Toronto photographer captures moodiness of Toronto on Instagram
Claudio Silva only bought his first professional-quality camera two years ago. But since then, he's curated and created a Toronto-focused Instagram feed that's garnered more than 16,000 followers.
Silva, who goes by @claudto on Instagram is unapologetic of his love for Toronto while posting his photos online.
He moved to the city from Brazil in the late 1980s and grew up around Parkdale. Now, he lives midtown, but travels further south to shoot. Though he knows the city well, he's constantly noticing new things about it.
“I love capturing, I love grabbing that instance that’s literally there for a blink of an eye and gone again,” he says.
Like many Toronto photographers, he likes to shoot in the Financial District and often depicts the core as moody or dark - it's a style he says that sets him apart from his contemporaries.
However, after attending a photo walk a couple of years ago, he started joining the city's tight-knit Instagram community. He and five other photographers even formed a little group called the Last Six in order to push each other creatively.
Since he works full time in the trades fabricating granite and marble countertops, he brings his camera everywhere when he's off the clock. Eventually, he'd like to turn photography into a full-time career.
“I wouldn’t want to do anything other than photography,” he says. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t pay the bills right now.”
While he focuses on cityscapes on Instagram, he also loves sports photography and often shoots his cousin's boxing matches. He's also interested in portraiture.
But for now, he's continuing to throw the spotlight on Toronto because, as he says, “I can’t complain with living in a big city that is absolutely beautiful and why not capture the shots that you can?”
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