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Capturing different perspectives of waking up has gotten a lot more interesting. 

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Marie-Pierre Castonguay, a local documentary family photographer, will showcase her Through Life in a Morning art collection on Saturday, Feb. 10 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Gallery@501 in Sherwood Park (Unit 120 501 Festival Avenue). With the goal of capturing multiple day in the life morning routines from various people, Castonguay was intrigued about capturing different perspectives.

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“I started this project in 2021 where I photographed different girls and women from zero to 102 years old,” she said. “The goal of this project was to try to represent the morning of what life could be like. In my art, you can see the progression from a baby’s morning routine to an older lady’s. It’s to see how people are doing their routine to determine what differences and similarities are from one age to the other.”

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With already having documentary-style family photography experience, Castonguay wanted to start her own personal project to elevate her craft.

“I photograph people all the time and wanted to do something different,” she said. “I came up with the idea of doing almost a reverse day in the life. I’m used to photographing people without telling them what to do, so I thought, how could I do something like this, but with more of a project in mind instead of photographing one family at a time.”

The idea for each portrait is to illustrate a person’s morning reality with the only rule of being genuine and not altering their morning routine. This project is a discovery of each person’s differences and similarities between people depending on their age, status and occupation. 

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“It’s good that people can see that we’re all similar but different in our own ways,” Castonguay said. “Even though we are all different, there are always aspects of life, like our morning routine, that bring us together. This gallery is a way to get people together and to have an exhibit showcasing people’s real life.”

Bringing people together was also a root intention for this project, in addition to dissecting differences in girls’ routines.

“It was nice to see that it wasn’t staged,” she said. “Because we’re used to seeing many images that are often curated or only showing people’s best images, this is a way of showing a more human side of people just waking up so that we can all relate to each other.”

Castonguay’s art will be showcased alongside Saskatchewan artist Carol Wylie’s painted portraits in the Reflections exhibition. With admission being free to the public, visitors can peruse the gallery, engage with the artists and engage in interactive self-portrait activities.

To learn more about Marie-Pierre Castonguay, go to mariepierrephotography.com.

hdhooma@postmedia.com

X: @dunkindhooma

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