Editing Luke in 2014

The last year was one of major transition for me, and it's something that will undoubtedly continue into 2015. After being laid off at the start of the year, I took the leap and began pursuing the work I'd already been doing and sharing on Editing Luke in a more full-time capacity. This meant more corporate and promotional shoots, more varied video projects, and overall, a lot more risk. It's something I'm still figuring out. 

The challenges I faced in 2014 made the rewards seem sweeter, but they also added new stresses. As a result, it's the first time in years that I can honestly say that major changes have become a necessity. New career goals, the potential for a new location, and a desire for new opportunities could make 2015 the biggest transition year for me since I came back from university in 2008. My future has never seemed as open-ended as it does right now, and it was the events of the last year that made this clear. 

These are some of the things that made my 2014 memorable:

January 2014 - I began my year still riding high on the news of the art wall that the City of Medicine Hat had commissioned from me for the new airport terminal expansion. While technically an end of year project in 2013, it was in January that I revealed what the art wall would look like and delivered the finished panels to the City. My permanent art installation should be installed in the new terminal in 2015.

January 21, 2014 - I debuted a new video created for the Mayor's State of the City Address, featuring All Hell for a Basement by Big Sugar. 

January 28, 2014 - Images that I shot of Aaron Nelson's exhibition at the Esplanade were published in Ceramics Ireland magazine and on C-File.

February 19, 2014 - For the first time I worked out a consignment deal and began offering framed prints available exclusively through the Peacock's Feather in Medicine Hat. 

February 28, 2014 - I was laid off. After nearly 5 years as the Web Media Editor, creating original photo and video content for Weddingstar.com, I said my farewell.

March 2014 - I documented the 2014 Calgary International Auto Show and the Cars of the Big & Small Screen exhibit at Heritage Park.

March 31, 2014 - I celebrated my 30th birthday.

April 14, 2014 - Several of my images were published in a spread for Studio Magazine.

April 18, 2014 - One of my photographs of Redcliff, Alberta became the subject of an elementary school's art project. See the result here.

April 25, 2014 - I documented the Sunset Dinner, an opener to the 2014 Sunshine Skillet Festival.

May 2, 2014 - I began working on an archival project with Medalta Potteries to edit the limited footage of the I-XL Brick Plant when it was in operation. These were some of the images I captured while exploring the factory.

May 29, 2014 - The Thinking Hat exhibition that I collaborated on gained a bit more attention when it went on display in downtown Medicine Hat just before Spectrum.

May 31, 2014 - Editing Luke celebrated 7 years.

June 11, 2014 - I was hired to do a shoot for Salazar Films, a production company based out of Vancouver, BC.

June 13, 2014 - I took part in a panel for Now We're Talking 2014.

June 2014 - The biggest photo project I undertook this year was expanding my collection of Alberta imagery. At the end of June I kicked this off with a week long road trip, driving the length of Alberta's Rocky Mountains. This continued with a few more photo journaling trips through the Canadian Badlands, and visits to several National Historic Sites located in Southern Alberta. Explore the complete collection here.

July 22, 2014 - I was invited to document the interior of the abandoned Redcliff Pressed Brick Factory before work began on partially demolishing the site for a park.

August 18, 2014 - I was hired to shoot aerial photography over the Canadian Badlands (near Horseshoe Canyon) from a helicopter. 

August 25, 2014 - Working on the fundraising campaign for the new Regional Event Centre, I had the opportunity to tour the construction site with the mayor while shooting footage for the project.

September 5, 2014 - I was contracted to do a shoot of Mad Hatter Coffee Roastery for the fall issue of Westworld Magazine. 

September 2014 - My video short Art Casual debuted on a giant inflatable screen during Alberta Culture Days on the front lawn of the Esplanade.

October 2014 - The time had come, and I did a massive upgrade on my editing suite.

October 25, 2014 - For the 2nd year in a row, I was the official photographer for Medalta's Black and White Gala.

November 25, 2014 - I did two speaking engagements for the Medicine Hat College, one to Visual Communications students and one to a larger audience for the Inspire Lectures series. I spoke about pursuing your passion and entrepreneurship.  

December 2014 - Something that had been on my to-do list for several years, at the beginning of December I returned to Southern California to retrace the steps of the road trips I had taken with my friend Dave before he passed away in 2011. The resulting photo series and video project will debut in early 2015.

December 12, 2014 - Following last year's success, I collaborated with Matt Teel again to produce another calendar using the imagery from my Around the Hat series.

December 20, 2014 - As difficult as it is to sum up my year in a single post, I did my best to summarize my top 5 favourite photo shoots that I completed in 2014. See the post here.

A video posted by Luke Fandrich (@editingluke) on Dec 12, 2014 at 9:50am PST

It's the ups and downs that keep things interesting, and for that reason I can't help but be optimistic about what 2015 will bring. I wish you all the very best in the new year ahead, and want to say thank you for your continued support and interest in the work I share here.

Inspire Lectures & Speaking to Students

Last week I was invited to do two speaking engagements with the Medicine Hat College. While I've received a lot of questions and feedback over the years about my work through this website, it's not often that I'm asked to share my insight on pursuing your passion and entrepreneurship in front of an audience. Still, it was flattering to be asked, and I appreciated the challenge of trying to refine what the take-away from my experiences has been.

On Wednesday I spoke to Visual Communications students about my work, website, and my career in photography and video production so far. I spoke for 40 minutes and used a lot of examples from recent projects as proof that even though the successes can be difficult to predict, you can create your own opportunities. So much of what has happened to me in the last few years has been a result of personal goals, taking chances, and following through on ideas.

I narrowed my advice down to three challenges:

1. Build a portfolio, blog, or website to brand yourself and the work you want to be doing.
2. Create engaging content as a means of showcasing the skills you want to be hired for.
3. Network and collaborate to sell your ideas and invite new opportunities. 

For each point I shared stories and projects to prove how my advice was based on personal experience. Things like how this blog lead to my first job with Stream Media, how my Around the Hat series helped build my reputation locally, and how collaborating on projects like Thinking Hat opened new doors and continued to expand my career. It was an interesting experience for me just to connect the dots for myself and see how some of the biggest opportunities I've had in the last few years actually had pretty humble beginnings.

The next day I spoke at the Cultural Centre for the Enactus MHC Inspire Lectures series. I trimmed my presentation down to the highlights for a brief 10 minute talk, sharing the stage with 5 other speakers. It was cool how my talk about sharing my own story did inspire other people to share theirs. I ended up having a lot of great discussions that night, and as is usually the case when putting yourself outside of your comfort zone, I learned a lot in the process too.

I had the audience give me a wave before my presentation.

Medalta's Black & White Gala 2014

This year I was asked to be the official photographer for Medalta's 4th annual Black and White Gala. Just like last year, it was an absolute pleasure. This black-tie event is always a chance to mingle with Medicine Hat's business community and support one of our city's best treasures, Medalta Potteries. Here is a sampling of some of what I captured on October 25, 2014.

Around Alberta Promo (2014)

In the last 5 months I've added thousands of images to my Around Alberta photo series, featuring everything from the Rockies to the Badlands and so much in between. The growth has been incredible, and so with the development of this page I also wanted to put together a simple promo to showcase the collection. Stay tuned, there's so much more to come!

Shooting in the Brick Factory (Again)

Over the summer it seemed like the old I-XL Brick Plant was a regular hangout for me. I made several visits to photograph various portions of the factory to better understand the brick making process. As I mentioned earlier, I was tasked with editing archival footage of the plant in operation to provide supporting material for the tours that are planned for next year.

This amazing brick plant houses over a century of history and at this point is still an underrated treasure in Medicine Hat's historic clay district - which itself is a National Historic Site of Canada. These are just a few more of the random shots that I captured while touring the plant over the last couple months, but they should give you a glimpse at what an interesting locale it really is.