Make It Kitchener

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic recently held his annual State of the City event at the former Double R Steel factory here in town. The city’s economy was the main subject of this year’s event, focusing on both Kitchener’s manufacturing history as well as the new wave of digital innovators and creators.

Mr. Vrbanovic spoke at length about the growth our region is experiencing, touching on everything from infrastructure to restaurants to the booming tech sector, including the new Toronto-Waterloo Region Corridor. He also made a point of the importance—a “must have”, as he put it—of arts and culture and made a pledge to invest in it. He noted the hassles of construction of the future LRT that basically everyone in the city suffers from but emphasized that investing in this new transit system will only help the future of the region.

The evening was catered by the downtown restaurant, The Berlin, headed by executive chef Jonathan Gushue who was busy all night bringing in tray after tray of impossibly good food. A number of local companies and organizations including Perimeter Development, Palette Gear, and Maker Expo, among others, were on hand to show off their work and give us in attendance a taste of what our region has to offer.

The event also included a handout, created by the local design firm Intent, that went into greater depth of the economic development plan with stories and profiles of local businesses, artists, and creators. This is where I come in. For the brochure they wanted to show the connection from past to present by showcasing the new Google building and the renovated Breithaupt Block. We had a pretty tight timeline mostly due to the weather, but with the help of the city, I was able to get into the still-under-construction 1 Victoria to get the desired vantage point. We discussed shooting from the other direction, but this view turned out to be the best, both from a logistical standpoint as well as what they visually wanted to show; overall it’s a composite of three or four images. The sky was brightened up and saturated a bit more for the cover instead of originally having a more blown-out look.

A fun little feature of the cover is the main title. Instead of being printed, each one was individually stamped which gave each copy its own hand-made look.