Wren’s Story

I met Wren this spring at a cottage on Georgian Bay that she rented with a mutual friend. She had just launched her website, wrenjones.ca, and needed some photos. We had fun doing a photo shoot in this beautiful, inspirational place.  I asked Wren to talk about her path to becoming a writer. During Covid, my writing life was reignited. My …

Children’s author, Loretta Garbutt

Loretta has always loved to write. The joy of making words rhyme began in grade four and by the end of high school, she had many notebooks filled with poetry and prose.  While there may not be anything wonderful or magical about those early creations, the experience of putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, always felt – and …

MY Betty White

Betty White – the REAL Betty White, for me, at least – is a visual artist, living and working in downtown Toronto. Born in the US, Betty studied painting and, for a period, paper making, in a number of cities including Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Boulder (Colorado), Montreal and also Toronto. Throughout her journey as an artist, Betty has drawn …

Susan Currie – Writer, Musician and Teacher

My life has been defined by music, writing and a focus on supporting children. Happily, I have found a career in which I can pursue all of these things in equal measure, through teaching and advocating for passionate students, and supporting them in building a sense of social justice, global awareness and stewardship. I’ve also published three books and am …

Elisabeth Brannigan, Writer and Teacher

Elisabeth was born in Toronto, Ontario, of Scottish, Irish and German descent. At the age of 9, her family moved to Omemee, Ontario. In high school, she explored her love of the arts, attending the integrated arts program at Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School. She also spent a year in Germany as part of the Rotary International Exchange program. Following …

Toronto poet, Maureen Hynes

                              speak now into the metal mesh                               jiggle the puzzle till the parts fall                               to the …

Toronto Poet and Writer, Catherine Graham

Catherine Graham grew up in Southern Ontario, living with her parents beside a water-filled limestone quarry. Tragically, during her undergraduate years at McMaster University, she lost both parents—her mother to cancer during her first year, her father in a late-night car accident during her last year. Throughout this time of deep grief Catherine found poetry (or did poetry find her?). …

Twitter for Writers

As I work to expand my headshot photography business, I’m looking for ways to connect and build relationships with authors and writers in Toronto. A while ago, I decided to explore Twitter.  First, I googled “Twitter for photographers” and squirreled away a few links of interest for future reference. Then, I decided to try “twitter for writers,” since authors are …

Photographing Men or “How to Shoot a Man – Legally, That Is”

Let’s say that you’d like to take some photos of a relative, friend or partner, and you’d like a look that’s masculine, comfortable yet strong, confident and cool. How do you do this? Where do you start? Here are a few ideas to get you going. As your subject to Push their chin out and down just a little (to define …

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

A client asked for a headshot session. He knew what he was looking for. He knew, too, how many ‘looks’ and final images he wanted to have. (The answer: 3) He booked his session for a reason – he loves a photo I took of a friend a couple of years ago and he wanted one just like it. The …