In 2023, I had an ambitious goal to do a photoshoot that captures all sorts of people, doing realistic things you see in a brewery, and make them available for anyone to use for promotional purposes. I pitched, organized and directed this photoshoot. In 2024, I released these images for free-use. It’s my small, but meaningful, contribution to better represent the real people and activities that take place in public spaces.
Having worked in marketing positions with mostly small budgets, I was familiar with scouring the internet for free-use images I could use and disappointed by how much is left out. Not only types of people in the images but occasions too. There are all sorts of people gathering in bars, breweries, and taprooms across Alberta. All too often, I have felt like the only person like me in the room. I feel that less and less these days, but still don’t see representation of what else people do when they get together in media. Celebrating birthdays, seeing live music and drag shows, meeting up after playing hockey, going on dates, hosting receptions, working quietly on their laptop, or passing time on their phones by themselves are all happening in breweries, but I cannot find images to show as much. The fantastic folks at The Hop Forward Society gave me a grant to produce these images. When they put out the call for models, Kello Inclusive got me in touch with their people. And these two amazing humans, Dani and Chris, jumped on board.
I called around a few venues and only found that Rising Tides was accessible enough for our purposes. That was an eye-opener for me. It would explain why I don’t see so many people in wheelchairs in Alberta taprooms. Rising Tides turned out to be perfect, and in Calgary, a rarity by being inclusive by design.
With a couple no-shows, I stepped in as a substitute model too. We did the typical shots you find like friends laughing, and holding the glass in front of their face/blurred background. But I also included some shots of people by themselves on their phone, working with a notebook, and playing cribbage – real things I’ve seen in bars, restaurants, and taprooms across Alberta.
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