Michael Ernest Sweet (born 1979) is a Canadian photographer, writer, and educator. He is the author of two books of

street photography Street photography (also sometimes called candid photography) is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places. Although there is a difference between street and ca ...

, ''The Human Fragment'' and ''Michael Sweet's Coney Island.''

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 Learning for a Cause is a nonprofit student press founded in 2004 by Canadian educator and photographer Michael Ernest Sweet. The initiative operated from Lester B. Pearson High School in Montreal until autumn 2010 when it merged into Youth Fusion ...

, which earned him two of Canada's highest civilian honors for service to education, A

Prime Minister's Awards for Teaching Excellence The Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence are awarded by the Prime Minister of Canada to exceptional Canadian elementary and secondary school teachers. It is the most prestigious prize awarded to a teacher in Canada. Over 1,500 educator ...

and the

Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...

. Sweet was also a national finalist for a 2011 Governor General's Awards for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History and has been added to the Wall of Fame at the National Teachers Hall of Fame in the United States. As of 2019, Sweet was listed on the faculty at the

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

School, a private therapeutic day school in Manhattan, New York.

Photography and writing

Sweet is known for his oddly-framed, gritty, low-fi, close-up

, as well as for his use of cheap cameras, including disposable and

instant camera An instant camera is a camera which uses instant film, self-developing film to create a chemically Photographic processing, developed print shortly after taking the picture. Polaroid Corporation pioneered (and Patent, patented) consumer-friend ...

s. He is especially known for his use of the Ricoh GR Digital IV camera. Sweet is the author of two street photography monographs, ''The Human Fragment'', which earned him praise from photographers

Jay Maisel Jay Maisel (born January 18, 1931) is an American photographer. His awards include the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Media Photographers,

and

Roger Ballen Roger Ballen (born April 11, 1950) is an American artist living in Johannesburg, South Africa, and working in its surrounds since the 1970s. His oeuvre, which spans five decades, began with the documentary photography field but evolved into the ...

, and ''Michael Sweet's Coney Island'', which received praise from photographer

Martin Parr Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in p ...

. Sweet's grainy close-up black and white shots of

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

, earned him a "passing of the torch" in an endorsement from the Coney Island photographer

Harold Feinstein Harold Martin Feinstein (April 17, 1931 – June 20, 2015) was an American photographer. Early life Feinstein was born in Coney Island, New York, in 1931. He was the youngest of five children born to Jewish immigrant parents. His mother Sophie R ...

, who spent most of his life documenting the famous urban beach. His photography often consists of "human fragments"—partial views of people on the street. His works are mainly presented in black and white, with a grainy texture. Sweet's photography has won both a portfolio and spotlight prize in ''Black and White Magazine'', a 2020 LifeFramer Award, and a ''Popular Photography'' 2013 prize. Sweet has written for the ''

Evergreen Review ''The Evergreen Review'' is a U.S.-based literary magazine. Its publisher is John Oakes and its editor-in-chief is Dale Peck. The ''Evergreen Review'' was founded by Barney Rosset, publisher of Grove Press. It existed in print from 1957 until 19 ...

,'' ''Canadian Teacher Magazine'', ''Reed Magazine'', ''English Journal'', ''Photo Life Magazine'' and others. He was a regular blogger for ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' photography section from 2014 until early 2017. In 2018, Sweet appeared in '' Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable,'' a feature-length documentary film on the life of photographer

Garry Winogrand Garry Winogrand (January 14, 1928 – March 19, 1984) was an American street photographer, known for his portrayal of U.S. life and its social issues, in the mid-20th century. Photography curator, historian, and critic John Szarkowski called Wino ...

produced by

Sasha Waters Freyer Sasha Waters Freyer, also known as Sasha Waters, is an American documentary and experimental filmmaker, and educator. She is professor of Photography and Film at VCU School of the Arts in Richmond, Virginia. Waters Freyer has produced and directe ...

. 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. He now contributes regularly to the websites ''F-Stop Magazine'' and ''FStoppers.com''.

Personal life

Sweet is married to poet Matthew Hittinger.

Publications

Books of work by Sweet

* ''The Human Fragment.'' Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Arts, 2013. Second edition, 2017. . With a foreword by

Michael Musto Michael Musto (born December 3, 1955) is an American journalist who has long been a prevalent presence in entertainment-related publications, as well as on websites and television shows. Musto is best known as a columnist for ''The Village Voice ...

. * ''Michael Sweet's Coney Island.'' Brooklyn, New York: Brooklyn Arts, 2015. . * ''Disposable Camera.'' Purple Poetry, 2016. .

Booklets of work by Sweet

*''The Street Photography Bible: an Opinionated Little Guide to Street Photography''. Self-published, 2014. .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweet, Michael Ernest Street photographers Canadian photographers Writers from Nova Scotia Canadian expatriates in the United States People from Hants County, Nova Scotia Living people 1979 births Gay photographers Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian gay writers Canadian gay artists Canadian LGBT photographers