Print

E-mail

Text

Photographer David Allen brings new perspective to the song 'My Funny Valentine' made popular by legendary crooner Frank Sinatra.

There is no doubt he has been making his wife Larissa laugh each Valentine's Day for the past 37 years.

It began in the early 1970s when in lieu of roses, he gave his wife a photograph of himself dressed in pajamas and wearing a sombrero. 'Be My Valentine' it said.

Each year, he wraps up a photograph and sends it to her office.

This year, inspiration struck in January.

"I spend half my life in water. I thought 'I've never done one in water,'" he said.

Being an Olympic year and inspired by Olympian Mark Spitz, who in 1972 won seven gold medals, Allen doused himself in water, slicked his hair back and put on a pair of goggles. Around his neck he strung several medals.

'Still Crazy and Wet Behind the Ears' is its caption.

"Some of my friends say I take them for my own benefit," he said laughing.

The Kennedy Avenue resident has been a photographer since his late teens. As he tells his family, "in the 60s, if you left school early in England, you became a rock star or a photographer. I was bored of being a rock star so I became a photographer."

Many people involved in the arts in the late 1960s in Toronto were Brits.

"We were known as the British Mafia," he said.

Toronto was "the land of milk and honey," Allen said. "It was every boy's dream."

One of Allen's latest projects is a collection of photographs called The Seasons of High Park, which inspired a 'Winter Photo-Buff Walk,' held last Sunday morning in the park. It was the first of four he'll lead. There will be one in June, another in August and another in the fall.

He teaches people about light, shutter speeds and F-stops. Allen was surprised that the walk attracted more than 35 people considering the blustery cold day on Sunday.

"In an hour and a half we had sunshine, fast moving clouds and snow squalls - three different situations," he said.

Allen's Seasons of High Park is on display at the Grenadier Cafe and Teahouse in High Park as well as at the Nature Centre and MPP Cheri DiNovo's office on Dundas Street. In addition to the photographs, which are for sale, are greeting cards of the same photographs.

If you would like further details, visit www.highparkphotos.ca