The long haul
Trisha Maendel of Acadia Colony waits for the puck during a game of shinny.I'm a photographer in an era when big budgets for long term projects have mostly vanished. As a former photo editor used to joke, "a long term project is getting an hour or more at an assignment." So instead of sitting around dreaming about the day a magazine would give me an unlimited budget to shoot an assignment of my choosing, I started a project in my own time documenting the hutterite communities in Manitoba. I began the project in 2009 and it's been one hell of a learning curve. This is my first truly long term project and I continually learn and adapt as I go. When to shoot, when not to shoot, when to put away the camera entirely. I've had lots of setbacks. I've had days that I want to throw my cameras in a river and erase my hard drives. I have continuous self doubt. But I also feel that this work is among the best i've produced and definitely the most intimate. After taking a break from the project for a few month's of reflection, I am getting back to work. I am going to try to be less secretive going forward and blog more regarding my experiences taking on this project. Aside from studying the work of other photographers I find there's not a lot of information out there on documentary projects. So i'll try to share some of my experiences as the project progresses. For example; don't trade images of bible scripture for expired soy milk and Fruitopia if said images will then be used to shame someone. Like I said, i'm really learning as I go.
-tim smith-
www.timsmithphotography.ca
Tim Smith
