Galit Rodan

All photos copyright Galit Rodan/Bloomberg.

1. Ines Garcia, a single mother of four, watches television in her Regent Park apartment during the hour or so in between her morning and afternoon jobs in Toronto, Canada, Monday, May 5, 2014. Garcia lives in a low rise community housing development that is slated to be torn down and will be forced to temporarily relocate by August 31, 2014.

2. Old community housing is being torn down along River Street in Regent Park, a neighbourhood that is home to many low-income families in Toronto, Canada, Monday, May 5, 2014. The neighbourhood is in the midst of a five-stage revitalization project that will see many of the old buildings replaced by condominiums.

3. Signs of life outside a row of houses soon to be torn down in Regent Park, a neighbourhood home to many low-income families in Toronto, Canada, Monday, May 5, 2014. The neighbourhood is in the midst of a five-stage revitalization project that will see many of the old buildings replaced by condominiums.

4. Regent Park, a neighbourhood that is home to many low-income families is in the midst of a five-stage revitalization project that will improve public spaces and see many of the old buildings torn down and replaced by condominiums in Toronto, Canada, Monday, May 5, 2014.

5. A handprint in paint is smeared on a post outside a house yet to be torn down in Regent Park, a neighbourhood that is home to many low-income families in Toronto, Canada, Monday, May 5, 2014. The neighbourhood is in the midst of a five-stage revitalization project that will see many of the old buildings replaced by condominiums. Residents who live in the old buildings are being relocated while construction is underway.

6. Regent Park residents attend a private meeting held in one of the neighbourhood's new condominiums to discuss their concerns about being forced to temporarily relocate by August 31, 2014, after which their current buildings will be torn down in Toronto, Canada, Monday, May 5, 2014.

7. Construction workers dig alongside a mural in Regent Park, Monday, May 5, 2014.

8. Old community housing along Gerrard Street is slated to be torn down in Regent Park, a neighbourhood that is home to many low-income families in Toronto, Canada, Monday, May 5, 2014.

9. A man exits a Salvation Army building on River Street in Regent Park, a neighbourhood that is home to many low-income families in Toronto, Canada, Monday, May 5, 2014.

1. Bar Buca, an Italian restaurant at the base of a condominium on Portland Street in Toronto, serves polipo, a dish of baby octopus, soppressata and crema di patate, Wednesday, March 26,  2014. (Galit Rodan for the Globe and Mail)

1. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne takes questions from the media after speaking to a theatre audience in Port Hope about her vision for creating jobs and growing the economy in Eastern Ontario Friday, February 7, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Galit Rodan

2. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne helps out chassis production team member Mark Prentice during her tour of the General Motors Oshawa Assembly Plant, Friday, February 7, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Galit Rodan

3. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne speaks with chassis production team member Mark Prentice during her tour of the General Motors Oshawa Assembly Plant, Friday, February 7, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Galit Rodan

1. Workers from Stacey Electric, a Toronto Hydro subcontractor, work to repair downed power lines around Victoria Park and Denton Avenues in Scarborough, Monday, December 23, 2013, days after a severe ice storm hit Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Galit Rodan

2. Large high-rises near Victoria Park and Danforth Avenues remain without power, Monday, December 23, 2013, days after a severe ice storm hit Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Galit Rodan

3. A house on Eldon Avenue in Scarborough is framed by downed trees and power lines, Monday, December 23, 2013. Days after a severe ice storm hit Toronto, many residents remain without power. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Galit Rodan

Top photo: Sarah, Ayla, Nekky, Hannah and Noah Jamal and Catherine Skinner live under one roof north of Toronto, Sunday, March 2, 2014. Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail

Last Sunday I was sent a few hours north of Toronto to shoot an assignment about a polyamorous family. I was told where to go and when to be there and the general gist of the subject matter but apart from that I had very little information. I had no idea what to expect and, undoubtedly, this family had no idea what to expect of me. 

I was scheduled to be there from 10 a.m. to noon. I ended up leaving around four. 

This isn't my story but I will say that it's been a long winter. Both literally and figuratively. The last months of 2013 and onward have been cold, dark and often emotionally taxing. My work, which I find solace and relief in when the inside of my head gets too busy, slowed almost to a standstill. I felt low too often and struggled to find a way to emerge from under the ice. Then I started doing yoga again and work picked up. I spent more time with people that made me feel like myself. And then I met this family.

As I walked up their long, rural driveway, I could hear sheep yelling away from the next property over and something about being in such a different environment was immediately uplifting. 

It was probably a combination of things: The brightness of the home; the enchanting, gregarious children who sang songs for me (since when do 8-year-olds know how to harmonize?) as I ate pizza made from scratch that the family had all prepared together; the time I spent watching them play outdoors in the snow; the family's incredible openness and willingness to go along with my ideas; the general feeling of love that pervaded their household. 

I left that house feeling happy and lighter than I had in quite some time. It's a gift - being given the chance to walk into the lives of people you would never otherwise meet. I'm not sure there's any other job quite like it. 

The formal portrait that I shot and that ended up running in the Globe was my favourite frame. My editor had suggested maybe doing a modern American Gothic and so I managed to capture this serious, quite dignified photo in between Ayla's little fits of laughter. But I think those might have been the only serious moments of the day. 

But as I said, this isn't my story. 

The Globe story here: 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/what-family-looks-like-today-three-partners-plus-kids-under-one-roof/article17341865/?page=1

Catherine's blog (and her thoughts on the story) here:

The Aga Khan speaks with Globe and Mail Editor-in-Chief John Stackhouse in Toronto, Friday, February 28, 2014. (Galit Rodan for the Globe and Mail)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/aga-khan-without-a-doubt-i-am-seriously-worried-about-the-world/article17185492/

Yesterday was one of those rare days where I took a moment to take stock of where I am right now. Thursday and Friday were both busy, stressful work days. The kind of days where you feel, to borrow a phrase from the service industry, perpetually in the weeds, and yet somehow everything works out in the end. I had worn a hoodie to my 12:30 assignment because I thought I was going to be shooting outdoors. On my way there an editor called with another assignment - shooting the Aga Khan at the Four Seasons Hotel at 4. In between assignments I filed, drove home, walked the dogs and changed my clothes and then literally drove back to almost exactly where I had just come from. Made it with a minute or two to spare. 

I get caught up in the little stresses of this job: wondering whether I'm going to make it somewhere on time; find parking; freeze outside; how I'm going to deal with the crappy yellow light in this windowless room; the overhead light that's creating highlights where I don't want highlights to be; how often I can get away with pressing the shutter without being too much of a distraction in the interview; should I stop shooting altogether after a while; the person who keeps leaning into my frame; and on and on and on. Realistically, those little stresses ARE my job. 

Somehow, though, while I was rushing to get to that second assignment, I sat back in my car and thought "I am shooting the Aga Khan for the Globe and Mail." And in spite of my tendency to feel like I am constantly underachieving and that I should be doing more and doing better, I realized that the assignment I was on my way to was something that would have been unfathomable to me not even three years ago, when I was still a student at Loyalist. And I felt really, really grateful for being where I am now.