Mississauga, April 10, 2013. It was with sadness that I learned of George’s death last Wednesday, April 10, 2013. He died peacefully in the Credit Valley Hospital. Doing a Google search will bring up a wealth of information on George and his colourful personal history. You say George is not familiar to you? Well, if you were around in the 70’s and 80’s you probably saw his photos on Canadian stamps and currency. For example, his work is on the back of the $5 (salmon) and the $10 bills (petroleum industry). George was a natural story teller and a surprising early adopter of digital technology. When he spoke with us in January 2003, he was already using digital printing by scanning his film negatives. George’s portrait shown at left was taken by another well known Canadian photographer, Bob Lansdale, at the end of that meeting.
George remarked that the ability to correct a print was vastly better with digital technology than in the old darkroom days of dodge and burn on so called analogue prints. A sampling of George’s black & white photographs were put on display a few years later at the Mississauga City Hall gallery. It was hard to believe those dramatic photographs were all digital prints from negatives dating back to the 1940s. We last saw George when he spoke to the society during its February 2012 meeting at the AGO where he expanded on the Canadian Industrial photographs then on display.
A memorial will be held THIS SATURDAY April 20th, at 11 am. The venue is the Scott Funeral Home at 420 Dundas St E in Mississauga. See you there.
