Please be advised that our Talk Photography Lecture Series presentations are completed for the 2024-2025 Season. However, our Co-Chairs are already working on the presentations for the 2025-2026 Season. Return here in early October, 2025.

Andrew Collett has always loved the character of the land, and the secrets it reveals to the patient eye.  As a child, he spent his summers getting to know the landscape of Georgian Bay, Muskoka and beyond.  He became an observer of nature, discovering the beauty of places and seasons that were often overlooked by others.  Andrew started his career in the business side of visual design, and it was many years before he realized he had his own distinctive vision to express.  In photography he found a powerful medium into which he could pour his boundless creative energies.

Along with running his photography business Andrew is also the founder and owner of Print Partner Inc., a boutique fine art printing company located in Toronto, ON.  Founded in 2008 Andrew started Print Partner Inc. to serve the novice and professional photographic community with high quality fine art reproductions of their photographs.

Built on his own experience and expertise printing and framing his artwork, Print Partner now employees a team of specialists and craftspeople who pride themselves in creating beautiful works of art from your photographs.

JP is a London (UK) based street photography enthusiast turned professional photographer travelling the world creating for big brands. Whilst only owning a camera for 6 years he has created for brands such as Ferrari F1, IWC Shaffenhausen & Qatar Airways. What's even more remarkable, he is entirely self-taught and attributes his successful photography career to shooting on the street. 
He's even written a book focusing on simplifying the Art of Photography into its most fundamental elements. 
'If you can take a good photo in the street, you can take a good photo anywhere'

Dave Conlon is a Canadian photographer who specializes in urban exploration, capturing the beauty of abandoned places and buildings. He is known for his unique perspective and skill in capturing the essence of these forgotten structures through his lens.

Dave’s work is characterized by his ability to find beauty in decay. He is particularly drawn to abandoned buildings, factories, and other forgotten places, where he finds inspiration in the remnants of the past. His images capture the decay and disrepair of these buildings, while also conveying a sense of the history and stories that these structures hold.

Over the years, Dave has explored countless abandoned buildings and locations, documenting his experiences with stunning photographs that capture the haunting beauty of these forgotten places. His images have been featured worldwide in print, online and broadcast appearing in Warner Bro’s “The Flash” and the major motion picture “Lavender”.

In addition to his photography, Dave is also a writer and public speaker. He shares his experiences and insights on his blog, where he provides tips and guidance for other photographers who are interested in exploring abandoned locations. He has also given talks on his work and the art of urban exploration photography at various events and conferences.

Cole Thompson is uniquely unqualified to speak on photography. He tells us:
“I’ve never taken a photography class or a workshop. I don’t have a degree in art. I’ve never worked as a photographer. I don’t have gallery representation. I’m not a Canon Explorer of Light. And I only have three lenses and none of them are primes.
Do I have any qualifications?
Just one…my images. Nothing else matters.”

Cole Thompson will make the case that black and white is the perfect medium for any subject…except for one. Cole will show work from his various portfolios including:
The Ghosts of Auschwitz-Birkenau
Harbinger
Ceiling Lamps
Moai, Sitting for Portrait
The Lone Man

Interspersed between the images Cole will share his photographic philosophies, such as:
Never listen to others
Photographic Celibacy
Coles Rule of Thirds
Equipment is overrated
Vision is the most important tool in my toolbox
And many others!

Ruth Kaplan is a documentary-based photographer whose work explores a variety of themes such as the social behaviour of bathers in communal hot springs, participants in rituals of spirituality and most recently, refugee shelters in Canadian/U.S.A. border cities including Detroit, Buffalo and Fort Erie. Her first monograph, Bathers, has recently been published by Damiani. Kaplan has exhibited internationally and is represented by the Stephen Bulger Gallery. Her editorial work can be found in major Canadian and international publications, she has received numerous grants and awards and is currently a photography professor at OCAD University and Toronto Metropolitan University.

Travel photography requires the combination of technical expertise, culture competence, intuitive awareness, curiosity, and a dash of panache. Nevada shares her tips on how to photograph more insightfully and creatively, even in some of the harshest light, to create beautiful images you know exist and your mind imagines, but your technical expertise is lacking. Nevada dissects ways to see more creatively and “photographically”, as well as tips on using color powerfully and how to approach and photograph people in foreign lands to create natural, respectful, and unique portraits.

Nevada Wier is a photographer specializing in documenting the remote corners and cultures of the world. She is recognized for her creative and intimate approach to people, as well as her intriguing Infrared images. She has been published in numerous national and international publications, including National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Traveler & Adventure, GEO, Outside and Smithsonian. Her fine-art prints are featured in public and private collections, she is represented by the Obscura Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. Nevada is a well-known keynote speaker, workshop, and seminar instructor. Photo District News named Nevada one of America's best photography workshop teachers. Nevada's books include The Land of Nine Dragons - Vietnam Today (Abbeville Press), winner of the Lowell Thomas Best Travel Book of 1992 award, and Adventure Travel Photography (Amphoto). She is currently working on two new books, A Nomadic Vision (publication TBA) and Invisible World: Infrared Photography (publication TBA). Nevada has been featured in television productions such as: National Geographic Explorer, National Geographic Through the Lens, and Canon Photo Safaris. She has been a speaker on the nation-wide tour LIVE …from National Geographic. She is a Fellow of The Explorer’s Club and a member of the Women’s Geographic Society.

Louie Palu is a photographer and filmmaker whose work has examined social political issues, such as human rights, conflict, and climate change for 30-years. Louie’s projects have been selected for a Guggenheim Fellowship, Arnold Newman Prize and World Press Photo Award. His work has examined topics such as the drug war in Mexico, conflicts in Afghanistan and Ukraine, Guantanamo Bay and changing geopolitics in the Arctic. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Figaro and El Pais. His work is held in numerous collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and National Gallery of Art. His films have screened at many festivals including at Hot Docs and the Munich Documentary Film Festival. 

Curiosity and creativity are watchwords for Felicity. Her photographic focus is on the intimate and often abstracted image that captures the essence and intricacies of nature and rural landscapes.

Felicity's photography is exhibited frequently in galleries and public spaces. Her work is in private collections across Canada and internationally and in the permanent collections of the Lennox and Addington Museum and Archives, and the Art Gallery of Northumberland. Her Photo Essays and photographic images have been published in the Canadian Camera and PhotoEd magazines, and she has also published a number of photography books. She is a member of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, and the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts.

Zeeshan’s passion for photography began at a young age and has only grown stronger with time, leading him to explore different corners of the globe in search of unique moments and stories to tell. He believes in the power of storytelling. Through his images, he hopes to share the diverse and beautiful stories of the world with others, inspiring them to see things in a new light and to appreciate the beauty in the ordinary.

Gérard Uféras is a French photographer living in Paris, France. He began his photographic journey in 1984 working with the French newspaper Liberation, for which he produced numerous reports and portraits, and which organized his first exhibition.

He participated in the creation of the Vu agency in 1986, and he regularly publishes in the French and international press.

In addition to photojournalism and his portrait work he participates in advertising campaigns and pursues personal research projects which are exhibited in many countries.

He published more than sixteen books, and is a recipient of numerous international awards, including World Press Photo Award in 1997.

He has exhibited his work around the world, from Europe to Asia and North America.

He counts Dior, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Givenchy and many others as his clients and collaborates with numerous publications including, among others, Paris Match, Libération, Le Figaro, and The New York Times.

Todd Murrison currently lives with his family in Durham Region.

Before retiring in 2020, he spent 36 years in advertising as a freelance illustrator working with numerous North American ad agencies. His specialty was drawing storyboards for TV commercials. In 1998, Todd traded in his markers, pencils and paint brushes and went 100% digital, drawing with a Wacom tablet using Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop.

He is the author of ‘Marker Rendering’ (Walter Foster Publishing, 1994) and was a part-time art instructor at different colleges in Toronto including Ontario College of Art and Design (OCADU), George Brown College, Humber College and the International Academy of Art and Design. 

Todd purchased his first DSLR in 2013 and his preferred genres of photography are Photoshop composites, landscape, and architecture photography.

His motto is “Trying to see things differently.”