Other People Dying

Ever wonder what it's like to work the overnight shift? Tony Smyth knows. For a quarter of a century the CBC shooter has prowled the meaner streets of Toronto, surviving on a diet of 'death, destruction and drive-thru coffee'. Now his coworker Muhammad Lila has turned the lens of him and created an elegant, bracing and ultimately depressive look at what passes for news after midnight. Despite the grisly assignments, Smyth seems resigned if not happy to babysit crime scenes and fatal car crashes. No shame in that game - but feasting on what the big city will serve up that night' takes an intestinal fortitude your not so humble author sometimes lacks. I ain't skeered - most folk leave us photogs alone. But a steady stream of carnage and regret effs with my head - and I find myself yearning for a sunnier gig to recalibrate my dome. Not Smyth. He's happy to process midnight calamity into breakfast television, knowing that 'nothing's official until Dawn breaks'.

Tru Dat.