Toronto comes alive in the summertime especially during Caribana, a gigantic Caribbean Carnival & street festival.  It is North America’s largest street festival attracting over 2 million people each year. This is definitely a highlight for me because it attracts some of the caribbean soul that I miss from living in Miami. Its the most colorful, electric, joyful celebrations I’ve experienced–and a photographer’s dream.

My friend Virgilia was dancing in the parade with the Zulu Warriors band. She invited me to come out at 7am to photograph the pre-parade preparations. I spent the entire day dancing along with my camera. Here’s a selection of my favorite photos. Along with the parade I photographed portraits with many of the dancers which I will be posting in the days to come.

Blood Orange’s last album “Cupid Deluxe” has been on repeat since it was released so when Dev Hynes announced that Toronto was one of four North American cities he’d be performing at I jumped at the opportunity to photograph the show. The Danforth Music Hall is one of my favorite venues because of its pitch perfect sound and great lighting. Hynes is probably best known for his work with Solange–you can check out my photos from there last show here.

Hynes began the night solo on guitar and vocals backed by a drum machine. Once the band came on he moved restlessly, moving from the front to the back of the stage, seemingly unsure of where he felt most comfortable. His reluctance to be a classic front-man really allowed the band to shine as a whole. Saxophone solos wailed through the hall.

Read the rest of PO Karim’s review on BlogTo.

I fell in love with Toronto when I photographed Pride three years ago. This year Toronto hosted World Pride. It was bigger, louder and more colorful than ever. I wandered the streets trying to capture as much as I could with my camera. Here are some of my favorite portraits.

I’m thrilled that some of my portraits were published in the July 10th issue of Xtra.

I’m honored to announce that my photos of Hotnuts will be included in  “What It Means To Be Seen: Photography & Queer Visibility”, a photo exhibit at the Ryerson Image Centre curated by Sophie Hackett, the photography curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Hotnuts is an amazing queer dance party in Toronto’s west end that was created by Mary Messhausen & Produzenti.

The ideas of visibility and greater acceptance have long been tied together for those in queer communities. So much so that it is plausible to suggest that one of the projects developing alongside the LGBT rights movement since the 1960s, though unofficial and organic, has been to produce a visual record. Greater visibility has often meant greater representation in mass media outlets and this visibility has undeniably increased over the last four decades — so too have LGBT rights.

Photographs have, of course, played a key role in this. But what has this photographic visibility consisted of? To celebrate World Pride 2014 Toronto, this exhibition takes a closer look at this rich photographic record, and the ways photographs have served to bring to light a sense of collective characteristics, experiences and ambitions for queer communities.

http://www.ryerson.ca/ric/exhibitions/WhatItMeansToBeSeen.html

The exhibit is free and open till the public daily until August 24, 2014.

This year I participated in the 10×10 Photography Project. The 10×10 Photography Project was created by James Fowler four years ago to celebrate queer artists. Each year 10 queer photographers are chosen to photograph 10 queer artists of their choice. It culminates in a giant photography exhibit celebrating 100+ queer artists.  I’m so lucky to have been able to photograph 10 queer artists that I love:

Ronnie Burkett
Jade Campbell Scott
Heather Cassils
Jon Davies
Bruce Dow
Vanessa Dunn
Buzz Huneedew
GB Jones
Robert Lepage
Tawiah M’Carthy

The past few months have been spent planning, shooting, editing & printing the portraits for the exhibit so I’m very excited to share my portraits. The opening reception is happening at the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West). It will be on display until August 17th. Along with the exhibit  their will be a book available which features all of the portraits from the show.

It always feels good to get some love from your hometown. The Miami New Times has chosen me as one of their Mastermind Honorable Mentions. Check out this little interview where I talk about my Cuba photography Tumblr, Oye Cuba & the upcoming 10×10 Portrait Project in Toronto.

Miami New Times Mastermind Alejandro Santiago

I got a sneak peek of TIFF’s David Cronenberg Evolution exhibit. This exhibit is the first major touring exhibit created by TIFF. It features creatures, mugwamps, sketches, costumes set pieces from Cronenberg’s films.

David Cronenberg with TIFF’s CEO and director Piers Handling and Lightbox’s Artistic Director Noah Cowan

Along with the exhibit is the Body Mind Change Lab on the 4th floor which is a collaboration with the Canadian Film Centre’s Media Lab.

BODY/MIND/CHANGE Labs

Basically, David Cronenberg has licensed his intellectual property to create an interactive experience that incorporates an online interactive gaming experience & 3-D printing technology to create pods that will later be implanted on guests at an event in January. Watch the trailer below.

You can read more about the exhibit on BlogTo.

Peaches + Light Fires came together to commemorate Will Munro and the launch of Sarah Liss’s book, “Army of Lovers: A Community History of Will Munro” at Lee’s Palace in Toronto on October 22, 2013. It was the perfect pairing of music + queerness.

Gentleman Reg’s alter-ego, Regina was channeling Sandra Bernhard with her witty commentary in between tracks from her debut album “FACE”. She is definitely a force to be reckoned with when she takes the stage with her perfectly choreographed leg kicks and dance moves. 

Peaches always delivers a memorable performance and she didn’t disappoint. She played a DJ set that covered all her best songs like “Talk to Me” and “Fuck the Pain Away”, several costume changes and champagne for everyone as seen in the photos below. 

Read Jesse Ship’s review on BlogTo.

Here are some of the highlights from Janelle Monae’s Toronto show in her signature black & white.  These grainy, high contrast shots look like stills from a long forgotten sci-fi film.  This was undoubtedly the best performance I’ve seen all year and produced some of my favorite concert photos.

“The electric lady did not lie, and her back up team of ten dancers and musicians kept the crowd alive with dazzling smiles and swift kicks. The “I Want You Back” Jackson 5 cover and accompanying dances reminded us that if MJ was the master, then Janelle Monae is the mistress of the moonwalk. Rather than just crowd surf, this Q.U.E.E.N. swam her way through the Kool Haus.”

Read Jesse Ship’s full review on BlogTo.

I received some awesome news the other day–I won Adoramapix’s Best Shot of 2012 contest for my photograph, “Crossing Queens Quay”. Thanks Everyone for your support +Adorama for my new Nikon D600 camera.

You can read a little interview I did about street photography and winning the contest on Adoramapix’s blog.

This photograph was taken on a foggy winter morning in 2012. I remember watching the fog outside my window and not being able to sleep. I packed my camera and took to the streets before sunrise. The photograph was taken just a block from Lake Ontario. This man was crossing the street to get on a streetcar. This was an important morning for me because I made a choice to wake up, explore the streets with my camera and make photographs. That’s how creativity is — you need to claim it. I’m working on tracking down the man in the photo. I would love to give him a print. If you know him please contact me!

Crossing Queens Quay by Alejandro Santiago