ART: Tonight at the Steam Whistle Brewing Gallery, "MOMBACHO: A Photo Chronicle of Life in Nicaragua" is having its opening reception. Photographers Elton Clemente and Sean Zaffino are both creative staff members at Steam Whistle Brewing. While they were on a business adventure developing Nicaraguan cigars for export to Canada, the duo snapped a series of shots portraying the stunning scenery and life throughout Grenada, San Juan del Sur, Managua, and Rivas. The series......

If you notice a more concentrated prevalence of Wayfarers and Vans around the College/Spadina area over the next month, it's because that's where Manhattan skate photographer/documentarian Patrick O'Dell is plunking down his first solo photo exhibit starting tomorrow. O’Dell has essentially built a career around having more fun than you do. He’s been called “the most important person in skateboarding who doesn’t skateboard” because he has a good camera and travels around taking good......

The construction hoarding around the perennially under-renovation Bloor and Gladstone Library has been serving as an outdoor gallery for local and visiting artists since last November, when a series of framed photographs by a photographer known only as "P3" appeared. Anyone can add their own work to this wonderfully improvised and growing exhibition—just don't forget your screwdriver. When reached for comment, staff at Toronto Public Library said they had no knowledge of the installation.......

For the past month as part of CONTACT, Torontoist photographer John Beebe has taken to the streets to capture the faces of Toronto in a temporary mobile studio on the street, shooting, producing, and printing his portraits on location. You can see him today, Saturday, for his last installation at Queen Street West and Strachan, from 1:00–8:00 p.m. To see all 150+ portraits (representing more than 30 countries of birth), visit FacesOf.ca; a selection of......

Cancer Connections, an exhibition of photographs of people whose lives have been changed by cancer, launches today in Nathan Phillips Square. The exhibition, organized by photographers' group PhotoSensitive in partnership with the Canadian Cancer Society, aims to document the effects of cancer on the lives on Canadians. PhotoSensitive is inviting people to take part in the exhibition as it travels around the country, helping to raise awareness of the growing incidents of cancer in......

Photo by MarkyBon. The CONTACT Photography Festival: it's back, and it's everywhere. Now in its twelfth year, CONTACT 2008 has over 675 artists at 220 venues from May 1–31, making it the largest photography festival in the world—an entirely believable statistic if the amount of CONTACT shows being touted on Facebook Events is any indicator. This year's theme is Between Memory and History, which explores the complex relationships between photography and the human experience,......

The Drake was a buzz of activity and hors d'oeuvres last night—pretty much what you'd expect of the swanky venue, but this time they were celebrating with a good reason: talented Canadian and international artists! The inaugural presentation of the Grange Prize for Contemporary Photography was awarded to Winnipeg native Sarah Anne Johnson. The Grange Prize was launched in February of 2007, and last night a year's worth of work finally came to fruition.......

Image: Cicada Design/Diamond + Schmitt Architects If you seem to be noticing Ryerson everywhere these days, you're not imagining it. Though it's been around since 1948 and been granting degrees since 1971, it's only during the last few years that the university has embarked on a massive expansion plan and branding campaign, drastically raising its physical and academic profile. Devoid of any real charm for decades (save for the 1852 partial façade of the......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. Parking AvailableBY DAIFUKU SENSEI In the streetcar, ParkdaleBY 'NENZI UntitledBY ARCADY GENKIN 95-BirdBY ILS_FL winter sceneBY ARTICLAMB Day 113 - Feb 26, 2008BY MIKE......

One day Pamela Anderson stood in the centre turn lane of a highway, clad only in a Canadian flag...picturing it? Welcome to the lead photo for the "Best of Canada" edition of SNAP!. Now in its seventh year, SNAP! combines a juried competition for established and emerging photographers with a gala fundraiser on March 2 at the National Ballet School. Organizers predict that the works offered in live and silent auctions will raise $140,000......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. ConstructBY COLOUR VOID HeartBY KARLOFUN UntitledBY EXMOHAX Structural IntegrityBY JONATHAN PONCE foodBY MATTHEW.STEARNS Flight over TorontoBY INSIGHT IMAGING Yonge & Dundas SquareBY FIGHTOFFYOURDEMONS-- Some......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. Bullion...BY CMAC66 floatBY OLYA Peek a BooBY INSIGHT IMAGING UntitledBY SDFREDERIKSEN Metalius 2BY RIDE MY PONY Subway TunnelBY RAVENEYES davisvilleBY HESITATION The Other SideBY......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. Speed Graphic ProfileBY .NATALIE abandoned strollerBY AARDVARK. UntitledBY MV10 gauzy afternoonBY JASFITZ Walktowork-8669BY RYAN COLEMAN snowproofBY HARALD BENZ Evening DismantleBY INSIGHT IMAGING UntitledBY KARENHR......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. Ray of LightBY DOSHA UntitledBY SHUTTERNEWBIE  Toronto Eaton CentreBY UNDOMESTIC Toronto at 7amBY DUCKTROLL Workingman's BluesBY MOVEMENT ON THE WIRE InspectingBY INVENTOR_77 Waiting......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. How's the view up there?BY ~EVIDENCE~ Canadian Heat WaveBY SNIDERSCION North side glass bridgeBY UWAJEDI Toronto On a StickBY SWILTON Toronto Is... Ice. #2BY......

Photo of Wintersleep by Emerging Design & Photography. Musicologist is a tad behind this week, so it's too late to list tonight's shows. Luckily, there's not much of anything happening music-wise tonight, except for Stevie Wonder at the ACC, and we suspect that if you didn't have tickets before today, you'd be out of luck. This week, our picks are Wintersleep at the Mod Club on Friday and the Horseshoe's awesome lineup of ladies......

There are a few good reasons to check out C’mon’s CD Release Party this Friday, September 21, at the Horseshoe Tavern. The most important, however, is to watch bassist Katie Lynn Campbell do that insane thing where it appears like her body is about to snap in half she’s leaning so effing far back. That is how rock ‘n’ roll C’mon are; severed spines be damned! Among the other reasons to be kickin’ it at......

Photo by Jason Thompson Photography. As TTC Chair, Vice-Chair of the Works Committee, and Ward 18 Councillor—among an ocean of other positions that he holds now or has once held—Adam Giambrone's influence spreads far across the city of Toronto and to some of its most contested issues: transit, the environment, and development, to name a few. Depending on who you ask, he is either the city's best archaeologist-turned-politician or its worst. His term as......

In a promotion ingeniously titled...uh..."Harvey's Hamburger Day," head into your local Harvey's on Sunday between 10:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. for a free Original Hamburger. Or, if you're really eager, you can confirm your attendance on Facebook. There are, it appears, no vegetarian or vegan alternatives, but odds are that if you're a vegetarian you were probably never really that big on Harvey's in the first place. Photo by Crime Photography. Thanks to blogUT......

A source at City Hall recently warned that the ONESTOP Media Group, which operates the advertising screens on TTC station platforms, will soon make another play to put video ads inside subway cars (the Toronto Public Space Committee successfully warded off their last attempt). The new cars the TTC has ordered will have video displays, anyway (see after the jump), but as of yet there are no plans for them to be used for......

Shoot Toronto, the weekly scavenger hunt on throughout CONTACT (that we previously wrote about here) is generously giving away 30 team spots in this weekend's hunt to Torontoist readers. Teams can consist of 2-4 people, and tickets would normally cost $25 a head, which means that we're pretty much giving away $3000, sort of. All you've gotta do is e-mail lisa@shootexperience.com to sign up. Photo by room929 in the Torontoist Flickr Pool.......

Perhaps you can best describe it as a scavenger hunt with a lot of creative freedom. Within a 24 hour period, amateur and professional photographers alike were given a roll of 35mm film with only 12 frames to capture their interpretations of 12 secret themes for the 4th Toronto Photography Marathon. Having already taken place on February 17, final shots submitted by participants will be displayed at The Gladstone (1214 Queen St. West) for your......

Are you a fan of municipal development and urban planning? Do you read Spacing (or at least say you do)? Then you should endeavor to visit A Visual Legacy: The City of Toronto’s Use of Photography, 1856-1997, an exhibition of images from the City of Toronto Archives. The exhibit holds appeal to planners and history geeks alike simply because all images were taken specifically for administrative purposes, meaning that these shots aren’t pretty enough......

Happy Groundhog Day! Wiarton Willie, Shubenacadie Sam and Punxsutawney Phil did not see their shadow this morning and thus we should expect an early spring. Should we trust our weather report to the groundhogs? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change seems to agree with our furry friends, also predicting hotter climates and sea level rise. The countdown to Deal or No Deal continues. I don't know what is worse: Howie Mandel, the show's constant......

If, as Geoffrey James claimed, Toronto is a "jolie laide" (a pretty, ugly woman), then we've got a photo exhibit that might just epitomize our city. As part of a year-long photography showcase with new artists each month, the photos of our own Carrie Musgrave and blogTO's Jerrold Litwinenko are being featured in an exhibit called Pretty/Ugly. The whole idea, as the two explain it, is to "get people to see beauty in the mundane......

Between July 2003 and January 2006, photographer Geoffrey James took his panoramic camera across our city, taking shots of areas as diverse as High Park, Dundas Square, Kensington Market, Regent Park, and Liberty Village. Those photographs are collected in his newly-released book, Toronto, and the shots tell a story of a city in flux, both confident in its history and insecure about where it's headed. Besides photographs, Toronto also features an expansive introduction by......

For those of you who didn’t attend on Wednesday night, the news coming out of the Pontiac Quarterly is that founder Damian Rogers is leaving the poetry/prose/arts/music night. Liz Clayton is taking over organizing and hosting duties, with her first edition slated for October. Watch for falling haikus: As Ron posted about on Friday, 50 poets, including George Elliot Clarke and Stuart Ross, will be invading Dundas Square today from noon until midnight. If you......

The all day drizzle didn't faze the hundred or so zombies who came out to take part in the Toronto Zombie Walk yesterday. The makeup and costumes were great, the range of zombieness on display quite impressive. There were granny zombies, stewardess zombies and even a santa zombie. The Toronto Photography Meetup Group was out in full force and looked to be taking some awesome pictures of the exceedingly well made-up crowd. Also, zombies......

One of the surprising things about Contact, the month-long photo festival that has invaded Toronto galleries this month is the sheer amount of work shown outside of galleries. For a month, bars, restaurants, clothing outlets and almost any space with bare walls or a big enough store window can be part of the fest, with mixed results. What is more interesting is when Contact photographers decide to show in truly public spaces: outdoors on the......

Tall Poppy Interview: Gayla Trail, author/photographer, You Grow Girl...