Old Van

Some of the members of the Monochrome Guild took part in our annual fall trip in 2025.  For two years in a row we visited the badlands of southern Alberta, using Drumheller as our base.  On this second trip we stayed at the short term rental in East Coulee, across the street from my shop.  Nigel, Gord, Arturo and I were there representing the Guild, and my youngest daughter Helena came along.  As I recall the teachers were on strike at that time, and she didn't have to go to school.

On one of the days we explored an area down in the badlands where a number of old vehicles had been dumped.  There was once a rail line through the area, with a long gone grain elevator near this location.

This is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320.  The film was developed in PMK on my Jobo Processor.  This batch, run on May 19th, was given N+1 development to raise contrast by one stop.  The film was rated at 400iso and developed for 16:40 minutes at 20C.

I took this photograph on October 22nd 2025 at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  I added a #58 Green filter to create some separation in the rusty body of the van.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F18.0.

July Image - David Thompson Country Calendar

I used this image in June on my Fine Art Monochrome Calendar.  I chose to use it on my other calendar as well.  This time around it is the July image on my 2026 David Thompson Country Calendar.  I had copies of this calendar for sale at the Beehive Artisan Market in Nordegg.  I need to check in and see if there are any left, but I believe it may have sold out.

This area was devastated by the Spreading Creek Burn and now it is a site where the regrowth is celebrated by the local first nations people.  This is on the Kootenay Plains near a public trailhead.

Warehouse

This is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320.  I cropped the image a little, as there was a little more sky and foreground than needed for the composition.

This shot was taken on the first trip to Macklin Saskatchewan in the spring of 2025.  Chris and I were staying at a rental house and exploring several old hotels in the area.  We ended up visiting three for Beer Parlour Project outings, including Unity, Coleville and Edgerton.  On this day we were on our way to Coleville for BP26 and made a stop in Kerrobert to do a little exploring.  This old warehouse was down by the tracks, just down the block from the train station.

I rated the film at 400iso and developed it in PMK.  The film was given N+1 development to increase contrast by 1 stop.  I ran this at part of large batch, back on May 19th, on my Jobo Processor.  Development was for 16:40 minutes at 20C.

I took this photograph on May 9th 2025 just after 2:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  A #22 Orange filter lowered the value of the sky a little, and further increased contrast.  The exposure was for 1/30 second at F25.0.

Thresher

My brother in law Shawn and I were out on a day trip in May of last year, and we found a number of interesting subjects, including this old threshing machine.  Shawn has had a rough year and just recently underwent open heart surgery to have an artificial heart installed.  He is at home and in a long recovery process.  He has a new lease on life, but will see many signficant lifestyle changes.

This is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320.  I rated the film at 400 iso and processed in PMK Developer.  On May 19th of this year I ran a batch of twenty sheets, in two tanks of ten each, on my Jobo Processor.  Development was for 16:40 minutes at 20C.  This is N+1 development and yields a contrast increase of 1 stop.

I shot this photograph on May 26th 2025 at about 2:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a Schneider 135mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure was for 1/500 second at F9.0. I used a larger than usual aperture in an attempt to have the background fall out of focus a little.

Puzzled

This photograph was taken on our second trip to Macklin, in July of last year.  Chris and I were staying in the same rental house, visiting several hotels in the area for the Beer Parlour Project.  Arturo was along with us on this trip.  We were on our way to the Marengo Hotel for episode BP32 of the Beer Parlour Project.  We would make a return visit to Marengo in 2026 to round out that episode.

Along the way we stopped to explore an old abandoned school.  In the principal's office, up on the second floor, we found this.  A bunch of old papers and debris, and dozens of pieces of an old jigsaw puzzle.  

This is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320.  The film was rated at 400iso and developed on May 19th of this year, in PMK developer, on my Jobo Processor.  I ran a total of 20 sheets, in two batches of ten.  The development was for 16:40 minutes at 20C.  This is N+1 development, and provides an increase in contrast of one stop. 

I took this photograph on July 21st 2025, at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  It was taken with my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a Nikkor 150mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure was for 1 second at F25.0.

July Calendar Image

This is the image I selected for the July page of my 2026 Fine Art Monochrome Calendar.  This old commercial building sits abandoned on Main Street of a small town in southern Saskatchewan.  Peeking in through a broken window it looks like it most recently housed some sort of workshop.  The facade almost looks as though it was once a theatre or something.  Perhaps a little research is in order.

I shot this with my 4x5 view camera in the fall of 2024 when Margarit and I were visiting the area.

Old Neon

This is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320.  I rated the film at 400 iso and gave it N+1 development.  This is a contrast increase of 1 stop.  The film was developed on my Jobo Processor in PMK developer.  Development was for 16:40 minutes at 20C.  I ran this one, along with 19 other sheets, in two batches of ten, on May 19th of this year.

Chris and I were staying in Macklin in the spring of 2025 visiting a few old hotels for the Beer Parlour Project.  On this day we were out scouting around, and found this sign in Wilkie.  Later in the day we would end up at the Unity Hotel for an impromptu Beer Parlour Project session, number BP25.0.

I took this photograph on May 8th 2025 at around 6:00PM.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Fujinon 400mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure was for 1/125 second at F20.0.

For many years I have been drawn to old neon signs, and whenever I find one, I document it.  I now have a collection of images that must number something around twenty or more.  Maybe someday I'll put together a portfolio of some sort?  Many of the ones that I photographed early on no longer exist.  This one looks like it is not long for this world.

Elevator Buckets

Chris and I were on our way to Edgerton for another episode of the Beer Parlour Project when we found this old abandoned grain elevator.  It was in pretty rough shape, and the lean over the scale had mostly fallen down.  I wonder how many years this old broom has been laying around.

I took this photograph on May 10th of 2025 at around 11:30 in the morning.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Nikkor 210mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F20.0.

This is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film.  I rated the film at 400iso and developed it in PMK, on my Jobo Processor.  The batch was processed on May 19th of this year.  Development was for 16:40 minutes at 20C.

BP40.0 - Rockyview Hotel - Charles

Here is a scan of another 4x5 negative shot at the Rockyview Hotel in Cochrane during our visit for BP40.0 back in February.  This is Charles, a long time regular.  He did an interview with Chris and provided a bunch of stories about events in the past.  I took this portrait of him just after the interview.  This is a sheet of Ilford HP5 rated at 1250iso and developed in 510Pyro 1:100.

BP40.0 - Rockyview Hotel - Cochrane

This is an exterior view of the Rockview Hotel in Cochrane Alberta, taken the morning after our BP40.0 outing in late February of 2026.  The Beer Parlour was well attended the night before and we got a lot of good photographs and interviews.  The weather was terrible that evening, so I stopped by the next morning, on my way out of town, and took this shot.  By this point it had stopped snowing and the sun was coming out.  From here was I was on my way to Carstairs for our next outing.  This is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Ilford HP5.  For exterior shots in daylight I expose at 320 iso and develop for 7:45 minutes in 510 Pyro 1:100.  By comparison, when I rate the film at 1250 iso for interior shots in low light, the film requires a much longer develop time... 40:00 minutes.  It is very tedious to stand there in the dark agitating film in stainless steel hangers, for 40 minutes.  I usually do 14 sheets (2 racks of 7) of the normally exposed stuff for 7:45 minutes, followed by 1 rack of 7 of the 1250 iso stuff.  This makes good use of the chemistry, and means I don't have to stand there in the dark for so long.  On the down side, I usually end up with a backlog of Beer Parlour images to process, and have to wait until I accumulate enough normally exposed stuff to round out the batch.

BP38.0 - Carbon Hotel - Jim and Guss

Two old friends, Jim and Guss, having a beer together at the Carbon Valley Hotel in Carbon, Alberta.  The Beer Parlour Project team visited the hotel in November of 2025.  This was the 38th hotel on our journey to visit 100 old hotels.  The project has stalled a bit of late.  First because Connie was going through cancer treatments, and more recently due to the flooding at my place.  Hopefully we can get back on track over the next month or so.  This is a 4"x5" sheet of Ilford HP5, rated at 1250 iso, and developed for 40:00 minutes in 510 Pyro, 1:100.

BP37.0 - Rosedale Hotel - Thomas

This is a sheet of Ilford HP5+, rated at 1250 iso, and developed in 510 Pyro for 40:00 minutes at 24C.

I'm back to posting some images from recent Beer Parlour Project outings.  This is Thomas at the Rosedale Roadhouse, in the recently re-opened Rosedale Hotel.  Thomas is a local and friend of the owners, and painted all the murals in the tavern.  Our visit to Rosedale was back in November of 2025, though we recently stopped in for dinner when we were in East Coulee a couple of weeks ago.

I'm feeling a little down in the dumps and overwhelmed at the moment.  The recent flooding in our basement is more significant than originally thought.  We will have to clear out the space so that an insurance contractor can strip out and replace the flooring and repair damaged drywall and panelling.  A huge ordeal that I am not looking forward to.  This has forced the postponement of our 25th Anniversary trip, and also forced me to bail out of the upcoming Beer Parlour Project outing to the Warner Hotel.  I guess I have to stop feeling sorry for myself, roll up my sleeves and get to work, so this episode can be put behind us.

Comparison of Panchromatic to Infrared Film

I've posted both of these images before.  I've re-posted them here together, to show the obvious differences between the tonal range of regular panchromatic film and infrared film.

The first shot is on Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film.  This sheet was rated at box speed of 320 iso and developed for normal contrast in PMK.  I ran it on my Jobo processor for 9:35 minutes at 20C.  This is a pretty typical panchromatic image.

I shot this on May 26th of 2025 at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I was out on a day trip with my brother in law Shawn and we found this old Pontiac in the brush, just off a gravel road northeast of Edmonton.

I shot this with my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a slightly wide Schneider 110mm lens.  No filter was used.  The exposure was for 1/60 second at F16.0.

The second shot was obviously taken at the same time and place, with the same equipment.  This is a sheet of Kodak HSI-4143 High Speed Infrared film.  The film was rated at 100iso.  A #25 Red Filter blocked most of the visible light allowing the film to be exposed mostly by infrared wavelengths.  I developed this one in Kodak T-Max developer, diluted slightly more than normal to 1:6.  Development was with stainless steel film hangers in open tanks.  Agitation was minimal, and development was for 6:45 minutes at 24C.  No filter factor is needed for infrared film as typical light meters do not register infrared wavelengths.  Exposure is somewhat of an educated guess.  In this case that was 1/8 second at F22.0.

Quarter Century

Twenty Five years ago today, Margarit and I were married.  We are not celebrating the milestone the way I would have liked.  I had plans for us to go down to Waterton and spend three nights at the historic Prince of Wales Hotel.  After that we were supposed to head over to the Warner Hotel for an episode of the Beer Parlor Project.  That all went out the window, and we have re-scheduled the Waterton trip for the fall.

The rains came... and of biblical proportions... on Saturday June 20th.  Central Alberta was under a stalled hurricane like storm that dumped lots of water.  The rain never quit for 48 hours and we got around four inches in the Edmonton area.  We had groundwater coming in to our basement through some plumbing connections.  We had to take shifts sitting up all night and mopping and vacuuming the incoming water.  At peak flow we had to vacuum every five minutes.  Now that the rain has quit, the inflow has slowed and we only have to vacuum once per hour.  But, we managed to contain the water in our bathroom and laundry room for the most part.  There is some damage to baseboards and drywall and fixtures, but it is not massive.  We also have some plumbing issues that need to be addressed.

We are all exhausted as we took shifts for three days to keep up to the incoming water.  We would only manage to sleep for an hour or two, and then had to spell someone off.  And sitting in the bathroom, running the vacuum every five to ten minutes was physically draining, and the noise kept everyone awake.  It seems there is some relief now as the rain as stopped and the sun has come out.  But it will take some time for everything to dry out, and the anniversary trip simply had to be postponed.... sadly....

A Few Days in East Coulee - Monday

Monday was our last day in East Coulee and we didn't have time to do a lot.  We packed up the trailer and all of our stuff, and hit the road for home around lunch time.  We did take a few minutes to go up for a short walk into the hills at East Coulee.  The Prickly Pear cactus were starting to bloom.  We found some old mine waste, and an interesting little canyon.

We took a little side trip out of the valley at Cambria and then back down at Rosedale.  We discovered that the old wood tram tower at the Rosedale Mine had collapsed.  I'm not sure how old it was, but probably 75 years, possibly 100 years old.  It has been standing as long as I can remember, but sadly it is no more.

After that we headed through Drumheller and headed back towards Edmonton.  We made a brief stop in Lacombe for a late lunch, and then made it back to the city by early evening.

A Few Days in East Coulee - Sunday

It was a very late night on Saturday night, sitting around the fire and visiting with our friends Frank and Chris.  Margarit and Chris bailed out a lot earlier, while Frank and I stayed up visiting and drinking beer until nearly 3:00AM.  Needless to say we slept in quite late on Sunday.

By mid day Margarit and I set out exploring.  We headed south down the valley to Dorothy, and stopped there first.  When the girls were young we spent a lot of weekends down in Dorothy.  The girls loved that old retro playground, and we loved exploring and photographing the old buildings.  This included a couple of houses, the elevator, two churches, an old store, and more.  Since those early days the ghost town has been developed a bit, with the churches and the elevator restored,   The locals have also built a new cook shelter, fixed up the day use area, and put in some washrooms.

We headed north out of Dorothy up into the Hand Hills.  We continued from there to the east and made a brief stop at the old cemetery near Homestead Coulee.  From there we headed south to Finnegan, and took the ferry across the river.  To the best of my knowledge there are only five ferries left in Alberta.  Crowfoot, Bleriot, Finnegan, Klondike and one up by High Level.  On this weekend we crossed on two of them.  After crossing the river we did a big loop around to the south and eventually came back into the valley at East Coulee.  We stopped a number of times along the way and admired the wildflowers, explored and took some photographs.

That evening we met up with Frank and Chris and their daughter Sabrina at the Roadhouse in Rosedale.  We had a nice dinner and visited again for a while.  It ended up being an early night for all of us as we were all still tired from the night before.

Hank Turns Four

Our little family dog Hank turned four on June 15th... I suppose that's 28 in human years.  Hank is a cross between a Cairn Terrier and a Jack Russel Terrier.  He has the look of a Cairn and the energy and attitude of a Jack.  He has become a huge part of our family and is adored by everyone.  He is rarely left home alone more than a couple hours as there is almost always someone around in our busy household.  When we travel to Nordegg or East Coulee, he often comes along.  Here he is guarding the rawhide treat that he got as a birthday gift.

A Few Days in East Coulee - Saturday

On Friday June 12th Margarit and I headed down to East Coulee.  We left the city about lunch time and made our way down.  We stopped for fuel and groceries along the way and had a late lunch in Drumheller.  By the time we got out to the shop in East Coulee it was already late afternoon.  We offloaded our stuff and settled down in the trailer.

The next day, Saturday the 13th, we headed out for a drive.  We traveled north of town on the Dinosaur Trail.  We made a brief stop at Horsethief Canyon, and then crossed the river on the Bleriot Ferry.  Once we got across we realized that the south Dinosaur Trail was closed due to a washout.  We drove as far as we could, and wandered around a little at near the Lions Club campsite.  Then we had to backtrack and make our way back to Drumheller by way of Morrin.

Once we got back to Drumheller, we headed back out towards East Coulee.  We made a stop along the Raymond Hill Road and I took a couple of photographs with the big camera, in evening light.  Then we headed back to the shop.  We met up with our friends Frank and Chris and got a fire going in the yard.  We baked some potatoes, grilled some steaks and drank way too much beer.  I think it was something like three in the morning before I finally crashed.

Guess Who

On June 10th Margarit and I went to see the Guess Who at Rogers Place in downtown Edmonton.  The two original frontmen, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings were there, with a younger backup band.

Randy is 82 and Burton is 78 and although they looked their age, they still rocked it pretty well.  They played all their hits, as well as three Bachman Turner Overdrive songs.

Just a day or two before the show the warm up band was announced.  It was Don Felder, former guitarist with the Eagles.  A very pleasant surprise to say the least.  Although his vocals were never great, his guitar playing was spectacular.  Sent chills down my spine more than once.... particularly when he played Hotel California on the double neck.

Shower Building

This is the last of my color transparency scans for the next little while.  I have to get around to editing some more before I can add them.  My main desktop computer just got retired, so I have been working from my old laptop while a new desktop is being set up for me.  As with everything that involves technology, it is taking longer than expected.  Soon I will have to replace my laptop as well.  I can't remember exactly how old it is, but I recall having it with me on a work trip to Estevan, Saskatchewan back in 2012, and it wasn't new then.  It's still running (sort of) Windows 7, and nothing really works as it should.  But that is an issue for another day, after I get the new desktop up and running properly.

This is a scan of a 4" x 5" sheet of Kodak Ektachrome E100G,  This one hit its best before date in December of 2006.  I loaded it in a film holder three years ago, in June of 2023.  It was exposed last spring, and I developed it on May 16th when I ran a batch of E-6 chemistry on my Jobo Processor.

I took this photograph in the wash building at the Nordegg Mine Site.  I'm not sure what this broken fixture once was... probably a hand sink, but perhaps a drinking fountain.  I took this photograph on April 18th 2025, at about 3:40 in the afternoon, during one of my many tours of the historic site.  

The photograph was taken with my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a Fujinon 180mm lens.  The exposure was for 30 seconds at F18.0.

Shoreline Trees

Here is another scan of a large format color transparency.  This one is a 4"x5" sheet of Fujichrome Velvia 100.  This time around the film was not quite as out of date as some of the stuff I have been shotting.  This one expired in January of 2019, was loaded into the holder in September of 2023, exposed in April of 2025 and developed on May 16th of this year.  This was the batch of E-6 chemistry that I mixed up and ran on my Jobo.

This is Abraham Lake out by our place in Nordegg.  In the early spring the reservoir is at it's lowest level.  The dam captures the mountain runoff and by fall the lake is completely full.  Then the cycle repeats and the water is slowly released to generate power over the fall and winter.

I took this shot on April 20th of 2025 at about 1:30 in the afternoon.

I used my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a Fujinon 150mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F32.0.

Saskatchewan Yard

Back on May 16th I mixed up a batch of E-6 chemistry and set up the Jobo Processor to run a bunch of color transparency film.  I previously posted a couple of 8x10 scans from that batch.  

This one is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Fujichrome Velvia 50.  Like most of my color film stock, this one was quite out of date.  The best before date was October of 2012, and it sat around loaded in a film holder since January of 2023.

I took this shot while Chris and I were visiting Saskatchewan for some Beer Parlour Project outings.  This shot was taken on May 11th of 2025, at about 12:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  I added a Blue-Orange color polarizing filter.  This increased the satruation of the blue sky, and warmed the overall tone of the image somewhat.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F20.0.

Dinosaur Provincial Park

This one is also from the batch of Tri-X that I processed on May 17th.  A 4"x5" Sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 developed in PMK.  As with the others, rated at box speed and given normal development on my Jobo.  

This one is from the Monochrome Guild fall trip to Dinosaur Provincial Park back in 2024.  That landscape is so spectacular, particularly in the low and clear light of fall.  I'm anxious to get back there again sometime soon... after the summer tourist season.

I shot this with my Ebony SV45TE and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  I actually have two of these lenses and keep one with my TE, and the second one in my kit out at Nordegg, with the Ebony SV45Ti.

I shot this on October 17th at about 12:30 in the afternoon.  I added a #25 Red Filter to increase contrast and create separation between the clouds an the sky.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F25.0.

Iron Palladium Printing

Iron Palladium prints are an alternative to more costly Platinum printing, and are also know as Ziatype prints.  The process was created by Pizzighelli and refined by Richard Sullivan of Bostick and Sullivan, in Sante Fe, New Mexico.  Bostick and Sullivan is a supplier of alternative process chemistry and materials.

An emulsion is prepared by mixing together several chemicals.  Mostly this is Ferric Ammonium Oxalate, and Lithium Palladium.  Additives such as Ammonium Dichromate, Sodium Tungstate or Gold Chloride may be added to control contrast and image color.  Just a few drops of each... about 40 in total... are whisked together to create enough emulsion to coat a piece of paper suitable for one 8"x10" print.  In the dry climate of Alberta a page of fine art paper must first be steamed to impart enough humidity.  Then the emulsion is coated on...  I used a brush, but some use a glass coating rod.

Once the emulsion has dried, a negative is placed in contact with the paper, and the two are sandwiched into a split back contact printing frame.  This is then exposed to a UV light source.  Sometimes the sun is used, but I used some compact fluorescent black light bulbs in a mirror lined box that I fabricated.

This is a printing out process and no developer is needed.  The emulsion slowly darkens with exposure to the UV light.  The split back frame allows me to partially open up the printing frame, without shifting the alignment, and inspect the print as it darkens.  Once it is as dark as I want it to be, I wash it in water, give it a clearing bath in a mix of EDTA and Sodium Bisulfite, followed by a final water wash.  Then it is hung to dry.  Exposure varied from about 10 minutes to over 40, depending on the mix of the various chemicals, and the density of the negative I was printing.

I used 8"x10" negatives that I had taken with my big view camera over the past few years.  Some people work with digital inter-negatives created from smaller format images.  I am a purist and prefer not to include digital technology in my work.

I've done some of this printing in the past, but it has been a while.  I had to purchase some fresh chemistry recently in order to take another stab at it.  It worked out well, though I did have a couple of minor coating issues.  I will be attempting further printing work in the coming weeks and months.

Mostly this has demonstrated to me that I need to do more shooting with the big 8x10 view camera!