This…
Wow.
I walked from my hotel to the Saatchi Gallery. I made sure that it was open, because it was Easter Monday, and of course, the gallery might be closed. There was no mention about Easter closings on the website, and it says it opens at 10am on Mondays, so I made my way over. When I got there, they were open, and the place was practically empty. There were more staff than visitors. It also turns out that today is Sunday, not Monday. Have I been away from work that long that I forget what day it is?
The gallery was the number one suggestion from Helen, and I decided to trust her. I’m happy I did because my god, it was so much better than the Tate. The Tate was okay, but the work in this gallery was great. Great, not amazing. What was amazing was the photo above. As I walked into the room, this photo was hanging on the wall beside me, I just stopped and was blown away. Maybe it needs to be giant, and shiny1, but wow. I couldn’t believe it.
Turns out I’m not the only one who likes that photo as it was on the cover of a book they had in the gift shop, and they had postcards. I bought a postcard, and sent it to Aaron. Is there anyone better to send a great photo to than Aaron?
I then went for a walk. I also realized something as I walked through the city, sat in parks, just chilled. I realized that I’m a portrait photographer. Sure I shoot concerts, but what I’m really shooting is portraiture. I don’t know how to shoot nature, or how to shoot architecture. Sure from time to time I get it right, but it’s not my forté2. I like shooting people. Maybe it’s that I’m a bad photographer, and want someone else to do a chunk of the work by emoting for me, or maybe it’s just that I have a better connection. It means that when I vacation alone, I don’t take all that many photographs. I should just travel more with people. Or I should take pictures of strangers, but I’m not too fond of doing that. Tried the 100 Strangers project that Aaron suggested, never went beyond two strangers.
This is why for my Ottawa road trip I didn’t know how to shoot the Peace Tower, so I put Emily or Helen in the shot. It doesn’t hurt that they’re both beautiful, and will make any picture better.
So… not many pictures taken on my day of walking. I did take a picture of a tube station exterior to use in my video, which I’ve already started editing. I had bad falafel. I napped. I’m still tired. I ache, every inch of my body. Lying hurts, sitting hurts, standing hurts, walking kills.
There’s another thing I’ve realized3 since I’ve been here, there’s a lot to do in Toronto that I just don’t do, and I do a lot. I haven’t been to the AGO since it was redone… hell, last time I was at the AGO, I was married. I tried to go recently, but they were closed, that just means I need to go again. I’m pretty sure I’ve done a tour of Queen’s Park in elementary school, but I only remember vaguely sitting on the steps for a group photo. I should tour Queen’s Park. I should also have more picnics with friends in parks, Victoria Day and Canada Day aren’t enough. It’s easy to ignore all the awesome that is Toronto and focus on the bullshit that is our municipal politics, or our shitty transit system, or our shitty *insertsomethingshittyaboutTorontohere*.
I think I’m going to sleep.