Sundown at the Hat Motel on 35mm

A charming stopover to capture some vintage style b-roll on good old fashioned 35mm.

Archival Restorations & Medicine Hat in 1883

While I've always had an interest in old photographs, it's a relatively new skill that I've been practicing in restoring and colourizing archival images. I was particularly interested in some of the earliest images that I could find of my hometown, Medicine Hat, Alberta.  

Here are some of my recent experiments from Medicine Hat's founding in 1883.

1. This image was taken 142 years ago today on June 14, 1883.

It shows a North-West Mounted Police outpost with a newly formed tent town in the distance. The timber train bridge in the background had just been completed by the Canadian Pacific Railway, with the first train crossing taking place just a few days prior on June 10, 1883. 

It was the beginning of a place called Medicine Hat.

2. Another piece of 142 year old history.

This photograph depicts the first train crossing on the newly built timber bridge in Medicine Hat on June 10, 1883. You can see that the train is full of railway ties and telegraph polls as the workers of the Canadian Pacific Railway continued their westward expansion across the South Saskatchewan River.

With the mountains ahead, the final spike in CP's coast to coast railway would finally be driven in Craigellachie, British Columbia on November 7, 1885 - a year and half after this moment was captured in the newly founded Medicine Hat.

3. This image was taken on June 18, 1883.

The craziest thing about finding and restoring these archival images when I did, is that I seem to be unintentionally following in the footsteps of this unnamed photographer who was capturing some of the first ever images in the area.

This image shows the newly founded tent town of Medicine Hat about a week after the completion of the CPR bridge across the river.

A High School, A Book & A Decade

This shoot just turned 10 years old. 

Back in 2015, I was invited back to my former high school to explore and photograph. Medicine Hat High School would soon be undergoing a modernization upgrade that would see a significant part of the old high school demolished. 

This was one of those projects that I took on out of my own curiosity and connection to the place, but the shoot turned lucrative when it became the basis for my photo book, "MHHS As It Was" in 2017. Not only did we sell over 1000 copies in pre-sale that year, but I was then hired to shoot the architectural images of the modernized high school in 2018. 

It just goes to show that some of those "free" shoots can pay dividends if you see the potential in owning the work in the long term. It also has me thinking I'm overdue to give that photo book thing another crack at some point lol. 

Good memories.

Photographing the Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival

Over this past weekend I had the pleasure of utilizing my media pass and photographing the Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival in Medicine Hat, Alberta for the 4th year in a row. Featuring a variety of launches, flights, glows, and a handful of custom "googly eyed" memes, my content this year reached over 300K people on the Editing Luke socials in just the first 4 days of the festival. 

The Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival is a vibrant, free, and family-friendly event held annually in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Launched by Willy and Cindy Taillon in collaboration with the nonprofit Our Collective Journey, the festival aims to uplift spirits and promote mental wellness through the awe-inspiring spectacle of hot air balloons soaring over the city.

Scheduled on May 22–25, 2025, the festival featured nearly 30 balloons from around North America and involved morning and evening flights, weather permitting. A highlight was the mesmerizing Balloon Glow event at Kin Coulee Park on the Friday night, where tethered balloons illuminated the night sky creating a magical experience for the attendees.

Tipi Village in Medicine Hat, Alberta

A few visuals from a tipi village near the Saamis Tepee in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

 

Online Release of Your Cinema Needs You

The wait is finally over! After 15 months since the premiere that reopened the Monarch Theatre and the extended international film festival tour that followed, Your Cinema Needs You is online and available to screen Canada-wide right now. Click here.