photoED Magazine - FALL 2023 - WATER

THE WATER ISSUE BENJAMIN VON WONG #MERMAIDS HATEPLASTIC

RUTH KAPLAN THE BATHERS

OSHEEN HARRUTHOONYAN FLOATING

FALL 2023

AMY ROMER THE LAST SALMON RUN

photo ED 1

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ATIA POKORNY Toronto, ON

“ My work considers the interconnectedness of global water systems. The beauty of water in all its forms makes me conscious of how I contribute to its importance.” atiapokorny.ca

IN THIS ISSUE...

8 RESOURCES WE LOVE By Alan Bulley 11 SCARBOROUGH MADE: MAKING WAVES By Sid Naidu 14 THE LAST SALMON RUN By Amy Romer 20 CHRIS MYHR: AB-SOLUTES + VESSELS 26 RUTH KAPLAN: THE BATHERS by Bart Gazzola 32 PORTFOLIO Featuring: Tobi Asmoucha, Gustavo Jabbaz, Richard Miller, Steve Simon, Amy Friend, Carol How, Carey Shaw, Shelley Wildeman, Catherine Page, and Lori Ryerson.

44 BENJAMIN VON WONG: BIG BRANDS, COMPLEX SYSTEMS OF GLOBAL PRODUCTION, & A.I.

By Rita Godlevskis

49 OSHEEN HARRUTHOONYAN: FLOATING

By Corinna vanGerwen 54 PACIFIC NORTHWEST WHALE WATCHERS By the Ocean Wise Team 60 THE GALLERY Submissions by our readers

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EDITOR’S NOTE

STILL WATERS RUN DEEP Photo by Ryan Parker

WATER IS A LOADED THEME FOR A PHOTOGRAPHER TO EXPLORE.

“ Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”

— Ryunosuke Satoro

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Images of water can trigger highly emotive responses that run the gamut from easy, warm summer memories at the local pool to activist movements fighting toxic waste dumping and our terrible treatment of marine life. There’s no question that water is essential to life from a scientific perspective. I’m excited to present a number of photographers in this edition that make it their life’s work to spell out ways that we as a society continue to self-harm by how we treat this crucial element. Amy Romer’s documentary investigations into salmon in British Columbia and commercial photographer Benjamin Von Wong’s incredible international constructions both present us with eye-opening facts and figures on industrial activity. These incredible Canadian photographers clearly demonstrate a need for change.

presents. We look to water as creative fuel, as seen in Osheen Harruthoonyan’s work. We look to water to anchor our community, as the Scarborough Made crew shares. We look to water to both sustain and inspire us all. I hope all of our readers find fresh motivations to dive into new water-based directions from this edition.

We also look to water for mental health and healing, as Ruth Kaplan’s Bathers work

Your editor, Rita Godlevskis

WWW.PHOTOED.CA

Looking ahead, our Winter 2023 edition will focus on the theme of LAND, another equally contentious and inspiring theme for Canadian photographers to sink their feet into.

Follow us on Instagram, Patreon, Facebook, and Twitter, and sign up for our e-newsletter to keep up with all our adventures!

FALL 2023 ISSUE #68 ISSN 1708-282X

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DIVE DEEPER

A FEW WATER-BASED RESOURCES WE RECOMMEND

BY ALAN BULLEY

POOLS: LOUNGING, DIVING, FLOATING, DREAMING: PICTURING LIFE AT THE SWIMMING POOL Editor Lou Stoppard If you live in suburban North America, a satellite map view of your neighbourhood will no doubt reveal numerous turquoise blue shapes. Yes, we are deeply, hopelessly in love with the pool.

Through a series of chapters with titles such as “Escape,” “Holiday” and “Coming of Age,” Pools takes the reader through lazy summer afternoons lavishly buoyed up with photographs, paintings, and sunny reflections on swimming pools.

Lou Stoppard makes sure that the sun is always shining, no one gets sunburned, and there is no running on the deck.

Hardcover, 2020, 240 pages $85 + shipping Rizzioli chapters.indigo.ca

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WATER VIEWS: RIVERS LAKES OCEANS THE WATER WALKER For too many Indigenous communities in Canada, people cannot drink the water that comes out of their taps and parents are advised not to bathe their children in it. The Water Walker debuted at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival and packs a lot into a brief documentary that combines media footage, video, visual art, and a voiceover by actor Graham Greene.

The film follows Anishinaabe activist Autumn Peltier as she prepares to deliver an address to the UN to highlight the deplorable state of our planet’s water. Whether at home on the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island or meeting with political figures, Autumn delivers a blunt and timely message: “You can’t eat money; you can’t drink oil.”

2020, Director Jamie Burns Featuring Autumn Peltier, Stephanie Peltier, Ciara Peltier, and Graham Greene Available on Crave

By David Ondaatje Canadian-born David Ondaatje has assembled a collection of images taken on several continents that pay tribute to his love of watery vistas. Captured by drone, his well-executed photographs offer viewers unique views of water from above.

David also references the negative impacts of human development on our planet, and notes his contributions to humanitarian causes and the publisher’s purchase of carbon credits to offset the impacts of printing.

Hardcover, 2022, 240 pages $60 + shipping The Monacelli Press chapters.indigo.ca

WETLAND PROJECT: EXPLORATIONS IN SOUND, ECOLOGY AND POST-GEOGRAPHICAL ART

By Brady Marks and Mark Timmings Wetland Project is … an experience. It may look like a book, but it’s the closest you can get to a feet-wet, senses-full visit to a marsh teeming with wildlife while sitting in your favourite chair. Based on a 24-hour recording of wetland on Saturna Island, British Columbia, there’s not a lot of photography here, but the essays, listener reactions, algorithmically generated bold colours and musical scores all keyed to high-quality sound are worth the time spent. (Pro tip: You’ll want to “read” the book by following the QR-coded links with a pair of headphones or good speakers). This book richly suggests a way that photographers and other visual artists can go beyond the two-dimensional page or gallery wall to make their work more immersive. As a book, Wetland Project is an ecological adventure that doesn’t recognize the limits of the traditional print format.

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RIGHT: “Environmental Portrait of Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre Pool”

by Nithursan Elamuhilan BELOW: SM founders Alex Narvaez and Sid Naidu BELOW LEFT: SM youth artist Nithursan Elamuhilan INSET: Ziyaad Haniff

SCARBOROUGH MADE:

MAKING WAVES

BY SID NAIDU

SCARBOROUGH MADE (SM) IS A SOCIAL IMPACT ORGANIZATION that champions documentary storytelling through photography and video in Toronto’s East. Co-founded by Alex Narvaez and Sid Naidu in 2019, the group aims to shift how underserved neighbourhoods are portrayed in the media.

SM inspires emerging BIPOC youth interested in pursuing creative work professionally. The project provides mentorship and employment opportunities, supporting emerging creatives to build documentary storytelling, public art, and community engagement skills.

When we started building this project, we saw a need to address the lack of creative opportunities for youth. Engaging youth in photojournalism also engages wider community conversations around us.

Access to sports and recreational facilities is essential to community resilience, providing safe spaces for youth to develop and engage with formal and informal support networks.

The Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (TPASC) is a world-class facility and recreational space in Scarborough that houses two Olympic-sized pools. A legacy of the 2015 Toronto Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, it is co-owned by the City of Toronto and the University of Toronto Scarborough. This sports centre exemplifies how civic and educational institutions can unite to foster stronger communities and future athletes in water sports.

Ziyaad Haniff engaged with SM after visiting several of our public art activations. He joined as a youth project lead to help us develop a public art installation in Scarborough’s Golden Mile.

Working on our communications and community outreach, Ziyaad learned to identify strong story leads and for this project, he built a connection with the Shadow Water Polo Club. This local non-profit club is operated by parents and caregivers to support youth and engage them in recreational and competitive water polo.

The club runs their practices at the Pan Am Centre pool, with its teams competing internationally for Team Canada. photo ED 11

“ What struck me about this story is that a local water polo organization in my neighbourhood, run by volunteers, is thriving and nurturing athletes and future Olympians to compete on the world stage.”

Ziyaad documented the story of emerging athlete Cianne Benjamin from the Women’s Youth (U17) National Team, who competed recently in the PanAm Aquatics championship in Brazil.

“What struck me about this story is that a local water polo organization in my neighbourhood, run by volunteers, is thriving and nurturing athletes and future Olympians to compete on the world stage.

With support and direction from SM, I got a better idea of how to produce my interview with Cianne and frame my shots to amplify my story,” says Ziyaad.

Nithursan Elamuhilan joined SM in our inaugural mentorship program in 2019. Still engaged with SM by leading special projects, he has also gone on to produce his own public art projects with the City of Toronto. He recently returned to SM to produce this special project about the Pan Am Centre and the Shadow Water Polo Club.

“Working with SM on documenting stories gave me a significant focus, where I no longer just look to capture stories based on my interest and networks.

SM showed me the importance of highlighting voices I was unfamiliar with to get a more diverse range of narratives that can be shared with people who may not know about my community.

ABOVE: “Portrait of Cianne Benjamin, Water Polo Athlete” by Ziyaad Haniff

BELOW: “Environmental Portrait of Shadow Water Polo Club Boys Team” by Nithursan Elamuhilan

I live in the neighbourhood and saw the space before the Pan Am Centre was built. This space now truly anchors the community.

This project was my first time shooting action sports, and there was a lot I had to learn quickly on the technical side to get the right shots. It was an incredible experience that made me feel more connected to my community. Whenever I go past the facility, I know I’ll look at the pool differently.”

As SM continues to grow by working within our local community empowering youth artists early in their careers, it’s clear already that sharing these fresh photojournalists’ stories builds stronger, positive local connections for our wider city. We hope these small stories inspire creatives and community groups across Canada to dive in and activate their own local initiatives.

12 photo ED

For more information about this project, please visit

www.scarboroughmade.com IG: @scarboroughmade

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THE LAST SALMON RUN:

THE DECLINE OF

WILD SALMON ON THE FRASER RIVER AN IMAGE-LED JOURNEY

BY AMY ROMER ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALIX PENTECOST FARREN

“ The fish are the builders of the environment. The young bear gets a fish and takes it into the forest because the bigger bear will take it away from him, and the birds do the same thing.”

— Gerald “Bobo” Michell, Lands and Resources Liaison and Band Councilor, Xwsten Community photo ED 15

Pacific salmon are a foundation species. Every summer, millions of fish return to British Columbia, filling hundreds of streams and rivers. Their migratory journey plays a key role in bringing nutrients from the ocean back into the rivers and surrounding freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems.

“Efforts to turn the tide on the health of Pacific salmon must reflect the multiple causes of its decline. My hope is that The Last Salmon Run helps to demonstrate that complexity...”

AS A PHOTOJOURNALIST, I spend a lot of time thinking about stories. What are the stories we need more education about?

What are the stories we could benefit from if they were simply broken down into pictures?

The Last Salmon Run was created out of the desire to share stories from those who care deeply about the survival of this foundation species. I wanted to produce an image-led, accessible story that educates audiences on the causes and impacts of Pacific salmon decline, from both a scientific and an Indigenous knowledge perspective.

I became fascinated by the importance of this fish and how two knowledge systems were doing everything they 16 photo ED

could to replenish dwindling populations that are crucial to the ecology, economy, and survival of First Nations cultural practices. After receiving a grant from the National Geographic Society to produce a visual story on the causes and impact of salmon decline along the Fraser River, I began speaking with First Nations experts and scientists who would help me navigate this multifactorial story and translate it into a visually compelling narrative.

Over the span of one year, I carried out interviews over six reporting trips and made a few thousand photographs. That might sound straightforward, but when you begin an ambitious project, it’s overwhelming. It’s like entering into the thick of the forest hoping to follow one clear path, but there are several, and

TOP, LEFT: After returning to their natal spawning stream and depositing their eggs into dug out nests, Pacific salmon reach the end of their arduous lives.

TOP, RIGHT: Kwantlen is one of the few Coast Salish communities that continues the tradition of an annual First Salmon Ceremony.

Ceremonies are held at the start of the salmon run, when the first salmon is brought back from the river. The salmon is cooked and shared with the entire community. Once the fish has been eaten, the gathering makes its way to the river to return the fish bones to the water as a sign of respect to the Salmon People.

ABOVE, LEFT: Salmon have fundamentally shaped life on the Pacific Northwest coast, yet numbers especially sockeye and Chinook, are in steady decline. The reasons behind these declines are multifactorial — overfishing, habitat loss, dams, to name a few — but emerging infectious diseases associated with the expansion of intensive Atlantic salmon farming in the region are also responsible. If salmon populations continue to disappear from rivers and oceans, animals that rely on salmon such as the grizzly bear will also begin to disappear.

ABOVE, RIGHT: Recent findings have shown that salmon farms are superspreaders of viruses, and that in British Columbia, these viruses are continuously transmitted from opennet pen salmon farms to endangered wild salmon.

photo ED 17

BELOW: The Southern Resident killer whale, also known as the Salish Sea orca is Canada’s most endangered marine mammal, with only 73 individuals left. It is thought that declining numbers of Chinook salmon, their primary prey, is affecting the orca’s ability to survive.

With Chinook numbers in steady decline, British Columbia could lose two of its most iconic marine species.

RIGHT, CENTRE: Impacts from climate change have exacerbated the fragility of the region, affecting not only the availability and quality

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of food for salmon in warming waters, but the increased likelihood of pathogens, including deadly sea lice. Both influence the survival of juvenile salmon.

FAR RIGHT: An empty salmon drying rack belonging to Bridge River First Nation. With very few fish returning each year, First Nations up and down the watershed have voluntarily implemented fishing bans among their citizens, demonstrating a way of thinking largely unseen in Western global economies where harvesting for profit takes priority.

BOTTOM: Scientist Alexandra Morton inspects and takes samples from a dead chum salmon on the Harrison River. She’s checking for a virus often detected on Atlantic salmon farms, piscine orthoreovirus (PRV), known to transition from farmed to wild fish. The disease causes red blood cells to break down and overwhelm the liver with toxic levels of hemoglobin, resulting in damage to both the liver and kidneys, and in the most severe cases results in a yellow discolouration in the fish, known as jaundice or anemia.

“ ...When you begin an ambitious project, it’s overwhelming.

It’s like entering into the thick of the forest hoping to follow one clear path. But there are several, and there’s no map.”

there’s no map. There is a sense of responsibility you feel to the organizations that support you, as well as to those who share their stories with you along the way.

Collaborating with an illustrator was an idea I’d been interested in for a while — combining photographs and illustrations that spill onto the page. I contacted New York–based illustrator Alix Pentecost Farren, whose work I admired, and sketched out my idea to her (a mess in comparison to her sketches!). I was delighted when she agreed to come onboard. For The Last Salmon Run, I felt her visuals could help me push the “time is running out” part of the narrative. There is an implied connotation when seeing a drawing of an animal of a real-life photograph: that the reason the animal is being drawn is because it doesn’t exist anymore. It’s how we experience the woolly mammoth, for instance.

Images from the series have been seen in multiple media outlets online, including National Geographic, The Seattle Times, The Narwhal, and others, and have assisted in campaigns by nonprofits and scientists, highlighting new research that has helped move various conversations forward, particularly regarding the transmission of viruses between farmed and wild fish.

Efforts to turn the tide on the health of Pacific salmon must reflect the multiple causes of its decline. My hope is that The Last Salmon Run helps to demonstrate that complexity, while inspiring the next generation of storytellers, environmentalists, and Indigenous rights advocates to fight for a future where everybody can enjoy and respect the iconic foundation species.

The full project can be viewed at thelastsalmonrun.ca along with education materials on the topic of ethical storytelling. I hope you’ll make time to experience the full project online.

thelastsalmonrun.ca photo ED 19

CHRIS CHRIS MYHR IS AN ONTARIO-BASED, ACADEMIC, MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTIST WHO THINKS A LOT ABOUT WATER 20 photo ED

MYHR AB-SOLUTES: “ATHABASCA RIVER,” 2020/2021 Macro photographs of hydrocarbon residue from filtered samples of snow collected along the banks of the Athabasca River as it flows through the oil sands region of Alberta. The images offer visual evidence of the ways in which the Suncor recovery site (in Fort McMurray, Alberta) impacts the interconnected systems of atmosphere and hydrosphere.

The series title refers to what theorist Hent de Vries calls the “absolute” or “that which refuses to dissolve completely into the milieu of human knowledge.” The images ruminate on the ways in which invasive activities such as heavyhanded resource extraction not only impact the immediate terrestrial environment on which they occur, but also interconnected Earth systems. photo ED 21

Chris’ investigations result in photographs, sound projects, and video works that don’t often resemble typical depictions or experiences with water, but offer viewers a different way to consider our rivers, streams, oceans, and various bodies of water, what they are made of, how we treat them, and what lies beneath them.

Chris’ work explores intersections among art, ecology, and science, with an emphasis on embodied experience, materiality, and practices of “deep listening” (and looking).

22 photo ED

LEFT PAGE: AB-SOLUTES: “LAKE ERIE,” 2020/2021 Hydrocarbon formations collected along the western shoreline of Point Pelee peninsula (Ontario) on Lake Erie.

THIS PAGE: VESSELS: “BETWEEN TEETH,” 2016 /2018 Clay and ceramic mariners’ pipes recovered from the seafloor beneath the shipping lanes of Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia by local citizen historians and divers.

photo ED 23

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VESSELS: “UNDERTONE,” 2016/2018 Photographs of glass containers recovered from the Atlantic seafloor by Halifax-based citizen historians and divers.

“ Offering a glimpse of that which is typically unseen, an echo of that which is typically unheard, Myhr reveals something new, something ‘rich and strange.’ In so doing, he offers nothing less than a phenomenological study of space and time.”

- Scott McLeod, Director, Prefix ICA

chrismyhr.com

photo ED 25

RUTH KAPLAN

“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.”

– Loren Eiseley

26 photo ED

The Bathers

BY BART GAZZOLA

Approaching Ruth Kaplan’s The Bathers series requires a sensitivity and consideration that, in many ways, mimics her approach to her subjects.

SPANNING MORE THAN a decade, this work had its genesis at a nudist hot springs in California in 1999. From there, Ruth continued to work to document — though that seems too harsh a word for this activity — the denizens of hot springs, bathhouses, and spas internationally. Following stuttered attempts at her local Toronto YMCA where she garnered little interest from potential participants, she was still determined to continue with her idea. She aimed her focus on the history and ritual of spas and bathhouses, seeking historical sites in Eastern Europe where, similar to the attitudes in California, bathing had a more traditional association with social bonding.

Her timing was unique: the Berlin Wall had fallen, the USSR had dissolved and the potential for interaction in a genuine, human manner was more readily possible. Ruth witnessed an immediacy and sense of custom within historical bathhouses in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Germany, and Romania, and then saw new traditions in more high tech — one might say fancy — spaces in France, Denmark, and Iceland. Ruth’s series concluded with visits to Moroccan bathhouses observing a different cultural iteration that references ablutions, which are as much about a spiritual cleansing as a physical one. She notes the “blend of physicality and transcendence of the material world were compelling aspects of this project.”

This intimate work is the utter opposite of voyeurism. Often there was an impromptu approach: but sometimes Ruth had to negotiate cultural taboos and conventions. This varied from country to country, as well as from larger urban regions to smaller rural ones.

The Bathers presents a diversity of experiences but offers universal sentiments about comfort, privacy, and the self. “There’s something about the way people relax in those environments that’s unique to their other identities,” Ruth says. “This work also coincided with the decline of analog technologies (both film and communication tools). This series would be very difficult to photograph now.”

Her project was shot on film, which, for many now, seems like an archaic process. Analog photography is notably more complicated, requiring much more preparation and consideration than the immediacy and volume of digital image making. Thus the impact of this work is even more impressive. Ruth notes, ‘‘Privacy is more

28 photo ED

difficult to find and even define; anyone with a phone can take a photograph. Which is, perhaps why the comfort with which we all sat together is what I remember most clearly.”

That “we,” when you look at her chapters in the larger story of The Bathers, is inclusive and spans gender and age: less so the idealized body than real people, defined by age and experience. Ruth sees The Bathers as being about the “democratic notion of nudity” and how “documenting bathers was a way to free myself — and others — from attitudes about body image.”

The Bathers feels almost innocent to a jaded modern eye. But perhaps because these works embody the “duality of being both voyeur and participant [which] throughout this project offered me a way into a world considered private.… By participating in the baths myself, I became accepted and was able to make photographs.” Her role as participant in the scenes she presents for us is also why her words about this are important to share: she is not removed from her subjects but is in fact one of them, too, and her experiences are entwined with her fellow bathers.

There are contested narratives in The Bathers, but they co-exist in a comfortable manner, like the bathers themselves. Says Ruth, “Several underlying themes emerged, such as hedonism, decadence, sensuality, innocence, and social bonding. But what drew me to the subject was the unique physicality and the way in which people manifested who they were through their bodies.”

The Bathers presents us with a social history story, documenting communal sites and interactions that may be lost, or not likely to happen, now. The series considers the “nude” in the Western art canon, where exploitation and a predatory gaze was — is — too often still the norm, and the lens, whether analog or digital, feeds this: “I always asked permission of the subjects, photographing only those who agreed but with the current proliferation of imagery uploaded on the web, their presence and distribution is largely out of one’s control. I doubt most bathers would be willing to participate now.”

Published in 2017, The Bathers book clearly and beautifully demonstrates the images’ collective narrative impact. It seems too little to call them just photographs, as they are documents of a time, memorializing moments of personal reflection within wider social relevance.

“Documenting bathers was a way to free myself — and others — from attitudes about body image.”

The inkiness in Osheen’s photographs has a seemingly unlimited depth, like deep space or the complete darkness at the bottom of the ocean.

PREVIOUS PAGE, LEFT: Mineral Pool, Marianske Lazne, Czechia, 1994.

RIGHT: Showers, Marianske Lazne, Czechia, 1994.

ABOVE, TOP LEFT: Shower, Duzniki-Zdroj, Poland, 1994.

TOP RIGHT: Mineral Pool, Baile Herculane, Romania, 1995.

BOTTOM LEFT: Hot Spring, Baile Herculane, Romania, 1995.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Mineral Pool, Marianske Lazne, Czechia, 1994. photo ED 29

TOP LEFT: Mineral Pool, Hot Spring Retreat, California, USA, 1991.

BOTTOM LEFT: Flotation Massage, California, USA, 1992.

TOP RIGHT: Mud Bath, Calistoga, California, USA, 1991.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Sauna, Thunder Bay, Canada, 2000.

“But what drew me to the subject was the unique physicality and the way in which people manifested who they were through their bodies.”

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BELOW: Steam Room, Tassajara Hot Springs, California, U.S.A., 1992.

The Bathers book includes essays by Marni Jackson and Larry Fink. It can be purchased at the artist’s website: ruthkaplanphoto.com photo ED 31

PORTFOLIO

WATER

TOBI ASMOUCHA PASSAGE Toronto, ON

My family came to Canada by ship, and most of my childhood holidays included travel by ferry. This photograph frames the possibility of my life in Canada. I have always ached for the comfort and connection that water views bring me.

IG: @tobi_asmoucha tobiphoto.com 32 photo ED

34 photo ED

GUSTAVO JABBAZ ZURRIOLA BEACH Toronto, ON

At Zurriola Beach I watch the surfers in the North Atlantic water. I aim to capture the joy of riding the waves that follows the patience of waiting for the right one to come along.

IG: @vacaseca vacaseca.com

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RICHARD MILLER ANCESTRAL MINDSCAPES / GÉOGRAPHIES DE L’INTIME Toronto, ON

This image is part of a larger collaborative project between Mad Artist Richard Miller, Québécoise photographer Geneviève Thibault, and Cree filmmaker Jules Koostachin.

The collaborators travelled to Gaspésie, Québec, the traditional territories of the Nation Micmac de Gespeg, with the aim of assisting Richard Miller, the subject in this image, to reflect on his history of mental illness and suicidal ideation. The work looks to examine the power of nature to alleviate mental illness, and water as a source of healing.

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dragonflydocumentary.wordpress.com

STEVE SIMON HEALING WATERS New York, USA

The Pilgrimage to Lac Ste. Anne in Alberta where the water is said to have healing powers.

stevesimonphoto.com

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AMY FRIEND TINY TEARS FILL AN OCEAN St. Catharines, ON

We are made of water and salt.

An image of a body of water soaked in sea water and when evaporated, crystalline traces of salt remain.

amyfriend.ca

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CAROL HOW THE LIFE FORCE Surrey, BC

Water is spirituality and eventuality. It is a translucent miracle of shape and form, ever changing. This image is a contemplation of our spiritual and essential physical connection with water. Water is our most valuable resource.

IG: @carol_how

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CAREY SHAW CARMEN/KATEPWA Saskatoon, SK

Moments of enormity and the quiet of water.

careyshaw.com

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SHELLEY WILDEMAN AT THE GORGE Toronto, ON

The Soça River cascades from the Slovenian Alps, creating spectacular water features. Icy pools tempt onlookers for a dip. Gathering places are filled with life, energy, and memory. This work looks to capture and reveal a place over time. By combining and overlaying multiple images, a new view emerges to reveal the vitality of the place.

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CATHERINE PAGE WATER Edmonton, AB

The lotus symbolizes prosperity, fertility, and purity of mind and spirit for Cambodians. The plants grow along roadsides in ponds and are collected as offerings for temples. Long stems containing air maintain buoyancy, allowing the leaves and blossoms to grow above water.

catherinepagephoto.com

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LORI RYERSON LILY PAD TONDO #2 Toronto, ON

The changeability of water is fascinating to observe. Discovering the beauty in all its forms is both inspiring and meditative.

loriryerson.ca

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BENJAMIN VON WONG: Big Brands, Complex Systems of Global Production, and AI

BY RITA GODLEVSKIS

BENJAMIN VON WONG is a Canadian self-taught photographer whose work has been seen by millions of people around the world. He has been named a Branded Content Mastermind

by Adweek, holds a Guinness World Record, and acts as a creative advisor for the Ocean Plastics Leadership Network and the Sustainable Ocean Alliance. Benjamin takes anywhere from weeks to months to prepare his elaborate shoots working with global teams.

He shares much of his behind-the-scenes work online, which provides viewers with insight into his creative process and an appreciation for the monumental scale of the projects he and his community of collaborators take on. I asked him a few hard questions about his work and what keeps him motivated. photo ED 45

Your website unforgettablelabs.com highlights your numerous commercial projects and the consistently impressive marketing reach you’ve achieved for various organizations, from large commercial corporates to charities.

You offer an open invitation for organizations to reach out with their promotional projects. Completed projects include work with Nike and Nexus Summit (an organization interested in closing the fast-fashion loop). How do you select which brands you associate with? How do you personally square working with both sides of a coin — Nike being a powerhouse global fast-fashion brand well known for human rights abuses in their production processes, and Nexus a social entrepreneur and philanthropic organization?

Since we live in a colonial and extractive world — all large sums of money are tainted. As a result, I always try to start conversations from a place of curiosity, rather than one of judgment. There are three kinds of projects that I create: those that I fund myself, projects that I seek sponsorship for, and projects I get hired to do for a commercial purpose.

For projects I seek sponsors for, where the funding comes from doesn’t really matter to me, as the funders have no creative input in my work. I see them as simply putting their dollars to good use. Unless conversations reveal the sponsorship may be used in false marketing or greenwashing claims, I’m generally interested in working with a pretty broad segment of companies.

For the projects that I get hired to do for commercial purposes, I do my due diligence. I look at the track record of the brand and where they’re headed.

My general philosophy is to find partners that are committed to progress, but I’m not married to perfection. What matters most to me, is whether or not a brand has been consistent in respecting their commitments and making improvements to society. Is my creativity being used to change an existing system or prop-up a corrupt one? Does the client also want to go above and beyond, or are they just looking to move product off a shelf?

With regards to Nike specifically, the sweatshop scandal came up in 1991. Since then, they’ve worked to increase and improve wages, worker conditions, and labour practices — going so far as to start the Fair Labor Association in 1998.

Are they perfect? No, absolutely not — the entire fashion industry is problematic — but I do think they’ve made an effort to be better socially and environmentally.

Impact is never easy, and the most important thing is to find the right collaborators.

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An image is worth a thousand words. Your incredible installations about water and plastic issues demonstrate important messages about recycling and the harm plastic waste causes. Consumers need to consider these issues when making their daily purchasing power decisions. But how do you feel seeing seemingly little movement from those responsible for the problem (i.e., plastic bottle manufacturers and large volume retailers)?

I disagree that there is no movement! It’s not moving fast enough, but that doesn’t mean it’s not moving at all!

Plastic pollution is one of the few things in the world that everybody hates. Everyone agrees there’s a problem, but few agree on how to solve it. Some organizations are focused on finding a plastics replacement (biodegradable plastics), while others champion recycling, while others think we just need to reduce plastic production.

Large plastic manufacturers are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in innovation projects in search of sustainable alternatives to drive change. Whether or not they’re successful is another thing.

The topic is extremely nuanced.

At the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations at the United Nations meeting in Kenya in 2022, large commercial global brands also advocated for the treaty because added restrictions on virgin plastics would increase the value and commercial viability of recycled plastic.

But that agreement alone, doesn’t create change.

If we think about Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), for example, which involves demanding that brands put aside a portion of profits to clean up their own waste, things get complicated when we start looking at the details: Who is responsible for which parts of the cleanup? Who manages the funds? How does that work across countries?

Municipalities? Industries? These are large complex problems that have no simple solutions.

While the problem of plastic is larger today than it ever has been, the pressure for change in consideration of environmental impact is also higher than it’s ever been.

Almost everything we buy touches plastic at some point.

Being a responsible consumer is as important as collectively finding ways to pressure the larger system itself to change.

I think art can play an important role in change-making.

#TurnOffThePlasticTap A giant plastic tap spewing plastics sourced from Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, greeted delegates from 193 different countries coming together at UNEA 5.2 to discuss what is being termed the “Paris Agreement for Plastics.” The installation was created where discussions around a global plastic treaty took place at the UN Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. Since, the Tap has travelled to five cities and appeared at the United Nations Ocean Conference in July 2022.

PREVIOUS PAGE: #MermaidsHatePlastic By 2050, there will be more plastics than fish in the sea.

It takes 450 years for the average plastic bottle to disintegrate. 10 000 bottles were borrowed from a waste management centre and volunteers worked to create meaningful, shareable images, spreading the word about the volume of plastics in our water now and in the future.

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The work that I do can be used and shared by, individuals, nonprofit, for-profit, and governmental organizations alike. It does not prescribe a solution, but rather invites a conversation.

My aim is to make sure that the problem stays top of mind for the most people possible to accelerate positive change.

Your productions are elaborate. With the artificial intelligence (AI) tools now available to image-makers, why not simply create your visuals digitally? What is it about the production process that drives you?

Theoretically, creating the images I envision entirely digitally might be easier than planning and executing projects with large teams. But making “easy” projects is not the driving force behind why I do what I do.

I love the real-world adventures, interactions, and explorations that come as part of creating in a physical space — and I think that the advent of artificial intelligence actually gives my work more value.

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In a world where digital content is becoming increasingly accessible, automated, and ubiquitous, the signal-to-noise ratio is getting higher and higher. The amount of mediocre content we see online is extremely high. It’s just not interesting for me to participate in a creation process that is about quantity over quality.

The end result of my efforts is only one part of the larger story. The more valuable part, arguably, is the creative process itself. Stories are what give meaning and value to art, and I think that AI can only take that so far.

#Strawpocalypse Benjamin holds the Guinness World Record for the largest drinking straw sculpture (supported), made from reclaimed plastic, including 168 037 straws. The sculpture was created with Zero Waste Saigon (Vietnam) in Ho Chi Minh City in January 2019.

The project was sponsored in part by Starbucks, who installed used straw collection bins at a number of its stores in Vietnam.

The kind of work that I like to do requires a lot of thought and preparation. I also think about how it could serve larger movements. How and where else could the structures I build or the images I create be used to amplify the topics I’m passionate about towards positive social change?

As digitally created content becomes more ubiquitous, there is also a growing appreciation for content and stories that are anchored in the real world.

Follow Benjamin Von Wong’s adventures online:

vonwong.com

“Standing Waves”

Osheen Harruthoonyan

FLOATING

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THE MOST PROMINENT

thing about Osheen Harruthoonyan’s work is the blackness. Reminiscent of Anish Kapoor’s Vantablack, the inkiness in Osheen’s photographs has a seemingly unlimited depth, like deep space or the complete darkness at the bottom of the ocean. This rich tone simultaneously provides contrast to the ethereal shapes and textures that make up his otherworldly environments, as well as offers a sea for the viewer to sink into — an abyss that helps elicit a physical and psychological reaction akin to being suspended in water. “It’s such a different feeling,” says the artist of the sensation. “I’m trying to get that across — this floating, other space.”

The recurring imagery in Osheen’s toned gelatin silver prints — celestial skies, nebulous forms, rolling clouds — are layered with textures to create surreal worlds that feel familiar but different, helping achieve the sense of floating that the artist aims for. In “Pour Etienne et Son Ciel” (which translates to “For Etienne and His Sky”), a circular border offers a portal view of the moonlit sea beneath a starry galaxy. In an unlikely position at the bottom of the window, fluffy clouds peek in. On the right, an unidentifiable translucent, crumpled form hovers mid-sky. The composition, like others of Osheen’s, blurs the lines between foreground and background, and the viewer’s position in relation to what they see. The stars creep downward over the water, so are they stars or water droplets — or are they the small spots in your eyes floating across your vision?

In much of Osheen’s work, circular forms offer the impression of planets (as in “Act III Scene VIII” and “Tunnel”), white spots ebb and flow to create milky galaxies (“The Explorers” and “Radiant Meteor Shower”), and various textures evoke watery waves (“Standing Waves”), ripples (“Black Mirror”), and splashes (“In This Dream She Is Terrified of the Pacific”). Sometimes the water-like forms appear to be floating upward or bouncing in response to sound waves.

This imagery is drawn from Osheen’s interest in astronomy, quantum mechanics, and astrophysics, and his fascination with how they’re connected to biology. The dance between gravity and time, the space in between that connects them, is depicted through the negative space in his work.

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ABOVE: “Act III Scene VIII” Inspired by the early astronomical drawings of observations of the night sky and ideas of the solar system. Photographed in an “alternate” Atina, Italy.

BELOW: “Tunnel” Twins ride comets into the unknown. Photographs of stars and chemical reactions, multiple exposures on 4×5 film.

To achieve his alternate worlds, Osheen invented a process to manipulate black and white film ... a unique chemistry he’s named Formula 5000.

TOP RIGHT: “Pour Etienne et Son Ciel” Inspired by the early astronomical drawings of Etienne Trouvel and the unrealized architectural design of the Cenotaph for Newton by Étienne-Louis Boullée. Meant to be seen as looking through both a telescope and microscope at a newly discovered world, where the laws of nature are still unknown to us.

LEFT: “Eye Nebula” In progress on large format film.

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the image; there’s always something that, from behind, binds it all,” he says. These voids pull the viewer in, raising questions and memories.

To achieve his alternate worlds, Osheen invented a process to manipulate black and white film — a technique that secured him an O-1 visa to the United States, for Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement. In a petri dish, he floats a negative in a mixture of water and chemicals — a unique chemistry he’s named Formula 5000 — then manipulates the film using dental and jewellery-making tools, as well as syringes. (One can see the negative carrying a material memory of this chemical bath into Osheen’s final prints, such as in “Morphogenegis,” where a similarly translucent form appears to have been soaked and softly crumpled, floating in liquid.) After he removes the solution, he continues to manipulate the negative while it’s drying. In the darkroom — where he sometimes layers multiple negatives — he tones his prints with sepia gold and selenium.

This gives the final black and white prints a subtle tritone look, with cool shadows, pinkish mid-tones, and warmer highlights that create a 3D effect.

In Osheen’s Black Garden series, which depicts landscapes of Armenia and Artsakh, the otherworldly results of his darkroom techniques convey the concept of a place’s history. Though the Iranian-born Osheen had never been before, he was startled to discover that he felt a visceral connection to the South Caucasus region when he was there. His historical and ancestral ties to the area, the intergenerational trauma and the stories he heard growing up made him feel as though he remembered the place. In Black Garden, he attempted to communicate that feeling — “memories of a place that you’ve never been to.”

The inkiness in Osheen’s photographs has a seemingly unlimited depth, like deep space or the complete darkness at the bottom of the ocean.

Osheen speculates that his drive to create these uncomfortable, surreal environments that, as he describes it, “feel like memories,” stems from his own experiences of feeling like an outsider as he was growing up. Refugees from the Iran– Iraq War, Osheen and his family lived in Athens, Greece, eventually landing in Vancouver. Not knowing the language of either country, Osheen didn’t speak much as a child, and he says he “communicated more visually.”

The language of his work is of other earths and familiar spaces, but it is those deep blacks that centre his images, creating movement and giving them weight. Says Osheen, “It makes people question their space, their environment, or their psychological state.”

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osheenh.com

For purchase inquiries within Canada con

ntact Cardinal Gallery, Toronto.

OPPOSITE PAGE; TOP LEFT: “The Explorers” From the series, Saw the Splendor.

Two explorers travel between mirrors to discover faraway worlds.

BOTTOM LEFT: “In This Dream She Is Terrified of the Pacific” Another Pacific, on another Earth.

LEFT: “Radiant Meteor Shower” Bilateral symmetry of the butterflies’ patterns, float off

their wings and become part of the night sky.

BELOW: “Black Mirror” A photograph of a field of walnut trees in Garni, Armenia, not far from a 2800year-old temple.

The blurry imagery is inspired by early landscape paintings using Claude Glass, or “black mirrors,” where artists would paint the reflection of the scene in front of them.

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OCEAN WISE: PACIFIC NORTHWEST WHALE WATCHERS

Whales play a vital role in maintaining healthy and resilient oceans. Their well-being is a critical indicator of the health of our entire ocean ecosystem.

BY THE TEAM AT OCEAN WISE GARY SUTTON, BRITTANY VISONA-KELLY, DR. AMY ROWLEY & SHARON KAY

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KILLER WHALES PLAY in the surf alongside harbour porpoises, sea otters, and humpbacks. Keeping an eye on the excitement is the Whales team from Ocean Wise, a conservation organization headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The team uses a combination of field techniques, lab analysis, and citizen science to help protect these incredible creatures from the threats they face.

Ocean Wise’s drone photography work is focused on field sites off northeastern Vancouver Island and the central coast of British Columbia. After locating and identifying the whales, we launch the drone from our research vessel and pilot it directly over them at an altitude of 30 metres, matching their speed and course from a minimum of 200 metres away.

Tracking animals underwater in a marine environment has its challenges, so our team members communicate constantly with one another. We break down the job into three positions: a drone pilot who controls the speed, direction, and altitude of the drone; a camera operator who watches the live camera feed to direct the drone pilot, adjusts the shutter speed and ISO, and snaps the images; and finally, the vessel operator who tracks the whales and takes lateral images to aid in identifying the animals in the aerial images later.

We use aerial images of whales to measure their “fatness.”

Previous work by our colleagues Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, Dr. John Durban, and Dr. Holly Fearnbach, who began the study in 2014, has shown that this method provides a good indicator of a whale’s body condition.

Understanding the whales as individuals allows us to better track birth and death rates, changes in individual body condition over time, what habitats are being utilized, and where to focus conservation efforts.

Observing changes over time means we can investigate the factors that influence their health, such as the amount of prey available to them. Our goal is to use research to inform evidence-based policy that can provide whale populations with the conditions they need to thrive.

Photography plays a key role in furthering our understanding of local whale populations and how best to conserve them.

In its simplest form, taking lateral images of the animals and identifying them by their unique dorsal fin and saddle patch shape allows us to track individuals over their lifetime.

This method was pioneered by Dr. Michael Bigg in the 1970s and has been followed by many great scientists since. These efforts have led to the most comprehensive killer whale photo identification program on the planet.

Drone photography allows us a window into the lives of the species we study from a perspective that would otherwise be impossible. From a bird’s eye view, we can observe all the behaviours and interactions that can’t be seen from the

ABOVE: Gary, Brittany, and Amy on an early morning whale scout in 2021.

OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP LEFT: An aerial view of “Ridge,” a humpback whale.

RIGHT: The team launching their drone from the research vessel Skana.

BOTTOM LEFT: Bigg’s killer whale known as T046B3 or “Sedna,” leaping to hunt a Dall’s porpoise.

RIGHT: A126 “Ne’nakw,” a Northern Resident whale calf, plays with a Dall’s porpoise.

surface. Drone photography also has the potential to replace other, more invasive, research techniques that can cause disturbance to the whales.

The aerial perspective has helped provide new insights into the whales’ behaviours and how they interact with one another and the environment around them. Subtle interactions such as a juvenile northern resident killer whale dragging around a piece of kelp and then its grandmother coming up from the depths to grab onto the kelp too are fascinating. These little family moments used to be secrets below the waves, but aerial photography is changing the game. It has also shed light on just how much Bigg’s killer whales are eating. Some hunts (on seals and sea lions) are active and obvious from the surface, but, at times, they are hidden. For example, sometimes from the boat the whales looked like they were just travelling, but from the drone we could see that the whales had seals in their mouths. In one instance, we noticed it was an older female (they often lead the hunts) who caught a seal, and her two adult sons came in to get their share shortly afterwards.

It is so hard to pick one standout moment from work in the field, as we are incredibly lucky to see so much daily. One of the highlights for our team has been observing a whale known as A73 “Springer.” This female northern resident killer whale has one of the most interesting stories on the coast. As a youngster in 2002, she showed up alone and sick, hundreds of miles away from her traditional habitat. With human intervention, she was moved back to the waters off northeastern Vancouver Island and was held in a semi-captive pen to regain her health. When her pod members came through the area, she was released and eventually joined back up with them. It was an incredible wildlife rescue and to see her now, all grown up, with two kids of her own, brings smiles to our faces every time we spot them.

Find out more about Ocean Wise: ocean.org

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What are you looking at?

If it’s the rain on your window, you needn’t worry that our events have been cancelled. Our budget-friendly, pre-owned equipment auction in September or the camera fair in October go ahead rain or shine. Locations and dates?

Check the PHSC website.

www.phsc.ca

GURU SHOTS:

WATER WONDERS

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BILLED AS THE WORLD’S GREATEST PHOTO GAME, GuruShots is an international competition platform for photographers. Players get feedback from more than three billion monthly voters and try to work their way up through rankings, from Newbie to the ultimate status (and bragging rights) of Guru.

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GuruShots’ challenges are voted on by the platform’s Gurus and the wider community, with a fresh challenge every day. Winners can receive prizes from GuruShots’ sponsors such as Adorama, Kodak, Lowepro, and Lensbaby.

From long-exposure landscapes to delicate detailed droplets, the Water Wonders Challenge showcases a world of wonderful interpretations on this theme.

1. GURU’S TOP PICK WINNER Ismail Rimah • Maldives

2. Shanky Yvette • Australia 3. David Samuel dos Santos Sousa • Switzerland

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4. TOP PHOTO WINNER Roland Hank • Germany 5. Alisa Hug • USA 6. Arta Berzina • Latvia 7. Bertrand Cherpillod • Switzerland 8. Cindy Radmacher • Canada 9. Wade Schmidt • USA 10. Euan Urquhart • UK 11. Unnamed • Australia 12. Jack Zhou • Canada 13. Janae Berry • USA

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14. Linda Pinkston-Sanford • USA 15. Margarida Afonso Silva • Portugal 16. Maria Fremming • Denmark 17. Michael Firmbach • Germany 18. Myrna Gordon-Covelli • South Africa 19. Nikolay Tatarchuk • Israel 20. Rémi • France 21. Roberto Valdes • Cuba 22. Yuriria Arenas • Mexico 23. TOP PHOTOGRAPHER WINNER Andrew Muhlhauser • USA

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22 See more entries from this challenge online: photoed.ca/post/gurushots-water-wonders

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THE GALLERY SUBMISSIONS BY OUR READERS

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BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE...

Check out the FALL 2023 DIGITAL ISSUE ONLINE to see more WATER images by more Canadian photographers.

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1. RAMO/HCKYGRLPHOTO Toronto, ON THE TIDE’S RETREAT IG: @hckygrlphoto

2. MADELINE KING Brampton, ON REFLECTED IG: @madeline.g.d.king

3. MICHELE CROCKETT Toronto, ON michelecrockettphotography.com IG: @michelecrockettphotography

4. LAURA COOK Cambridge, ON PAINTING WITH THE LAKE vision-photography.ca IG: @vision_pho

5.SAMANTHA HURLEY Caledon, ON BEGINNINGS samanthahurleyphoto.com IG: @lightleaksin

6. VALERIE DURANT Vancouver, BC DISSIPATION: TRACES OF A VANISHING LANDSCAPE valeriedurant.ca IG: @ValerieDurant.art

ALSO FEATURING: AARON BONK-RICHARDS ALAN MCCORD ALBERT BEDWARD AMANDA LARGE ANAÏS ARE ANGELA DEL BUONO ANTHONY GORIN AUDREY GUAY B. BOGART BETH BENNETT BRIAN GROBERMAN BRIAN LAVERY CAREY SHAW CARL RITTENHOUSE CHARLES-FREDERICK OUELLET CHRIS WENGER COREY ISENOR DALE M. REID DANIELLE GOSHAY DARRELL CHADDOCK DAVID DORRANCE DEBBIE MACNEVIN DERRY LUBELL DINA TORRANS DONNA SISTILLI ED MCDONOUGH E. ROSS BRADLEY ELISE MASOTTI EMILEY WEBB GARETH JONES GAYE JACKSON GERALD WOLFE GRANT STIRTON GUN ROZE HEATHER DOUGHTY HENRY VANDERSPEK JAN CREELMAN JENNIFER GILBERT JOE ATIKIAN JOHN JETHI JOHN FARAGHER JON STUART JUDY MCPHEE JULIA NATHANSON JULIE FLORIO KAROL GAJEWSKI KATHERINE CHILDS KELLY MCDONALD KENNETH UDLE L!N DUPERRON LAURA LEIGH LINDA FITZ LINDA COUTURE LORETTA MEYER MARC LOSIER MARCUS FIELDS MARTHA DAVIS MARTINE COTE MARTINE MARIE-ANNE CHARTRAND MARY L.G. JENSEN MICAH KLEIN MIKE STEINHAUER MIKLOS LEGRADY NANCY STIRPE NATHALIE LAUZON NEGAR POOYA OR DAVID PHIL WEBER PHYLLIS SCHWARTZ RUSSELL SATTERTHWAITE SARAH CRAWLEY SHARON DOUCETTE SIMON J. DAVIES SUSAN KERR THU HO TYLER NYKILCHYK WADE COMER ZELIE BURKE + MORE!

Check it out online:

photoed.ca/digital-issue

THE GALLERY

Check out the FALL 2023 DIGITAL EXTRA EDITION to see more! photoed.ca/ digital-issue

NATALIE GOULET EULOGY FOR A GLACIER Halifax, NS

Photographic emulsion is encased in water collected from glacier runoff, refrozen, then documented as it liquifies. The emulsion, a thin skin, is left behind as the ice melts.

As the climate crisis continues, and as glaciers melt and die, how can we memorialize them?

IG: @nataliemichelle.ca nataliemichelle.ca 62 photo ED

Comprising nearly 300,000 photographs by more than 6,000 image-makers, the Black Star Collection at The Image Centre is one of the world’s most important archives of photojournalism.

See this remarkable collection in the exhibition Stories from the Picture Press: Black Star Publishing Co. & The Canadian Press, on view September 13, 2023–April 6, 2024 (holiday closure: December 10, 2023–January 16, 2024).

33 Gould Street Toronto, Canada 416.979.5164

Admission is always free. theimagecentre.ca

Kosti Ruohamaa, Untitled [A fishing vessel in a squall, Georges Bank, Maine, United States], 1957, gelatin silver print. Black Star Collection, The Image Centre

Canary Wharf Bikes by Jonathan Pearce

The fastest, smoothest, most precise photo editor for macOS, Windows and iPad Affinity Photo redefines the boundaries for professional photo editing software.

With a meticulous focus on workflow it offers sophisticated tools for enhancing, editing and retouching your images in an incredibly intuitive interface with all the power and performance you need.

Available for macOS, Windows and iPad – subscription-free at: affinity.serif.com/photo