Yuri Dojc Photographer – Blog

abstract nature

Autumn

More of Autumn

Autumn in Toronto

This is Toronto at its best......more follows

Bad hair day

Photo made for Female eye film festival

Martin Brodeur

Photographing super golly Martin Brodeur

Working day

Resting in studio between shoots.

NY

My favorite place from car driving in Newark NJ.

Star Story

The Toronto Star published a feature story called The Pivot in the youth-oriented ID section of yesterday's paper. The story includes an explanation of how I became involved with photography.

Yuri Dojc's pivot came after he moved to Toronto from London, England, in 1969. His roommate asked him: "What are you going to do?"

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Snapshot of a pivot

Yuri Dojc's pivot came after he moved to Toronto from London, England, in 1969. His roommate asked him: "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I'll probably go back to Europe," said Dojc, who was 24 at the time.

"Why don't you become a photographer?"

"What is a photographer?"

"It's a job."

"Interesting. Where do you learn this?"

"Ryerson."

So Dojc went to the Visual Arts building at Ryerson University and looked at the photos on the walls.

"This guy stopped me. I thought he was the superintendent. He said, `May I help you?' I said, `I'm just looking at the pictures ... My name is Yuri Dojc and I came from Czechoslovakia.'

"He said, `Come to my office.' He's asking me all kinds of questions. We talked politics. And then he said, `Where do you live?' I gave him my address.

"I go home. In about two weeks, I get a letter: `Dear Mr. Dojc, you are accepted into Ryerson's photography department. Signed, Dean of the College.'

"The guy I ran into in the hallway was the dean."

"For everybody else — you have to have a camera, you have to go through exams, you have to have a portfolio. I had nothing. I didn't even have the knowledge of how a camera operates."

"Photography became my obsession. I dream about pictures."

Three decades later, the 58-year-old photographer's fine art posters and prints grace the walls of collectors and galleries around the world. See his work at http://www.yuridojc.com.

"Two weeks ago, I was driving on Queen St. I saw (the dean). He looked exactly the same. I said, `Hi. Do you remember me?' He said, `Of course, I remember you. You're my prize student.'"

Johann Olav Kloss

a four-time speed-skating olympic gold medallist from Norway photographed in my studio.