Who is Sakura Steve?

Who is Sakura Steve?

Sakura Steve is the nickname of Steven Joniak, a Content Creator and Photographer based in Etobicoke, Ontario. As a creative professional with extensive graphic and website design experience, I've worked for over 30 years with various companies and clients in the corporate, entertainment, events, and healthcare industries. You can read more about me in my LinkedIn bio here.

Photography has always been a passion of mine. When I discovered the limitless ability to experiment with digital SLR cameras, I jumped head first into shooting nature and architectural interests all over Toronto and the GTA. Living close to High Park, it was advantageous to frequently venture out for an impromptu photo shoot of the various trees, flowers and wildlife I would encounter throughout the park. The first fateful encounter with the High Park Sakura cherry blossoms laid the foundation for all my work tracking the blossoms’ progress.

What inspired my passion for Sakura cherry blossoms?

I lived just a block from High Park when I first moved to Toronto. As a nature enthusiast, I often enjoyed the sights and sounds during my walks, bike rides, and evening runs through the park. One sunny evening in 2006, while running down Cherry Hill, I stumbled upon the Sakura cherry blossoms in peak bloom, surrounded by a stunning sunlit canopy of delicate flowers. The sight instantly captivated me, and I paused to absorb the incredible spectacle fully. A few days later, I returned to take photos, only to find the blossoms had already fallen due to the rain. In the following years, I tried unsuccessfully to catch the bloom at the right time, always arriving too late or too early. Eventually, starting in 2010, I developed a strategy of visiting High Park in early March to catch the beginnings and get an idea of when they will eventually bloom. By 2012, I had enough observational knowledge to build and launch my online journey.

How I got started building the website.

After discovering the Sakura blossoms, I struggled to find detailed information online about where they came from, how they bloom, and their importance and symbolism. I was already exploring nature photography and thought capturing the Sakura cherry blossoms in High Park would be an excellent opportunity to enhance my creative ambitions. The idea to use my artistic talents and technical skills to build the Sakura in High Park website was born.

In my first few years, I established a timeline for when the trees would begin to show their buds and then tracked the progress, noting key insights into their size, shape, and colour as they moved through the various stages. Inspired by the incredible work seen on other websites, such as those for the Washington and Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festivals, I wanted to create a similar resource and foundation for Toronto, with the hopes of sharing all I could learn about the history, blooming process, and beautiful symbolism of the Sakura cherry blossom, hoping to inspire and educate other Toronto blossom enthusiasts. More recently, I have been looking to see how I can continue to grow and try new ideas with each new Sakura season.