One of the First Street Photographers in Toronto
Every photographer has a story about how they got started.
Some people say they took a class.
Some say they bought a new camera.
But Bob’s story goes back a lot further than that.
Long before digital cameras…
Long before film cameras…
Even before anyone used the words street photography…
Bob’s great-great-grandfather was already out on the streets of Toronto with a camera.
And not just any camera.
One of those big wooden box cameras with bellows, mounted on a heavy tripod. The kind that made people stand still for a few seconds while the photo was taken.
A Newspaper Photographer in Early Toronto
Family stories say Bob’s great-great-grandfather worked as a newspaper photographer in Toronto in the 1890s.
At a time when most photographers worked inside studios taking formal portraits, he preferred to go outside and photograph real life on the streets.
He documented everyday scenes for the newspaper:
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People walking through the city
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Workers heading to factories
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Horse-drawn wagons on cobblestone streets
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Children stopping to stare at the strange man with the large camera
In many ways, he was doing what we now call street photography, long before the term even existed.
He believed the same thing Bob believes today:
The streets tell the story of a city.
Paddling the Don River for Photos
Family stories also say he sometimes traveled through Toronto using the Don River.
He would paddle a small canoe with his camera gear carefully packed inside. When he found an interesting street, bridge, or busy part of town, he would pull over, set up the camera, and wait for the right moment.
Workers walking to factories.
Horse-drawn wagons rolling down the street.
Families out for a Sunday stroll.
Even back then, he understood something that still guides street photographers today.
The best photographs come from watching everyday life unfold.
A Family Tradition of Street Photography
Looking back at those stories, Bob sometimes thinks street photography might run in the family.
His great-great-grandfather walked the same streets of Toronto more than a century ago.
He carried heavy camera equipment.
He watched people going about their lives.
And he documented the city as it changed and grew.
The equipment today is smaller.
The photos are digital.
And instead of paddling a canoe down the Don River, Bob usually rides the TTC to get around the city.
But the idea is still the same.
Walk the streets.
Watch people.
Wait for life to happen.
And take the photograph.
Maybe Bob didn’t invent street photography in Toronto after all.
Maybe he’s just continuing a family tradition that started with a newspaper photographer in the 1890s.
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