Last Friday I hosted a meeting of the Monochrome Guild at my place. The group has continued to grow and this meeting was one of the largest ever. We had fourteen members present, there were a couple missing, plus some guests that couldn't make it. I remember back in the early days, 16 years ago when I started the group, we struggled to get more than 3 or 4 people out. Its nice to see that film photography has been resurrected and there is all this renewed interest.
On Saturday morning I got up early and packed a bunch of gear into my truck. I had a crate of glass loaded in the truck from the day before. My good friend Jon was meeting me and we were heading out to Nordegg for the weeekend. Jon and I met over 20 years ago. He was one of the original members of the Monochrome Guild and he and I spent many a weekend driving backroads and photographing together. Jon was forced to give up the darkroom several years ago for health reasons, and moved on to digital photography. He and I drifted apart somewhat in recent years and this was an opportunity to reconnect. Jon is a few years older than me and retired from his long time position a year ago. I hope to join the ranks of the retired in the next couple of years and hopefully this affords us the opportunity to get back together.
Jon had not been out to my place at Nordegg yet and this being the Remembrance Day long weekend would give us a chance to relax and get out with our cameras. The first chore though was to unload and install the crate full of glass that I had in my truck. There were six pieces of 1/2" thick tempered laminate glass that needed to be carried and, taken upstairs, and installed into the posts and clamps that I had previously prepared. The largest ones were about 40" x 52" and weighed about 90 lbs. It took us about 2 to 3 hours to finish this. Despite a relatively early departure, the trip was a little slower than usual due to snowy road conditions. We also had to unpack our stuff, make some lunch, and get a fire going in the cottage to take the chill out. The electric furnace was working nicely when we arrived and the inside temperature was holding at the thermostat setting of about 10 degrees.
By the time we got all these chores done the light was begining to fade. We made some supper and settled in for the evening. We enjoyed a few beers together and visited and caught up on old times. This would leave us the rest of the weekend to go out exploring with our cameras.
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