Leaning Porch

This is another from the Fall trip down to the badlands with the gang from the Monochrome Guild.  The porch is just about ready to fall off of this old house.  

I shot this on a 4" x 5" sheet of Kodak T-Max 100 rated at 80 iso and developed in 510 Pyro.  This was taken on October 16th at about 12:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and my trusty Fujinon 125mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter deepened the shadows, created separation in the sky, and bumped up the contrast a little.  The exposure was for 1 second at F18.0.  This was the 500th sheet of 4" x 5" black and white film that I exposed in the 2024 calendar year.

A Few Days in Nordegg

I headed out to Nordegg on April 16th.  The weather was rather cool and blustery, but the forecast for the upcoming weekend, was a lot better.  I took Hank along with me, and the two of us made the routine drive back out to the cottage.  Along the way I had to stop for fuel and groceries.  I also stopped a couple of times to let Hank out.  He does not handle driving very well, and gets very nervous and uptight.  Our vet even gave us a sedative for him, and it helps a little, but he still gets quite stressed.

I stopped in Rocky Mountain House at the grocery store.  Before going in to pick up supplies I let Hank out, on the leash, at the edge of the parking lot.  He proceeded to crawl through a patch of dead weeds and ended up with burrs all over himself, mostly in his face.  I had to leave him in the truck for 20 minutes while I picked up supplies.  For the last hour of the drive, from Rocky Mountain House to Nordegg, he was just defeated.  The burrs were really bugging him, and he was not very happy.  He just sat in my lap and rested his head on my chest for the rest of the drive out.  Over the next couple of days we managed to get rid of most of the burrs.  Some of them he was able to rub out and shake off on his own.  He is very fussy about having his fur tugged at, but over several sessions I sat him down and one by one picked out all of the burrs.  They were everywhere... on his belly, around his eyes, on his ear tufts, and surrounding his muzzle and chin.  Slowly but surely they all disappeared... one by one.

On April 17th, my 62nd birthday, the weather still wasn't great, so I just hung around the cabin.  I worked on the colorized sketch of the Fife Lake Hotel that I have been puttering around on.  I watched a hockey game, made something to eat, and continued to pick at Hank's burrs.

April 18th was Good Friday, and it was a beautiful day.  It was clear and sunny most of the day, and the temperature peaked at +20C.  I left Hank in the cottage for the afternoon and took my camera up to the Nordegg Historic Site.  I had arranged for yet another tour, to take more photographs.  Later that afternoon, Margarit and Helena came out to the cottage.  We made a nice barbecue and enjoyed a dinner together.  In the evening Margarit and I wandered over to our neighbors place and enjoyed a visit and an evening fire, while Helena hung out in the guest cottage.

On Saturday we woke up to some snow.  Although it didn't get nearly as warm as the day before, the temperature did get up well above zero and the snow was fairly shortlived.  Margarit and I took a walk back up to the mine site as I had left behind a pair of my gloves the day prior.  We found them inside one of the buildings where I had been taking photographs.  It was very wet and muddy not only from the fresh snow, but there was still a fair bit of old snow left in sheltered areas.  Hank got totally wet and filthy plowing through it all.

Later that evening we had another nice dinner at the cottage.  Helena and Margarit and Hank headed back to the city that evening.  After they left I went over and visited with some neighbors and played cards in the evening.

On Easter Sunday I woke up to snow again.  This time there was quite a bit more... probably 3 inches or so.  Once again the sun came out and made short work of it.  I took a load of garbage to the dump and then continued on for a drive up to Abraham Lake.  I managed to get out with both my 4x5 and my 8x10 view camera for a few photographs.  

We saw a reasonable amount of wildlife over the weekend.  The Dark Eyed Juncos are busy at our bird feeders and on Friday I saw a huge Pileated Woodpecker.  The usual White Tail Deer are always around.  Margarit and I saw a solitary elk just outside of the townsite.  During my drive out west I saw some Bighorn Sheep and a coyote.  On warmer days the chipmunks have ventured out of their hibernation, and Hank enjoyed chasing them.

Initially it was gloriously quiet in the subdivision but by Good Friday a lot of the residents starting coming out for the weekend.  On Easter Sunday it was very busy in town and the parking lot by the store and cafe was pretty full.  Hopefully everyone goes home on Sunday and peace and quiet will prevail once again.

By Sunday afternoon it was beginning to cloud over again and there was a heavy snowfall warning in place.  Rain is supposed to arrive overnight and turn to 4 to 8 inches of wet snow.  Is this ever going to end...?  It seems the rodents can't get it right this year... both the Groundhog and the Easter Bunny brought this crappy weather...!

Rills and Sky

This is another shot from the fall trip to the badlands with the guys from the Monochrome Guild.  On one of the days that we were staying down in Drumheller, we took a day trip to the southeast to Dinosaur Provincial Park.  It was a beautiful fall day and spent most of it wandering around the badlands with our cameras.  

I shot this on a sheet of Kodak T-Max 100, rated at 80 iso, and developed in 510 Pyro.  This photograph was taken on October 17th at about 2:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  A #29 dark red filter significantly deepened the value of the sky and the shadows.  This provided an obvious boost in contrast.  The exposure was for 1/2 second at F18.

Flute

This shot is from the Fall Photo Weekend down in southern Alberta last October.  I was out with my friends Steve, Fred and Court from the Monochrome Guild.  We stayed in the Drumheller area and explored at Dorothy, East Coulee and Dinosaur Provincial Park.

I just recently processed this sheet of film as part of a batch of Kodak T-Max 100.  I rated the film at 80 iso and developed in 510 Pyro.

I took this shot on October 16th 2024, about about 2:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a 210mm lens.  The exposure was for 1 second at F58.

This is part of a memorial shrine that a local resident has erected in East Coulee.  It is on his land, and was once part of the Murray Coal Mine.  Some people have assumed this is a native site, or more specifically a burial ground, but that is completely false.  This spot was once a central intersection of rail lines and roads between two separate mines and the adjacent townsite.

I thought that the stump with the prayer flag looked a lot like someone playing a flute.  It was such a quirky composition with that Buddha figure beside it, and the coal tipple visible in the background.  I printed this one recently and am considering it for the Apparitions project.

Back on the Ice

On April 14th I headed over to Callingwood Arena.  There was a free public skating time from 9:45 to 10:45AM, for adults 55 and older.  I thought it would be a good opportunity to see what my leg feels like.  So I headed over, laced up my blades and did a few laps around the rink.

I was a little unsteady after having been away from it for so long.  The last time I was on the ice was on December 18th when I broke my leg.  I was pretty cautious about attempting some abrupt stops and some cross over turns.  So mostly I just coasted around for about 20 minutes, and then called it a day.  It went reasonably well, and there were no major issues.  Obviously things will improve in time.  The skate puts pressure on one of the screws in my leg and it is somewhat uncomfortable.  I didn't notice it when I put the skates on a week ago and just walked around.  But once I got out on the ice and pushed off, it was much more noticeable.  I will have to see if I can overcome this.  Perhaps some padding in my skate, or maybe my other pair of skates is a little better.  Based on what I experienced today I don't know if I could endure it for the full 90 minutes of a hockey game.  But it was just my first time out so I will keep trying and see if it improves.

Industrial Site

This is another sheet of T-Max 100 from one of those expired ReadyLoad packets.  Like the previous post, this one was taken at an abandoned Industrial Site in western Alberta.

I shot this on October 5th at about 12:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a slightly long 210mm lens.  A #58 Green Filter was added to add some tonality to the rusted metal.  The exposure was for 1/2 second at F19.

Truck Cab

This is another image from that recently processed batch of Kodak T-Max 100.  This was another of those expired ReadyLoad packets that I had with me.  I was on an outing to western Alberta with Arturo and Chris, and we were visiting three hotels for the Beer Parlour Project.  Most of the film holders that I brought along were loaded with T-Max 400 and HP5... the two films that I push to higher speeds and use for photographing patrons in the bars.  So I took along some ReadyLoad packets for any daylight shooting that presented itself.  

At one point on our trip we were able to stop at an abandoned industrial site and it was there that I was able to photograph this old truck cab.  Those film packets expired in 2009, so over 15 years ago, but are obviously still yielding good results.

This sheet was rated at 80 iso and developed in 510 Pyro.  I shot this on October 5th at about 12:00 noon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a long 250mm lens.  I wanted to get in tight on the subject, and allow the background to fall off.  A #11 Yellow Green Filter lightened the tone of the truck body a little and slightly increased contrast.  The Exposure was for 1/8 second at F12.

Backyard Deer

There was a deer out in my back yard on April 2nd, just at dusk, as I was replacing the memory card in my game camera.  They have become really tame, obviously because I feed them off and on through the winter.  I shot this handheld video with my phone, as I approached the deer.  After I stopped the camera and started to walk away, the deer followed me.  I turned around, put out my hand, talked to it, and was able to walk to within about six feet of it.

I've run out of oats so I will no longer be doing any feeding this year.  The bears are coming out of hibernation now, so it is time to stop.  This latest snow will be shortlived and there are lots of bare patches where the deer can browse.  The forecast is calling for temperatures in the plus double digits by next weekend so hopefully this will be the last of any significant winter weather.  Of course here in the front ranges, we can get snow any time of year.  It is not uncommon in May, and I have even seen snow in June and July.

Beer Parlour Project Outings - Join Us

On Friday April 25th the Beer Parlour Project will be visiting the Stettler Hotel, in Stettler, Alberta.  Then, the next day, Saturday April 26th, we will be stopping in at the Alix Hotel in Alix, Alberta.

I'll be out with my big view camera taking some photographs and just soaking in the vibe.  My colleague Chris will be there conducting interviews and doing some digital photography.

Anyone that is in the area is welcome to stop by, say hello, and have a beer with us.  We generally arrive in the late afternoon... around 4:00 or so, and stay until things wind down later in the evening.

Tin Cladding

This is yet another shot from one of my many tours of the Nordegg Historic site.  This building is down along the rail line, where rail cars were loaded, and occasionally unloaded.  The patterns in this tin cladding really intrigued me visually and I tried to capture the mood.

I shot this on a ReadyLoad packet of Kodak T-Max 100, rated at 80 iso and given normal development in 510 Pyro.  This shot was taken on September 30th 2024, at about 1:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 90mm lens.  Due to the low light levels in this confined space a long of exposure of 30 seconds at F22 was necessary.

Ooze

This is another shot from one of my many visits to the Nordegg Historic Site last fall.  The site is accessible only by guided tour, and all of my visits were undertaken on this basis, with the permission of the County.  This puddle of tar is down by the base of the mine, near the briquette plant.  Rail cars full of this asphalt material were brought in to the site.  It was off loaded, heated with steam and mixed with pulverized coal.  This was a binding agent that held the coal together when it was pressed into briquettes.  

The rail cars are long gone, and no briquettes have been made for 70 years, but to this day, when the weather warms up, residual asphalt oozes out of the system.

The light was very low in this enclosed space.  As a result I elected to give the film increased development in an attempt to bring up the contrast.

I shot this on a sheet of Ilford FP4+ 125 which I rated at 160 iso.  I recently developed this in Kodak HC-110 Developer, dilution B for 14:25 minutes.  This extended development and slight underexposure generally yields a really contrasty negative, and it worked well this time.

I shot this back on September 30th of 2024 at about 1:30 in the afternoon.

I used my Ebony view camera and a longish 210mm lens.  I had to stop the lens right down to F64 in order to hold adequate depth of field.  This in combination with the very low light, resulted in an exposure time of 12 minutes.  For 2 minutes of this I used the flashlight on my phone to paint a little extra light the shadowed side of the concrete foundation and the asphalt.  

Third Watercolor

While I was out at Nordegg in late March and early April, I started work on another watercolor painting.  I've decided that referring to these works as watercolors, is not really accurate.  They are actually colorized sketches, and I will be referring to them in that way in the future.  I start by sketching a rough outline of the image, working off one of my photographs.  Then I use watercolor paints to colorize the different components within the image.  Once I have done that, I move on to a combination of pencil and ink to detail the image.  The watercolor part looks pretty vague and abstract but once I add all the detail by sketching, then the image comes to life.

So this one is a third in my series on old hotels from the Beer Parlour Project.  This is the Fife Lake Hotel in Fife Lake Saskatchewan.  My colleague Chris and I visited there in June of 2024.  These snapshots below show the progression of first laying out the image and then adding the various areas of color with watercolor paints.  In a future blog post I will outline the process of detailing everything in with pencil and ink.

Chris is encouraging me to include these works on our Beer Parlour Project website, and I think I will eventually do that.  I just want to wait until I have at least four or five of them completed, and then I will scan and include them.  Going forward from there I can add them one by one as I complete more.

Game Camera Photos

On April 2nd I pulled the memory card from the game camera in my back yard.  During the coldest days of winter I put a little bit of grain out for the deer.  Technically this is illegal, but I'm not hunting them.  I just want them to hang around, and have a little easier time of it on the tough days.  Some say this attracts predators, and it likely does.  We have had a cougar in our yard once or twice over the years.  But, I always stop feeding in March, as the bears are coming out of hibernation, so that I don't attract them.

This time around the camera ran from February 28th to April 2nd.  Over this brief period it took just over 3100 photographs.  Mostly this was of the deer.  But there were a few others, of the fox, the ravens, Hank, and me and Margarit.  Back in early March some of the bucks still had their antlers.  By the end of the month they had all been shed, and the little nubs of next years growth had already started.  I've attached a handful of images here for reference.

I've got so many game camera photos over the years that I've stopped saving them.  This time around I planned to save just a handful of the best ones.  But I accidentally deleted a bunch before I got around to saving them.  It's not really a big deal, as they are very repetitive.  But sadly I missed the opportunity to post a few more here.

Old Truck

This is a shot from last fall.  In between visiting the Wildwood Hotel and the Coal Branch Hotel, my friends Arturo and Chris and I visited an abandoned industrial site.  This old truck was one of several that were left behind.

I shot this on a sheet of Kodak T-Max 100, rated at 80 iso and recently developed in 510 Pyro.  This was another one of those expired ReadyLoad packets that I carry around on occasions like this.  When I'm limited to how many film holders I can carry, these packets are a great alternative.  In this instance most of my film holders were loaded with the faster T-Max 400 and HP5 for the Beer Parlour Project outings.

I shot this on October 5th at about 12:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a 125mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter deepened the shadows, increasing contrast.  

Getting Older.....

Today is my 62nd birthday.  I'm thankful that I was able to retire young, and enjoy my golden years in relatively good health.  Aside from the recent setback of my broken leg, I'm in pretty good health... better than many my age.  I'm active and only a little over weight.  I still play hockey... at least once I'm able to fully recover from this broken leg and get back on the ice.  I walk a lot, mostly with my camera.  And I'm involved in a bunch of creative endeavors that keep me mentally active.

I'm celebrating my birthday alone... except for Hank.  I headed out to the cottage yesterday.  Margarit is coming out to join me for the weekend.  The girls are all busy and are staying home in the city.  They don't want to be seen with someone as old as me...!

Brothel

This is a shot from last fall, taken on one of several tours I took at the Nordegg Historic site.  This building is rumoured to have once been a brothel.  It is at the edge of the mine site, and near a few residences.  The fact that the building had multiple bedroom like rooms is what initiated this rumour.

I took this photograph on a sheet of Kodak T-Max 100 film, rated at 80 iso and developed in 510 Pyro.  I shot this on September 30th of 2024, at about 2:45 in the afternoon.

I used my Ebony view camera and an extreme wide angle 47mm lens.  This focal length on a 4" x 5" view camera is roughly equivalent to a 15mm lens on a full frame digital camera, or 35mm film.  This lens sometimes requires a center filter, to compensate for light fall off at the edges, and I used one here.  I cropped this to panoramic proportions as I did not adequately raise the standards of the camera, and the bed of the view camera was visible in the foreground.  But it works this way.

The exposure was for 30 seconds at F16.

Mine Tour

In the morning, on the last day of March, Margarit packed up and headed back to the city with Hank.  A couple of hours later, Shawn and Lisa packed up and headed home as well.  I stayed on at the cottage by myself.  It was cold in the morning, but by lunch time the sun started to break out, and it warmed up a bit.  It did not get nearly as warm as the day before, but did make it up to about +4 in the mid afternoon.

I decided it would be a good day to tour the historic mine site, as the weather was forecast to get worse in the coming days.  I arranged permission with the County staff and then went in on a short tour.

The snow was still fairly deep in places in the sheltered confines of the site.  A saw a bunch of relatively fresh tracks along the way in... rabbit, deer, squirrel, grouse and a coyote.  I didn't see any actual wildlife, other than a whiskeyjack that hung close by me most of the afternoon.  There was no sign of any bears waking up from their nap, and there were no wild horses around.

I wandered about for three of four hours and shot a bunch of film with my view camera.  It was nice to get out again and do some shooting, and this was the first time I packed my gear for any distance, since breaking my leg.  It all went pretty well, and I'll think I'll come out of it with a couple of decent negatives.