Alsike Corner

This old service station was in operation for many years.  I remember driving by a few times, in the not too distant past, and it was still in operation.  By the fall of 2024, when I took this photograph, it appeared to have been closed for a little while.  A competitor had set up not far away, and it seems the old place couldn't survive.  This place sits at the junction of Highway 20 and Highway 39.  There is no town there, just a couple of businesses.  There are much larger centers to the east and to the west.  Even the old phone booth has been out of service for many years.  It seems we don't need these any more and the only functioning ones I have seen in recent years were in Saskatchewan.

I took this photograph on September 1st of 2024, at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  This is a sheet of Rollei RPX-25 that I processed on March 12th, in part of that mixed batch.  This was in Rodinal Developer, 1:50, for 11:30 minutes.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a wide Rodenstock 90mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter significantly lowered the value of the clear blue fall sky.  The exposure was for 4 seconds at F25.0.

Dinosaur Provincial Park

This is a scan of a negative processed on March 14th.  This was a mixed batch, developed in Kodak HC-110 Developer, dilution B.  This particular 4" x 5" sheet was Ilford FP4+, given N+1 development.  The film was rated at 160iso and developed for 14:20 minutes, to boost contrast.

I took this photo last fall when my daughter Helena and I travelled with some of the guys from the Monochrome Guild on our annual fall trip.  We stayed in East Coulee, and explored around the Drumheller area, as well as at Dinosaur Provincial Park, near Brooks.

I took this shot on October 21st at about 3:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a long 250mm lens.  A #8 Yellow filter added a little extra separation of tone.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F22.0.

Miner's Grafitti

This is a scan of another negative from that mixed batch of film I processed on March 12th.  Like the previous shots, this is also a sheet of Rollei RPX-25.  I rate the film at 12iso, and develop in Rodinal 1:50 for 11:00 minutes at 24C.  It works well enough, but I find the film a little contrasty, and the exposures often become really long.  I'm undecided whether to keep shooting it after my current stock runs out.

I found these names and dates scratched and pecked in the wall of one of the buildings at the Nordegg Historic Site.  I toured the site with permission numerous times over the past couple of years.  I've been in this building at least a dozen times before, and never noticed this until the light hit it just right.

I shot this with my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a Fujinon 180mm lens.  A swing on the front standard helped to hold the image plane a little better in focus.  This photograph was taken on September 24th of 2025 at about 1:45 in the afternoon.  The exposure was for 4 minutes at F20.0.  

Shoreline Pebbles

This is another negative from the mixed batch of film that I processed on March 12th.  This is a scan of a 4" x 5" sheet of Rollei RPX-25 that was developed for 11:00 minutes in Rodinal 1:50, at 24C.

I shot this image on the shore of the Blackstone River, along the Forestry Trunk Road.  The photograph was taken on June 2nd 2024, at about 3:50 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a long Fujinon 300mm lens.  The bellows had to be drawn out to almost 400mm to focus this close, which required exposure compensation of an extra 1/3 stop.  The exposure was for 8 seconds at F64.0.

Dinosaur Park Rills

This is another negative from that mixed batch of film I processed on March 14th.  The developer was Kodak HC-110, Dilution B.  This is another sheet of the now defunct J&C Classic 200 in 4" x 5".  The film certainly has a bit of grit and harshness to it, particularly in this developer.  I think it was probably the Foma 200 film that was just custom branded for J&C Photo, but that is only a guess.

This shot is from the fall trip to Dinosaur Park with the Monochrome Guild.  This shot is NOT from the trip last fall, in 2025.  Rather it is from the year prior, as we also went to southern Alberta in the fall of 2024.  This shot was taken on October 17th 2024, at about 12:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter lowered the value of the sky, and the shadows, and added contrast.  The exposure was for 1/4 second at F29.0.

Another Old One

This negative is from the mixed batch of twenty sheets that I developed on March 14th.  The developer was HC-110 Dilution B.  The batch included one sheet of Arista EDU, four recently exposed sheets of Ilford FP4+, and 15 sheets of J&C Classic 200.  The Arista and J&C received 8:30 minutes of development at 20C.  The FP4+ was developed longer, for plus development.

J&C Photo was a film supplier based in the midwest States.... Kansas City I believe...?  They were great to deal with and I bought a bunch of film from them.  It seem to recall it was in the late 1990's.  Then, they suddenly went out of business.  Rumor was it was some sort of frivolous lawsuit filed by a disgruntled customer.  Fortunately most of their product line was picked up by other suppliers.  At the time they were in operation they were the only source for some rather unique film and paper.  I miss them....

This shot was taken at the Leduc Number One historic site.  It is the interior of an old International Truck.  This particular film, the J&C Classic 200, does not do a great job of handling shadow detail, at least in combination with HC-100 developer.  It was probably a poor choice on my part to select it for this particular image.  The shadow areas were spot metered at an exposure value of around 9 to 9-2/3, which the highlights on the seat and the windshield fell as high as EV15 to 16.  I exposed at EV 12, which held the highlight values alright, but the shadows fell right off and didn't hold very much detail.

I shot this image on June 21st 2022 at about 12:40 in the afternoon.  This is pretty much exactly the summer solstice, so no surprise that the light was rather harsh.  I used my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a 135mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F32.0

I'll chalk this one up as a learning experience and move on to better things.

First Shot of 2022

The batch of twenty 4" x 5" sheets of film that I developed on March 12th, included my first photograph of the year, taken four years ago in 2022.  This was a sheet of Rollei RPX-25, developed in Rodinal 1:50, for 11:00 minutes at 24C.

It was almost exactly four years ago, as I took this photograph on March 21st of 2022, at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a long, Fujinon 250mm lens.  No filter was used.  This is Shunda Creek, near my part time residence in Nordegg.  This overview was taken from the bridge near Beaverdam Lake.  

Technically this was my second photograph of that year.  The first one was a sheet of Kodak T-Max 100, at exactly this same setup.  That shot was followed by this exact duplicate on Rollei RPX.  I almost always take a duplicate shot at every set up.  I have learned the hard way, even with my years of experience, that I sometimes mess things up.  I have lost numerous images due to handling and developing errors, and by shooting a duplicate I have mostly eliminated this.  The exposure was for 1 second at F51.0.  The way the film rendered the highlights on the water during this long exposure, is very similar to the image I posted yesterday.

Old Negatives - RPX25 in Rodinal

On March 12th and 14th I headed into my darkroom and ran a couple of mixed batches of film.  Mostly this was to finally get some really old negatives processed.  I didn't really have enough of any one particular type of film, so I had to do mixed batches of different films.  They all required the same developer and temperature, but the development times were different.  So at points during the process some of the film had to be pulled from development, and other sheets left processing longer.  Its all pretty easy to do with my method of using stainless steel hangers for each individual sheet, in open tanks.  Of course this type of processing needs to be done in total darkness, and you really need to pay attention.  I also had to add some recently shot images to round out the batches.

These two batches included some Efke PL25M, Rollei RPX-25, Ilford FP4+, J&C Classic 200, and some Arista EDU Ultra 200.  The Efke and J&C films have been discontinued, and I don't shoot the RPX or EDU very often.  I think I will probably phase these out of my regular routine, once I deplete my current stock.

This negative was developed on March 12th 2026.  It is a 4" x 5" sheet of Rollei RPX-25 that I gave normal development, in Rodinal developer, 1:50, for 11:00 minutes.  I shot this one way back on May 15th of 2022.  I was out for a spring walk with my camera, in Blackmud Creek Ravine, not far from my home in the city.  It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and the light was pretty intense and contrasty.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a wide, Rodenstock 90mm lens.  A #25 Red filter made the background shadows fall off, and darkened the tone of the water, making the bubbles trails really stand out.  The exposure was for 8 seconds at F32.0.

I only have one sheet left from 2022 that remains to be processed, and will get to that shortly.  I checked and I have about 18 sheets left to go from 2023.  I haven't counted yet for 2024 and 2025, and of course now I am starting to shoot in 2026.  It seems there is always film waiting to be developed.

The Last Apparition

This is the last of my five submission images for the Apparitions project.  My colleague Arturo also has five of his images included.  We are in a holding pattern for now, waiting to hear back from some of the galleries that were sent our exhibition proposal.  We have more galleries to submit to in the coming months, as their calls come up.

This image is a little different flavor than the others, and I have posted this one on my blog in the past.  This is a native site that honors the regrowth after a forest fire.  This is out on the Kootenay Plains, not far from our property in Nordegg.  This area was heavily burned when the Spreading Creek Fire went through the area a number of years ago.

Another Apparition

This is another of my images from the Apparitions project submission package.  This one is kind of a weird image, which is exactly why I chose it.  This old doll, the hatchet and the saddle shoes were all artifacts in an old museum.  But the museum was abandoned, for about 40 years, and towards the end, when the site was no longer monitored and maintained, many of the buildings and artivacts were looted.  The building that housed these items has since been moved to another location.

Arturo and I have now sent out our submission package to eight galleries... since early February.  We have about four or five more, that have upcoming deadlines through the next several months.  We are considering applying for another Arts Grant to fund travelling of the show to galleries that are further away.  With each acceptance comes the expectation that the prints will be delivered to the gallery, the artists will attend the opening, and the prints will be picked up after the show.  Many galleries pay an exhibition fee which partially covers these costs.  But if the venue is further away, then the costs exceed the fee.

One More Apparition

This is another of the submission images from the Beer Parlour Project.  This "Service Counter" shot was taken in a small town in southern Saskatchewan.  I was travelling with my friend Chris for some Beer Parlour Project outings, and attempting to shoot subject matter for the Apparitions project at the same time.  We were all over southwestern Saskatchewan in June of 2024.

In one of the small towns that we visited, we spotted an old building that looked like it had once been a farm implement dealership.  We managed to track down the name of the owner, and he graciously allowed us to photograph the interior.  It was much as his father had left it when he closed the business back in the 1980's.  His son, the current owner, and in his 80's at the time of our visit, operated a farm nearby.  He told us that he had probably not been inside the building for a decade.  It certainly was like a time capsule.

Mid Century Modern

Margarit has been collecting a bunch of stuff to put on display in the 1950's cabin.  Recently she bought a shelf unit, and I hauled it out to Nordegg for her.  Since then she has been working on a display in the master bedroom, that features her collection.  She spent some time on it last time we were out at Nordegg and added a bunch of items.  I'm not sure if she's done yet, of perhaps still has a few things to add.

Big Wind

Overnight on March 7th and 8th a weather front rolled through Alberta.  There were high winds pretty much province wide, and the temperature plummeted.  Out at Nordegg we had the wind, and the temperature dropped to well below zero.  We got a light dump of about an inch or two of fresh snow.  That made things rather treacherous as the new snow concealed all the icy patches that remained.

Two trees came down across our driveway, and Helena rolled them out of the way before I had a chance to get out and do it.  These were standing dead trees that were between our firepit and the edge of the driveway.  They had been dead for some time and I probably should have taken them down some time ago.  Fortuneatly they didn't do any damage, and they can stay there until I have a chance to cut them up for firewood.

When I took a run over to the dump on Monday I noticed that quite a number of trees had come down in the area.  There was a large one that had dropped on a cottage in the subdivision.  It was about 15 lots or so away from us, and I don't know the owners.

When I drove back home to the city I saw evidence of wind damage all the way.  Numerous trees had come down along the roadsides pretty much all the way home.

Last of the Season for the Bubbles

Later on Saturday, after we got Hank dried off and warmed up, we headed out again.  This time we left Hank back at the cottage, to snooze by the fire.  The girls and I took a drive west.

We made a brief stop at Dry Haven Creek and took a short walk.  It was quite icy and slippery, and the creek was still completely frozen over with ice and snow.  So we continued on up to Abraham Lake.  It was warm, but very windy and not all that pleasant to be outside.  There were still a few "Bubblers" trying to make their way onto the ice and catch a glimpse of the bubbles.  The ice is badly deteriorated, and dusted with snow.  There are puddles of water on top of the ice, and a large area of open water at Windy Point.

It was neither safe nor pleasant to wander onto the ice, and not really much to see in the way of bubbles.  The spectacle is best viewed early in the season right after the lake freezes over.  So, we ventured back to the cottage and put a roast in the oven for dinner.  Hank was really happy to see us return.

Beaverdam

On Saturday March 7th Margarit, Helena, Hank and I took a drive over to nearby Beaverdam Lake.  The temperature got up to about +11 at one point, but it didn't feel as warm as the thermometer suggested.  It was quite heavily overcast for most of the day, and there was a bit of a breeze.

We went for a walk on the shore of the lake, and down along Shunda Creek, where it exits the lake.  We were startled and surprised to see a small flock of ducks on a little patch of open water.  There is a lot of sulphur in the water, I assume from some of the nearby coal seams, and except for periods of extreme cold, there is often open water on the lake.

As we walked along the creek, Hank got a little too close to the edge of the ice, and broke through into the creek.  It was in a spot that was deep enough that he was fully submerged.  You could see the panic in his eyes as he hit the cold water.  The girls immediately tried to pull him out with his leash, but his collar slipped off.  Margarit had to quickly kneel down and grab him before the current pulled him away.  Needless to say that put a quick end to our stroll as he had to take Hank back to the cottage and get him dried off and warmed up.