Coming of Age

I don’t pretend to be the knower of all things, but having traveled so much, I can confidently say that I am extremely cultured. I have also had the privilege to capture weddings and other events from all religious faiths. I am an avid student of the world and knowledge is like a narcotic to me.

As you know, when I am not traveling the world, digitally capturing indigenous people in their daily lives, I specialize in documenting high end events. Whether it is here in my home town of Toronto, or shooting in the canals of Venice, I offer a different type of final product. I consider myself a documentary photojournalist. To me this means two things. First, I try to capture something new or unknown and second, to tell a story with still images.

This was a rather long introduction to the upcoming series of images, but I just wanted to paint a picture of how I operate. The images below are from Bar Mitzvah ceremony and reception I captured about a year ago. The significance of this is that I have never photographed a Bar Mitzvah before that day. After looking at images other photographers had displayed of similar events, I can honestly say that I was very happy with my work. Because of my cultural knowledge and my exposure to pretty much every religious belief system on earth, I was able to create a beautiful story in images, having never even attended a Bar Mitzvah before. I have captured countless Jewish weddings, so it was not like I was unfamiliar with the traditions. The Hora (a traditional Jewish dance) is probably one of my favorite things to photograph at any event that I capture. I like to get right in the middle of it all! The images that I get are unlike any other photographer I have seen and you can see a few examples below.

The reason I wanted to display these images a year later is that I have been getting quite a few event requests lately and I know that I don’t have too many of the images displayed.

Anyways, enjoy the images of that fun night! I am off to NYC again and then to Washington DC, so stay tuned for some fresh new stuff!