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!

School's Out

This old abandoned school is in East Central Alberta.  I visited it twice, when I was in the area with Chris, exploring some old hotels for the Beer Parlour Project.  This shot was taken during my first visit to the area in the spring of last year.  The intention was to consider this one for the Apparitions project and I may in fact print it and see if it is worthy of inclusion.

This is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320, from the batch processed on May 17th.  I rated the film at box speed of 320 iso and developed on my Jobo Processor in PMK.  It was developed for normal contrast for 9:35 minutes at 20C.

I shot this with my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a wide Rodenstock 90mm lens.  A #8 Yellow filter was added to bump the contrast up slightly.  I shot this on May 10th of 2025 at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  The exposure was for 1/30 second at F25.0.

Blue Whale

For the past couple of years the crew at Dinosaur Valley Studios has been working on the skeleton of a Blue Whale.  Unlike many of the projects that are worked on in the shop, this one is not a prehistoric beast.  Rather this is a modern Blue Whale, the largest animal to have ever lived on earth (by weight).  It is believed to have perished as a result of a ship impact some years ago.  The carcass was left for the flesh to decay off of the bones, and the skeleton was eventually recovered.  

Dinosaur Valley Studios was contracted to prepare the skeleton for exhibit.  The skull was badly damaged as a result of the ship impact, so a new one was recreated from steel and foam with a urethane skin.  The rest of the bones are pretty much all natural, save a few that were repaired or partly reconstructed.

Once all the bones were prepared a steel armature was fabricated to support everything in a realistic pose.  Recently my friend and business partner Frank traveled down to Newport Oregon to install the finished mount.  It is on display outdoors at the Hadfield Marine Center, which is part of Oregon State University.  

Frank sent me these two photos that were taken shortly after the installation was completed.  It is nice to have this project done, and a lot more shop space back in East Coulee, now that all these bones are out.

Lockers and Wheelbarrow

I shot this one over a year ago, up at the Nordegg Historic Site.  This was on one of my many tours of the Mine.  This is a 4"x5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320, from the batch that I processed back on May 17th.  The film was rated at box speed, 320 iso, and developed for normal contrast in PMK.  I ran this batch on my Jobo Processor and development was for 9:35 minutes at 20C.

I shot this on March 31st of 2025, at about 3:30 in the afternoon.  The lower angle of the spring sun probably helped, and provided the highlights in the center of the image.  I shot this with my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a wide 90mm Super Angulon lens.  No filter was used.  The exposure was for 1/2 second at F20.0.

Originally I thought that there was no connection between the old wheelbarrow and the miner's lockers.  But I'm reconsidering that initial opinion and may attempt to print this one for the Apparitions project.  It seems that although the project is supposed to be complete, I still keep coming up with new work that fits the theme.

David Thompson Country Calendar 2026 - June Image

This is the image I selected for the June page of my 2026 David Thompson Country calendar.   These backlit trees are at the historic Alexo Cemetery.  Alexo was once a coal mining community east of Nordegg.  It is along the rail line and there was once a big tipple, an operating mine, and a small town.  Today nothing remains but parts of the tipple foundation, and the cemetery.

Corb Lund at the Starlight Room

On Friday May 31st Margarit and I went to the Starlight Room in downtown Edmonton to see Corb Lund.  This was the first of three shows he was playing, and at each show he played two of his albums, in their entirety, in order.  The night we went it was Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier, and Cabin Fever.

I remember the Horse Soldier album particularly well as I used to play it all the time for the girls when I drove them to their riding lessons.  It also features a song called Hard on Equipment, which was kind of the anthem to the guys in my shop, back in the day when I was in business.

The lead guitarist had quite a collection of guitars and played two telecasters, a jazzmaster, some custom electric that I didn't recognize, an old beat up resonator blues guitar, and a steel guitar.  He was really good.

The building that currently houses the Starlight Room has quite a bit of history.  It was once a Citadel for the Salvation Army and even to this day the interior layout is rather church like, with the floor sloping up towards the altar/stage.  Lady it went on to become the home of Edmonton's theatre company.  They later moved to a new building on Churchill Square, now called the Citadel Theatre.

Later it became a night club... first the Bronx, later the Rev and now the Starlight Room.  Some bands that later went on to become famous have played here.  There is no seating so you have to stand for the entire show, and its far too crowded to dance.  We managed to get within about 20 feet of the stage so had a good view of the stage, and quite enjoyed it... at least I did...

Another Version

I posted another version of this same shot a number of months ago.  If I'm not mistaken that one was on Rollei RPX25 film.  This time around the shot was taken on 4"x5" Kodak Tri-X Pan 320.  This is part of the batch that I recently processed, back on May 17th.  The film was rated at 320 iso and given normal development in PMK.  I ran the batch on my Jobo Processor and development was for 9:35 minutes at 20C.

This shot was taken on the Monochrome Guild fall trip back in 2024.  These rills are at Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta.

I shot this with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a longish Nikkor 210mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter pumped up the contrast and created some separation between clouds and sky.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F19.0.

All Wrong

There's lots of flaws in this image, but I still kinda like it.  This old abandoned grain elevator sits out near the Saskatchewan border in east central Alberta, along the CN mainline.  

There is a lot of distortion in this image due to the fact that I used an extreme wide angle lens, and pointed it up.  The movements resulted in some vignetting in the upper corners due to some inadeqaute coverage by this lens.  And, there is some lens flare behind the elevator due to the sun being just outside the frame in the upper left.  Somehow it's all sort of interesting visually.... at least to me.

This is a 4"x5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320.  The film was exposed at 320 iso and given normal development, on my Jobo Processor, in PMK.  Development was for 9:35 at 20C.

I shot this on May 10th 2025 at about 12:40 in the afternoon.  Chris and I were in the area visiting some old hotels for the Beer Parlour Project and took a break to explore this old elevator.

I shot the image with my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Schneider 47mm lens.  A Centre filter was used to balance the light, and a #22 Orange filter pumped up contrast.  I used a relatively quick shutter speed to stop the motion of the approaching train.  1/60 second at F10.0.

Politician's Namesake

This is a negative from an outing a couple of years ago.  It was taken during the first of two fall trips to the Drumheller area, by the Monochrome Guild.  This trip was in 2024, and we returned to the same area a year later, in 2025.

This is a recently developed 4" x 5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320.  The film was rated at 320 iso and developed in PMK, on my Jobo Processor.  Development was normal... so for normal contrast range... for 9:35 minutes at 20C.  Processing was on May 17th of this year.

I shot this image on October 16th of 2024 at about 12:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a 125mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure was for 1/4 second at F20.0.

This old manure spreader is in the ghost town of Dorothy, a popular stop for photographers.  At the time of this photo, the old grain elevator had not yet been restored.  The roof was ripped off during a violent wind storm some years ago.  After this photo was taken, the elevator had a new roof installed, and it was repainted.  I'm really impressed with the locals in this area as not only have they looked after this, but they have also restored both of the old churches in town, and maintain the community hall.

Pontiac

I took this photograph a year ago, when I was out on a day trip with my brother in law Shawn.  Shawn is currently recovering in hospital from heart surgery.  He has severe heart disease and just had an artificial heart, an LVAD, surgically implanted.  So far he is doing well, but he has a long road to recovery, and will not be returning home for a while yet.  It will be a significant lifestyle change for him, but it beats the alternative.

This is a 4" x 5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film, rated at 320 iso.  I took this photograph on May 25th 2025, at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TU view camera, one of three Ebony cameras that I use, with a Schneider 110mm lens.  This is a somewhat wide angle lens, similar to a 35mm lens on a full frame digital camera, or with 35mm film.

I developed the film normally in PMK developer.  This is a staining pyro developer that imparts a proportional stain in the film, increasing density and contrast.  Development was on my Jobo Processor, in an Expert Drum, for 9:35 minutes at 20C.

No filter was used on camera, and the exposure was for 1/60 second at F16.0.

June Calendar Image

This is the image I selected for the June page of my 2026 Fine Art Monochrome calendar.  I print about three dozen of these calendars every year, and hand them all out to friends and family.  It getting to about the time that I have to start thinking about which images I will use next year.

This shot was taken in the upper part of the Kootenay Plains.  This area was burned by the Spreading Creek Wildfire in July of 2014.  The fire was started by lightning, near the Banff Park Boundary, and burned almost all the way to Whirlpool Point.  It amazing how much regrowth has occurred in a little over a decade.

This area is important to the local First Nations and this sweatlodge site, along with all the prayer flags, is in an area that has seen signficant rebirth and new growth.  This is on public land, near one of the hiking trails in the area.

Wagon

This scan is the last of the recently processed 8"x10" negatives.  I shot this one when the gang from the Monochrome Guild were out on our fall trip last October.  This old wagon and these barns are located in the ghost town of Rowley.  It still has a few residents, was once a movie set, and not all the buildings are original.  But it is a cool place to visit.

This is a sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320.  It was exposed at 320iso and given Normal development in PMK Developer.  9:35 minutes at 20C.  I ran a batch of five sheets of this stuff on my Jobo Processor back on May 17th.  Like most of my other film, this sheet hit its best before date a long time ago... in this case back in December of 2013.

I shot this on October 20th of 2025 with my Chamonix 810V view damera and a Fujinon-C 450mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter was added to increase contrast and create some separation in the sky.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F25.0.

Nordegg Number Two

This is an 8"x10" negative that I shot up at the Nordegg Historic Site last fall.  The reference to Nordegg No,2 is to the number of the coal seam that was being mined, not the number of the entrance.  There is no Number One.

This was yet another sheet of outdated film, with a best before date of December 2013.  I loaded into a film holder a year ago, in May of 2025.  It was exposed last October, and finally developed on May 17th.

This is a sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320, rated at 320 iso.  The film was given Normal development in PMK, for 9:35 minutes at 20C.  I ran this batch on my Jobo Processor, together with a bunch of 4" x 5" stuff

I shot thi on October 5th 2025, at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Chamonix 810V view camera and a somewhat wide Nikkor 240mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at R32.0.

Monday Day Trip

Margarit and the others got home from Austria on Saturday May 23rd.  I was getting really tired of being in the city so on Monday I decided to head out for a drive in the country.  I had no particular destination in mind and basically just went out sightseeing.  Of course my view camera came along...

I ended up northeast of the city.  I saw several flocks of White Faced Ibis'.  At one time, a couple of decades back, these birds were only known at one or two locations in the deep south of the province.  Now they have expanded their range up into central Alberta, and perhaps beyond.  I also saw numerous other shorebirds and waterfowl including ducks, geese, coots, and several American Avocets.

Late in the afternoon I ended up over in Andrew.  I did a shot of the exterior of the Andrew Hotel.  When we visited there last summer for the Beer Parlour Project and outing number BP34.0, I never got an exterior shot.  It was raining much of the day, and on top of that we were really busy as the news reporter from CTV Edmonton, Connor Hogg, was out doing a feature on our project.

After the stop in Andrew I slowly made my way back home and scouted around a little, taking the long scenic route back to the city.  I didn't find anything spectacular, but it was really nice to get out of the city for a while, and do some shooting with my camera.

Here we go again

On Thursday May 21st I set out from home to play hockey.  It was a morning game with my Vintage League.  Things quickly went to hell in a hand basket.  I arrived at the rink early, and listened to the radio in my truck for a bit.  Then I grabbed my gear and went to go in to the dressing room, only to realize that I'd forgotten to put on my contact lenses, and was still wearing my glasses.  I rushed home to put on my contacts, and then rushed back to the rink.  I made it into the dressing room shortly before game time, but the dressing room was pretty full by this point.

I rushed to put on all my gear, and then snapped a lace on my skate.  Fortunately I had some spare laces in my hockey bag, but re-threading it took up even more time, and I was barely ready when the game started.  Then I forgot my water bottle in the dressing room, and had to wait for a break in play to go and get it.  

The distribution of guys onto two teams wasn't very good and it was quite the mismatch.  The group that I ended up playing with seemed to have all the older guys, and none of the forewards back checked.  So we lost all three games that we squeezed in to that 90 minute ice slot.  To add insult to injury I got clipped by another wrist shot, this time on my other thigh.  Once again this turned into a big ugly bruise.

What a shit show...!  Hopefully next time around things go better.  There are only five games left in the Vintage summer season and I hope to make it out to most of them.