Old Toronto Houses

To a photographer the delightful assignment to photograph some 250 old Toronto houses, as delightful as it most certainly is, nevertheless presents some specific problems. Several of the houses will, of course, face north. This means that the sun will shine on their facade for only one period of time during the summer. And, because the early light is the most desirable light, it means getting up very early indeed... The very pleasant part of that is that nobody else is up yet so that for at least an hour or so one can drive around with ease and work in terrific 'peace and quiet.' Toronto is favored with many beautiful, tree-lined streets. The problem that this presents, however, is that many of the trees stand right smack in front of and very close to the houses! In order to get a good photograph of such houses one is therefore limited to taking the picture in late fall, winter, or early spring. Another circumstance one learns very quickly is the garbage collection and on which day of the week it happens in different parts of the city. As lovely as a well-separated collection of blue-box material may be to garbage collection fans, a street-long line of blue boxes does not add much quality to a photograph... But all in all, the experience of really seeing such a variety of architectural styles, such a collection of interesting color schemes and so many houses obviously so lovingly maintained has been very rewarding, indeed. John de VisserCruickshank, Tom is the author of 'Old Toronto Houses' with ISBN 9781552977316 and ISBN 1552977315.