Dec 13 2005 Toronto

colavito's ghost: 14th Dec 2005 - 17:28 GMT

Hool, I wonder how you conceive of your photos. You seem to focus on people, landscapes, and people in landscapes. Do you consider these works portriats? Urban landscapes? A combination? Something else entirely?

Peter: 14th Dec 2005 - 18:28 GMT

i see so many more winter colors in these photos than usual... gray walls and white cars. bleak and lovely.

to me, this set reads like "a day in the life of a handy-man", if you will:

...buffing graf and replacing a burnt-out light above the graf spot on the convenience store so that it wont get hit up again.

...measuring up a new house-front for new storm-windows so that the elderly person living inside will stay warmer and save on utilities.

...parking out front and walking through the snow to get to the next job.

...pausing for a smoke in front of the mini-market where he'll grab a bite to eat for lunch, and a cup of coffee.

...passing a happily shopping family on the way to the next job, remembering, in crushing detail, the wife and kid he left out west in saskatoon in 1983.

...changing the adverts in the bus-stop, pausing to check if the poster is centered, his face braced by winter, his lungs filling with frigid air, his heart empty and cold.

hool: 14th Dec 2005 - 19:18 GMT

colavito's ghost: i consider my photos, period. i photograph a thing to know what that thing looks like in a photograph. it starts with my eyes, i see something and i get that feeling, it heats through my sinuses and down into my chest, my arms. i make a photograph to externalize that feeling, and then put the result on display to see it a second time through the eyes of others.

peter: thanks for the interpretations, love it. it's shocking to hear a non canadian utter the word 'saskatoon'.

Peter: 14th Dec 2005 - 19:45 GMT

hool: lately, when i meet new people, many of them ask me if im canadian, upon first hearing my voice... this struck me as odd, but i suppose that after living in nyc for 10 years, my original southern accent has meshed with my now rather yankee-esque speech patterns in such a way to unintentionally mimic what many people must assume sounds alot like a "canadian accent". i wouldnt know, but its fascinating.

after the first several times i confusedly explained this to folks who asked me if i was from canada, they seemed let down that i wasnt. apparently, even folks from neighboring canada are more exotic than the average locals. so, after being asked this so often that it became an oddly frequent trend, i decided that i would fabricate a harmless story to amuse them (myself?) with, as they generally appeared to feel rather let down that i was simply a garden-variety brooklyn'er transplant with speech slightly unique from the status-quo accents around here.

ive started saying things like "yes, in fact, im from saskatoon...!" when they ask if i am canadian... this makes for an amusing scenario, as most americans- much less brooklyn'ers- know what or where the hell saskatoon is, much less what its like there or what goes on there.

ergo, i have a completely blank slate on which to contrive some crazy story about what it was like growing up in saskatchewan, and digressing into some sordidly amusing tale about how i ended up in brooklyn. every time, the story gets more and more outrageous... and ive found that with each new iteration of its telling, i get more fluid, slick and engrossing with the details.

as these pseudo-canadian encounters generally occur in pub/bar settings, i usually have both enough time and enough mental lubrication in order to sufficiently enchant my audience.

its fairly amusing, you know? and for an average guy like me, from saskatoon, its actually quite exciting...

ian: 15th Dec 2005 - 18:17 GMT

You know, people never believe that I'm a native Texan. I guess I don't have the accent and mannerisms :(

Peter: 15th Dec 2005 - 18:32 GMT

thats probably a good thing, ian. its good to be universal.

jeeff: 15th Dec 2005 - 19:37 GMT

haha peter, you'll have to tell us what happens when you try that on someone who's been to saskatoon (true, it might take a while).

Peter: 15th Dec 2005 - 19:39 GMT

hmm, good point, though the odds of that (around here at least) are slim to none.

but you can help me out! what goes on there? what are they famous for?

elaine: 18th Dec 2005 - 18:12 GMT

i can say saskatchewan without starting to stutter, as the proclaimers proclaimed

Joey Em: 31st Jan 2006 - 14:06 GMT

Hey that guy smoking in front of the No Frills is my good friend!
He is going to be surprised he is on the internet!

ian: 13th Feb 2006 - 02:52 GMT

I met my first Saskatooner the other night. She was originally from Ontario, though, actually meeting someone who'd even lived in Saskatchewan was something of a unique experience.