Avard Woolaver

2.4K Followers•445 Following

8,066 Photos

Nova Scotia, Canada

Joined 2010

Avard Woolaver

2.4K Followers•445 Following

8,066 Photos

Nova Scotia, Canada

Joined 2010

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I’ve been taking photos for over four decades, and after stints in Toronto and Nagoya, Japan, now live in Nova Scotia. I do social landscape photography and am interested in New Topographics—the human altered landscape–recording how human behavior and activity has affected the world. I also look for whimsical scenes and elements of surrealism found in everyday life. My work is firmly planted in the documentary tradition, getting photos through observation rather than through set-up and image manipulation. Photography keeps me in touch with the changing seasons, and the passage of time. My images are intertwined with childhood memories and locations around Hants County, Nova Scotia.

In my younger days, besides studying photography at Ryerson (now Toronto Metropolitan University) in Toronto, I worked for a time doing freelance jobs. And, inspired by photographers such as Robert Frank and Lee Friedlander, I walked the streets looking for interesting scenes, viewing the city with country eyes. Around then my friend Bill Knetsch and I established New Image Studio and Gallery in Toronto’s West Junction, frequently exhibiting the work of Ryerson teachers and students.

I’ve been scanning an archive covering thirty years, which has led to five Toronto books: "Toronto Flashback (1980-1986)" ; "No Money Down – Toronto (1980-1986)"; "Toronto Days"; "Toronto in Colour: the 1980s"; and "Toronto in the 1980s." Other books: "Wish You Were Here"; "Found Fields"; and "Colour Dreams" and "Colourville."

All books are available through Blurb Books,

Looking at photos I took long ago, it seems clear to me now that I was working with very little idea of what would seem significant later on and what would lose its importance over time. This holds true not just for the elements of the shots that have objectively gained or lost meaning over time — like landmarks, famous people, and so forth — but I also think that when I was younger, there was superficiality in some of my work. I was often wowed by graphic elements but somehow didn’t consider a photo’s richer meaning. These days I have a more mindful approach.

In November 2021, I had two photographs in a group exhibition in Paris, France. (The show, “Another Look at Man-Altered Landscape,” held at Galerie Andre et Catherine Hug, also featured photographs by Edward Burtynsky, Eric Tabuchi, Elizabeth Bourne, Markus Lehr, and others.) Though I was unable to attend the opening or view the show in person, because of the pandemic restrictions, it’s been a joy during this strange Covid time to remember that

photographers and creative people around the world continue to make art under even the strangest of circumstances.

In February 2025, 450 of my photos (digital images) were added to the collection of 700 digital images already in the City of Toronto Archives. I think they represent my strongest work, and there are several that have not been previously published.

It’s a real honour, and a good feeling, knowing that my 1980s Toronto photos will be kept for future generations. Many thanks to Michele Dale, the supervisor of collection management and standards at the City of Toronto Archives, for seeing the merit in my work, and to Naoise Dunne for all of her work in editing and cataloging the collection.

"I’m not a premeditative photographer. I see a picture and I make it. If I had a chance, I’d be out shooting all the time. You don’t have to go looking for pictures. The material is generous. You go out and the pictures are staring at you."

Lee Friedlander

"I really enjoy forgetting. When I first come to a place, I notice all the little details. I notice the way the sky looks. The color of white paper. The way people walk. Doorknobs. Everything. Then I get used to the place and I don't notice those things anymore. So only by forgetting can I see the place again as it really is."

David Byrne, True Stories

"I photograph to see what the world looks like in photographs."

Gary Winogrand

"When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice."

Robert Frank, Life (26 November 1951)

City of Toronto Archives - fonds 620

Canada Covid Portrait

Alternative Toronto