( 2026.05.09 )

Toronto Flower Market, Ep.01

a Saturday market, back through a 2010s lens

A Saturday at the flower market — shot on a little 2009 point-and-shoot, so every frame comes back the way the 2010s remember it: soft, bright, and a bit too sweet.

Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS · eight frames · Toronto

01 / 08

gerberas

On the Grass

Bouquets laid out on the lawn, still cold from the morning van.

Toronto Flower Market · ƒ/8 · 1/160 · ISO 100

Pastel bouquets of gerberas and snapdragons laid out on the grass
Rows of green buckets full of bouquets, a small white dog on a pink leash

02 / 08

buckets

The Rows

Green buckets in ranks down the lawn, and a small dog inspecting every one.

Toronto Flower Market · ƒ/2.8 · 1/320 · ISO 100

03 / 08

whites

All White

One stand selling nothing but white, waiting to be chosen.

Toronto Flower Market
ƒ/11 · 1/200 · ISO 100

Buckets crowded with white lisianthus and daisies

04 / 08

ranunculus

Cut with Care

Single stems in little glass bottles, lined up like a tasting menu.

Toronto Flower Market · ƒ/9 · 1/250 · ISO 100

Pink and orange ranunculus in small glass bottles on a flowered tablecloth

05 / 08

daisies

Wrapped

Paper cones of daisies and tulips, leaving the market in every direction.

Toronto Flower Market · ƒ/9 · 1/250 · ISO 100

Wrapped paper cones of daisies and pink tulips beside a canvas tote

06 / 08

hellebores

Choosing

Hands moving over the buckets, building bouquets one stem at a time.

Toronto Flower Market · ƒ/4.5 · 1/250 · ISO 100

Hands moving over buckets of hellebores and fritillaries
Parrot tulips in kraft paper cones, orange and red in full sun

07 / 08

tulips

Kraft Paper

Parrot tulips in brown paper, orange as the afternoon.

Toronto Flower Market · ƒ/8 · 1/125 · ISO 100

Tulip bunches wrapped in tissue, standing in white boxes in the sun

08 / 08

last ones

Take-home Boxes

The last bunches standing in their boxes, sun coming straight through the petals.

Toronto Flower Market · ƒ/8 · 1/800 · ISO 100

( 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 that one Saturday the whole 2010s fit inside a flower market, kept on the pocket Canon I carry everywhere.

( prints · collaborations · commissions )

isabellayifan.zhou@gmail.com