Michael Ernest Sweet

Last updated

Michael Ernest Sweet
Born1979 (age 4445)
Martock, Nova Scotia, Canada
OccupationPhotographer, writer, educator
Education Johns Hopkins University
Concordia University
Nipissing University
St. Mary's University
GenreStreet photography, nonfiction, essay
Years active1996–present
Notable worksThe Human Fragment;Michael Sweet's Coney Island
Notable awards QEII Diamond Jubilee Medal ribbon.svg Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, Canadian Prime Minister's Awards for Teaching Excellence
Signature
Signature Michael Ernest Sweet.png
Website
michaelsweetphotography.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Michael Ernest Sweet (born 1979) is a Canadian photographer, writer, and educator. He is the author of two books of street photography, The Human Fragment [1] and Michael Sweet's Coney Island.

Contents

Teaching

Sweet was born and raised on his family's horse farm in Martock, Nova Scotia. He taught in public schools in Montreal, Quebec, from 2003 to 2015 and founded Learning for a Cause, [2] [3] which earned him two of Canada's highest civilian honors for service to education, A Prime Minister's Awards for Teaching Excellence [4] and the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal. [5] Sweet was also a national finalist for a 2011 Governor General's Awards for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History [6] and has been added to the Wall of Fame at the National Teachers Hall of Fame in the United States. [7] As of 2019, Sweet was listed on the faculty at the Robert Louis Stevenson School, a private therapeutic day school in Manhattan, New York. [8]

Photography and writing

Sweet has made grainy black-and-white, [9] oddly-framed, gritty, [10] low-fi, [11] close-up street photography. He has used cheap cameras, including disposable and instant cameras, [12] [13] and the Ricoh GR Digital IV. He is the author of two street photography monographs, The Human Fragment, [14] [15] and Michael Sweet's Coney Island. [16] Sweet's Coney Island work earned him a "passing of the torch" in an endorsement from the Coney Island photographer Harold Feinstein. [17] His photography often consists of "human fragments"—partial views of people on the street. [18] [19]

Sweet's photography has won both portfolio and spotlight prizes in Black and White Magazine, [20] and a 2020 and 2024 Life Framer Award from G & W Media. [21] [22] Sweet has written for the Evergreen Review, [23] Canadian Teacher Magazine, [24] Reed Magazine, [25] English Journal, [26] Photo Life Magazine [27] and others. He was a regular blogger for The Huffington Post photography section from 2014 until early 2017. [28]

In 2018, Sweet appeared in Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable, a feature-length documentary film on the life of photographer Garry Winogrand produced by Sasha Waters Freyer. In 2021, Sweet appeared in the film, Fill The Frame, a documentary about street photography in New York City.

Sweet wrote for Canada's Photo Life magazine from 2015 until its closure in 2021. [29] He now contributes regularly to the websites F-Stop Magazine and FStoppers.com. [30] [31] Sweet has also been a regular contributor to Canadian Teacher Magazine since 2008. [32]

Personal life

Sweet is married to poet Matthew Hittinger. [33]

Publications

Books of work by Sweet

Booklets of work by Sweet

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garry Winogrand</span> American street photographer

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Lee Friedlander is an American photographer and artist. In the 1960s and 1970s, Friedlander evolved an influential and often imitated visual language of urban "social landscape," with many of his photographs including fragments of store-front reflections, structures framed by fences, posters and street signs. His work is characterized by its innovative use of framing and reflection, often using the natural environment or architectural elements to frame his subjects. Over the course of his career, Friedlander has been the recipient of numerous awards and his work has been exhibited in major museums and galleries worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snapshot (photography)</span> Photograph taken quickly and spontaneously

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George S. Zimbel was an American-Canadian documentary photographer. He worked professionally from the late 1940s, mainly as a freelancer. He was part of the Photo League and was one of its last surviving members. Born in Massachusetts, he settled in Canada about 1971. His works have been shown with increasing frequency since 2000, and examples of his work are part of several permanent collections including the Museum of Modern Art and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. He was described as a humanist. Zimbel published several books of his photographs, and in 2016 was the subject of a documentary retrospective film co-directed by his son Matt Zimbel and distributed by the National Film Board of Canada.

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References

  1. "New York Noir: Capturing the City's Grit and Grime". Hyperallergic. February 26, 2014. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  2. "Montreal Students Get Down to Earth". Canadian Teacher Magazine. Archived from the original on September 20, 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  3. "Publishing Student Work Validates Young Voices". Montreal Families Magazine. June 15, 2010.
  4. "Prime Minister's Awards For Teaching Excellence". November 18, 2021.
  5. "Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal Database". The Governor General of Canada. June 11, 2018.
  6. "Michael Sweet and Raymond Tomasino Finalists for Governor General's Award for Teaching History". Archived from the original on November 21, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  7. "National Teachers Hall of Fame Database". NTHF.
  8. "Faculty Directory". Robert Louis Stevenson School.
  9. "New York Noir: Capturing The City's Grit & Grime". Hyperallergic. February 26, 2014.
  10. "Canadian Street Interview with Michael Sweet".
  11. "La street photography Lo-Fi de Michael Ernest Sweet". Fisheye Magazine (France). August 25, 2014.
  12. "Instinct Interview: Photographer Michael Ernest Sweet". Instinct Magazine.
  13. "Michael Sweet's Disposable Camera". The Huffington Post. September 29, 2014.
  14. "The Sweet & The Tough". Out Magazine. December 12, 2013.
  15. "The Human Fragment, Advance Praise". Brooklyn Arts Press. October 4, 2013.
  16. "Michael Sweet's Coney Island, Advance Praise". Brooklyn Arts Press. December 30, 2014.
  17. "The Human Fragment, Photographs by Michael Ernest Sweet". World in Photo. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  18. "Michael Ernest Sweet: Attraction to the Human Fragment". Leica Camera AG.
  19. "Michael Ernest Sweet Discusses The Human Fragment and What He Hates About Digital Photography". The Village Voice. December 12, 2013.
  20. "B&W 2013 Portfolio Contest Winners". Black and White Magazine.
  21. "Winners 2020 - The Human Body". Life Framer.
  22. "Winners 2024 - Black and White". Life Framer.
  23. "The Evergreen Review, Issue 119". Evergreen Review. Archived from the original on July 8, 2016. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  24. "Controversy in the Classroom". Canadian Teacher Magazine. Archived from the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  25. "About Reed Magazine". San Jose State University. December 5, 2013.
  26. "English Journal, Vol. 98, No. 4". National Council of Teachers of English.
  27. "Photo Life Contributing Writers".
  28. "Michael Ernest Sweet HuffPost Article Archive". HuffPost.
  29. "Contributors & Editorial Staff". Photo Life Magazine.
  30. "Contributors & Editorial Staff". F-Stop Magazine.
  31. "Meet The Writers". FStoppers.com.
  32. "A Pandemic of Change". Canadian Teacher Magazine.
  33. "Creative Couples: Interview with Michael Sweet & Matthew Hittinger (p. 34-37)" (PDF). Poets & Artists Magazine.