Aspen Grove

This is a more recent image, taken earlier this spring.  I shot this grove of aspen trees up on the Kootenay Plains back on March 29th 2023, at around 1:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a longish Fujinon 250mm lens.  A #11 Yellow Green Filter was used to lighten the values of the aspen trunks.  I shot this on Fuji Neopan Acros 100 film, rated at 80 iso.  Development was in Rodinal 1:50 for 11:00 minutes.  I find that this yields about a half stop of contrast increase over normal development.  Of course Agfa's Rodinal developer is no longer made, but there are several versions of their formula on the market.  For the most part I use Adox APH-09, which is supposed to be the closest to the original formula.

May Image - David Thompson Country Calendar

This is the image I selected for the May page of my 2023 David Thompson Country calendar.  This is an older shot, dating back almost twenty years to May 24th 2004.  It was taken at around 11:00 in the morning.  This was long before we bought our property out at Nordegg and I was just out for a day trip to photograph in the area.  I shot this with my old [and very heavy] Sinar F1 monorail camera.  A long 300mm lens was used to get in tight on the sandspit.  

This sandspit shows up every spring when the water level in Abraham Lake is low.  The dam is closed in the spring and by early summer this sandspit disappears under the waters of the reservoir.  

I believe that there are still a few copies of my calendar left for sale at the Beehive Artisan Market in Nordegg.  Being at this late point in the year, the remaining copies have been discounted.

CatLabs 80 4" x 5"

Sometime around 2018 or 2019 a new large format sheet film came on the market.  It was called CatLabs 80 and it was advertised as being reminiscent of the older thick emulsion films of several decades ago.  I immediately bought two or three boxes of the stuff and shot it from time to time.

I saved up the exposed sheets of film until I had a enough for a batch.  A couple of years ago I processed that first batch of film and was really disappointed.  Many of the negatives displayed a mottling that essentially ruined the image.  This was most obvious in areas of uniform tone, such as the sky.  I basically gave up on the film after that and stopped shooting with it.  

Recently I was mixing up some Kodak HC-110 developer with the intention of doing a mixed batch of old film that needed to be processed.  This included some Ilford HP5 that was to be given plus development, as well as a few test shots of Bergger Pancro 400.  I had a handful of exposed sheets of this CatLabs 80 stuff left hanging around and thought I would try that as well.  The previous batch that had the mottling issues was processed in Kodak D-76 developer.

The HP5 and the Pancro stuff turned out fine, but once again, most of the CatLabs negatives had the same issue with mottling.  I sent scans of two of the negatives to the supplier in Boston.  I explained that the film was exposed at different times and processed in different developers....

They got back to me with this response...

Rob,

Unfortunately, we ran into this issue with our old film.

It is related to storage conditions and the way the film is packed.

We have since changed the production and QC of our sheet film, while retaining a very similar look and feel, the film is much improved and does not suffer from this storage issue. 

Let me know if you have any questions.

Best regards, 

That was it...!  An explanation, but no offer to do anything about it.  I thought they might have offered a box of the new version for free, considering that I had paid for three boxes of the old stuff.  But no such offer was forthcoming, so I have come to the conclusion that I have to give up on this film.  There is no point wasting more time and money on material that can not be counted on to yield a satisfactory result.

May Calendar Image

This is the image that I selected for the May page of my 2023 Fine Art Photography Calendar.  This is Abraham Lake, not far from our cottage in Nordegg.  The mountain in the background is Wapta Kista.

I shot this photograph on May 23rd 2020 at around 3:00 in the afternoon.  It was taken with my Ebony view camera and a Schneider 135mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter was used to increase contrast and to create separation in the sky.

Solar Panels

During the last week of April we had solar panels installed at our cottage in Nordegg.  My building contractor Scott has a solar division within his company that he calls Ecoa Solar.  I contracted him to put 14 panels onto our guest cottage.  We selected the guest cottage over our main cottage for a number of reasons.  The guest cottage is not yet fully finished on the interior, so it was easy to route the cable up to the roof.  The roof pitch is slightly steeper, so it will hopefully stay slightly more snow free.  The site is a little more open and it will probably get better exposure to sun, and the roof is less obstructed with vents, chimneys and skylights.  The panels are 545 watts each, so we have a total generating capacity of 7.63Kw.

Of course the panels face east and west, so they will not all be in full sun at the same time.  But, we are hopeful that this will help to offset our power bills to a considerable degree.  The guest cottage does not have propane so it is electrically heated, including the hot water heater, and also has air conditioning.

While Margarit and I were in Banff for my hockey tournament, Scott sent me these snapshots of the panels being installed.

Banff Trip

My hockey team, the Renegades, signed up to play a hockey tournament in Banff.  I went to one a few years back, and it was fun, so I signed up again.  Margarit decided to join me, so we made a weekend of it.  We left Edmonton on Friday April 28th and arrived in Banff that afternoon.  We checked into our hotel room in the afternoon, and I made ready to play the first game of the tournament on Friday evening.

I was a little disappointed with the way that the tournament was organized.  A company called Canadian Hockey Enterprises, based out of Canmore, operates the tournaments.  They have them in Banff, as well as at about a dozen other locations throughout North America.

Only one of our games was actually in Banff, at the beautiful Fenland Arena.  The other two were 20 minutes away over in Canmore.  The games were really short, and it seemed the organizer was being cheap with the ice time.  We had a 10 minute first period, and then 12 minute second and third periods.  Most beer league hockey games are either 15 minute periods of stop time, or 20 minutes of run time.  The free beer that we were supposed to get after the game was only available at the Banff Arena, not in Canmore... and the only beer to chose from was a low calorie light beer.  To make matters worse, the organizers did a poor job of setting the divisions and we matched up against three vastly superior teams.  Needless to say we lost all three games.  We kept the score respectable in the first two, but by the last game on Saturday afternoon my teammates had got into the beer and were three sheets to the wind.  We got blown out of that one.  It was still a lot of fun, and I don't regret taking part.

Our second game was a morning game at 10:15 on Saturday in Canmore.  After that one we had a break of a few hours before our afternoon game at 4:30.  Margarit and I used the break to take a drive down to the Vermillion Lakes and we had a nice two mile walk before heading back to Canmore to play the second game of the day.  That evening, after all the games there was a bar night with a buffet dinner and a live band back in Banff.  Margarit and I passed on that one, as we didn't really fit in with the younger crowd.  The other players on my team are all around 25 to 30 years old, with just a couple others in their 40's, and then me that just turned 60.  Margarit and I found a nice quiet lounge and had dinner together and watched the Oilers game on TV.

The weather had been beautiful all weekend... sunny and calm with daytime highs around +22C.  After breakfast on Sunday we checked out and then took a drive up the Bow Valley Parkway.  We stopped in a couple of places and wandered around enjoying the day before eventually hitting the road back home to Edmonton.

Banff sure has changed from when I was young.  Although it has always been really busy, it used to be much more of a family destination.  Now it has become kind of a party town, with lots of young singles hanging around and hitting all the bars and clubs.  Even the natural parts of the National Park are becoming overrun and you now have to book campsites on line, well in advance, and use a shuttle service to get to places like Lake Louise and Morraine Lake.  Obviously I'm just getting old..... but it sure makes me grateful for our private mountain retreat out at Nordegg...!

Tree Line

Yet another image from the recent batch of Fuji Neopan Acros 100 developed in Rodinal 1:50.  This shot was taken on the same day as the Lumber Company shot that I previously posted.  This row of trees was some distance away from the road, out in a field.  I'm guessing that a farm yard may have once been located here as the trees appear to have been planted.  I think they are Manitoba Maples.

I shot with with my Ebony view camera and a long 400mm telephoto lens, fitted with a #25 Red Filter.  The filter deepened the value of the sky, and increased contrast.  The 4x5 negative was cropped to panoramic proportions, which was my intention when I composed the shot.  This one was taken on October 17/2022 at about 2:45 in the afternoon.

Lumber Company

This is another image from the recent batch of Fuji Neopan Acros 100 developed in Rodinal.  I shot this image last fall when I was on a road trip down in central Alberta.  Can't quite make out what that sign used to say...?

This shot was taken on October 17th 2022 at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  I shot it with my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  A #8 Yellow Filter was used to increase contrast a little, and deepen the value of the sky.  The clear fall light was beautiful and heavy filtration was not needed.

Beaver Pond

I may have posted another version of this shot previously on my blog.  This is a beaver pond on Shunda Creek, not far from my cottage.  I've shot here with my view camera a number of times.  This is from a recently processed batch of Fuji Neopan Acros 100 developed in Rodinal Developer. 

Rodinal is a very well known developer that has been in use for decades.  It was originally manufactured by the German company Agfa.  Agfa went out of business a number of years ago and many of their fine products are no longer available.  Several manufacturer's have made replacements for Rodinal and I have tried a number of them.  As far as I can tell they seem to perform in a nearly identical matter. I used a developer called APH-09, manufactured by Adox to develop this particular batch.  Development was at 1:50 dilution for 11:00 minutes at 24C.  This yields about a half zone of expansion, increasing contrast somewhat.

This image was taken on June 10th 2022 at about 12:20 in the afternoon.  I shot it with my Ebony SV45TU 4" x 5" view camera and a Rodenstock 90mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter was used to deepen the value of the water, increase contrast, and create separation between the clouds and the sky.

Very Productive Week

I arrived out at Nordegg in the afternoon on Saturday April 15th.  I left a week later, in the afternoon, on Saturday April 22nd.  I worked all week and got a lot accomplished over at the guest cottage.  I only left the property twice.  Once for a short walk around the neighborhood, and a second time, for an hour, to do a beer run to town and drop some garbage at the dump.

I worked pretty much 8 hours every day, with the exception of the last day, when I was running out of supplies to work on the things I have started.  I got the drawers for the cabinets assembled and lacquered.  I need more 1/2" plywood to finish the last two drawers.  I also lacquered and cut to size the hardwood rails that the drawers will run on.  I test fit everything, and it is all good, but I can't mount the rails in place as I don't have the right size screws.

Most of the week was spent working on mechanical and electrical stuff.  One of my main goals was to install some of the electrical necessary for the mechanical contractor to finish up.  But I also managed to get virtually all of the rest of the remaining electrical work completed.  There are only three little electrical projects remaining.  I have to install the receptacles on the kitchen counter.  The wiring is all in and connected to the breakers in the main panel.  I have to finish the counter top and tile backsplash before these receptacles can be installed, so for now the breakers remain turned off.  I connected the hot water heater and the water pump.  Both have shutoff switches up on the main floor.  I didn't have the right size breaker for the water pump so that final connection will need to be done when I return with the materials.  There is one last circuit to install and I roughed in the wire for that.  It will supply power to the tank alarms.  There are two alarms... one is on the water storage cistern, which is set up in the crawl space.  The alarm gets mounted outside on the wall by the fill pipe, and there is a float switch in the tank.  When the tank is being filled, the alarm sounds and a light flashes when it is full.  This prevents the tank from being overfilled.  There is a second alarm that will be installed in the septic tank.  It has a buzzer that sounds in the house, when the sewage level is near the top.

My mechanical contractor came out on Wednesday from Leslieville.  He brought a refrigeration contractor along with him.  Between the two of them they got the air conditioner installed and charged and functioning properly.  I only had the thermostat temporarily wired prior to this but once the A/C unit went in, all the proper connections could be made, with the proper cable.  All of the plumbing is now complete as well, with the exception of a drain on the water tank.  We were missing one fitting, so this will need to be done later, before we fill the tank for the first time.  Once the tank gets filled we will also have to fire up the water pump and make sure that it is purged and primed so that it functions properly.

Off and on during the week I also worked on installing the hardwood facing to the bathroom vanity.  I filled all the nail holes and primed and painted everything.  The body of the vanity is now complete and awaiting final paint.  I will cut the doors and drawer fronts so that I can paint everything at once, though I didn't get that far this time around.

I learned that my building permit expires in July so the push is on to wrap things up.  The inspector does not need the building to be 100% finished, and it does not matter if things like flooring, trim, ceramic tile and interior doors are not installed.  But the space needs to be liveable, which means a functioning kitchen and bathroom.  So the push is on for me to finish up the cabinets and get the counter tops installed.  Then I can install the kitchen and bathroom sinks and tie in to the already roughed in water supply lines and drains.  Then, once the wood work is done I can clear out the place and sweep and vacuum all the sawdust.  Then installation of floor tiles can commence.  I only need to get enough tile in place to install the toilet, and put the kitchen range in place.  At that point I will be ready for final inspection.  I'm not sure yet if I'll make it in time, and may need to request an extension, but I'm going to do my best to be ready.

Slop Oil

This is the last scan from my recent batch of Ilford FP4+ 4x5, given plus development in Kodak HC-110 Developer.  My friend Arturo and I were out exploring in the summer of 2021.  We were consciously looking for subject matter that fit the idea of things abandoned.  We had the concept in mind, but the Apparitions project had not truly been launched by that point in time.  We came across an abandoned industrial site and wandered around for a while.  These barrels were full of used oil, some were leaking, and they were just left behind at the site.  I don't really think this image captured the mood of the place and perhaps I will return and see if I can do a better job of it.

This images was taken on July 11th 2021 at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I shot it with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a 125mm Fuji lens, with no filter.

Aspen Trunks

Yet another shot of some aspen trunks.  I don't know why, but I am always drawn to these trees.  This grove was on the hillside near Saunders.  The angle relative to the sun is not the greatest, as the view is southward, and the trees are always backlit.  I shot this with a long focal length lens to compress the prespective, and fill the frame with trunks.  This shot was also from the recent batch of Ilford FP4+ 4" x 5" rated at 160 iso and given plus development in Kodak HC-110 developer.  Development was for 14:20 minutes at dilution B, to expand the contrast one zone.

I shot this with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Nikkor 300mm lens.  A #8 Yellow filter was added to brighten the value of the trunks a little, and to further increase contrast.  I shot this on August 25th of 2021 at around 5:00 in the afternoon.

Old Plaster

This old plaster wall, in an abandoned building, is heavily water damaged.  It is badly stained and I think moldy.  It is also significantly bulged and about to fall off of the backing lathe.  It is probably better suited to a large print than it is to a small digital image here on my blog.  Nonetheless, I quite like the shot and thought I would include it.  This is also one of the recently processed Ilford FP4+ 4x5 negatives that received plus development in HC-110, Dilution B.

I shot this on August 10th of 2021 with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens with no filter.  It was taken shortly after 2:00 in the afternoon.

River Rocks

I've seen paintings and photographs of ocean pebbles in the past, and was always moved by them.  I don't live close enough to any ocean to really attempt anything similar, but every once in a while I try it with River Rocks.  River Rocks, particularly mountain ones, look totally different.  They are much less worn and often more varied.  I've never really been overly successful with any of my attempts, and this is my most recent result.

I believe that rocks are best photographed in subdued light.  If the light it too harsh the images becomes nothing but shadows and highlights and doesn't show any of the detail in the stone.  But I think plus development helps to pump up the contrast a little.  That is what I attempted here....

This is yet another image from the recent batch of Ilford FP4+ 4" x 5", given expanded development in Kodak HC-110 Developer, dilution B.  I underexpose the film a little by rating it at 160 iso.  This one was shot along the Blackstone River on April 28 2022, at about 4:50 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Nikkor 200mm lens, with no filter.

Lady's Slippers

Another shot from that recently processed batch of Ilford FP4+ 125 sheet film in 4x5 format.  Like the previous two, and some more to follow, this one was given plus development in Kodak HC-110 Developer, Dilution B [1:31] for 14:20 minutes.

The girls and I went out for a walk at Wagner Natural Area on June 20th of 2021.  This would have been the last day of spring, and one of the longest days of the year.  There were Yellow Lady's Slippers blooming all over the place.  I also have a color version of this, but always seem drawn to Black and White.  I shot this at about 3:40 in the afternoon with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Nikkor 200mm lens, with no filter.