Street photography is one of the most challenging but at the same time one of the most rewarding genres of photography.

– Elizabeth Gray, Vancouver

I totally agree with that statement, and there’s no better place to practice, than “The Big Smoke”. A couple of weeks ago I visited Toronto with the Georgian Bay Photography Club, of which I’m now a member, for some street photography. Beautiful weather, lots of walking, but good shoes and lots of fun.  Below are some of my favourite photos from that outing.

Later, I watched a Youtube video by a street photographer that I follow, Faisal Westcott, who talked about “the problem with cliché photos”. Cliché photos are those that you see in highly photographed places, like the Eiffel Tower for example. You’ll see hundreds of people lined up, all getting the same view. Well, Faisal talked about getting these shot in a more creative way, so you can still remember that you’ve been there, but the photo is a little more unique and maybe even a little “artsy”.

I realized that this has been my goal in photography for a long time now; at least since I’ve been travelling abroad. That is, combining street photography with travel and so-called cliché photos. With this way of thinking, every trip I take is a photography workshop. There’s nothing more fun for me than walking around the streets of a strange town with my camera around my neck.

Travel has been on hold for awhile because of the pandemic, but later this year I’ll be wandering the streets of Lisbon, Portugal; experiencing my own personal photo workshop, finally. And then there’s van camping coming up. Do squirrels and grackles qualify for street photography? Well… we’ll see.

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[Click on any photo for the slideshow. Please leave comments at the bottom of the page]

The March

Bay Street

More candidates

Trinity Square

Water babe at Gordon Lightfoot Square

Bay Street

Distillery

Distillery

Reflections

The look

Student photographer

Distillery

Just read the sign

Student photographers

Justa walkin’ her dogs

Liminal space