Heather Morton Fundraising Auction - http://www.heathermorton.ca/blog/

At the Heather Morton (Toronto based Photo consultant and renowned art buyer) fundraising photo auction. Heather was recently diagnosed with Fibromatosis, a non-malignant but aggressive rare tumour. More on this info at the link above.
I was really impressed by the support the Toronto photo community showed to one of their own in the industry who is going through a tough period in their life.
Heather is also well known in the US and has spoken in various workshops in North America.
We'll continue to pray for her health and her family because she is a very important figure in the photo industry.

GREAT ALBUM ART

PRINT MAGAZINES - TRACE.

Trace magazine was one of the first magazines I wanted to shoot for when I first arrived in NY. I was still developing my book when I first approached them in early 2005.

I loved Trace a lot and I dropped my portfolio off at their office least once every other week. I got no response for the next year and a half. I thought I was being too persistent so I had to back off a bit. I finally got a face to face meeting with then photo director Katie Constans but unfortunately she left the magazine before I could get the chance to work with her.

Trace has since folded but it will always be one of my favourites, especially their "Black Girls Rule" issues.

Here are a couple of issues I kept.

PRINT MAGAZINES - VIBE MAGAZINE

The photograph of Treach on the cover of Vibe in 1992 shot by Albert Watson was enough for me to be a fan of the magazine before turning a single page. I had a good number of Vibe magazines (under George Pitts' photo direction) but unfortunately I lost majority of them in a recent flood. I was able to save these couple.

OCCUPY CANADA

Wall street demonstration reaches Toronto.

PRINT MAGAZINES - BIG MAGAZINE

I love European magazines. I kept this issue because it was dedicated to the demise of Polaroid photography. Cover was shot by the revered David Bailey.

PRINT MAGAZINES

I recently reposted an article from "A Photo Editor" about "The 2011 Magazine A-List". It contained the list of magazines (print) that are enjoying an increase in revenue and pages. The insistence of iPad taking over print magazine is an ongoing topic I'll continue to disagree with, although I support the notion of having other media platforms to share news, entertainment, etc.

When I decided to become a photographer, I wanted to shoot for primarily album covers, and magazines. The editorial aspect has worked out better than the former for me but the point is I love magazines. I am a borderline hoarder when it comes to keeping magazines. No digital media can trump a well produced, high quality printed magazine.

I collect magazines and photobooks because to me it's a more affordable way to collect art and photographs from one's favourite artist or photographer. When I was in New York, the Strand bookshop's second floor was my number one hangout.

Every photographer has their "ok-I-can-do-this" moment where they kick their craft into high gear. I got into photography because I was arrested by the magic of darkroom printing. My real moment came when I bought my first issue of Communication Arts in early 2001. It had a portrait of Lauren Hill on the cover shot by Kwaku Alston. I thought it was the coolest photograph of Lauren and I was so curious to see who shot it. Luckily it didn't only have the just the photo credit but a feature on Kwaku for his achievements in the biz at his young age at that time.

Since then I have had the opportunity to shoot for some great magazines and continue to collect magazines that will certainly become collectors items. I continue to work hard to produce work that would be viewed as such one day.

I will be posting some of the magazines I've been collecting over the years so if you are a paper head like myself, brace yourself.

Have a great weekend.