Photo by Tim Mantoani

Douglas Morley Kirkland was born in 1934 in Toronto, and moved to the small town of Fort Erie, Ontario with his parents when he was three years old. His father, Morley, was a tailor who made and sold men’s suits from a store on Jervis Street, and his mother Evelyn kept the books.

“The first picture I took was with a Brownie box camera,” Douglas told American History magazine. “I was about seven or eight, and I was allowed to take a photo of my family standing at the front door on a very cold Christmas Day. It was a big deal to take a photo at that time because film wasn’t much available during the Second World War. There were eight exposures on that camera, and I had one opportunity to photograph my family. I pushed this box camera into my stomach to hold it very steady. So I heard that magic click; there it was for the first time. That is what has been pushing me ever since. And it’s taken me into worlds that I could never have imagined.” Continue reading →