Located on 2nd Street in downtown Medicine Hat, Alberta, the Porter Block was constructed by James and Robert Porter in 1910. This brick and sandstone building originally housed a jewelry and watch shop on the main floor operated by G.W. Elliot. It was reported in the News at the time that the jeweler was one of the finest in all of Western Canada, and that all of the stores high-end fixtures were brought directly from Toronto.
Much like many of the other old buildings downtown, the Porter Block has had substantial interior renovations and a number of different tenants in the last century. Today the building appears to be vacant (or being used for storage perhaps) and I imagine it received some damage after the Central Block burned down next door in 2007. It's similar to the old Pingle's building in that respect. It'll be interesting to see if anything becomes of this historic building in the years ahead.
This custom 4x6" photo flipbook of the Monarch Theatre is the latest addition to my Around the Hat shop. Featuring 22 original images from inside the Monarch, this affordable flipbook is a way of sharing some of my best shots of this historic and beautiful movie theatre. Check out this new item here.
If my own photo sets around Medalta didn't give away how much I like the place, hopefully these images of their products do. I was hired to shoot these images for their gift shop back in the spring before I became side-tracked by the 3D printer video I also did for Medalta. Expanding on what I've done countless times for the Weddingstar website and magazine, I set out to capture the items in Medalta's museum gift shop for the launch of their new online store.
From basic shots on white, to comparison shots of sizes and sets, to in-use shots with props and food, the entire shoot was a lot of fun to pull together. I can't wait to see these images in use, but for now here's a sampling of some of what I captured. Stay tuned for the launch of Medalta's gift shop when it goes live here - and shameless plug - I'm always on the lookout for new projects, so feel free to inquire here.
