Continuing on from my previous post of the Toronto Christmas Market, I took the opportunity to take photos to illustrate the festive location, on my very first visit to the market.
If you haven’t already been to this year’s Shop.ca Toronto Christmas Market presented by American Express, be sure to drop by before their final day on December 21, 2014.
While the day offers visitors the opportunity to mingle about and see the sights of the market, it isn’t until the evening that the real magic happens, when the lights light up the alleyways of the historic Distillery District.
The bulk of my shots are made with long exposures so that I could reflect the busyness of the event. In each of my photos, however, I tried to have at least one person in focus so that I could guide the viewer’s eyes to that lone non-blurred subject. This effect, coupled with the glow of the evening lights really made for a more festive, holiday feeling to the images.
Shopping is a large component of any market, so I couldn’t leave without taking some pictures of shoppers from the evening market. I left my camera on my tripod for most of these shots, since even the slightest of movement can blur my subject, when taken with a shutter speed as slow as 1/15th of a second.
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The German-styled huts lining the brick pathways of the Distillery District adds a magical touch to the market. With a not-so-long shutter of 0.6 seconds, my intention was to capture the swirl of people passing by these huts.
0.6 sec. at f/2.8, ISO 250, 24mm
One of the great things about staying late at the market is the lighting. When night falls, the lighting in the market really makes the event shine. One alleyway in particular changes the colours of the lights every so often, changing the mood of the area along with it. I stood there almost mesmerized by the flurry of people in the changing light.
1/10 sec. at f/3.5, ISO 1000, 24mm
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When you’re out and about taking photos, do you ever get strangers voluntarily asking you to take pictures of them? They don’t even know you, nor do they know where these pictures may end up, but they insist on you taking their photo. That’s what this group did as I was taking photos inside the Winter Garden Lounge area. After I took this photo, they asked me if I was with the Globe and Mail, to which I replied, “sorry to disappoint, but I’m not!”
This photo below would likely be another one of my favourites of the evening as I feel like I captured the festive and busy spirit of the evening. With the lights glowing atop, and the lone woman in red looking up as everybody else swirls around her. This, to me, describes the Toronto Christmas Market, down to the tee.
1 sec. at f/10, ISO 800, 24mm