Erin Combs (born 1952 or 1953), also known as Erin Combs Pearl, is a photographer who worked at the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

''. Hired as a

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

in 1974, she was one of the first women photographers to contribute regularly to a major Canadian newspaper.

Early life and education

Born in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, Erin Combs moved to Canada when she was three years old. She was photographed for a girls' fashion story in ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' in 1964. In high school, she was a photographer for the school's

yearbook A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of Annual publication, a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually ...

. In college she contributed photos to the college newspaper. She attended

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

in Toronto, Ontario.

Career

Combs worked as a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

photographer while she was a university student in the early 1970s, at a time when no women photographers worked at major Canadian newspapers. In 1974, the ''

'' hired 22-year-old Combs as a photographer, where she became known as "Shorty" as she stood . She worked as a photographer in the fashion section, as a photo editor and as Head of Photography Department (1992 to 2000). During her time at the newspaper, Combs also judged photo contests and won the Judy award for journalistic coverage of the fashion sector (an award shared with the ''Toronto Star'' fashion team). ''Toronto Star'' photographer Dick Loek, reflecting on Combs's tenure at the newspaper, wrote that her father had said "if she got hired to watch out, because she would be running the joint in no time". Loek added that those words "turned out to be a pretty accurate prophecy". From 2001 to 2004, Combs worked in public relations and marketing for clothiers Zenobia Collections.

References

External links

Toronto Star photographs
at Digital Archive (

Toronto Public Library Toronto Public Library (TPL) is a public library system in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest public library system in Canada, and in 2023 had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other public library system internationally, making i ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Combs, Erin Canadian women photographers Living people York University alumni Canadian fashion photographers Toronto Star people 1952 births