A Guelph photographer wants locals to disrupt how they view places in the city with a new lens.
Guelph kept drawing Tim Campbell-Smith back no matter if he was in Sudbury or Los Angeles. He’s lived in Guelph on and off for 33 years and currently lives in Puslinch.
He has an upcoming exhibit at 10C called Guelph, But. Why the but? It’s a word Campbell-Smith kept using when he would pitch photo ideas to people. When looking up Guelph on Google to see photos it often featured downtown and the university, but what about other parts of the city, he kept thinking.
Guelph, But will be up at 10C at 42 Carden St. Dec. 2 to 27. The opening reception is Dec. 6 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
There are 30 photos he captured and 16 made it into the gallery. Prints that didn’t make it will be brought to the reception.
The photo in the series that sticks out to him the most is an underpass with graffiti and through it there is greenery at the end of the tunnel.
“And that, I feel like is the story of Guelph is like there are parts of Guelph that are raw and difficult to look at and off the beaten path, and you have to be there to kind of see it. And there is also this immaculate beauty and interesting things that require exploration,” said Campbell-Smith.
He didn’t want to give the location away but said it was near Guelph CVI, where he went to high school. It took a year for the photos to be taken since it features every season.
The places where the photos were taken are obvious to Campbell-Smith but some are not so obvious to the people he showed. There is a photo looking up at a glass ceiling, an elevator, escalator and railings. It’s at Stone Road Mall where the fountain used to be. He said no one recognized it and the photo didn't make the cut.
He hopes conversations spark at the exhibit where people can reminisce about places they’ve been and memories they created but also hopes it spurs people to look at places in Guelph from a different perspective.
“My deep wish is that people go and explore all parts of the city. That we kind of maybe disrupt our day to day lives. Where we typically just follow the same path and do similar things,” he said.
One thing he would have done differently is to include more people in the photos. “I really do think people make Guelph pretty awesome as well,” he said.
He’s learning that a photography series doesn’t have to end so he’s going to continue to shoot more photos of the city because he feels like there are more stories to tell.
