At the core of my being, I’m an artist. Not to be confused with a fine art painter like Monet, or like my own brilliantly talented mother, Diann Haist, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve been highly attuned to the beauty in almost everything and compelled to harness the emotions created on me to share them somehow with others. Photography gives me the perfect window to share those emotions I experience from what I see.
I was born, raised, and currently live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, so landscapes and urban photography come naturally to me with a lifetime of inspiration. But in my earlier days as a working musician, I’d been extremely privileged to have seen many great places around the world. Wherever I traveled, I was enchanted by the beauty of unique landscapes, and the incredible structures created by vastly diverse cultures. Although I was able to bring home some great stories and vivid memories, I rarely had a schedule to properly capture them on camera. Of course, in those days, I wasn’t carrying a camera in my pocket 24/7 as we do today. And while I’m still a musician, I no longer tour nor travel much as a player, and not at all since the pandemic of 2020 put a halt on live performances and travel altogether. Luckily, though, for the last several years, photography has taken over as my primary art of passion and obsession, as I attempt to photograph some of the wonders from my memories, discover new locations, and view the world around me in a whole new way through the magic of photography.
Sunset at Malibu Creek State Park, Calabasas, California
Although I’ve ventured through several continents with and without my Nikon cameras, being based in Toronto, the majority of my travels have been within North America. Bordered by 4 oceans, and every landscape from vast deserts to the Rocky Mountains, the glaciers of Alaska to the Great Lakes, I don’t think I’ve ever seen more variety and mesmerizing scenery anywhere else in the world; not to mention the multitude of world-class cities, several of which I’ve lived in at points in my life.
But I’ve always been a true Canadian no matter where I’ve lived. I love Toronto for its people and places with myriad great cultures, architecture, 4 seasons, and the sense of living in a caring small community, even though it’s one of the largest cities in North America.
The Gooderham Flatiron Building, built in downtown Toronto in 1891, continues to be one of my favourite structures in the world, and one of my most photographed locations in the city. And I'm not the only one! Everytime I'm there to shoot in any of our four seasons, there is always another half-dozen or more photographers who show up to give each other a nod and a smile.