The Face of Toronto portrait series
This short video was shot & edited by Markus Mendes who earns bonus points for turning my incoherent ramblings into a neat little story 👌
When I moved to Toronto at the end of 2022, I had no plans to become a portrait photographer. Funnily enough, despite being a photography enthusiast for over two decades, the idea of making a living taking photos had — surprisingly — never crossed my mind.
I’d just stopped working on my startup Troopl and I was in a bit of a creative slump. Having nowhere to direct my creative energy and not knowing anyone in Toronto, I did what any sane, rational creative type would do… offer to shoot free portraits of strangers on the internet.
The response was insane. But that’s not what this blog post is about.
This is about what happened after I started doing the work.
To be completely honest, in the beginning, I was a little worried about who would show up at my apartment. After all, these were strangers from the Internet I was inviting into my home. But these concerns quickly melted away because the people I met turned out to be the kindest bunch of Internet strangers ever.
Turning the portraits I was making into a series was never my intention (story of my life, right). But the more people I met, the more apparent it became just how diverse the individuals I was meeting were.
So my spontaneous request for portrait subjects morphed into an ongoing series shining a light on the people who call Toronto home.
Quite literally.
Beyond the artistic pursuit of creating an interesting and interconnected body of work, there are also a few perks to photographing so many people.
It’s really fun & interesting to meet so many people. Everyone has a different background, job, and interests. It’s a great way to get a glimpse into the makeup of the city I now call home.
Recommendations. Everyone has their favourite diner, bar, restaurant, or cafe, and I’m trying them all. Google Maps is pretty hit-and-miss in Toronto, but these personal recommendations have been bang on.
I get to try new lighting techniques. Everyone I’ve met so far as part of the series has been up for me to try something new. It doesn’t always work out as planned. But even if the results don’t make the edit, I’m learning a tonne experimenting with my gear. And getting to do this without the pressure of a paid shoot is a really nice way to learn.
My goal is to get to 100. As I write this I’m at 30 portraits shot with a backlog of editing to complete. And as I start getting more and more paid work, I’m finding I have less and less time to work on this series.
So I guess I’m going to have to find time by cutting less important things from my life…
Like sleep 😅