Alsike Corner

This old service station sits beside Highway 39, between Drayton Valley and Leduc.  At this time of this photograph, it had only been abandoned for a short time.  In fact, I remember passing by, about a year prior, and it was still in business.  I shudder to think at how vandalized and looted it must be now, over a year later.

This is one of the sheets of Kodak T-Max 100 that I developed on December 18th.  The film was rated at 80iso and given Normal Development in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 8:00 minutes, at 24C.

I shot this on September 1st of 2024, at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a somewhat long 200mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter was added.  This significantly lowered the value of the clear blue sky and popped up the contrast of the highlighted storefront and fuel pumps.  The exposure was for 1/2 second at F29.0.

Anyone that has been paying attention to the write ups about my photographs may notice that the aperture that I use for most of them is between F16 and F32.  These small apertures are generally necessary to hold adequate depth of field.  The focal lengths needed for large format photography are much longer than those for 35mm or most digital cameras.  The longer the focal length of the lens, the shallower the depth of field.  Also, the closer to the subject, the less depth of field.  The combination of these two factors is what dictates my longer exposures.  Fortunately, most of the subject matter that I shoot is stationary, so the resulting long shutter speeds don't generally pose any issues.  The exception is the Beer Parlour Project photographs, which always include a person or group.  The long focal length, close subject distance, low lighting in the beer parlours, and motion all combine to create some issues.  I try to compensate by pushing the film to higher iso speeds, opening the lens up as much as I dare, and instructing my at times inebriated subjects to hold still.  Shutter speeds are often between 1/4 and 1 second, so this is not always successful.

Coal Car

This is not a fantastic image, but historically it is significant.  There are a number of old coal cars, including this one, which originally came from the coal mines in Canmore, Alberta.  These were donated to the Nordegg Historic Site and currently remain there.  It is my understanding that they were not used in the Nordegg mine.

This is another sheet of Kodak T-Max 100, rated at 80iso and developed in 510 Pyro.  I shot this one on September 9th of 2024, 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 with the intention of lightening the value of the foliage and grass, and increasing the separation in the rusty red steel of the mine car.  The exposure was for 4 seconds at F20.0.

Company Store

This is a scan of a 4" x 5" sheet of T-Max 100, rated at 80 iso and given Normal development in 510 Pyro.  Development was at 1:100, for 8:00 minutes, at 24C.

This is another of my shots from up at the Nordegg Historic Mine Site.  I continue my project to document the buildings and artifacts that remain at this site, with the permission of the County.  The mine closed 70 years ago, in 1955. 

This is the interior of the company store, the oldest building on the site.  It survived the big fire in the early 1950's that saw many of the other buildings destroyed and reconstructed.  The miners had to provide all their own tools and supplies.  Being such a remote location, they had no choice but to buy from the company store, and the cost was deducted from their paycheque.  I have no idea how fair the mine was in their pricing but one would hope they had to be somewhat reasonable about it, if they wanted to retain their workforce.  But historically most mines were notoriously cheap, so it seems doubtful that the miners were treated overly well.

I shot this on August 26th of 2024, at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  The exposure was for 60 seconds at F20.0.  I chose to use the pyro developer for this shot as I knew that the resulting stain would help to retain highlight value in the windows.

Dead Trunks

This is a scan of a 4" x 5" sheet of Kodak T-Max 100.  I developed this batch on December 18th in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 8:00 minutes, at 24C.  The film was rated at 80iso and given Normal development.

This is a spot near my cottage in Nordegg.  There was once a beaver dam on this small creek, but in recent months the dam was breached and the water level dropped.  That left these bleached dead tree trunks that had drowned in the high water.  I'm not sure if the dam was blasted out by humans or just naturally deteriorated and collapsed.  This creek is some distance away from any roads or infrastructure, so it seems unlikely the dam was blasted?

At one time I thought that I might have accidentally fogged a number of sheets of this film.  I discovered as I was loading some film, that I had left a power bar plugged in and turned on, and there was a small LED light glowing.  At the price of film, I didn't want to throw away a dozen or so sheets of film, and so I took a chance and used it.  I labelled the film holders as I loaded and used this stuff, and made a point of not shooting anything that was irreplaceable.  I also shot duplicates on another type of film, as I usually do.  This is one of those sheets that I suspected of being fogged, but I can't see any evidence of a problem.

I shot this image on August 18th 2024 at about 4:30 in the afternoon.  Chris and Connie were visiting us out at Nordegg that weekend, and this was during an ATV ride when Chris and I went out exploring.  I used my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a long 300mm lens.  The exposure was for 1 second at F58.0.

A Few Days in Nordegg

I took Margarit out to Nordegg for a few days of rest and recovery.  We headed out from the city on the afternoon of Sunday January 18th.  Sadly we were only able to stay until Thursday the 22nd.  During that time we did not do a lot... mostly just relaxed and let Margarit's shoulder heal from her recent surgery.

I spent a little time working on my old jukebox.  I have been sourcing some parts from suppliers in Germany and California.  This included some card holders, to replace the ones in mine that were missing and broken, and the top glass.  The glass in mine was broken and I managed to take the frame apart and remove the old glass and install the new.

When we arrived there was almost no snow.  We went out for a walk a couple of times, but there was ice on the roadways where traffic had packed down the snow.  Then on the 19th we got about half an inch of fresh snow.  This covered the old ice and made walking somewhat treacherous.  We took a very careful and cautious walk around the subdivision.  We can't afford to have Margarit fall and injure her shoulder, so we put a stop to that after the one walk.

On Wednesday morning I went down to the rink in town and helped a few of the neighbors sweep the ice and give it a flood.  The ice held up remarkably well considering the recent mild spell.  I understand that the guys flooded it a few times in recent days, but did the work after 9:00PM when it was a little colder.

That afternoon Margarit and I took a short drive over to the dump to get rid of some garbage.  I made her a lunch that afternoon, and then in the early evening I headed back over to the rink for the weekly hockey game.  A LOT of people showed up, and the rink was TOO crowded.  We had two goalies and at least 16 skaters.   The ice surface is smaller than regulation size and even playing four on four it is pretty crowded.  It meant a lot of standing around and getting cold, and not much skating.

When I got back to the cottage I found that Margarit had taken off her sling, done a bunch of food prep, and all the dishes.  So much for getting her to rest her arm.  I scolded her and sent her up to the living to watch a movie while I made us a couple of pizzas for supper.

And Thursday it was snowing lightly and was heavily overcast.  I set about the usual clean up routine in advance of our departure.  We would stay longer, but Margarit has an appointment with the Bone and Joint Clinic to follow up on her surgery.  We also have tickets to the Folk Club and the Symphony in the coming days.  Once those events are behind us, hopefully we can return.

All things considered, Margarit's recovery is going remarkably well.  She says the pain is a lot less than what she was expecting.  Initially she had trouble getting comfortable and falling asleep.  But as the days pass that is becoming less of an issue and she seems to be sleeping better.  A return visit is in order as it is more relaxing out in the mountains, and the fresh air makes a person sleep better.

BP29.0 Waldorf

While I'm on the topic of Beer Parlour Project outings, here is another photograph.  This is a scan of a sheet of Ilford FP4+125 developed a couple of months back.  The film was rated at 160 iso and given Normal Development in Perceptol Developer, 1:1 for 11:45 minutes at 24C.  I processed this batch of 4" x 5" sheet film on my Jobo Processor back on October 29th.  I had originally intended to give this sheet plus development, to increase contrast, hence the slight underexposure at 160iso.  But I mixed up the sheets when unloading them, and this one only got normal development.  It turned out alright, all things considered.

We were at Beer Parlour Project outing number BP29.0 at the Waldorf Hotel in Drumheller.  Margarit and I were there, along with Chris and Connie.  Arturo and Sharon joined us as guests for this weekend, and my friends Frank and Chriss tagged along for a beer, and to experience the vibe.

I took this photograph on June 14th 2025, at about 9:15 in the evening.  I shot it with my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a long 300mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F20.0.  This sign must have looked pretty impressive back in the day when all the neon was still working.

BP31.0 Amisk Hotel

This is a sheet of Kodak T-Max 100 that I developed, along with 19 others, back on December 19th.  The film was rated at 80iso and given normal development in  510 Pyro, 1:100, for 8:00 minutes at 24C.

It was a showery afternoon last summer when the Beer Parlour Project team stopped in at the Amisk Hotel, in Amisk, Alberta, for outing number BP31.0.  Chris and Arturo and I were out for this visit.  This was one of three old hotels, and the only one on the Alberta side, that we visited during our stay in Macklin, Saskatchewan.

I shot this on July 20th 2025 at about 4:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a 240mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F18.0.

Mild January

Since Margarit had her shoulder replacement surgery back on January 9th we have taken things pretty easy.  The weather has been really mild the past couple of weeks, and all the snow that we got back in December is really settling down.  In fact day time high temperatures have been above freezing for days on end, with some days seeing high temperatures approaching double digits.

Officially we were told that Edmonton received 72cm of snow in December.  This works out to a little over 28 inches.  I call bullshit on that one, as we only got about half that amount at our place.  I understand that there was some melting and settling and drifting, but still...!!!  I think the city uses that statistic as justification for their shitty snow removal services.  Despite the fact that significant melting has occurred, they are still farting around with snow removal.  I agree that it is important on the main roadways.  But the side streets that they are now attempting to clear are not necessary.  It is a waste of time and money and just makes parking on the streets virtually impossible.  All they really need to do is run a plow through and smooth out the ruts.  But there are too many whiners that all bitch and complain that more needs to be done.  No doubt these are the same whiners that will complain when the next tax bill arrives.

The recent mild temperatures have turned everything to a skating rink.  The snow is all glazed and crusted over and walking around can be treacherous.  The stores are all sold out of ice melt and snow shovels and scrapers.  Margarit has to be particularly careful as she can not afford a fall onto her recently repaired shoulder.

We had a belated family Christmas dinner with my brothers and their families on January 17th.  All of the cousins managed to attend and it was the first time that everyone got together in quite some time.  We had the dinner at my Mom's place, and this will almost certainly be the last time there as the house is up for sale and Mom now lives in long term care.

The next day I took Margarit out to Nordegg.  She is not even allowed to drive for six weeks so the girls and I have been looking after all the household chores.  I figure she will be less inclined to try to do something out at the cottage, and hopefully will just rest and do her strength exercises.  In contrast to the city, there is virtually no snow out at Nordegg.  Nordegg received much less to begin with, and has experienced the same mild temperatures in recent weeks.  While there is still at least a foot on the ground back in Edmonton, there is nothing in Nordegg save for a few patches in shady spots.  Hopefully we receive a bunch of snow over the next couple of months to mitigate the risk of spring forest fires.

These two shots were taken in our back yard in the city, just a couple days ago.  Helena's snow man, and his snow dog, are melting and falling over as a result of the mild temperatures.

Broken Door

From the batch of Kodak T-Max 100 4" x 5" that I processed on December 22nd.  This batch was given normal development in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 8:00 minutes, at 24C.  

This old door is in one of the buildings up at the Nordegg Historic Site.  I have been working up at the site for over a year documenting all the buildings and artifacts.  It is an unofficial position that is unpaid, but I have the permission and support of the staff.  I have built up an archive of dozens of images and will continue to add to it in the coming months.  Some of the images are on display as large prints at the Discovery Center.

I shot this one on June 25th 2025 at about 4:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a wide, 90mm lens.  The film was rated at 80 iso and exposed of 16 seconds at F20.0.

Sunflower Field

I took this shot last fall on my way out to Ferintosh.  I was making a return visit to the Ferintosh Hotel.  During my previous visit, for Beer Parlour Project outing number BP36.0, I had left behind one of my film holders.  On this day I took a drive out, had a nice visit with hotel owner Darlene, and then stopped on my way back home to photograph this field of sunflowers near Gwynne.

This is a sheet of Kodak T-Max 100 4" x 5" film, rated at 80iso.  I developed this on December 19th in 510 Pyro, diluted 1:100, for 8:00 minutes at 24C.

I took the photograph on September 14th 2025, shortly after 2:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a long 400mm lens.  A #8 Yellow filter lightened the value of the leaves a little, and deepened the small shadow areas.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F25.0.

Vancouver House

My previous post of the door handles was taken up at the Nordegg Historic site.  They were on the door of one of the old cars left behind on the site.  This shot is also from the mine site, though not from the same visit.  There are two houses like this, and they are referred to as the Vancouver Houses.  They were kit houses shipped in pre-fabricated, from a supplier in Vancouver.  This is similar to my previous post called Earlsfield, which was a kit house supplied by Eatons.  The two Vancouver Houses on the mine site were residences for senior staff at the mine back in the coal mining days.  These likely date from the latter days of the mining operations.  The mine closed for good in 1955.  I took a very similar shot previously, but had some difficulty printing it.  In that shot the house was backlit and the sky was kind of blown out.  This time around I shot later in the day, hoping for a better negative to print.  I haven't attempted a print yet, but one of these days I will get around to it.  

This is a sheet of Kodak T-Max 100 rated at 80iso and developed in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 8:00 minutes at 24C.  I ran this batch before Christmas, and December 22nd.

I shot this photograph on June 25th 2025 at about 2:30 in the afternooon.  I used my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a wide 90mm lens.  I didn't bother to use a filter as most of the subject was not in direct sun.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F18.0.

Door Handles

I really liked this shot when I first saw the negative as it came out of the wash.  But then after I scanned it I realized there is an area of lens flare by the lower crank handle.  That ruins the image for me, though I decided to include it here on my blog anyway.

This is a sheet of 4" x 5" Kodak T-Max 100.  I rated the film at 80iso and developed it in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 8:00 minutes at 24C.  I developed this batch just before Christmas on December 23rd.  I shot this with my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a Nikkro AM 120mm Macro Lens.  The photograph was taken on April 18th 2025 at about 3:00 in the afternoon.  The sun was behind the subject and I must have caught a little direct light on the front lens element, to result in the flare.  The exposure was for 4 seconds at F36.0.

Earlsfield

This is another recently processed 4" x 5" negative.  This is a sheet of Kodak T-Max 100, rated at 80iso and developed in 510Pyro, 1:100, for 8:00 minutes at 24C.  I ran this batch on December 23rd.  This was actually a sheet from a Kodak Readyload Packet.  These film packs are no longer available.  They were rather costly, even back in the days of much cheaper film.  But they were really convenient as each sheet of film was flawlessly dust free and factory loaded in a cardboard packet.  You only had to carry one film holder, and then insert the individual packets as you used them.  It made for much lighter hiking.  I still have a few left in stock, and have them reserved as back up film on longer trips, or when I'm doing a hike and want to lighten my pack.  In this case Chris and I were on an extended road trip in Saskatchewan and I brought along a few Readyload Packets in case I ran low on film.  That proved to be the case when I went to shoot this old building.

We found this abandoned farm house along a side road in Saskatchewan, not far from the town of Vera.  This was an Eaton's catalogue home.  People could purchase these homes in kit form from Eatons and have the materials package with instructions sent out to their property.  This particular model was called the Earlsfield, and it was probably the most popular one.  We have seem many of them on our travels throughout the prairie provinces.

I took this photography on May 8th of 2025, at about 2:45 in the afternoon.  I shot it with my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a longer Nikkor 210mm lens.  A #22 Orange filter increased the contrast a little and created some separation between sky and clouds.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F18.0.  The expiry date on this pack of film was June of 2009, so it held up pretty nicely 16 years later.

Ditch Dodge

My brother Shawn and I found this old Dodge out in Lamont County one day last spring when we were out exploring.  I was shooting large format and Shawn was doing a little digital shooting with a new to him DSLR.  This is from one of my recently processed batches of Kodak T-Max 100, rated at 80iso and developed in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 8:00 minutes at 24C.  I ran this batch just before Christmas, on December 22nd.

I took this photograph on May 26th 2025 at about 5:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a Schneider 135mm lens.  I didn't bother to add a filter as any one that I could have selected would have made little difference.  The exposure was for 1/4 second at F16.0.

Shoulder Replacement

On Friday January 9th I took Margarit in for her shoulder replacement surgery.  She had been waiting for several years for this day, and when it finally arrived there was some nervous anticipation.  I dropped her off at the clinic at 6:45AM.  Her's was the first surgery of the day with her surgeon.  She was in the operating room by 7:30AM.  At about 10:30 I got a call advising that she had been in recovery for around half and hour, and I should make my way down to pick her up.  I arrived at the clinic around 11:15.  They monitored her oxygen levels for a bit, and then ran through all the medications and stuff that she has to deal with in the coming days.  By shortly after 12:00 noon I had her back home and resting.

I had mixed feelings about the fact that she waited years for a procedure that took a couple hours.  We are grateful that her pain issues have finally been addressed, but a little disappointed that she had to wait so long.

The operation was done at the Alberta Surgical Center, a private clinic that is funded by Alberta Health.  It was very organized and efficient and she was treated very well.  I have no issue with a private clinic such as this being run for profit, as long as it is covered by our health system and everyone has equal access to it.  There are mixed opinions about this concept but anything that improves access and takes some of the load off the overburdened hospitals is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned.  The only things we had to pay out of pocket for were her prescriptions, and a sling.

The procedure that Margarit had done is a Reverse Shoulder Arthroplasty.  In a healthy shoulder there is a ball at the upper end of the humerus [arm bone] that fits into a socket on the scapula [shoulder blade].  The standard surgery involves replacing these components with artificial ones.  In her case the joint was so badly deteriorated that they had to do the reverse process, and put an artificial ball on the scapula, and a plate on the humerus.  It makes me wonder that if they had done the surgery sooner, perhaps the more traditional hardware could have been used.  In any event, this process is supposed to work well and eventually will provide her with near normal range of motion.

She tells me that the pain is a little less than she had expected.  She has been resting for a couple of days now and is in generally good spirits.  She can't really lay down to sleep yet so she is in bed, in a partially sitting position, trying to catch a little sleep.  Mostly she just dozes for short stretches but this should improve over the coming days and weeks as the healing progresses.  Later today I will take her in for a follow up x-ray to make sure that everything is properly in place.  She will also start doing some daily exercises.