A Sunday Drive

On March 30th, Margarit and Lisa and I took a drive down the David Thompson Highway to Abraham Lake.  Shawn was feeling a little under the weather, so he stayed behind at the cottage.  After several days in a row of shitty spring weather with snow, wind and cool temperatures, we finally got a nice day.  The sun was shining, there was very little wind, and the temperature got up to about +8C in the afternoon.

We started off up at Windy Point.  This was one of those rare days when the place did NOT live up to its name.  There was barely a breeze there and it was very pleasant.  We wandered around on the point and took in the sights.  The reservoir itself was still frozen, but with the up and down spring weather we've been having this year, we didn't take a chance on venture out onto the ice,  A few people did, but we didn't think it was a good idea.  The ice was all covered with snow anyway, so there was no chance to see the ice bubbles.

After that stop we drove up a little further to Abraham Slabs.  I puttled out the big view camera and took a couple of shots while the girls wandered around a little.  One stop was at the camping area, and a second was down beside the highway, a short distance away.

After that we headed back to the cottage to check on Shawn.  He was feeling better and while we were away he had tidied up and done the dishes.  Later in the evening our neighbors Shelly and Eric came over for a visit.  We pulled out the BBQ and made some wings.  Then later when the neighbors left we had a late supper of steak and baked potatoes.

Ball Diamond

The negative is a recently processed sheet of Kodak T-Max 100.  This one was actually from a Readyload Film Pack.  Sadly these are no longer made by Kodak, or the Quickload version by Fuji.  It was a preloaded sheet of film in a paper sleeve, that fit into a special holder.  It made carrying a large format camera outfit easier as you could take one film holder and a bunch of these envelopes, significantly lightening the load.  The film was always dust free, so it had that advantage as well.  I have a few dozen of these left in both T-Max 100 and Neopan Acros.  They are significantly outdated, but I save them for when I go on longer hikes, or extended road trips.

I found this overgrown baseball diamond in a small town in southern Saskatchewan last fall.  I shot it with the intention of considering it for the Apparitions project.  

I took this shot on September 19th 2024, at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a 125mm lens.  A #22 Orange Filter boosted contrast without as harsh an effect as the #25 Red that I more typically use.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F18.0.

April Calendar Image

This is the image I selected for the April page of my Fine Art Monochrome 2025 calendar.  I stumbled upon this scene inside an old abandoned building in southern Saskatchewan.  This was in June of 2024, when my colleague Chris and I were exploring some old hotels for the Beer Parlour Project.  In addition to the old hotels, I was also attempting to take some photographs for my Apparitions project.  This one ended up on the calendar.

Alberta Foundation for the Arts - Art Acquisitions by Application

On March 23rd I sent in my application to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.  The deadline for applications is April 1st.  Every year they put out a call for the Art Acquistions by Application Program.  Basically artists can submit work to be considered by the jury.  Any work accepted will be purchased by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and added to their permanent collection.  Much of this collection is circulated for public display.

I submitted the maximum number... five pieces.  If I do not make the short list of finalists, I will be notified in three months.  If I do make it to Stage 2, then it will take an additional three months before any decisions are made.

I selected images that I already have printed, which is really the basis of the application program.  They are looking to acquire work that already exists.  It appears as though preference is given to work that has been previously exhibited.  

I included two prints that were exhibited at the 54th Annual Juried Exhibition of the Society of Canadian Artists.  This show was at the Papermill Heritage Gallery in Toronto in August of 2022.  These prints were Tangle Falls, and Blackmud Creek.

I included one print that was exhibited at the Elected Members Exhibition of the Society of Canadian Artists.  This show was at the Gallery Viva Vida in Pointe Claire, Quebec in October of 2022.  This print was Spreading Creek Burn.

I included one print that was exhibited at the InFocus Photo Exhibition at the Wild Skies Gallery in Edmonton from February to April of 2024.  This print was Icy Rocks.

And finally, I included one print that has not yet been exhibited, but is part of the ongoing Apparitions project.  This print was used to secure grant funding for production, and is currently part of a submission package to multiple galleries.  This print was Too Late for the Dance.

If any of these pieces are accepted and purchased it will help to fund my photography addiction and offset a small part of the travel and material costs.

Bumper Form

This is another Ilford HP5 negative, also taken up at the Nordegg Historic site.  This sheet was rated at 320 iso and given normal development in 510 Pyro.

This is in the old blacksmith shop, near the forge.  Its appears rather obvious that the timber post is a form for steel bumpers.  Some of these bumpers are lying on the floor beside the form.  These fit onto the ends of the timber frame of the mine cars used to haul coal.

I shot this on August 26th 2024, at about 1:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 90mm lens.  The exposure was for 4 seconds at F20.0.

Extra Crispy

On Thursday March 27th I drove out to Nordegg, after a brief stop along the way for groceries, fuel and lunch.  I arrived in the late afternoon, around 4:30.  Margarit drove out separately, as did her brother Shawn and his wife Lisa.  

Weather conditions were not great.  There was quite a bit of fresh snow, and it continued to come down for a couple more days.  In fact, back home in Edmonton they got a lot more snow than we did in the mountains, and driving conditions on local roads were treacherous.  Reports said up to a foot of snow fell in places in Edmonton, while we only got about 3 or 4 inches at Nordegg.

The temperature during the drive out hovered around -4, though the roads had been salted and were wet in most places.  This made for some rather bizarre conditions.  That water splashed up onto the vehicles as we drove, and then froze on the body panels.  By the time I got out to the cottage my entire truck was coated with a heavy crust of ice.  My door froze shut and I had to body check it to get out of the truck.  It looked like a giant piece of extra crispy Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Even the lug nuts on the wheels had little pointy icicles sticking off the them.  These all pointed out in different directions, towards the perimeter, as a result of the centrifugal force.

Three days later, it had not warmed up enough yet that the ice could melt off.  Margarits truck looked about the same as mine, as did Shawn and Lisa's SUV.  By Sunday the skies had cleared.  I woke up at about 7:30, to rather frigid temperatures.  With the clear skies over night it dropped down to about -12.  But it is forecast to hit about +7 today, so everything should start to melt.  That is our hope, as we are planning a BBQ for the evening.

Vancouver Prefab House

At ten weeks after my surgery I was given permission to start walking normally, without the air boot that I have been wearing.  It was at that point that I seriously hit the darkroom.  Not only did I print a bunch of stuff for Appartions, but I also dove into my backlog of undeveloped film.  I ran four batches of film, each 20 sheets, for a total of 80.  There is still a significant backlog ahead of me, despite this volume

I ran a batch of Ilford FP4, rated at 160 iso, and given plus development in HC-110.  Then I ran a bath of Ilford HP5, this was split with 13 sheets exposed at 320 and given normal development, and 7 sheets exposed at 1250 iso and given extended development.  Both were developed in 510 Pyro.  Finally I ran two batches of Kodak T-Max 100, exposed at 80 iso, and given normal development in 510 Pyro.  Some of this film dated as far back as 2023, and my trip to Vancouver Island, while some was as recent as the last Beer Parlour Project outing a couple weeks ago.

This particular shot was taken on one of my tours of the Nordegg Mine Site.  There are two of these old houses left on site and I believe that at one time there may have been more.  These were prefabricated houses made in Vancouver and then shipped to site for quick assembly.

This was one of the sheets of Ilford HP5, rated at 320 iso, and given normal development.  I shot this on August 26th 2024, at about 3:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 75mm lens.  No filter was used.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F20.0.

Miners Boots

This is a photograph from one of several visits I made into the Nordegg mine site last year.  I was on a tour and had permission to be on site.  

This is what's left of a pair of miners' boots, in one of the lockers at the wash house.  I shot this on a sheet of Ilford HP5.  The film was rated at 320 iso and given normal development in 510 Pyro.

I shot this on August 20th of 2024, at about 11:00 in the morning.  I used my Ebony view camera and a 125mm lens.

It was very dark in the building and the boot soles did not even register on my light meter.  The bench registered at EV 2 to 2-2/3.  The lockers barely registered at EV 2/3.  The exposure was quite long, despite the relatively fast film.  It was for 1 minute at F20.0.

More Printing for Apparitions

On March 25th I spent about five hours in the darkroom, printing yet more negatives for the Apparitions project.  This followed a partial day in the darkroom making unsharp masks.  Normally I print three or four negatives in a darkroom session, and usually make two or three copies of each print.  This time around things went remarkably well, and I ended up printing five negatives.

I think that I now have something like 27 negatives printed for Apparitions.  And there are about ten more that I would like to get around to.  I just need to see what the image looks like as a big print, before I can finalize my selection.  Small little details are often not obvious until the negative is printed to exhibition size.  All of my exhibition prints are 16" x 20".  

I will only be exhibiting 16 of these prints in the show.  Once they are all done I will make my final decision as to which to include.  This will also take into account the prints of my colleague Arturo.  We went out shooting together many times over the last five years of working on this project.  So we have similar images from some of these locations.  We need to avoid duplication, and select the absolute strongest images.  Later, when it comes time to publish out book, we will include significantly more images and at that point there can be a little similarity.

These are all just phone snapshots of the prints in a holding tray of water, as I worked on them.  The first one is some lubricators at the Turner Valley Gas Plant, taken during a private tour of the site in 2023.  The next one is some nails in the wall of the company store at Brazeau Collieries Historic Site in Nordegg.  Again I was on a private tour in 2024 when this photograph was taken.  Its not clearly visible in the snapshot, but there is a number written on the wallpaper above each nail... not sure what they were for...?

After that is a shot of an old abandoned boat on Vancouver Island, taken during our visit there in October of 2023.  This is followed by some pilings, also on Vancouver Island, that were once part of a coal loading dock.  And finally another shot from the tour of Brazeau Collieries.  This one shows a bunch of writing on the wall of the hoist house, noting weather conditions and the date the mine closed, in 1955.

Image 22 - First Utah Trip - Eastern Uplands

This is the last image from the eastern uplands of Zion... at least from this trip.  I'm continuing to work on editing and organizing all my images from the three trips that I made to Utah.  My intention is to put together a photo album based on these images.  This will not be a self-published book and I am not trying to do any sort of promotion with it.  I will only be printing one, or maybe two copies, strictly for personal reasons.

This image was shot on a sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 sheet film, rated at 400 iso and given plus development in PMK.  This image of boulders and sandstone was composed in the eastern upland of Zion National Park in Utah.  I took this photograph on October 16th 2013, at about 11:45 in the morning.

I used my Ebony view camera and a normal focal length 150mm Nikkor.  A #25 Red Filter bumped up the contrast a little further.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F 20.0.

Out like a Lamb... my Ass...!

Some security camera images from the morning of March 26th, out at the cottage in Nordegg.  When we got a big dump of snow at the beginning of March, I commented that I sure hope the old saying comes true.  March is in like a lion and out like a lamb.

Certainly not the case this year and it seems the lion has feasted on the lamb.  Big dump of snow now near the end of the month and the forecast is calling for more in the next couple of days.

Hailey and her sister Helena are out at the cottage now.  They will be returning to the city on the 27th.  Margarit and Hank and I are heading out on the 27th.  It was our plan to spend a few days out there with Margarit's brother Shawn and his wife Lisa.  I'm still game to go, and I suspect they are too.  But it seems we will be spending a bunch of time indoors.

Beer Parlour Outings

I started collecting souvenirs from our Beer Parlour Project outings.  Whenever we are at a hotel that has T-shirts or Hoodies, I buy one.  So far I have four in my collection... Fife Lake, Cadillac, Wildwood and now the latest, Acme.  I will continue to make these purchases whenever I can as not only does it support the ownership, but also advertises their place for them.  And they are just cool and fun to wear.

This last one was a gift from Sharon, the owner of the Acme Hotel, and very much appreciated.

Image 21 - First Utah Trip - Sandstone, Zion Uplands

I'm still working on a few more images from the Eastern Uplands of Zion National Park in Utah.  These are from the third day of my first trip to Utah in 2013.  I was travelling with my friends Rob and Brad and essentially we spent the entire time just hiking and taking photographs.  I have a lot of fond memories from our travels together, which is one of the reasons why I decided to attempt to put together this photo album.

I shot this image on a sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film, rated at 400 iso, and given plus development in PMK developer.  I shot this on October 16th 2013, at about 11:00 in the morning.  I used my Ebony view camera and a 125mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter deepened the sky significantly, and added contrast.  In combination with the plus development, perhaps this was a little too much.

The exposure was for 1/8 second at F 32.

Image 20 - First Utah Trip - Hoodoo, Zion Uplands

This is another image that I have been working on, for the Utah Photo Album.  This one, like the previous two, was also taken in the eastern uplands of Zion National Park.  Rob and Brad and I visited the area on our first trip to southern Utah in 2013.  We found the main part of the park way too busy for our liking.  And, the idea of having to ride a shuttle bus with a bunch of tourists, and get herded around to all the viewpoints, was less than appealing.  So we skipped that part, and spent a little more time here, in the quieter part of the park.

I shot this on October 16th 2013 at about 10:00 in the morning.  This is a 4" x 5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320, rated at 400 iso and given plus development in PMK.  I used my Ebony view camera and a normal length 150mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure was for 1/60th of a second at F22.0.

Image 19 - First Utah Trip - Hoodoo, Zion Uplands

This image, like one I posted a couple of days ago, is from the eastern uplands of Zion National Park, in southern Utah.  This was taken in 2013, on my first trip to the area.  

This was a sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film, rated at box speed, and given normal development in PMK.  I shot this on October 16th 2013, at about 9:40 in the morning, with my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 180mm lens.  A #25 Red filter deepened the value of the sky, and added some contrast.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F22.0.