Tonight, I'm here to talk about the cover photograph on the new edition of the Time & Place chapbook. Thank you to Ed Shaw and Nancy Benoy for continuing to put this publication together. I am honoured to be on the cover of this, the tenth issue, and further touched because it is the last time the edition-launch night will be held here at Homegrown cafe before their move to a new location. I've always been drawn to photographs. I like the detail they carry. Photographs can say--or, more accurately, provide access to--so much information about a time and a place. For instance, this photograph I made for the cover is evidence that at this time, in this place, Homegrown existed in this location on King William Street. But that's thinking of photographs as objects. I would like, instead, to think of this picture as an event. In the future, the near future, this place will move. At that time, this photograph will have a future that will become a part of the picture's story. In fact, that future was already a part of the photograph when it was made; actually, even before the picture was completed. How so? Nancy approached me about a month ago to see if I had time to make a photo for the cover. Maybe she planned this, or maybe it came to her as she talked about the ideal location that Homegrown has been for their launch-night events. She asked that the photograph for the cover be of this place. And, of course, she wanted the picture as soon as possible…time was of the essence. Knowing my schedule as I do, I knew I would only have a small window of opportunity on one Saturday afternoon to make the exposure. The window of opportunity narrowed and narrowed as that Saturday approached, to the point that I was going to give up. But then, all of a sudden, almost by chance (and also a bit by design, hoping that serendipity would be on my side), with kids in tow (or in the backseat of the car), between Saturday afternoon ferry-rides to this and that activity, we happened to go past Homegrown. Screech, swerve--into an (illegal) parking spot that was available in the pay-parking lot across the street, I put the car into park, jumped out, and snapped a few pictures. Then off I went.
That is how much of art is created: in a mad panic. At least this half of the artwork was. Later, in another place at another time--my home studio, which doubles as my living room--I could work at my own pace on crafting the final image. It is actually two photographs and a lot of manipulation of layers, saturation, blending options, and degrees of transparency to get it to this state. It had been a while since I had done this treatment, and even though I had a recipe-card of sorts in my notebook to follow, it still proved a challenge to get the manipulations to work to get this effect. The technique makes use of the realism of photography, and the magic of metaphor, something that photography also lends itself as well to as to realism. With the picture's details and through creative use of the light-room (digital editing), the final image gives a sense of time elapse, mutability of space, and--especially fittingly for Homegrown--colourfulness of character. (Later, Mike, the establishment's co-owner would say that the picture makes Homegrown electric.) As a Dr.Who fan, I take situations such as this one where Homegrown is finding a new home, not as a time for sad goodbyes. Instead it's an exciting time to see how this place is going to be regenerated! Thank you. (This talk was given at Homegrown, for the launch of Time & Place's tenth chapbook, 25 May 2016.)
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