Laurin Jeffrey
I am a real estate agent and a photographer, blending the two passions into the work you see. Selling condos and lofts, I am very cognizant of the pace of development in this city. I love seeing the conversion of an old factory into lofts - even more when I see the same joy in the face of a client viewing such a unit.
The world is filled with structures, some forgotten and others well-loved. What stories do these buildings have to tell, what scenes have these stones witnessed? Why is the human race so obsessed with erecting these monuments of metal and brick - and why do they so carelessly abandon them when they are no longer needed?
These are some of the questions I like to address in my photography. I spent many of my formative years in a small town north of Toronto and witnessed many old farms left to rot. It was these old barns and silos that originally piqued my interest in the forgotten and the decayed. In college, photography was major, drawing me in like no other course. It was then that I saw the potential to marry these structures with the camera's ability to document.
From there, I became involved with friends and their bands, working with them to produce promotional pictures as well as CD covers. Unfortunately, life and work intruded and time became less available. More recently, (coinciding with my discovery of digital imaging) my career in real estate has freed up some time to once again pursue this fascination, to be able to indulge my creativity again.
Now exploring the urban, rather than rural, landscape, I am hoping to bring the documentary power of the camera to Toronto's hidden areas. With ever increasing publication credits and gallery exhibitions to my name, I am hoping to gain a wider audience for my work.
