As I've been backtracking through old pictures, fragments of stories from my old blogs, and generally just trying to immortalize past experiences on this online journal, I've realized that some of my favorite memories in film school came from things that weren't particularly significant. Take glow bowling for instance.
These shots come from the fall of 2006, when Jeanette and I participated in the College West Residence organized event of glow bowling at the Golden Mile Bowling Centre. I remember going here a handful of times, almost never sober, and always left with a smile on my face. Don't food yourself with Wii bowling kids, the real thing is better!
My classic between-the-legs bowling stance seemed to always help as the night went on, although my scores were always pretty shameful. What was particularly hilarious about this evening (and the pictures have been omitted here) was that Jeanette and I seemed to have been photographing a lot of complete strangers. These weren't people that we casually knew from College West or that I forgot because I was drinking, the shots appear to be of completely random people around the bowling alley. It was beautiful, you could really see the confusion in their eyes.
University outings like this have become small pieces of bigger stories that I can't help but cling to when I'm feeling a bit nostalgic. Like I said, it's not that they were particularly significant, it's probably because I hardly bothered to take my camera with me back then. Having pictures like these are merely cues to all of the other random instances that took place, and they generally make me romanticize my student life. That was a fun bubble to be in for a while. Don't be surprised if a few more stories resurface in the coming weeks.
The Corona Hotel in the North Railway district of Medicine Hat is another building celebrating it's 100th anniversary this year. Like the nearby Cecil Hotel, the Corona was constructed in 1912 to cater to traffic from the nearby train station. In general, Medicine Hat was experiencing a boom throughout the early 1910s and a tremendous amount construction resulted in many notable buildings around town.
When the building was initially constructed it featured what appeared to be a theatre style entrance on one side, which I think was for a ballroom or dance hall. It was later converted to a store front, but eventually that portion of the building was demolished. A few historic details remain like the painted Hotel Corona sign on the side of the building, however details like the molding and sign on the roof have been gone for a long time. Today the Corona is best known for the Corona Street Tavern.
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| Corona Hotel ca. 1910s |
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| Corona Hotel ca. 1930s |
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| Corona Hotel ca. 1913 |
This year is rolling out in a matter of weeks and it's once again become clear (like it does every year at this time) that I have a lot on my plate that I want to finish. It's actually kind of amazing that the first few months of 2012 seemed to drag on for me and then suddenly things snowballed the further in I got. With so much on the go, I thought it would be nice to share some updates.
At the moment I'm shooting lots of photography for Weddingstar, working on a new edit for Stream, continuing to develop my Around the Hat photo series, and working on the overdue release of Searching Salvation. After a handful of trips to Local in the last few weeks I feel like I've had a lot of discussions about all of these things, but then realized that I hadn't really written a what-I've-been-up-to post in a while. Here's the rundown:
Weddingstar has been doing a lot of revamping this year as the company has continued to expand. As the in house photographer for the website, this has meant a lot of last minute shoots for the magazine, photographing extra images for new products, updating old images, and a few how-to videos thrown in for good measure. It's been busy, and admittedly more repetitive than in years past.
Stream Media has really slowed down in this second half of the year as it was expected to, however another edit has popped up this month. It's nothing gripping, but I still like having video projects on the side.
Speaking of on the side projects, Around the Hat has been a really exciting undertaking for me this year. The response has been great so far and I am still searching out locations and interiors from around the city that I'd like to feature. There have been a lot of seeds planted with the potential for big things in the new year, but one of the best things to come from the series so far is the relationship I've established with Medalta. They've been great at getting me access to closed sites throughout the local clay district and have helped promote my sets as I've shared them. If this is a sign of things to come then I think I'm on the right track. I'm seriously exploring opportunities with government grants as a way of exhibiting and sharing the complete series.
And then there's Searching Salvation, the short about the death of my friend Dave and our trip to Salvation Mountain in California. I've been dragging my feet on this one for the last year because I've been struggling to sum it up and have it feel exactly the way I want it to. I haven't abandoned the project though, it's just been a long editing and fine tuning process. When it's ready I don't want to have any regrets about it, and because I see so much potential in what it can be I don't want to feel arbitrarily pressured. All I can say is that it's coming along and I'm getting closer.
Throw in Christmas prep, and it's going to be a busy next few weeks. I think a few more pints are going to be in order to help get me through it.
