© Stephen Uhraney Photo All Rights Reserved – Gil Moore from TRIUMPH – Metal Works Studio
This year’s ProFusion Expo 2025 was an unforgettable experience, a gathering of artists, innovators, and storytellers who live and breathe photography. The atmosphere inside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre was buzzing with creativity and connection. Being part of this Vistek sponsored show felt like stepping into the very heart of Canada’s photographic community. It wasn’t just about the latest technology; it was about passion and the shared love of image-making and the stories that live within each frame.
For me, the Expo marked a major moment: the public unveiling of The Chalkboard Project. It was the first time the series had been exhibited in a gallery style setting, and seeing it come to life on that scale was truly moving. The large black and white prints, shot on my Rolleiflex with ILFORD, looked incredible under glass, carefully framed and matted, hanging against the deep black curtains of the gallery space. The tones, the textures, the timeless quality of film, it was all about introducing the work, letting the portraits speak for themselves, and sharing the concept behind it with a new audience.
The response was extraordinary. People stopped, looked, and stayed. Conversations sparked naturally about process, purpose, and what draws us to photography in the first place. Many were struck by the intimacy and honesty of the images, by how something as simple as a chalkboard could become a mirror of human emotion and connection. That quiet engagement, that moment when someone stands still and feels something is what every photographer dreams of.
Thank you to all that came by and took an interest in a project that started with a simple chalkboard and a piece of chalk.
You are all part of my story.
-Stephen
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephen Uhraney is an award-winning Canadian photojournalist and documentary photographer whose work looks beyond the surface to capture the essence of life. In 2024, he became the only Canadian ever to win the International Association of Fire Fighters Media Award for On Duty, his four-month immersion with Fire Station 104 in Port Credit. He was named Mississauga’s Visual Artist of the Year in 2023 and received the 2024 Heritage Mississauga Modern Heritage Award for his long-term documentation of Port Credit. His acclaimed projects include Life in the Marsh, a documentary on migrant farm workers in the Holland Marsh featured in the 2013 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, alongside five solo exhibitions. A former staff photographer with the Toronto Sun and a current contributing photographer with Canadian Press Images. His work has been featured on CBC’s local and national newscasts, and continues to resonate locally, nationally, and internationally. This fall, Uhraney will be teaching at George Brown College and Visual Arts Mississauga, sharing his immersive approach to documentary photography with a new generation of artists.
