5 Frames Of Kodak Tri-X in An Empty West Edmonton Mall – By Nick Colburn

Back in March of this year, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic reached the city I’m currently living in: Edmonton, Alberta Canada.

For a lot of people, there was a feeling that the virus would never come this far. How could it? Things like this don’t happen where “I” live… do they? This question was answered when case numbers began to rise and doors started to close. Edmonton declared a state of Emergency, and overnight, our city changed.

This of course isn’t unique to my city. We simply got a taste of what has been happening all over the world. The pandemic showed up on our doorstep and changed everything. From our daily routines, to hanging out with friends on the weekend. Our world was turned upside down and made everyone realized that, yes… this CAN happen where you live.

It’s only been 4 months since the state of Emergency was declared, and already, things are trying to go back to normal. We all have our fingers crossed that there’s not going to be another wave that shuts everything down again. But after 4 months, it already feels like we’re forgetting that there was a lock-down.

When doors were closing and the city was becoming a Ghost-Town, I knew this was unprecedented. Never before had this city seen such a halt in it’s hustle and bustle. This had to be documented.

As a photographer, I admire the greats of old: Robert Frank, Bresson, McCullin, Dorothea Lang. Their work is so important, and documents amazing and terrible times in history. Times that are not wise to forget. Thus, as a photographer, I wanted to pay tribute to these brilliant and brave artists, and document what was happening near me.

I went to West Edmonton Mall; the largest mall in North America at noon on a Saturday. At this time of day, it’s usually a gridlock of shoppers, loiterers and tourists filling up it’s corridors. The Mall is a huge hub of commerce within the city. However, in March, it was completely empty.

I brought along my Minolta X-700, and 2 rolls of Kodak Tri-x (a classic documentary film). It was an eery experience being there when it was so quiet. Where I’m usually waiting in ques at Starbucks, or squeezing passed a row of friends who take up the entire hallway, there was no one.

Now that everything is beginning to open back up, there’s likely a chance the mall will never be empty like that again. I’m glad I had the chance to go there and document it, and I do feel these images are important.

I want to give a huge thanks to Hamish for letting me write this on his site and link back to my own work! I’ve recently started writing my own personal blog (The Analogue Experience) which is very much inspired by 35mmc. If you liked this article, there you can find a much longer version with more photos.

You can also see more of my photos in my Instagram @the.analogue.experience

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