three after a disastrous start to the eight-game series that made many experts fear possible defeat and humiliation. 

 

Johnny Bower. September 11, 1968.

 

Harold Ballard on ice, March 29, 1984.

 

Harold Ballard and wife Yolanda, June 27, 1989.

 

Harry Rosen flashes a new line of coats  at his Bloor Street location.

 

Stompin' Tom Conners in procession on his way to Convocation Hall to be hooded.

 

Alfred Hitchcock. July 9, 1970.

 

Garth Drabinsky back at centre stage -``I've been involved in the varied facets of the arts for the last 25 years, and I expect to be involved for at least the next 25,'' Former LIVENT boss Garth Drabinsky tells very few media representatives at the Bluma Appel Theatre. Drabinsky confirmed he will mount Athol Fugard's "The Island".

 

Robbie Robertson, December 3, 1987.

 

John Lennon and Yoko Ono at Press Conference at the Ontario Science Centre. December 17, 1969.

 

Alice Cooper at Varsity Stadium September 2, 1972.

 

Toronto Star photographer Boris Spremo's NNA award winning picture of John Diefenbaker in Barbados. Diefenbaker is pictured in silhouette reading in a lounge chair during this period when he was writing his memoirs. 

 

Mel Lastman debates at Metro Council, March 29, 1988.

 

Mel Lastman dresses as a Matador for the running of the moose on Bay Street.

 

David Crombie on the Polson Street Pier.

 

Trudeau

 

Pierre Trudeau in his office.

 

Margaret Trudeau balances trays of sandwiches as she hops a fence, April 12, 1977. She was staying at her sister's house in Winchester, a suburb of Boston.

 

Trudeaumania:  During his first term as Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau draws a crowd as he approaches Toronto City Hall for a rally.

 

Pierre Trudeau plays frisbee.

 

The young Princess of Wales was charming and glamorous at a state dinner in Halifax hosted by the Prime Minister. She and Prince Charles were making their first official visit as a couple in 1983.

 

Pierre Trudeau hams it up with media on an airplane.

 

The Queens Park riot.

 

Spremo got knocked over and his pants ripped in the riot.

 

 Sam Kank studies the sculpture "Draped Reclining Figure" made by Henry Moore-1953, at the Henry Moore sculpture centre at Art Gallery of Ontario.

 

Spremo and the Pope, or as the Pope.

Pope John Paul II - Quebec City: Sept. 10, 1984 - The Pope kisses a young boy on the forehead during a walkabout. 

A quick story about Boris on this Papal tour...

While Boris Spremo was covering the Papal visit in 1984, he was on a the Pope John Paul II's train that ran from Sherbrooke to Trois Riveries.  The day was cold and people gathered at the stations to catch a glimpse of the Pope pope who was in the last car of the short four car train. The Pope was sitting by a window with a light on him so that people at the stations could see him as the train crawled past. The media were in the first car of this train and quickly became bored. Spremo folded up one of the blow up cushions into a shape similar to that of the Pope's Mitre. He was egged to go to the window and a table cloth was draped over him, a monopod was placed in in his hand as a staff and one of the TV crews provided a light. Boris provided a Papal wave. So as the train would slow down for the stations, people, cold and wet, would take a picture of the "Pope" in the first car and then turn away before the last car reached them.  Well, officials figured out why people were turning away and Spremo got in some trouble, he was worried for his job.  The incident was told in a Toronto Sun column and some TV picked it up too. The long term effect, Boris was hired just after he retired in 2001 to shoot a book on the World Youth Day Cross for the Vatican.

 

 

World Youth Day Cross, entrusted to the young people of Canada by Pope John Paul II made the journey across the Canada in preparation for World Youth Day which will was held in Toronto. 

 

 

George Chuvalo. Spremo and the Champ were quite close. Boris even gave the heaveyweight some lessons and George loved to take pictures.

 

George Chuvalo fights Muhammad Ali at Maple Leaf Gardens.

 

Terry Fox

 

March 17, 1984.

 

Boris and the CN Tower.

Perched 440 meters above Toronto and 9 meters out from the growing CN Tower iron worker Larry Porter pulls at the hook of giant crane as he installs the outriggers that will be used to lift the restaurant.

 

 CN Tower construction with the Flatiron in the foreground.

 

 

 

 

 

Spremo on assignment May 1965.

 

Other Retired Toronto Star Photographers

Rick Eglinton

Ken Faught

Mike Stuparyk

Tony Bock

Jim Wilkes 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeking a Leader: The 2013 Papal Conclave

As a result of Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation as leader of the Catholic Church the process to select a new Pope began on Tuesday, March 12, 2013.

From within the Sistine Chapel, 115 Cardinals from around the world would conduct a centuries-old voting process called a conclave to choose the next Pope.

For the first time in nearly 600 years the Catholic Church would elect a new leader after a resignation. 

I arrived at the Vatican on the Friday before the conclave to document this historic event.

Over the next four days I turned my lens to the scene of the conclave, the cast of characters who would decide the direction of the church and the faithful who flocked St. Peter’s Square en masse to meet their new leader.

-Lucas Oleniuk - @LucasOleniuk

One of 115 Cardinals would emerge from the conclave as the new Pope.  His image will become synonymous with the Catholic Church for centuries to come.

 

2012 - Keith Beaty

Keith Beaty - Staff Photographer - @keithbeaty

Bridal dress for cover of Special Section's Wedding Planner Issue.

Steve Russell's favourite pictures of 2012

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

These are my favourite pictures and links to some of my favourite assignments.

Ten metre platform diver Meaghan Benfeito trains at Montreal 1976 Olympic Pool, April 2, 2012. Benfeito and diving partner Rosaline Filion won bronze in 10 metre platform synchronized diving in London.

2012 by Tara Walton

Tara Walton - Staff Photographer - @Taralynwalton

Stella enjoys a warm May afternoon laying on the front lawn of their east end Toronto home, with both her Mommies and her brother Sam, May 30, 2012.  At two years old Stella was diagnosed with a inoperable brain tumour, doctors had given her three months to live. More on Stella here.

January 2012 in review!

Our favourites from the first month of 2012.

KEITH BEATY -  Bridal dress shot for the cover of Special Section's Wedding Planner Issue.

 

2011 by Andrew Francis Wallace

Andrew Francis Wallace - Staff Photographer

September 9, 2011 - Sailboats race on Lake Ontario as part of the 2011 Beneteau First 36.7 North American Championship. 

Best of August

Rick Madonik, Staff Photographer

A look back at the month of August. Generally, a slower month as summer winds down, but this year weather related events and Jack Layton's death - and State Funeral - dominated the news. Here's a look back and both published, and unpublished, photos from The Toronto Star photo department.

JACK LAYTON - 1950-2011

08/25/11 - Olivia Chow, with her hands on her husband's casket, after it is placed in the rotunda of Toronto City Hall. (RICK MADONIK)