Isabella Zhou

( 2026.05.15 )

A New Lens on Toronto

downtown tulips to the skyline · 1:19 – 8:07 PM

Two days into a new camera — an afternoon of downtown tulips that ran on to the skyline at golden hour, the first city I ever pointed it at.

Fujifilm X-E5 · 23mm · six frames · Toronto

01 / 06

1:19 pm

The Tulip Beds

A whole square of tulips downtown, empty benches waiting between the rows.

Downtown Toronto · 23mm · ƒ/5.6 · 1/900 · ISO 400

Tulip beds and empty benches in a fenced downtown garden

02 / 06

1:19 pm

Under the Trees

Red and white tulips packed under the new leaves, the city moving past behind the fence.

Downtown Toronto
23mm · ƒ/5.6 · 1/640 · ISO 400

Red and white tulips under spring trees, people passing behind a fence

03 / 06

1:31 pm

Glass and Green

A glass tower half-hidden behind branches only days into leaf.

Downtown Toronto · 23mm · ƒ/7.1 · 1/1800 · ISO 500

A glass condominium tower seen through freshly leafed branches

04 / 06

1:38 pm

Through the Leaves

The east end framed by a hedge: brick lofts, a red pickup, an ordinary afternoon.

East End Toronto
23mm · ƒ/4 · 1/320 · ISO 64

A street of brick lofts and a red pickup truck glimpsed through leaves

05 / 06

8:07 pm

The Skyline

Up the hill in the evening, the whole skyline turned to gold above the grass.

Riverdale Park · 23mm · ƒ/7.1 · 1/1700 · ISO 1600

The Toronto skyline lit gold above a park lawn in the evening
The Toronto skyline and CN Tower at golden hour, seen across a park

06 / 06

8:07 pm

Golden Hour

The CN Tower catching the last of it. Two days in, and the city already sitting for its portrait.

Riverdale Park · 23mm · ƒ/7.1 · 1/1600 · ISO 1600

( about )

I’m Isabella Zhou. Photography lends me wings toward a dreamland I haven’t found yet, and these journals are what I carry back from the flights. This journal is proof of my first days with a new camera, learning the city one frame at a time, kept on a Fujifilm X-E5 with one 23mm lens.

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isabellayifan.zhou@gmail.com

© 2026 Isabella Zhou — all photographs shot on Fujifilm X-E5