Shortly after her husband\u2019s death in the mid-1990s, a woman requested photographer Egerton \u2018Eddie\u2019 Grant retouch the only photo she had of her spouse and remove the hat on his head.\u00a0 \u2018No problem, but which side of the head was his hair parted?\u201d Grant asked.\u00a0 The woman said he would see when the hat is taken off.<\/p>\n
Late Jamaica Consul General in Toronto Margarietta St. Juste told the story and presented Grant with a roll of film to dispel a myth that one of his cameras was always empty at a community event to celebrate him in October 1994.<\/p>\n
Nearly three decades later, the Jamaican government recognized the veteran cameraman with the Badge of Honour for Long & Faithful Service in photojournalism and documenting the development of the Diaspora Community in Toronto.\u00a0 Grant, who turned 90 last May, received the honour from Governor General Patrick Allen on National Heroes Day on October 16 at King\u2019s House.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been doing this work for a very long time,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, to be recognized by the Government of Jamaica is very significant and something I really appreciate.\u201d<\/p>\n
An automotive mechanic in St. Thomas, Grant took up an uncle\u2019s suggestion to travel to England in 1960.\u00a0 After discovering that the college he wanted to pursue mechanical studies was far from his residence, he switched careers and studied photography at the Clapham & Balham Institute of Photography.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Eddie-Grant-Picture-by-Ron-Fanfair-300x199.jpg\")
\u201cI brought a small point and shoot camera with me to England, but then bought a better one and took photos of my friends while hanging out on the beach,\u201d recounted Grant. \u201cThey were impressed with my photos and encouraged me to go to school which I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
His work also caught the attention of Clayton Goodwin who was the Jamaica Gleaner correspondent in England.\u00a0 Asked to accompany Goodwin on assignments, Grant gleefully accepted and got the opportunity to meet several high-profile musicians and politicians, including late Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley.<\/p>\n
During Manley\u2019s visit in 1969, Grant volunteered to be the driver after organizers overlooked his travel itinerary.\u00a0 \u201cEddie said to me, there is a fourth seat in the car and why don\u2019t you come along,\u201d Goodwin recalled in his book, \u2018Sorry, But I Thought You Were Black: 50 Years with the West Indian Press\u2019. \u201cIt gave me the inside track on any other would-be reporter of the visit. It is what might be referred to these days as \u2018embedding\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it was sad day for him and the Black community press in London when Grant chose to relocate to Toronto in 1972.\u00a0 \u201cThe number of events we attended would amaze present-day readers,\u201d said Goodwin. \u201cThat was because Eddie had a car and knew his way around London with an expertise that would shame a cabbie and to us thinking alike\u2026Like most people reaching the top of their profession from a position of disadvantage, Eddie did so through sheer hard work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first knew him, he was a floor worker at one of the West End\u2019s best known department stores and carried on his photography from his modest home in Brixton. His bathroom was a mesh of celluloid film hanging up to dry. He has come on a long way since then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why leave England after 12 years?<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of my relatives were in North America, including Canada,\u201d said Grant. \u201cI was the only one there along with my uncle. I had been to Ontario for about three months in the 1960s and loved it. To me, life seemed much better here than in England.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a Jamaica Gleaner photojournalist in Toronto for five decades, he has covered hundreds of community events and captured thousands of photos of well-known Jamaican entertainers, celebrities and politicians that have passed through the city.<\/p>\n
They include the late Bob Marley during his first stage appearance in Toronto at Massey Hall in June 1975.\u00a0 \u201cHe was very pleasant, we had a long chat backstage, and he even offered me a \u2018spliff\u2019 he rolled which I declined,\u201d said Grant. \u201cI told him, \u2018No brother, I don\u2019t touch that stuff\u2019. I will never forget that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He singled out a photo taken of late Canadian and Jamaican Prime Ministers Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Michael Manley and then Jamaican High Commissioner Dale Anderson and their wives as his favourite.\u00a0 \u201cI was asked to go to Ottawa to take that photo that made the Sunday Jamaica Gleaner front page,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cI got a lot of positive reaction about that photo.\u201d<\/p>\n
To mark Jamaica\u2019s 21 independence anniversary in 1983, Grant published \u2018Jamaica 21\u2019.\u00a0 He also shot photos for many corporations and tourist resorts, including the defunct SuperClubs and Sandals that he said stands out.\u00a0 \u201cSandals provided me with opportunities to travel to several Caribbean islands, including Jamaica four times, Cuba thrice, the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and St. Lucia,\u201d Grant added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shortly after her husband\u2019s death in the mid-1990s, a woman requested photographer Egerton \u2018Eddie\u2019 Grant retouch the only photo she had of her spouse and remove the hat on his head.\u00a0 \u2018No problem, but which side of the head was his hair parted?\u201d Grant asked.\u00a0 The woman said he would see when the hat is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":7022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[240,239],"tags":[82],"class_list":["post-7030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canadian-news","category-international-news","tag-featured"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7031,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7030\/revisions\/7031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.reggaenorthca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}