IVAAN IN HIGH SCHOOL

Ivaan loved his high school years at Harbord Collegiate.  He joined the Camera Club and fell in love with photography.  This is a self-portrait of Ivaan at about age 17 in his parents' house on Euclid Avenue.  On the wall above him are some of his photographic portraits.

Never one to make plans for the future, Ivaan had almost finished Grade Thirteen when a teacher asked him what his intentions were for the following year.  Ivaan had no particular goals; he hadn't applied to university or started looking for employment.   The teacher told him about Ryerson Polytechnical Institute's diploma program in Photographic Arts.   Ivaan was intrigued, and asked the teacher to help him apply.  Based on his award-winning photography and an excellent reference from this teacher, Ivaan was accepted into Ryerson.

It was a rigorous program; Ivaan remembered that students were required to dress in jacket and tie and they were taught by some of the most disciplined and accomplished photographers Ivaan ever met.  It was as a result of a photographic assignment for his Portraiture class that Ivaan was invited to meet and to photograph The Beatles in August of 1966.   I'll devote a future entry to Ivaan Meets The Beatles.  It's a funny story.