I was a photographer before I was a writer, and when I’m not writing, I’m taking pictures. I started off as a commercial photographer, discovered very quickly that the profession and I were never going to be pals. I liked photography too much to do it for a living.
I’ve arranged my work into several categories.
Medicine River Photographic Expedition. For the last twenty-five years and counting, I’ve been wandering the countryside – sometimes with my brother, sometimes alone - taking portraits of Native artists.
Edward Curtis redux.
Mostly documentary work rather than fine art. I’ve the photographs into three categories. Straight portraits, Lone Ranger mask portraits, and a small, more personal series called Indians On Vacation.
Sound Check Through no fault of my own, I wound up taking photographs of improv jazz artists and other musicians. I shot the Guelph Jazz festival for about twenty years and spent a fair amount of time hanging out at Silence, a music venue in town where musicians come to jam every Monday morning and where touring groups come in for one-night concerts.
On the Speed River I’ve never considered myself a wildlife photographer. Still don’t. But with the pandemic closing down all of my normal opportunities for photography, I was forced to improvise. The only place besides my home that I could go with any safety was the Speed river. Each evening, I’d jump in my canoe (doesn’t every Canadian have one) and paddle the Speed with my camera at the ready. What was amazing was the variety and quantity of wildlife in the heart of a town. Blue herons, green herons, beavers, raccoons, weasels, terns, pipers, snapping turtles, kingfishers, cardinals, gold finches, and the like. A peaceable kingdom, if you know where to look.
And So On is a grab bag that includes the usual suspects. Street, landscape, people, this and that, bits and pieces. A miscellany that is a sensible companion to writing. A story in a photograph. A photograph that suggests a story . . . and so on.
*All photographs on this website are copyrighted. They cannot be used without written permission of Thomas King or Dead Dog Café Productions.
