Catching Up With Wendy

I have to admit that I love taking unsuspecting pictures of people while chatting with them on skype.  I realized just how apparent my fascination was when I looked back at my library of screenshots after catching up with Wendy on Thursday night.  

The last few days have been kind of a blur and having not talked with Wendy on a one on one basis in a while, it seemed like the timing was right.  The death of my grandma early in the week couldn't have come at a stranger time if I'm honest.  It was only a few weeks from now just last year that my friend Dave passed away, and with the preparation I've been doing with my Searching Salvation project, having another funeral for someone I was close to just seemed to further engage some emotions that were already resurfacing.  It was nice to connect with Wendy, not just because of Dave, but because at this point it feels important to me to me to help move the conversation forward without constantly dwelling on the past.

Wendy and I discussed everything from Darwin's 1st birthday to personal projects, relationships, and what the future of the old Regina-crew might look like.  The weird thing that hit me during our conversation was that Wendy was actually filling a role that Dave used to play for me.  It was nice to be able to bounce ideas and thoughts around with someone who could relate to a lot of my feelings at the moment.  I think we're well on our way to a new beginning.  

Canadian Bank of Commerce

Of all of the buildings and locations that I photographed for my Around the Hat photo series so far, this one seems especially noteworthy.  It's age and prominence on the corner of 2nd Street and 6 Avenue make the evolution of downtown obvious between photographs of different eras. The details and textures of the building also seem slightly underplayed by its modest size, but historically this is a significant building in Medicine Hat, Alberta.  

Constructed in 1907, the Canadian Bank of Commerce (later known as the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) is a structure representative of the economic expansion that was occurring in the community at the time. With the railway creating a hub for the region, the Canadian Bank of Commerce was eager to compete in the Western grain trade and appeal to ranchers and natural gas producers in the area. Notably, it is one of only a few surviving buildings from the pre-World War I era in the downtown core today.

The building has since ceased operation as a bank and is now used as a law office. As seen in several of the historical images below, the area surrounding the Bank of Commerce has also changed dramatically. The original city hall and post office that shared the neighbouring corners of the intersection have long since been demolished. The Cypress Club next door remains one of the most recognizable landmarks from the Canadian Bank of Commerce's early days.    

Canadian Bank of Commerce ca. 1915

Ghosting image showing my current shot merged with the archival one.

Another ghosting image of the past merged with my 2012 image.

Bear Country USA in South Dakota

Back in 2007 on a road trip to Mount Rushmore, my friend Andrea and I stopped at Bear Country USA just outside of Rapid City, South Dakota. Bear Country is a drive through wilderness park that allows you to see various animals, including wolves, bison, elk, and bears (obviously), up close and personal from the comfort of your vehicle.

While it was a pretty relaxed experience, the most lively animal was actually an elk that approached Andrea's car and started chewing on the antenna. We had quite a few laughs about that encounter over the course of the trip. 

In addition, checking out the bear cubs after our drive through the wilderness park was a definite highlight. They were pretty cute, and we got there just as they all started climbing up a tree at the exact same time (check out the video below). It was another worthwhile stop on our road trip through the Black Hills of South Dakota.