Vistek is a solutions-oriented Canadian photo retailer[4] that serves the professional, prosumer and consumer photographic markets. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Vistek currently operates in Canada through five retail stores and an online store. Vistek Ltd. is a privately held company.
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, many near the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the most populous city in Canada, with a population of 2,731,571 in 2016. Current to 2016, the Toronto census metropolitan area (CMA), of which the majority is within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), held a population of 5,928,040, making it Canada's most populous CMA. Toronto is the anchor of an urban agglomeration, known as the Golden Horseshoe in Southern Ontario, located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A global city, Toronto is a centre of business, finance, arts, and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world.
Vistek[5] (derived from the company's slogan, "The Visual Technology Experts") began its operations in 1976 as a studio rental and strobe lighting consulting business operated by Toronto commercial photographer Ron Silverstein out of his photography studio as a supplement to his existing Commercial Photography Business[4].
Original Vistek storefront at 100 Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario - Source: Vistek Archives
In the late 1970's, Silverstein began to realize there was a need for a Canadian photographic retailer that could offer professional level photographic equipment to photographers and opened Vistek's first retail storefront located at 100 Queen Street East in downtown Toronto[7].
The original Queen Street storefront continued to sell and rent lighting gear, but also featured a large-format camera department as well as becoming a dealer for medium-format products[7]. As other professional oriented consumables (products) from manufacturers such as Nikon and Canon began to be offered to customers, Vistek expanded its operations by taking over the adjacent retail space[7].
Nikon Corporation, also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products.
Canon Inc. is a Japanese multinational corporation specializing in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, camcorders, photocopiers, steppers, computer printers and medical equipment. It's headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.
In 1990, with retail operations continuing to grow, Vistek moved its Toronto store and corporate headquarters to its current address in the historical Dominion Brewery building located at 496 Queen Street East in what is known as the "Corktown" area of Toronto[7].
The Dominion Brewery was a brewery in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It operated from 1878 until 1936.
Corktown is a residential neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is just south of Regent Park and north of the Gardiner Expressway, between Parliament Street to the west and the Don River to the east, Queen Street East to Front Street East. Corktown contains many vacated industrial buildings, some in use by movie production, studios, or shops. The West Don Lands, slated to be redeveloped over the next few years, will encompass the south-east corner of this area.
Lectures
In 2013, Vistek brought in acclaimed portrait photographer Greg Gorman to lecture at the University of Toronto's Hart House. In April 2014, Vistek continued this series with a lecture from Gregory Heisler, who discussed his career at the White House, celebrity and sports photography.
Greg Gorman is an American portrait photographer of Hollywood celebrities. His work has been seen in national magazine features and covers, including Esquire, GQ, Interview, Life, Vogue, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Time, Vanity Fair, and the London Sunday Times. Although he studied photojournalism in college, his passion for rock-and-roll led him to his chosen field when he photographed Jimi Hendrix in 1968. John Waters once said, "Greg Gorman is the only person I'd let photograph my corpse". He primarily works in black and white.
Gregory Heisler is a professional photographer known for his evocative portrait work often found on the cover of magazines, such as Time, for which he has produced a number of Man, Person, and People of the Year covers.
Engagement within the Canadian Imaging Community
Vistek has been and continues to be involved in supporting the imaging community across Canada by providing sponsorship, awards and hosting lectures and industry related events.
Customers
Vistek serves Canadian professional photographers, multimedia companies, small businesses, government organizations and national institutions, as well as individuals purchasing prosumer and amateur cameras, equipment and supplies.
Retail Locations
Vistek currently operates five retail stores as well as an online store[8]. Three of the retail locations are in Ontario and two are in Alberta. A third Alberta store located in the Willow Park area of Calgary was permanently closed in September of 2015.
Ontario locations:
Toronto
Mississauga
Ottawa
Alberta locations:
Calgary
Edmonton
ProFusion Expo
2010
In 2010, Vistek began an annual trade show called ProFusion.[9] Initially focused around professional video, the inaugural ProFusion show was held at the Toronto Congress Centre and included appearances by a variety of pro video brands. At the event, Canon unveiled their XF305 and XF300 pro camcorders at the show, and Panasonic revealed their AG-3DA1 Integraded Twin-lens 3D Camera Recorder. The first ProFusion also included numerous seminars and presentations by film makers, cinematographers and other professionals including Philip Bloom (filmmaker).
2011 - 2013
In 2011, ProFusion incorporated still photography equipment into its promotion, based on the idea that photo and video were converging in much of the newest equipment. Companies attending included Nikon, Fujifilm and Sony. The still photography combined with the professional video resulted in a more diverse presentation of equipment.
In March 2014, Vistek announced that the 2014 ProFusion Expo would be moved from its traditional, June date to October 15-16th and be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
