Does the CN Tower define us?

It’s been a week now since the ROM’s opening weekend of the newly renovated building, but I’ve yet to capture it with my lens. I’m sure I’ll get around to it, but for me, obvious Toronto landmarks are not necessarily a priority on my list of must have photos of the city.

Mark Medley of the National Post ponders if the ROM’s Crystal will define the new image of the city. Personally, I think there is something more to Toronto beyond the obvious landmarks that we use to attract tourists into the city.

Rannie Turingan, a prolific Toronto photographer and creator of one of the city’s most popular photo blogs, Photo-junkie, says the ROM “may be the iconic image of the moment” for Toronto, but it will simply join the CN Tower, Flatiron Building and City Hall on various tourist postcards. He questions whether any shot can convey a real vision of the city. He points out that as the city is growing — and through the soaring popularity of photobloggers and amateur photographers who can display their shots online — the images and representations that people have about the city are ever-evolving.
“Is it fair to say that there is any sort of iconic image of Toronto?” asks Mr. Turingan. “To me, it seems that there is this growing mosaic collection of images of the city online, which suitably respresent its diversity. Toronto is more than just the CN Tower, the ROM or any other landmark. It’s collective images of details, landmarks and people that you can find online that really show what the city is about.”