I had the honor of meeting & photographing the former First Lady of the United States Laura W. Bush last night at Roy Thomson Hall.Laura Bush was the last lecture of the Unique Lives & Experiences for the 2010 season Laura Bush spoke of her role as First Lady from 2001-2009, the days and weeks after 9/11 and family life. Laura Bush just published her Spoken from the Heart an autobiography of her life from Midland, Texas to the White House. Laura Bush is an advocate with women’s health and is active with campaigns to raise awareness of breast cancer in the U.S. and around the world. Laura Bush was born in Midland, Texas to Harold & Jenna Welch. She has taught in public schools in Texas and also worked as a librarian. She is married to George W. Bush and mother to twin daughters Barbara and Jenna.
Tag Archives: Roy Thomson Hall
I had the honor of meeting and photographing Sir Sidney Poitier last night at Roy Thomson Hall who is part of the Unique Lives & Experiences lecture series. Sidney Poitier was introduced & welcomed to a standing ovation to a sold out show. Sidney is best know for his acting in such roles as To Sir With Love, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and 50 other major motion films in which he won Academy Award for best actor for Lillies Inn The Field. Sidney Poitier is not only a great actor he was also knighted by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II in 1968 and in 2009 was awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom (The United States highest civilian honor) from President Barack Obama. Last night Sidney Poitier gave us a look into his childhood growing up in poverty in Bahamas & then eventually moving to Miami and then New York City where he had a successful audition which landed him a spot with the American Negro Theater which eventually started his acting career.
I had the honor of meeting and photographing Cloris Leachman last night as part of the Unique Lives and Experiences at Roy Thomson Hall. Cloris is one of the most acclaimed and unpredictable actresses of our time. Cloris has been a star of 57 movies 137 tv shows and 11 Broadway plays and also a dancer as she proved last year in Dancing with the Stars. Cloris had the audience in stitches last night with her candid humour, as she talked about her marriage and motherhood often with laughter and tears. At the end of this month Cloris turns 84 & shows no sign of slowing down as her latest venture has been the announcement of Cloris Line an unique clothing line for woman.
I had the honor of meeting and photographing Buffy Sainte Marie last night as part of the Unique Lives and Experiences at Roy Thomson Hall. Buffy has been in the spotlight everywhere lately starting with a successful tour last fall, a sweep at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, another Juno, handing off the torch to Wayne Gretzky in last months opening ceremonies at the 2010 Winter Olympics and a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award and she is not slowing down.
Buffy lives in Kauai, Hawaii for the last 40+ years after establishing herself on the music scene in the 60′s. Buffy was blacklisted from the airwaves by the Lyndon Johnson & Richard Nixon administrations due to her outspoken views on native conflicts. Last night Buffy also shared her experiences growing up on a Saskatchewan reservation to New York’s Greenwich Village in the 60′s. “Creativity has meant so much to me, she say’s; it’s what keeps me going”
I had the honor of meeting & photographing Lisa Ling at Roy Thomson Hall last night. After 3+ years working beside Barbara Walters on The View Lisa’s television journalism has seen her currently working for National Geographic Explorer exposing stories of humanity at it’s worst. Covering stories of bride burning in India and gang rapes in the Congo in Africa. “The reason I love this kind of work” Ling said ” is that I experience the worst of humanity, but every time I bring one of these stories to light I experience the best of humanity”.
Lisa plans on continuing working with Oprah for special reports on the new OWN network – Oprah Winfrey Network a joint venture between Oprah and Discovery Communications.
Howard Szigeti has made a career out of making a difference in people’s lives by bringing intellectual entertainment by his distinguished speakers. For the last 18 years Howard has brought Unique Lives and Experiences to Toronto.
I had the honor of photographing last night Veronica Tennant at Roy Thomson Hall who is part of the 2010 Unique Lives & Experiences lecture series. Veronica is best known as Prima Ballerina with The National Ballet of Canada for 25 years.
During her illustrious career as Prima Ballerina Veronica has partnered with some of the world’s leading male dancers including Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Since then Veronica has kept busy as host of CBC Sunday Arts Entertainment program, author of children’s books, Canada’s Ambassador for UNICEF and she is an inductee of Canada’s Walk of Fame.
