To celebrate this year’s theme, “Field of Vision”, we are counting down our top five photos every week!

André Kertész by Arnaud Maggs. On display at the Ryerson Image Centre.

Untitled Photograph #3 by Andrew Wright. On display at University of Toronto Art Centre.

Marginal Waters by Doug Ischar. On display at Gallery 44.

Elisha, 2012 by JJ Levine. On display at The Gladstone Hotel Art Bar.

Wales, Abergavenny, 2008 by Martin Parr. On display at Metro Hall and Pearson International Airport.

Tweet us your favourite photo @natashankpr! 

Lacing up our Hi-Tecs for the hike! Thanks to AQUAhydrate for providing much-needed hydration!

And we’re off in style!

First stop: DAVIDsTEA!

Next we visited  Caplansky’s Food Truck and they supplied us with delicious sandwiches!

Rocking our HI-TECs!

A big thank you to all those who came out!

What’s your favourite street style shot? Tweet us at @natashankpr!

To celebrate this year’s theme, “Field of Vision”, we are counting down our top five photos every week!

June 13, 1930, City of Toronto Archives by Arthur S. Goss. On display at the Ryerson Image Centre

Food by Martin Parr. On display at Metro Hall and Pearson International Airport

Shirley by Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin. On display at Gallery TPW R&D project space

Botswana by Sebastião Salgado. On display at the Royal Ontario Museum

Rae 2012 by JJ Levine. On display at The Gladstone Hotel Art Bar

Tweet us your favourite photo @natashankpr! 

What’s your favourite Gatsby-inspired trend? Tweet us @natashankpr!

McCartney’s Developing will make its debut at Izzy Gallery Thursday, May 9, 2013.

Why did you decide to bring Mary McCartney’s exhibition Developing to Izzy Gallery?

It’s pretty simple: we love her work. I first saw her work maybe two or three years ago. The first picture I saw was Victoria Plays Pool [pictured above]. I think when I saw it, I went to research everything that she had done, and then slowly I started to develop a feel for her work, and it fits exactly with what we do in the gallery. We do mostly fashion photography, and Mary’s work is beautiful.

If you had to describe the exhibition in one word, what would it be?

Uncontrived.

You’ve said before that it’s extremely time-consuming to exhibit a large-scale photography show. How long has Developing been in the works?

Developing was in the works for a year. It takes six months to a year to do a show like this properly. We got Mary’s pieces in December, and have been working on the final details of the show since then.

How do you decide the flow of the pieces shown in the exhibit?

It’s just a feeling; there are no precise rules. I worked with Mary and her team for about a week curating the show, laying out the pieces on the floor, deciding on the flow. Then we decided which pieces would go where and how the space was going to look. We had some specific ideas. For example, we will be featuring eight medium sized old-fashioned silver gelatin photographs. They are done in a dark room, which very few people do today with the abundance of digital technology. So they are pretty special. Mary does most of her large work as 1/1, which means you will never find another one in that size. Many photographers do ten, twenty, thirty—but she does only one in large scale. They’re really collector items.

Is there a large market for this kind of fashion photography in Canada?

You have to create a market. I do think there is a gap in the Canadian market for fashion photography. With every show we have done, it has created more and more interest and excitement for this genre.

Mary is known for her ability to capture a moment that gives us an insight on the subject in front of her. A very relaxed feel, that shows another side of her subjects. Is there any particular photo in the exhibit that’s your favourite?

I personally love the photograph called One [pictured below]. It’s a woman with one breast showing. I love the feel; it’s a very industrial feel in the back. I love the amount of grey, the amount of black, the amount of white, the shading. And she’s a soft girl amidst all this concrete behind her. It’s beautiful.

Mary has worked with celebrities that range from Jude Law to Madonna. Whose portraits can we expect to see feature in the exhibition?

No celebrities. There is only one of Kate Moss; it’s the only colour photo that we are showing. There is one more of Kate Moss on the runway in black and white.

Why did you choose not to display celebrities in this show?

Once you’ve chosen three of four images for the show, it just dictates the whole show. There are going to be sixteen photographs in the show. It just happened; it wasn’t deliberate.

With art, you think everything is deliberate?

No, it’s more go with the flow. You know, there is a famous pair of collectors, Herbert and Dorothy Vogel. It’s a husband and wife. They are some of the biggest collectors in the world, and they never had any money. Once someone asked them, “How did you know thirty years ago to pick up a piece of cardboard and that one day it will be something? How did you know it was good art?” And the husband said, “If I had to think about the picture, I would never buy it. But if it hit me in the stomach, I would buy it immediately.” I think that people who can really reflect on the meaning of a picture are painters or photographers, because they are very close to it. And anybody else, even a critic, they don’t necessarily know the details of how it’s made, or the artist’s intentions. A photo has to hit you in the gut, and if you have to think about it, it’s not the picture for you.

Is that how it was with Mary’s photographs for you?

Yes. It’s just a feeling. Look at her photo Flora [pictured below], for example. You have to look at the cropping—it’s unbelievable. Mary is a master of cropping. There is no nose, no eyes, you see the beautiful lips, the focus is perfect and just where it’s supposed to be, but the cropping is the key. So you immediately feel something for it.

So Mary has never shown in Canada before. How did you convince her to show at Izzy Gallery?

With Mary, I reached out to her team and they liked the idea, the artists that we have worked with in the past, the way we work. We do two shows a year. We are not a gallery that carries fifty artists; we carry fifteen. And we don’t want to carry fifty. I want to be involved in the pieces the artists are making. I want to have something exclusive that you can’t find in galleries in London or Paris or New York.

Stacy Keibler in Rachel Roy!!! Not being biased at all (maybe I am..) –Lisa

Madonna and SJP. They totally *got* the spirit and fun of the punk theme. So perfect! –Bunmi

Jessica Biel –Andre

My vote goes to Blake Lively! LOVE her dress and she’s just such a babe. –Leah

Blake Lively in Gucci! So flattering and love the feather detailing. –Trilby

Elle Fanning in Rodarte! –Christine

Nina Dobrev hands down. She looked like a punk princess! –Hayley

Miranda Kerr! –Sari

Cara Delevingne stole the show in her edgy black studded Burberry number. –Carly

What was your favourite look from the night? Tweet us at @natashankpr!

To celebrate this year’s theme, “Field of Vision”, we are counting down our top five photos every week!

Pyramid by James Nizam. On display at Brookfield Place, Allen Lambert Galleria

Amazonas by Sebastião Salgado. On display at the Royal Ontario Museum

Food by Martin Parr. On display at Metro Hall and Pearson International Airport

24hrs in Photography by Erik Kessels. On display at Contact Gallery

Female Passenger Pigeon by Sara Angelucci. On display at Art Gallery of York University

Tweet us your favourite photo @natashankpr! 

Natasha’s advice for young women navigating their way through business networking? At first glance, it may appear that networking is yet another area that’s simply easier for those who are extroverted, that it comes more easily for the hyper-gregarious. But that’s not necessarily true. The key to networking lies in cultivating sincere relationships, creating personalized and intimate events, hand-in-hand with consistent practice and preparation, while still staying true to your own personality. Want to read more? Check out Natasha’s latest Huffington Post piece on just that, or follow last night’s conversation topics on @natashankpr #YoungWOI!

Natasha Koifman speaking to the audience about the importance of networking and how to go about creating lasting connections

Natasha Koifman and president of Women of Influence, Carolyn Lawrence

Natasha Koifman and event and media coordinator for Women of Influence, Brittney McKee

The amazing turnout at the Young Women of Influence event

Anne Klein graciously sponsored the evening’s attire (don’t Katherine Flemming, Sarah Boesveld, Erin Poetschke, and Maura Grierson look amazing in their personalized outfits?)

We’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about the new BASIS products, so it was only a matter of time until we had to try them out for ourselves. We quickly got the entire office on board with trying out Strataderm and Stratamark to get rid of any unwanted scars and stretch marks.  (Did you know most people over the age of 12 have a scar, and 80% of all women will develop stretch marks in their life-time?!)

With summer around the corner, we’re pretty excited to get confident about our skin in a bathing suit, a caftan, or just about any kind of summer gear (hello, shorts)! We ensured all the willing participants (it didn’t take much convincing) had their own Strataderm, and tried to schedule reminders to apply it religiously. Check out the ‘before’ photos of our BASIS challenge, and stay tuned for the ‘after’ shots, coming soon!

Got your own scar story? Be sure to follow @strataderm and @natashankpr and tweet at #ScarTherapy to share them