Behind the Scenes: Tommy Ton

(electronic music)

The challenging part about doing street style

you have to always grow and always look

for different things that capture your eye.

I like the idea of the sense of randomness

and just seeing someone for the first time

and you re so intrigued by them.

It s always refreshing to see someone new.

Makes you more curious about them.

I wanted to do a lifestyle magazine

six years ago in Toronto.

But then I kinda got bored of taking pictures

on the street in Toronto.

So then in 2007, thanks to my boss at the time,

she bought me a ticket to London and Paris as a bonus.

So I went, and I became addicted to the idea of going.

But I didn t know exactly how I was gonna shoot.

I just thought I would shoot head-to-toe shots

like everyone else.

But the problem was everyone s always running to shows

and you can t exactly stop everyone,

so after four seasons of trying to figure out

how I wanted to shoot, I just gave up

and I just started clicking... I just started clicking away

like a documentary photographer.

And then that s kinda how I developed

this style of photography that I shoot now.

Accident. (laughs)

London tomorrow night, then Milan,

and then Paris for the next 25 days, I think.

Every day s straight, non-stop, every hour. (laughs)

It s not even the end of New York Fashion Week

and I wanna die.

It s hot in New York.

That s why it s even harder.

Hi.

I love that. It s so fierce.

Your feet hurt and you don t eat, and you don t sleep.

But what keeps you going is the love of fashion.

I ve been interested in fashion since I was 13.

I was just watching a fashion television,

a TV program in Canada.

A segment for Tom Ford s spring 97 Gucci collection came on

and I just thought, Wow, if, you know,

he had that effect on women,

I wonder if I could do that someday.

And from that moment on,

I just became so obsessed with fashion.

We met each other first, like my first season,

his first season in Paris.

So I am kinda semi-competitive with my colleagues.

Although I m gonna dig up these old pictures of you

in your New Rave. (laughs)

[Tommy] I m not hiding them.

I was photographed by Tommy Ton.

And I always loved shooting, taking pictures my own,

so I figured this is a good way to start and learn,

and he said I should go to Paris, and I agreed.

So I went to Paris, and we were shooting,

like, next to each other all along.

And doing our own thing.

That s the cool thing, like,

he has his own voice and his own way of capturing thing

and I m capturing with my way, and that s the cool thing.

Everyone has different tastes.

I think it s the most validating thing

when I see my pictures on someone s Tumblr.

It just makes me think, Oh, that picture I took

actually inspired someone.

It s really how you express yourself

and to see people express themselves the way that they do

outside the shows, I think it s very fun. (laughs)

(electronic music)