Art finds a way.
I consider myself extremely fortunate to have shot any shows at all last year, given that more shows were cancelled than went on. Still, I got to shoot seven live shows in the most restrictive year in our collective memory. Most were modified in some way, or had invitation-only audiences with strategically assigned seating. Not approaches that will necessarily work moving forward, but ingenuity and creative were abound.
Of these seven shows, the first was for Western Canada High School as they prepared to enter 2020’s High Performance Rodeo. A first for both the school and the Rodeo to have such young artists take part. While I offer this gallery in nothing other than chronological order of capture, their passion and dedication make them fully deserving of being featured first.
I also showed up to that shoot with a broken camera! First time in 15 years I had a full equipment failure too close to showtime to do anything about. Anything except follow drama teacher [and Top40 Under40 Class of 2020 member] Caitlin Gallichan-Lowe to the A/V room to borrow a junior camera and kit lens. School supplies to the rescue! This stuck in my mind not due to the panic it caused, but because of the fact that the school’s camera was a Canon and mine are Nikon, so I had to shoot with one of each that night, switching back and forth constantly. Remembering which way to turn each lens to zoom and focus [hint: theyre opposite of one another!] was a huge trip. Fun to look back on, but I do not recommend.
The final show of the year, the University of Calgary School of Creative and Performing Arts’ Just Like the Moon, created and directed by the brilliant Lizz Windnagle [whom was featured in The Artists That Move Me portrait series]. I had the impossible privilege of photographing the only performance that went ahead as intended. I was one of three people to see that show in person. By the next night the provincial mandates in Alberta had changed and the actors were forced to wear masks during the run. The following morning the run was cancelled. We were planning on doing a video recording in the style of Like Tom Cruise Loves Running days later… another tragedy in the arts in 2020, and the second time that creative overlap between Lizz and I fell thru last year.
Take a minute to browse this gallery. Its full of people that love what they do and who’s work was greatly diminished last year. This is the love that I am able to offer them for now. ❤️
