Fototype Entry 1

 Composing pictures to blend text with the image is tricky.

I started by brain storming concepts for the contents of book (image 1). Is it about people, places, things, etc? Concepts for layouts and spreads. Finally is there a unifying concept?

During all of this, and keeping in mind the minimum of 20 photos, I settled on 24 photos in 24 hours in the Medicine Hat area. I wandered around with a notebook and pen and took pictures when I could. The locations for the images range from Medicine Hat to Redcliff to Basanno. Image 2 shows the initial brainstorming list of photos, followed by the first list of photos and times; this was superseded by the notebook.

Getting the photos between 0700 and 2200 was easy(ish). I made a conscious effort to keep the notebook at hand and would divert my route when needed and if I had time; for the rush hour picture I just pulled over on my way to school and went up on the overpass.  I was opportunistic, and kept the project in mind when I was in areas that might provide a photo; the picture at the drag races is an example of this. For the ones up until 1am I spent an evening out and about. Finally I had an opportunity to come back from Calgary very early in the morning and used that to take some pictures of Bassano, and the very early shots. 

There are not a lot of people out and about in the evening/night in Medicine Hat. I thought about hitting up the northside railroad hotels, but did not get to it. If I had to do something differently I probably would try to capture more people, but I decided to focus on the place more. I also wish I had headed out to Dunmore or Irvine and captured some images there, maybe the collapsing barn in Irvine. 

Laying out the book, I started with 12 by 16 grid, but found that the photos were the focus so I reduced the grid to reduce visual clutter when I was positioning the photo.