Bill Piton Photo-wanderings
Short slide shows of photogrphs and portfolios dating back to the early '70's.
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After
Christmas
Wandering the streets in the east end of Toronto after Christmas, I noticed how quickly our important Yule tide symbol so important a few days before, are discarded. One of the fastest cycles of consumerism and waste I've seen in a while.
Beach Documentary
1975
In 1974 five members of the photo group Northern Exposure (Leah Lariviere, Ron Pope, Richard Whitter, Steve Brittain, & Bill Piton) received a Local Initiative Project grant to document the Beach area of Toronto. Several showings and a poster were the culmination of the project.
Thursdays evenings during the summercar enthusiasts gather to
display their beloved cars.
60 Secong Cycle
Around 1970 Polaroid introduced the 400 series of instant cameras and the P/N 105 film. The P/N provided a positive image as well as a 3.25 x 4.25 negative. This process necessitated carrying a "clearing bucket" similar to a child's small sand pail filled with a neg. fixing solution. I would take the camera, a Metz flash unit and the bucket and wander Toronto streets people I met. I made a cardboard folder into which I put the positive image and gave it to the person. I had a beautiful negative that could print up to 16x20.
Polaroid gave me a case of 105 film and a Polaaroid 105 camera WhenI showed them my photos. They sent some to the Photokina in Germany. Also the photos were included in an issue of IMAGE-NATION.
Punk Rock - 1977
Punk Rock was happening in Toronto in the mid '70's at the Horseshoe (the Last Pogo) and Crash n' Burn - Toronto's first Punk Club, my club of choice. It had the same excitement and energy that the Gerrard and Yorkville villages had in the ‘60’s (before the scene became a business). It was such a new scene that the fact I was 30-something at the time didn’t seem to matter to the much younger punks. When The Viletones and Teenage Head travelled to CBGB’s in NYC I tagged along. Many of my photos appeared photo by Isobel Harry and Jeremiah Chechik in the magazine Imagenation.
Staples of Communication
When I asked conceptual artist, Bonnie Devine, how to become artistically inspired she said,
"Look for something that speaks to you."
I was standing at the corner of Coxwell and Gerard looking to be "inspired" when I noticed the staples in a telephone pole. All around me people were absorbed in their various communication devices. My thoughts went to how we communicated in the not so distant past and how one of these staples was a vestige of some long forgotten message.
These staples "spoke" to me.
Click on Photo for Slide Show
Winter Creek
One of the many pleasures of country living were winter walks. Crossing a creek in January the patterns of snow and ice jumped out at me.
Caledon East
Images from my time
in Caledon East.
Waiting for winter to end.
Autumn Walk
Often in my country walks I would look down instead of ahead discovering the natural patterns along the path.
Grand River Raceway
Jen, Gwen and Tom took us to Grand River Raceway for an unforgetable evening. they have been involved with all aspects of the race industry for decades and were able to get us "back stage" at the track. Thank you.
