Lined with old brick apartments and shops, Aberdeen Street is another Medicine Hat location that sprung up in the boom of the early 1910s. Naturally, the street has evolved dramatically in the last century, but much like North Railway Street, the history is still very much apparent and gives the area a character and charm all its own.
With each year this site has become more of what I dreamed it would be when I started it back in 2007. Part photo journal, part video archive, part general scrapbook, what I think a lot of people don't realize is that the reason I invest so much energy into Editing Luke is because it's been proven that what I share here can actually change my life.
From the opportunities that have directly presented themselves to the impression that having a site like this can make on so many people that I've never met, the fundamental reason that Editing Luke has continued to work for me is because I crave the challenge it presents and have a strong desire to make the most my time. The need to grow, share, and entertain myself has always been a driving force for why I do what I do. Put simply, this has been fun for me.
The name Editing Luke stemmed from my time as a film student with a focus on post-production, but that also went hand in hand with actually editing how I viewed myself and the work I was producing. I've always strived to put my best foot forward, and have acknowledged many times that what you see here is often a work in progress. I've learned a lot in 7 years, and that experience has continued to fuel my curiosity and further motivated me to explore my creativity in increasingly ambitious ways. I'm not reinventing the wheel here, but I am keeping it rolling.
Editing Luke has grown to over 1600 posts that have seen hundreds of thousands of views, contributing to over 1.52 million online video views for my work. The point is that the rewards have come from persistence, and to think that I could have missed out on so many opportunities had I not decided to do all of this is the best excuse I have for not stopping. Thank you for being part of the journey. Here's to 7 years!
7 Year Stats - 371,728 blog views, 1635 posts, 1.52 million video views.
Ideas swirled for months about what might be next for Thinking Hat, the photography and design-fueled exhibit about Medicine Hat's downtown that SPECTACLE and I collaborated on last fall. After a stint at the public library, all of the panels moved into storage at City Hall where they stayed until yesterday. Leading up to Spectrum on Friday, we were asked if we wanted to display our exhibit in the storefront windows of the former Centennial Stationers (currently unoccupied) on 2nd Street in downtown Medicine Hat. Naturally, we thought that sounded great!
With Phil and Jessie (of SPECTACLE) in Calgary, the task came to me to organize the display and get things set up (thankfully Brandy from City Hall was able to help out too). It actually took surprisingly little time, and I was really pleased that almost the entire exhibit fit in the windows. The only thing omitted was the Beveridge Block material, and that seemed like an obvious choice seeing as the building (fittingly where our exhibition debuted) is already under renovation now.
Thinking Hat, our celebration of Medicine Hat's downtown history and the potential for its future, should be up for several weeks in this location. I even cleaned the outside of the windows so the artwork and designs would really pop.
What more can I say? Have a look if you come down for Spectrum, or take a glance at the display while heading to the Monarch Theatre (it's right next door). We hope Thinking Hat will open your eyes to the history that's worth preserving in our downtown, and how a few fresh ideas could bring the energy back.
