Toronto Instagram star captures the city at its prettiest moments
This Toronto Instagrammer got her first DSLR camera last year, and she thinks it changed her life. Before then, she experimented with black and white film, but after going digital she's developed a real passion for photography.
Aneta Iwaniszczuk, or @anetkaiwa, has more than 13,000 followers and by shooting Toronto, she's realized how gorgeous the city, and its skyline, truly is.
"I think it’s really beautiful," she says. "And whenever I post a picture of Toronto, everyone in the world compliments it and says, 'Oh my God, you guys are so lucky you live in Toronto, it’s such a beautiful city.'"
While Aneta's account is filled with skyline shots, she's hoping to branch out into street photography, although she admits she's still a beginner in that realm.
"I would like to learn how to shoot the vibe of the city," she says. "So not so much the urban landscape, but maybe the city itself. I would like to focus on that a little bit more."
During the nine-to-five grind, Aneta works in marketing analytics. Photography helps her stay creative.
"I found that it was such a great passion for me. I think that I needed more of an artistic outlet in my life and when I started working on it, I couldn’t stop. I wanted to learn more, I wanted to try more things, I wanted to buy new lenses, I wanted to travel now with my new equipment and it connects you globally."
When she ventures outside of the city to shoot more natural landscapes, she'll often slow down her shutter speed to give her photos a mystical quality.
But she doesn't only travel in Ontario; this past year she also spent time in the States and Europe. Through Instagram, she was able to connect with other photographers, including one in Berlin who took her to parts of the city she doesn't think she would've ever discovered on her own.
Even in Toronto, she understands the value of the Instagram and photography community and often gets inspiration and feedback from her contemporaries. She also finds Toronto's photography galleries educational.
Online, she curates the Instagram account @thedarkpr0ject, which is part of pr0jectuno with Inspades Magazine.
But in the real world, she usually shoots alone and often on King Street near the St. Lawrence Market and the Gooderham Building, which is around where she lives.
And she's often drawn back to the CN Tower and the skyline. "We probably have one of the nicest city skylines in the world, so we can take shots of Toronto from amazing vantage points, like the Islands or Polson pier. And we have four seasons, so it’s really hard not to take photographs when you live in Toronto."
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