From the prairies to the mountains, this new "Surreal Alberta" series I've been creating has been all about reinventing perspectives on the familiar. One moment you're admiring architecture, the next you're seeing landscape.
A lot of inspiration has been born simply out of playing in my digital archives again and rediscovering years of travel shoots around Alberta. In this case, the Calgary Central Library in downtown Calgary, Alberta provided some new puzzle pieces.
"Cosmic Canoes" is a new addition to the "Surreal Alberta" digital artwork series constructed from images shot in Canmore, Alberta outside of Banff National Park.
Originally debuting on the Editing Luke facebook page, these images are some of the spring highlights from the "Hometown Series" shot in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
This new Surreal Alberta series leaves a lot of room to play. Just keep an eye out for those lake sharks the next time you're exploring Lake Louise in Banff National Park.
With travel options still limited for the time being, I've resorted to inventing some new takes on familiar locations to explore. Surreal Alberta is a digital composite art series in which I'm utilizing elements from my library of professional travel photography to create fantasized / surrealist scenes of some of Alberta's most recognizable landscapes and attractions.
Launched earlier this week on the @editingluke Instagram account, the debut image of my surrealist series quickly became my most liked post of 2021 (so far) and reached more than 170,000 profiles in 48 hours. While the popularity and new art prints are a nice byproduct of this creative departure, I think the reality is that we could all just use a little escape these days.
Stay tuned as the series continues with new additions from around the province.
"Train Warp" is a new addition to my surrealist Alberta, digital artwork series. Mix a little Willy Wonka, light refraction, and a vintage C-train from Calgary, Alberta together and who knows where we'll end up. Where we're going we don't need rails.
"Wonderland Springs" is another addition to my brand new surrealist, digital artwork series inspired by Alberta scenes from my professional travel photography archives. Pink hues, shooting stars, and a fairytale castle in the Rockies - this latest composite and art print features the iconic Banff Springs Hotel in Banff National Park.
"Interstellar Badlands" is another new art print in a series of surreal scenes I've been creating. At the moment I'm experimenting with a handful of Alberta-centric scenes based off of elements from my professional travel photography around the province. The base of this latest addition comes from a sunset captured in Dinosaur Provincial Park.
"Jasper's Daydream" is the first in a new series of digital artwork I've been experimenting with - a mix of collage and surrealism created using elements from my existing library of professional travel photography. The base of this image is from Jasper National Park in Alberta.
For the last couple years, particularly since the release of my documentary, I'd had a few discussions with Medalta Potteries, the National Historic Site and museum in Medicine Hat, Alberta, about releasing a collection of limited edition postcards inspired by the photo essays I'd shot around the clay district as part of my Around the Hat series.
Despite us both wanting to make it happen, it essentially took a year when everything else slowed down for us to finally find the time to pull it all together. The result is this brand new, 10 piece collection of mini art print postcards, designed and photographed by Editing Luke, and available exclusively through Medalta in the Historic Clay District.
Just a few visual updates to the Around Alberta archives at Waterton Lakes National Park, including this previously unpublished shot of a moody sunset over the Prince of Wales Hotel.
Nestled in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Mount Rushmore is an iconic American landmark that you have to see (preferably as part of a lengthy cross-country road trip) at least once. Carved between 1927-1941 by Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln, Rushmore features 60 foot heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
I first posted this anecdote / image to the @editingluke Instagram.
This Jaguar XJ8 appeared in the background of a lot of my older shoots, particularly those shot around Alberta, and it actually impacted a lot of my early content on this site.
Just to be clear, my midlife crisis started right out of university.
When I first started making a little bit of money out of school the first major purchase I made was this old Jaguar. After years of feeling broke all the time, I thought, "I can top this" lol.Completed in 1958, Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower located in the heart of Tokyo, Japan. At 332.9 meters, Tokyo Tower is the second tallest structure in Japan, with the newer communications and observation tower, Tokyo Skytree taking the record in 2012.
Tokyo Tower's lattice framework was inspired by the Eiffel Tower, often drawing direct comparisons between them. However, Tokyo Tower has become iconic in its own right for its unmistakable white and international orange paint scheme and its prominent position in the Tokyo skyline - particularly when viewed from Tokyo Bay.
Whether you're climbing the open-air staircase or admiring its orange glow each night, there's no denying that Tokyo Tower is one of Japan's most recognizable, and most featured landmarks. In fact, you've probably seen it more than you even realize as Tokyo Tower is one of the few landmarks in the world that actually has its own emoji on virtually every phone.
