Behind Closed Doors, Looking Back

Photographer Rob Meyers has a book called Behind Closed Doors that captures "the private homes of 25 of the world's most creative people". Some of these people include Courtney Love, Jeremy Scott, Martha Stewart and Tavi Gevinson. The premise of the project is that Meyers asks people to photograph their home using a disposable camera and then to mail in the results that they liked. This means that they can mail in a single photo or the entire roll, and of course any amount in between.

I bought this book because it was on sale at Urban Outfitters for $5. 

I was out shopping with one of my old roommates when I bought it. My old roommate and I went out for dinner after shopping, and then I ended up at the apartment of the guy I was seeing at the time. He's a photographer - both professionally and I imagine at the very nature of his soul. After explaining the project and flipping through the book, I asked him to take some photos of his apartment. How he saw it, how he wanted to show it. 

Phil's Place, Toronto, August 2014

He lived in this single room in what was a rooming house. It was a small place, but it was good I think. It was in the hub of downtown, close to some notorious bars in Toronto, across the street from old remnants of my childhood. We spent a lot of time in this little place while we were dating.

I've been looking at old photos from the past year. I count a lot of dates; events that I consider to be beginnings and ends that may not matter very much in the grand scheme of things, but I remember regardless. This weekend marks the anniversary of the last time I spent any time with this guy. I ran into him once when I moved back into the city but I haven't seen him since.

There aren't any leftover feelings.

Philip, August 2014

It's weird looking at these photos and remembering. I'm not sure he even lives in this apartment anymore. 

Recently, I've been busy with work and thinking about applying for grad school. I spend quite a bit of time thinking about where I am now versus where I was last fall. It's striking how quickly things change and how we adapt to new changes. I'm not in school anymore, I'm currently working a retail job. I don't see the same friends as often. I'm dating (but not quite - it's nothing serious and sometimes, hardly anything at all). I'm trying to be more responsible in my adult choices. For example, I started the process for repaying my student loans and I'm looking into better banking options. I also try not to go to sleep at 3AM. 

I think I'm finally getting a hang of how to move forward from last fall and being a student. Cheers. 

Low-fi Portraiture

I am still in the process of developing a couple of leftover cameras from the Disposable Project. Here are some more gems from my final undergraduate year. There are low-fi, mostly terribly taken pictures of my friends and I.

Pictured in the above are: Ellen, Adam, Jennifer, Mishi, Griffin, Sarah, Evasha and myself. 

Disposable Project

For my final year of my undergraduate degree, I decided to purchase disposable cameras to document this last year. The idea was that I would develop the cameras after the year was over and I'll cry because of how beautiful my friends were, and how happy we looked. The following are some of my favourite shots:

I don't know if you, dear reader, have ever seen How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014), but the opening sequence of the show is a small slideshow of photographs - moments from the gang's time at their local MacLaren's Pub. The photographs are taken with a disposable camera one night at the pub. I want these photos and this project to resemble that. I want to look back at these photos and think of my time with my friends as fun, adventurous and unapologetically innocent.

Youth is the eternal summer, the beer and cheap wine induced smile. The bonafide family of rosy-cheeked friends, made only more beautiful by dim lighting and disposable cameras. Gangly bodies draped by precious clothing and precocious smiles. We drink till 4 in the morning and laugh till 6. A salute to the beautiful girls and dashing boys. 

Pictured in the above are: Tamar, Mishi, Sarah, Charlotte, Sammy, Andrew, Taylor, Shabs, Ross, Ellen, Griffin, Devonte, Nefisa, Sierra and myself.