The Toronto Focal Forum is a diverse group of photographic printmakers from around the Greater Toronto area. Our goal is the pursuit of excellence in our craft.
We will meet 18 times this year, from September through May. Forum meetings are dinner meetings. Dining together turns the meeting into a social event as well as a photographic one. The conversation at dinner is usually wide-ranging, photographic or otherwise. After dinner we assemble as a peer group, and the Moderator for the evening leads a discussion of the 20 to 25 prints presented that evening by the members. The discussions are frank but friendly, with all members participating and offering both praise and constructive criticism of the prints as they are presented. Differences of opinion are common.
The Toronto Focal Forum was formed in 1939. Methods of producing prints have changed greatly over the years, as have issues such as style and content, but at the Forum the central importance of the print has remained. The photographs presented at a Forum meeting may be colour or monochrome, captured on film and processed in a darkroom or taken with a digital camera and enhanced with computer software. Print sizes range from 5"x7" to 20"x24". The photographs range from abstracts to portraits, from classic landscapes to extensively manipulated digital work, from sports to pinhole. The range is infinite, but the one constant is that all aspects of the print, from image capture, to printing or manipulation, mounting and presentation, are the work of the maker.
Membership in the Forum is limited to about 35 members. Experience has shown that we cannot effectively include greater numbers in our print discussions. We know that with 35 members we will have 20-30 members present at most meetings. All Active Members are required to produce prints for discussion as a responsibility of membership.
The Forum is always pleased to welcome photographers/printmakers interested in membership. If you have an interest in learning more about the Toronto Focal Forum, or membership in the Forum, you can start the process with an e-mail. We'll be happy to hear from you.
We will meet 18 times this year, from September through May. Forum meetings are dinner meetings. Dining together turns the meeting into a social event as well as a photographic one. The conversation at dinner is usually wide-ranging, photographic or otherwise. After dinner we assemble as a peer group, and the Moderator for the evening leads a discussion of the 20 to 25 prints presented that evening by the members. The discussions are frank but friendly, with all members participating and offering both praise and constructive criticism of the prints as they are presented. Differences of opinion are common.
The Toronto Focal Forum was formed in 1939. Methods of producing prints have changed greatly over the years, as have issues such as style and content, but at the Forum the central importance of the print has remained. The photographs presented at a Forum meeting may be colour or monochrome, captured on film and processed in a darkroom or taken with a digital camera and enhanced with computer software. Print sizes range from 5"x7" to 20"x24". The photographs range from abstracts to portraits, from classic landscapes to extensively manipulated digital work, from sports to pinhole. The range is infinite, but the one constant is that all aspects of the print, from image capture, to printing or manipulation, mounting and presentation, are the work of the maker.
Membership in the Forum is limited to about 35 members. Experience has shown that we cannot effectively include greater numbers in our print discussions. We know that with 35 members we will have 20-30 members present at most meetings. All Active Members are required to produce prints for discussion as a responsibility of membership.
The Forum is always pleased to welcome photographers/printmakers interested in membership. If you have an interest in learning more about the Toronto Focal Forum, or membership in the Forum, you can start the process with an e-mail. We'll be happy to hear from you.
