There’s nothing static about these still photos

and motion itself through the lens of a camera, or by exploring the idea of Waterloo as a changing, evolving and growing city, photographers have a wide latitude to interpret the theme as they see it.

“And the theme can have an historical sense in the traditional way, about change or developments in any aspect of the city,” explains Farwell. “It could be changes in culture, in architecture, in the way we do business, in the way we earn our living, the way we recreate. It could be about contemporary movement: it could be about dance, it could be about wind.”

But the visuals are only half the story here. Because once photographers have completed a set of 20 to 30 photos, they are secretly paired with a musician, or more broadly an accompanist, who then in turn provides their own interpretation of the visuals through their chosen medium.

“With [the photographers’] submission, they indicate to us which genre of an accompanist would really be a good match for their work,” says Farwell. “And we use the word accompanist because in addition to musicians, a spoken word poet might be the accompanist, or a DJ, an indigenous drummer, who is obviously a musician as well – but just to indicate that any range of sound.”

The anonymity between the photographers providing the visuals, and the accompanist creating the audio, is what adds to the dynamism of the performance. A photographer can narrow in on a subset of sounds they think would fit, but it’s up the to the accompanist from there to