How a Schoolwide Documentary Changed Everything

I understand that it's no small statement to say that one project 'changed everything', but in my personal experience, that's exactly what happened when I agreed to take on what inadvertently became the longest shoot of my career (thus far anyway). For over a year, from December 2015 to December 2016, I captured months worth of footage while filming an open-ended documentary inside a newly built Canadian school. Here's the story in a nutshell. 

It all started in the summer of 2015 when I took a meeting at Dr. Roy Wilson Learning Centre in Medicine Hat, Alberta. We sat down to discuss the idea of collaborating on an original project that would utilize video and photography in some capacity. The concept was loose, but essentially the goal was to document learning, collaboration, and to showcase the emerging culture of a brand new school. The funds had been made available through a private donor to do something just like this, however it was clear from the start that we would all be embarking on a big experiment.

Schoolwide Documentary: Clip #1

What none of us really knew at the time was how a project like this would evolve. While it was clear it would take months to create, I don't think any of us imagined how big it would become or that it would end up stretching over several years. I had a lot of other projects in the works at this time as well, but I still found myself in the school almost weekly throughout 2016 to shoot another classroom, interview, discussion, etc. 

We truly embraced the unknown in those early months of filming. As things progressed a narrative began to emerge about the importance of collaboration, how education had evolved in recent years, and what learning looked like inside a modern Canadian school. 

After filming wrapped at the end of 2016, editing began and continued into the spring. In early June 2017 a rough cut of the documentary was completed, screened, and received with overwhelming positivity and excitement. I'm glossing over what a daunting task editing a project with terabytes / weeks worth of raw footage actually was, but let's just say it was an experience. It seemed we were only a few final tweaks away from having the project go live and released to the public at large. Then we hit a roadblock.

The thing about working on a project with a timeline as long as this one was that there had been some major shifts between when we began shooting to when we finished. Pressures outside of the school, internal politics, the school district - I would love to tell you exactly what happened, but frankly, I still don't fully understand it myself. All I know is that the barriers that kept the documentary from a public release had nothing to do with anyone involved in our project.

Schoolwide Documentary: Clip #2

As frustrating as that setback was, too much had gone into all of this to simply give up. After months of back and forth we finally got the green light to share some of the collaborative clips that had been filmed around the school.

It bears repeating, this project would have never happened in the first place had it not been for the incredible involvement of the teachers, students, and staff at Dr. Roy Wilson Learning Centre who wholeheartedly embraced this wild experiment from the get-go. From class projects to impromptu interviews to candid scenes playing out all over the school, there was no shortage of enthusiasm (particularly with the grade school kids) when the camera came out.

On top of that, to be invited into classrooms, to participate in class projects, and to share some of my own passion for multimedia was a real bonus throughout this entire journey. I owe a lot to the lead team, teachers, and staff who helped to facilitate these experiences and link a lot of the moving pieces together. These few clips just scratch the surface of how much was actually happening. You have to realize, by the very nature of the project, this schoolwide documentary had a cast of hundreds.  

Schoolwide Documentary: Clip #3

While the narrative element of this documentary has been archived, I'm proud to at least be able to share some of the collaboration that really defined what this experience was all about. When I took this on I never could've imagined what a profound impact making this documentary would have on my own creativity, shooting style, and outlook. Whatever small impact I may have had by simply being in the school, I was rewarded tenfold by the humour, ingenuity, and the willingness to share I experienced from the students of WLC week after week. 

There's poetry in the fact that shooting a schoolwide documentary (that was never officially released) ended up becoming an elaborate life lesson. We all grew a bit in the process. We embraced an ambitious challenge and a rare opportunity to do something big. We turned a lot of everyday moments into art. And when it counted, there was no shortage of inspiration, ideas, or creativity to go around. Maybe it was all just a glorified work in progress, but in my humble opinion, that's how a schoolwide documentary changed everything.

   

     

Inside the Modernized Medicine Hat High School

After several years of planning, documenting, demolition, renovation, and even a photo book of the high school as it was, the newly modernized Medicine Hat High School in Medicine Hat, Alberta has been completed and was opened at the start of the 2017 school year. 

This series of images was made possible by Graham Construction who hired me to shoot the architectural photography of this completed project. My past photo sets of the former Medicine Hat High School can be explored within the Around the Hat photo series. In the meantime, here are some visual highlights of this impressive new space. 

The hub of the new MHHS was formerly the south gymnasium.

The massive new gym.

The new MHHS is full of collaborative spaces.

MHHS As It Was: Official Book Release

This weekend marked the long awaited release of my photo book MHHS As It Was. After months of work spent putting the book together, several months more of having it printed, and a month of shipments and deliveries, it's with a lot of excitement and relief that I'm proud to say that the book is finally out there and in the hands of all those who first wanted one.  

The MHHS As It Was photo book features an exclusive series of images that I shot in 2015 and 2016 of my former high school in Medicine Hat, Alberta. It was part of a thorough exploration I documented of the massive building before the school was modernized and partially demolished in the year that followed.

The new high school which re-opened this September has now been completely transformed, turning a series of architectural photographs into a final archival record of where so many of us spent some of our most formative years. Significant portions of the old school had looked (largely) the same since the 1960s, so as you can imagine there were thousands of graduates over the last five decades who shared a connection to this place 'As It Was'.  

It was with this nostalgia in mind that I set out to create this photo book. Originally I thought I could potentially sell a couple hundred copies to help finance the work that would go into the idea. It's important to note that this book was an original Editing Luke project. From the photo shoots to the proof and publishing costs to the promotion and pre-order sales, this was an entirely self-financed endeavor and not something that Medicine Hat High School paid me to create. That being said, the school was incredibly supportive of the idea and book from the get-go. 

To say this project was a success would be an understatement. The response to the photo book, which was promoted exclusively through the Editing Luke website and social media channels, sold over 1000 copies while in pre-order. To put it another way, I had already sold all of my available stock before the boxes of books had even started to arrive from the publisher. For a local project as specific as this, one that people hadn't even been able to flip through the pages of yet, that was an incredible (and totally unexpected) achievement!  




Orders for MHHS As It Was came in from across Canada and the United States, and were even shipped as far away as Australia. This weekend marked the final stage of the release where local pre-orders from all over the city were picked up in the brand new Medicine Hat High School. 

With nearly 300 people coming through the doors on Friday and Saturday to get their pre-ordered books, it was an amazing opportunity to hear stories, sign a few copies, and even cross paths with some of my former grad class. To sum up the entire experience is difficult, but in a word it's been humbling. The support, the feedback, the number of copies sold, etc. have all exceeded the expectations I had for this project and I'm incredibly thankful. Really, thank you!

If you'd like to get your hands on one of the limited edition copies of MHHS As It Was the last several hundred books are available exclusively at Medicine Hat High School while supplies last. The books are $30 each and can be purchased in the main office or school store. They make great gifts, and are sure to have you reminiscing about stories you haven't talked about in years.