I was walking along Queens Quay with my old Sony camera around my neck when I looked up and suddenly started hearing an old song in my head.
🎵 “When I’m cleaning windows…” 🎵
Now if you are under 50 years old, you probably have no idea what Bob is talking about. But somewhere in the back of my brain, the old George Formby tune kicked in as soon as I saw these guys hanging off the side of the building like they were casually spending Saturday afternoon 30 floors in the air.
And there I was standing safely on the sidewalk thinking… “Nope. Bob’s photography career will remain firmly attached to the ground.”
One guy was smiling at me like he was sitting on a patio at St. Lawrence Market having a coffee. Another looked like he could rappel into a James Bond movie at any moment. Meanwhile Bob was zooming in with the Sony lens thinking, “Please don’t drop the squeegee because that thing is coming down like a Toronto condo maintenance missile.”
The funny thing about street photography is sometimes you go downtown looking for dramatic city scenes, protests, sports photos, or fancy architecture…
…and then you end up completely fascinated by window cleaners.
Because honestly, these guys are part of the real working city.
Toronto is full of people you barely notice unless you stop and actually look up. Construction workers, delivery drivers, crane operators, TTC mechanics, and the people dangling off skyscrapers cleaning the fingerprints off condo glass so the rest of us can admire the lake view.
That is what Bob likes photographing.
Not just the shiny buildings — but the people keeping the shiny buildings shiny.
And you know what else hit me while taking these photos?
This is the kind of stuff old cameras are perfect for. No fancy AI auto focus tracking of a Formula 1 car needed. Just a photographer standing on the street seeing something interesting unfold in front of him. A little zoom lens, a little patience, and suddenly you have photos that tell a story.
I also have to admit these photos have a classic Toronto feel to them. Glass towers. Ropes hanging down the side of buildings. Workers suspended over Queens Quay while tourists walk by eating ice cream pretending this is perfectly normal.
Only in downtown Toronto can a man be hanging off a skyscraper and people still walk past saying:
“Should we grab tacos?”
That’s street photography though.
Sometimes the city gives you giant moments.
Sometimes it gives you tiny moments.
And sometimes it gives you George Formby hanging off a condo tower cleaning windows.
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