“A Model Homeless Man”: Tony Clemens photographed by Jim Allen

Filed under: Themes, Bum Deal, Art Gallery

Remember Tony?

He’s back, for an exclusive Irked Magazine photo shoot… 

Last time we caught up with Tony Clemens, it was to profile his outstanding blog Homeless Man Speaks. We republished three full blog entries, and ended our feature by running a heart-tugging photograph of Tony, on the streets of Toronto, sitting outside in the cold.

Here’s the photograph we ran:

Soon after we published our feature about Tony’s blog, we were contacted by Jim Allen—a renowned, Toronto-based portrait photographer who has photographed Ingrid Bergman, Martin Short, Mordechai Richler, Margaret Atwood, Alan Dershowitz, Adrienne Clarkson, Oscar Peterson, Diana Krall, Claudia Schiffer, Edward Greenspan, Prime Ministers Kim Campbell and John Turner…

Jim got in touch to say that he admired the work we were doing at Irked Magazine, and asked if there was anything he could do to pitch in. Well, we’re ENORMOUS fans of Jim’s photography and painting, so we jumped at the opportunity.

Several brainstorming sessions took place. During one early morning telephone call, while discussing Irked Magazine’s Toronto-based contributors, Jim wondered aloud if perhaps a meeting could be arranged between himself, Tony, and Philip. He wanted to take Tony’s picture.

So we called up Philip Stern, who brought a cell phone over to Tony (out on the street). We asked Tony if he’d agree to have his picture taken for a follow-up feature on IrkedMagazine.com, and he graciously said yes.

A location in Toronto was hand-picked, and a professional photo shoot was scheduled. An insufficient and paltry “artist’s fee” was mailed to Tony via Philip Stern (Irked’s operating budget is as shoestring as it gets). On April 13, the following entry was published on Homeless Man Speaks: 

Without further adieu, here are some of the amazing photographs from the shoot. (Note: for high-res versions of these and other photos, please contact Jim Allen via his website):

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