“It’s been a hell of a week: cover photo and profile in Calgary Metro, my project’s Facebook page exploded, and my 35 birthday (which has always had a twinge of melancholy–simultaneously celebrating another trip around the sun, while marking the end of the summer months).
After being in the news paper, I felt the bar had to be raised and I sought inspiration, so I went to to the river to shoot a photo of the Peace Bridge. I walked around it, looked for angles, waited patiently for a moment when I had the space to myself and then came to the realization that I wouldn’t have the place to myself. That’s when the inspiration for this shot struck me.
I don’t want this place to myself. I want to share it. This neighbourhood, this project, the photos–all of it. While composing this shot, I could hear the echoes of Expo Latino’s music flowing up the river from Prince’s Island Park, I could see and hear families of all walks of life enjoying the Peace Bridge, shooting selfie photos, the C-Train rumbling by, taking people through the city, the ringing of bicycle bells as a group of cyclists goes on a night ride across the river. What a novel idea: all these people being brought together on a bridge aptly named “The Peace Bridge.”
I wonder if somebody sat on this spot a century ago and thought the same thing. I hope they will a century from now.” Ara Shimoon.