A generation ago, location scouts
would gather at First Ave. Photo.
"Big Al" and "Other Al" would
run our prints through a noisy
machine. Scouts would talk, see
each other's work and eat dinner
from T+T Market. There was a
casual trust between folks—deals
were made with a handshake. It
was a community that shared a
common goal.
With the advent of digital
photography, location scouts
worked on the road or on the
computer. Gone were the days
sharing industry rumours at a
communal meeting place. The
pandemic highlighted the need for
"water cooler" conversations in the
workplace, but when and where
do scouts now have a chance to
connect IRL (in real life)?
It has been a hard couple of years
in an already challenging industry.
Folks were feeling isolated and
struggling. In the face of hardship,
it is helpful to get back to the
basics. It is important to applaud
each other's hard work. I wanted
to find a way to celebrate the
craft of location scouting while
cultivating community and
honouring those who had come
before us.
And so, the
World of Looks
photography competition was
born!
I began by reaching out to
"…the locations in a film bring a
world to life onscreen. Cultivating
those locations is a craft and
an art creatively essential to
the film."
–Lindsay Kusiak
in The Hollywood Reporter (March 8, 2023)
Courtney Ashforth/LMGI
