Stan Bain is a retired Family Physician living near Flesherton, Ontario. He became seriously interested in photography through workshops with Freeman Patterson in the 1980”s and was encouraged to join the Toronto Guild for Photographic Art where he rapidly became an advanced member, subsequently president and editor of the club newsletter, Local Colour, and a recipient of a three diamond pin. His photographs have been honoured in competitions among the Greater Toronto Camera Clubs and in national and international competitions. He has prepared an extensive selection of photoessays on his travels throughout Canada, the southern United States, Central America, Europe and Africa He has given seminars to judges for the GTCCC on pictorial and photo essay judging and has judged at international photoessay competitions. He is also a member of the Toronto Focal Forum where photographic prints are presented to the select membership and of PhotoGrafix9, a group of award winning photographers who exhibit their work cooperatively. His prints have also been shown at galleries in Owen Sound and Toronto.
Since his retirement, he has enjoyed rural life in the Beaver Valley where the early dawn brings soft warm light to the meadows and trees near his home. Rural landscapes in the changing seasons continue to offer fresh opportunities, where it is usually easy to return when the light is just right.
With his use of waterglass, through which he photographs the wildflowers growing in his garden, he has created an unusual portfolio of images that capture the essence of the flower against an abstract background.
In recording the changes that have taken place over time in abandoned automobiles, in a ghost town in Namibia, in the old villages of Provence, in the temples of the Maya, or in sea sculptures of the Gulf Islands, he brings out the patterns of age and the textures of time.
His wife Joan is an ardent birder, nourishing and identifying birds passing through the valley to and from their winter habitat. What began as “record shots” has become more of a challenge, and has inspired trips to Sanibel, the Everglades, Trinidad and Tobago where we are both in our element.
Stan does not hesitate to use Photoshop to truthfully and accurately interpret the scene for the viewer to best see and understand the subject.
