Fort Calgary National Historic Site: Part 1

In 1875 the North West Mounted Police built a fort at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers that laid the foundations for the modern city of Calgary, Alberta. Established as Fort Brisebois, it was renamed Fort Calgary by James Macleod (a name associated with another popular fort) in 1876 after Calgary House in Scotland.   

Fort Calgary held its location from 1875 to 1914 when the land was then sold to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The site was cleared and became a rail yard and storage facility. Recognizing the historical value of the site, the City of Calgary reclaimed the land in 1974 and designated it a provincial and National Historic Site of Canada. 

Reopened in 1978, today Fort Calgary is a museum and event space featuring a replica of the 1888 barracks that were constructed in 2000. I explored and photographed this unique historic site for my Around Alberta series while taking advantage of the opportunity to learn more about the North West Mounted Police (later the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and to tour a wide range of exhibits about the history of Calgary, Alberta.

Fort Calgary ca. 1878

New barracks at Fort Calgary ca. 1888

40 Million Is A Really Big Number

Since the start of the year I've been counting down the days knowing that this milestone was just around the corner. Today it finally happened. As of January 12, 2017 the content on Editing Luke has now officially been seen by over 40 million people around the world.  

What makes this an especially exciting achievement is that this has all happened in the last 5 years. Despite starting this website on May 31, 2007, I didn't actually begin seriously tracking my analytics until late 2011. Amazingly, over 10 million of these views came from 2016 alone.  

You might be asking yourself how is a number like this possible with my relatively modest social media following? The answer is actually pretty simple. Longevity and Google image searches. 

Editing Luke is about to turn 10 years old in a few months time and since 2007 I've shared nearly 2100 posts on this site. The back catalog of content includes work I did as a film student, multiple photo sets spanning North America, my numerous video productions, contract projects, journals about filmmaking, concert photography, road trip adventures, as well as my incredibly popular posts about Medicine Hat and Alberta at large (just to name some of the highlights). 

A photo posted by Luke Fandrich (@editingluke) on Jan 7, 2017 at 2:00pm PST

When my production company (including this website) became my full time job in 2014 I became even more strategic about getting my work seen to attract more business. I made a concerted effort to improve the quality of what I shared, I targeted bigger and more varied audiences, and I challenged myself to be more efficient and productive with my time. On the surface it may seem simple, but making this work hasn't come easy. Even still.  

At the end of the day 40 million is still just a number, but I'm genuinely humbled by it. It makes me feel like my persistence has really paid off. Despite reinventing myself numerous times and having lots of excuses or reasons to quit over the last decade, building Editing Luke has turned out to be one of the greatest personal investments I could've made as a student. 

For all you other dreamers out there, let this be a lesson that today is the day to start. One night in late May back in 2007 I was just a film student in a dorm who decided it might be fun to start a website. I hoped a few people might see my work. Well, so far so good.

Dymaxion "Home of the Future" at The Henry Ford

Developed by architect and inventor Buckminster Fuller, the Dymaxion House was a post World War II factory manufactured home intended to revolutionize the housing market. Easy to ship and assemble, this low cost dwelling was to be built using aluminum in former aircraft factories following the war. Although the Dymaxion House prototype received critical praise upon its unveiling, the design was never produced industrially.

This installation of a Dymaxion House is on display at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan where visitors are able to tour "A New Way of Living for 1946". Featuring several innovations that were cutting edge for their time, the home is a unique look at retro modernism. You can learn more about the Dymaxion House by watching the short archival video below.