Black and white portraits are classic, timeless and powerful. When we make them we enter the stream of a long tradition that's existed since the advent of photography. Although I have a style and approach to portraits, it's not just me, the photographer, dictating how things will be. It is my deepest wish that each of these portraits represents a meeting and collaboration during which an exchange takes place. Sometimes this allows the real person to step forward and be photographed.

Photographed in the Beach area of Toronto, Canada after a powerful thunderstorm. The work is … poetic; its focus is tight … the romance of the unknown.

In the Summer of 2013, I was in New York City - it has some of the most striking architecture in the world, so that is where my attention was focused. For me, black and white photography gets to the point; it's the perfect medium for exploring the subtle nuances of tone that make these interior spaces so intriguing.

Beneath the Surface is a portfolio of images that examines everyday scenes and objects from a point of view other than ‘consensus’ reality. In some cultures what we see with the eye is only a starting point from which many meanings can be brought forward. This series proceeds from that simple fact; that a camera points in two directions: towards an inner and an outer reality. It seeks to discover, in the old sense of the word which derives from the Latin dis- and cooperire, meaning 'to remove the covering; completely uncover’. To see what else might exist beneath the surface of what we brush past in our daily lives. The ‘Allan Gardens’ part of the series is an ongoing project that I work on during walks in and around a greenhouse located in downtown Toronto. These are ‘straight’ photographs in the sense that, aside from minimal global adjustments, they have not been digitally manipulated.

Toronto is a city defined by neighborhoods and each of those has unique features that have called to me over the years. This is personal work made as I walk with my camera exploring these locations and enjoying the simple treasures I find. Many of them have now vanished in time.

COLD FRONT: THE EDGE OF WINTER Snow changes everything when it envelops our world in its cold embrace.This series grew out of the thrill, excitement, and wonder I feel when, after a snowfall, I walk out into a world transformed in such a dramatically visual and sensate way. This transformation offers pure visible gold to a photographer. I’m not a ‘winter warrior’ type, can’t stand the cold, not a snowmobiler, a snowshoer, a cross country skier or even an ice skater – yet when I see that first snowfall of winter, my pulse races, my photo gear is at the ready, and I’m out there like a husky – propelled into my neighbourhood and the nearby shores of Lake Ontario. The world of snow has so many things that influence how a photographer approaches it and the images one can make in it. For example, whether it’s overcast or clear skies, morning, midday or night – snowing or not – windy or not – hovering around freezing or plunging to -20˚C – the beginning of a cold snap or four weeks into it. All these conditions play a role in the images made. During one of my outings, the temperature was around -35˚C with wind chill – that combination of wind and cold caused my eyes to water so much that I couldn’t see anything through the viewfinder of my camera. But challenges like this are part of the experience – working in black and white and at night introduces a few more elements that lift winter photographs out of the ordinary and elevate them into a surreal world – a unique realm of pure light and shadow.

This gallery is the home for analog or digital photos that I've made 'along the way' with iPhone, Hasselblad, Nikon or Canon equipment - they were never intended to be part of a series or project, although they have been the birth place of many. More pure play and seeing than work, until now these little ones have been without a home, like orphans. Part visual memoir, part sketchbook, this gallery grows and flows organically....Michael O'Brien July 2023