City on a Hill
I woke up Tuesday of last week feeling rejuvenated, ready to take on the world. Following a wicked weekend full of excitement and constant motion, I resisted the urge to recharge my batteries. Instead I decided to try and tackle all of the tasks I had been putting off:
- Contact the guys at Citadel to grab some gear.
- Email Stephanie back from Pier 21.
- Reconfirm times and places for my 1st Engagement shoot.
- Plan a photo adventure with Lindsay McMullen.
- Finally get some laundry done.
I went head first into these tasks. I even managed to get another long overdue Blog post about the trip out. However if I am being honest, I still have a Mt. Kilimanjaro sized pile of Laundry still left to do (We've all been there, don't judge.)
Before the trip to Cape Breton I had been in contact with Josh, one of the Co-Founders of Citadel Clothing, trying to find a time to meet that worked for both of us. For whatever reason we couldn't for the life of us find a time that worked. At this point I should probably explain what Citadel is, for those of you who have been sleeping on them. Citadel is a local Streetwear brand located here in Halifax. They are blending some great products with a dash of local heritage, with high emphasis on the importance of quality over quantity, along with supporting local manufacturers. That seemed scripted, I swear it wasn't. Now that you have a little insight to who they are I can continue.
I reached out to Citadel originally on Instagram and I expressed interest in working with their brand. To my surprise, they showed mutual interest in the idea. I have been taking notes on some of my favourite Instagram accounts and what always seemed to be the recurring thing was brand association, especially with local brands early on. It seems like a winning formula. Coincidentally I also have a good friend, who I have previously mentioned on this blog, named Evan who is Producer/DJ here in Halifax who needed some new photos for his Social Media. So as I learned from Ricky from Trailer Park Boys, best way to handle this situation is get two birds stoned at once.
So I met up with Josh on my way home from the Halifax Library and he gave me a couple pieces to be featured. Ironically, As I was getting closer to where we planned to meet, I could see him in the distance talking to someone. It was Evan, he just happened to be walking by at the same time. It's just funny because at this point I don't think Josh knew I planned on using Evan as my model. After he gave me the clothes we quickly exchanged a little small talk and I headed home for the evening. I made plans to shoot with Evan the next day, we agreed on around 6. This gave us some time with the cloudy afternoon, and we could be prepared for golden hour. As per usual, I had no Idea where exactly in the city we would go. I work like this mostly because I always seem to find little hidden gems in the city and hidden gems we did find.
For the first hour or so, we found ourselves in the parts of Halifax that are visited most. Parade Square, Argyle Street, and even the ScotiaBank Centre. It wasn't till a little later in the evening, while we were in Parkcade, that we found the aforementioned hidden gem. I noticed while we were shooting that there was 2 girls on an adjacent rooftop. One thing I can say for certain is that photography has made it a lot easier for me to talk to strangers. So instinctively I yelled across the way to these 2 girls, who happened to be having an impromptu photo op, to see if we could join them. They Obliged.
Evan and I quickly wrapped up in the Parkcade and made our way to the entrance where they said they'd meet us. The outside the building looked like it was relatively in good shape, however upon getting inside that was not the case. It was made very clear after entering why it was so easy to get into the building and on its rooftop. Paint peeling, Dirty carpet, followed by the stale smell of an old building. We made our way to the roof just in time for most photographers favourite time of day. Golden Hour. That hour, hour and a half right before the sun goes down. We definitely capitalized on being in a unique location during Golden Hour capturing some of my personal favourite images from the day.
Once the sun started to settle behind Citadel Hill, Evan and myself made our way back down to street level. Here we made the most of the light we had left and took advantage of the slower than usual traffic. I got some cool captures of Evan standing in the middle of some Halifax's busier streets. It was getting late and both us had some prior commitments to get to, so we grabbed a few more shots on the way home and called it a wrap on the shoot. With Evan owning Second World Collective / Djing / Producing, Citadel being one of the only street style brands working out of Halifax, and lastly myself trying to a make name for myself by not shooting like anyone else in the city; I think all in all, it was a cool way to mesh three unique brands in Halifax into one photo shoot.
I was going to try and incorporate all of things I listed above into this one blog post, however after I started writing I realized it wouldn't be fair to the other awesome things I have done this week to have to share the spotlight with this awesome day. So following last week and the success of my blog post about my Cape Breton Trip I figure I may as well continue to do this on some sort of regular basis. I rather enjoy sharing the stories and from what I can tell, people have seemed to enjoy reading them. So make sure if you aren't already, Follow me on all my Social Media outlets, that way you won't miss the next blog post ! They're linked at the bottom of page.
Also!
Here are the rest of the photos
Anyway, it's been fun. Till next week!