I revisited some of the images I shot in 2010 on Hollywood Boulevard in search of a new challenge. In the past I only posted snapshots from my travels, and looking at these old images I saw a lot of potential in creating new edits for them. Hollywood is a tourist trap that's been photographed a million times, so I thought it would be fun to play with that vintage stereotype that's come to define the location.
I edited all of my shots in varying shades of black and white, even masking textures on some to replicate vintage photographs. I wanted to play up the grittiness and textures, and treated the images like they were a backdrop to an old film noir. It was a completely different way of looking at the images that I originally shared here.
This is the fourth time that I've created a promo for my Around the Hat photo series. The last one, which debuted in March 2013, went on to get over 40,000 views. As I'm starting to wind down creating new content for the project, I'm now focused on emphasizing just how much material there is. With thousands and thousands of photographs to work with, the series is richer than ever.
I purchased this rare used postcard online, which shows the Medicine Hat power plant sometime between 1910-1920. The edges on the back of the postcard have been damaged from being glued into a scrapbook or album, making the postage date unreadable. Those details aside, this Medicine Hat postcard is still a fascinating document of a seldom photographed location.
Medicine Hat's natural gas and our resulting city-owned gas utility and power generation plant have always been notable features of our community - a point proven by this very postcard. Our cheap energy was the driving force that brought a number of manufacturers to the region in the early 1900s. It was also essential to our burgeoning clay industry.
The message on this postcard detailed a few of the short stops made in Southern Alberta and was mailed back to family members in Winnipeg. Today the twin bridges of the Trans Canada Highway across the South Saskatchewan River obstruct this view of the power plant - which has grown substantially as well.
