2.1K 
UrbanToronto is celebrating 20 YEARS throughout October with stories and images looking back over the last two decades. Today we let UrbanToronto members — or contributors as we like to credit them in the front page stories — to reminisce about their early days memories of the UrbanToronto Forum.
* * *
"Photo or it didn't happen" is a post that turns up every now and again on the UrbanToronto Forum, usually following a claim by a contributor to have just seen something big… but they didn't have their camera with them (with camera phones these days, we're all sceptical of that claim), or maybe they were driving by at the time. That's a more plausible excuse… The point of the "Photo or it didn't happen" complaint is that we love photographic proof of whatever it is that's going on, and if we get good composition, cool lighting, a detailed close-up, etc., etc., that's all the better!
We've certainly long celebrated some of the best of the photos that show up on our site, published as the Photo of the Day, or more recently renamed as the Daily Photo. This month as we celebrate 20 YEARS, the Daily Photo has been replaced by another photo feature, Then and Now, comparing shots from early UrbanToronto days with what those same places look like now, As Daily Photos return in November, following good response to the Then and Nows, we are considering having them continue to appear occasionally.
On our older Forum threads, (just go to the last pages of any Forum section to find them), UrbanToronto's earliest photos are all gone now, lost to the vagaries of Photobucket and other third party hosting services… until we brought photo-hosting in-house, on our own servers. Since then we have amassed a huge number of images that record the new proposals and the projects going up in this city, plus plenty of other daily life shots as well. It's quite the treasure trove.
Today, without being able to say, "These are the greatest photos ever on UrbanToronto," we can say that the images in this story are representative of the great photography that we get on a regular basis on our site, but are by no means a comprehensive representation: while the bulk of photography on UrbanToronto is construction related, the full scope is actually quite broad. So, the photos here are simply good photos, not in any particular order, and are simply a reminder of how much more there is to be found throughout the site!
A couple years ago now, we lost one of our most prolific contributors of photographs, Jason Zytynsky, who was known on the Forum through his Jasonzed avatar. Jason's family shared with us at the time that his loss was from the terrible price that mental illness cost Jason. Every January, Bell Canada now runs a high-profile Mental Health Awareness and fundraising campaign under the moniker "Let's Talk," as it's long been a stigmatized disease. For our part, we started an annual award to recognize excellent photographic contributions to our website, named for Jason. While the winner of the prize receives $500 from UrbanToronto and the Zytynsky family — along with our thanks for their contributions to UrbanToronto — we and the Zytynsky family also give the same amount to CAMH, to further their work in combating mental health issues.
Last year, our inaugural winner was UrbanToronto Forum contributor Tim MacDonald, who continues to provide great drone photography to our Forum threads, especially for projects in Oakville, Mississauga, and Etobicoke. We have picked a winner for this year, but have not contacted that person yet, but stay tuned for that announcement.
* * *
UrbanToronto will return tomorrow with another story celebrating 20 YEARS. A second look back at transit over the period, this time on regional plans, will appear next week. In the meantime, check back often to our front page and Forum to keep an eye on all the current and emerging trends, and you can always leave your comments in the space below.
* * *
Thank you to the companies joining UrbanToronto to celebrate our 20 years in business.
