Est. 2024 Photography & Writing from the Beltline Vol. I — No. 1
The Beltline Tribune
Independent Photography & Writing  ·  Calgary, Alberta  ·  Published Irregularly
 ·  "All the news that fits the frame"  ·  Calgary, AB
Feature

Walking the Beltline at the Hour Nobody Sees

A dispatch from the streets before the coffee shops open — when the city still belongs to the pigeons and the night-shift workers.

There is a version of this neighbourhood that most people never see. It exists between four and six in the morning, after the bars have closed and before the dog walkers arrive. The sidewalks hold a different kind of quiet then — not peaceful exactly, but honest.

I started bringing a camera. Not to document anything in particular, but to learn how to look again. To trade the habit of glancing for the discipline of seeing.

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Hero Image

▲ Early morning, 17th Avenue.   Photograph by the Editor.

"The camera is a machine that learns patience."
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Field Notes
The Corner Store on 14th has the Best Light in the City at 3pm

A love letter to incidental beauty and the kind of place that refuses to become a condo.

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Photo Essay
Six Portraits of People Who Walk Here Every Day

What it means to be a regular in a place that keeps reinventing itself season after season.

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Review
Shooting on Expired Film: A Practical and Emotional Guide

Results will vary. That is the entire recommendation.

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Dispatches

All Posts
Long Read

What Calgary Looks Like When You Decide to Finally Pay Attention

A long essay about a city most people treat as a stopover — and why that misses something essential about the light here in October.

People who live here often apologize for the city before you've had a chance to form your own opinion. It's a reflex — a kind of pre-emptive embarrassment. I used to do it too, until I started walking with a camera instead of walking toward somewhere.

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Essay
The Dying Art of the Independent Bookshop Window Display

An ode to the shops that still arrange things with intention.

Photo Essay
Parking Lots as Portraits: A Survey

Forty-eight frames from the places nobody photographs on purpose.

Summer, a Transmission Tower, and a Half-Finished Roll of Kodak Gold

Some rolls sit in a drawer for months before you develop them. This was one of those.

Notes on Shooting in the Rain Without a Rain Cover

Results: mostly fine. Camera: also mostly fine.

Notebook
Things I Have Written Down at Bus Stops This Year

An accumulation of small observations, some of which turned into something.

In Defense of the Slightly Out-of-Focus Photograph

Sharpness is a technical value. It is not the same thing as meaning.

Photo Essay
Bridges at Night: A Very Specific Obsession

There are eleven bridges I have visited after midnight. Here are the best seven.

On the Smell of Darkroom Chemistry and Why I Miss It

A brief and slightly sentimental history of developing film by hand.