The tour starts at the Art Gallery of Ontario at the corner of McCaul and Dundas by the Henry Moore sculpture.
Your English speaking photographer-cum-guide, Tobi is a freelance photographer based in Toronto since 1992. Her work appears in publications such as Toronto Life, Saturday Night and National Post.
Start the tour by walking north two blocks to Baldwin Street and discover the atmosphere of outdoor cafes near the residential neighborhood.
See the outside of The Grange, an old Toronto homestead, built in 1817 by D’Arcy Boulton Jr. a leading citizen in Toronto, and part of the “Family Compact” a Tory-dominated Anglican group that had political influence in the government after the War of 1812.
Discover the building of the Ontario College of Art and Design, and photograph its newly expanded Building in the Sky created by architect Will Alsop that is perched on nine storey stilts.
Walk south to the hip Queen Street West to photograph the street life and shops.
Continue on until Spadina Avenue where you will tour Chinatown and see the old clothing warehouses that now are trendy offices. Here you will have the option to try some dimsum and tapas (payable direct) or stop at a Chinese bakery.
Enter Kensington Market on Baldwin Street and walk through the vegetable stores and fish monger shops. Check out the funky used clothing shops of Kensington Street, followed by the Latin flavour of Augusta Street spotted by tattoo parlours and vegan restaurants. This market began as the Jewish neighbourhood and is now a thriving community of Portuguese, Latin American, Ethiopian, Caribbean and Chinese mix. You will also tour some of the back alleys that are laced with graffiti and street art.
Continue on to College Street and discover Little Italy, where you will stop and have a chance to photograph the street life here over a cappuccino (payable direct).
From Little Italy, head up Grace Street, over the Garrison Creek, which is a former creek that has been quarried and filled by homes and parks, until you reach Bloor Street and Korea Town.
After Little Korea, walk through the Annex, an area which houses many of the students from the University of Toronto. The Bata Shoe Museum is a point of interest here.
The tour will end at the Royal Ontario Museum, where you will have the opportunity to photograph the outside of the recent Lee-Chin Crystal addition designed by architect Daniel Libeskind. This structure is located next to the upscale shopping district in Yorkville, and the Philosopher’s Walk through in the University of Toronto.
At the end of the session your photographer-guide will review some of the photos taken (if you are carrying a digital camera). You will have learnt the basics of composition, the importance of light in photography, how to take balanced and attractive images, and simple techniques to take "creative" images.