personal+BFA project

Just a little blast from the past since I'm feeling a little reminiscent. For my BFA degree I had to do a senior personal project. I chose to photograph main streets from Canada all the way down to Mexico. I shot it all on Fuji PRO 400H film on the schools Hassleblad camera. I LOVE THAT CAMERA. I miss it. I love the square format. Maybe one day I will get my own, maybe. This is what I wrote about my project. 

Artist Statement
     My childhood summer vacations were spent in the backseat of the family mini van, questioning my parents, “Are we there yet?” We would leave our home in Calgary and head any direction with our tent trailer attached to the hitch. All the miles spent in the car have created a great love for traveling.
     This summer I had the opportunity to travel across western North America and visit various locations. Some places include Boulder, Montana, and Fort Macleod, Alberta and also other locations such as New Port Beach, California and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I documented my trips by photographing interesting subjects at each place that I saw.
     Every city has a downtown center or a central main street. Over the years, some cities have restored these areas into historical sites, others have developed these areas to adapt for tourists, others are corporate downtown centers and some have fallen into disrepair.  Each downtown is unique, defining the personality of the city.
     I would arrive at the location with no pre-determined notion of what I might photograph. I would walk around the area discovering the appealing things that caught my attention. Sometimes it was architecture, a sign, a window display or just how something was at that specific moment. I composed each frame looking for shapes and how they related to the space around it. 
    This project is something that I plan to continue.  I loved learning about the areas I was visiting by having a chance to discover the culture through this photographic project.