Lamp Batteries

This is another image from the Nordegg Historic Site.  These are old batteries, in the lamp house.  The batteries were used to power the lamps on the miners helmets, so that they could see underground.  Everyday when they started their shifts, each miner would pick up their helmet with a freshly charged battery, and leave their tag at the lamphouse.  Each miner had a tag with a number on it.  This was the way that they kept track of exactly who was in the mine at any given time.  If you take the guided tour of the mine, you can visit this building for yourself and the guides will explain in detail how everything functioned.  I was on a private tour of the mine when this photograph was taken.

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

I shot this image on July 29th 2025, at about 1:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a 180mm lens.  The exposure was for 1 minute at F25.0.

Calendar Image - February 2026

This is the image that I selected for the February page of my 2026 Fine Art Calendar.  I've just finished distributing the two dozen copies of this calendar that I had printed.  Sadly a couple of them went out pretty late, so some people will miss having the January image on their wall for a month.

On our way home from some Beer Parlour Project outings in Saskatchewan last year, Arturo and I found an old abandoned schoolhouse.  It had been converted over to a community hall after it ceased to be used as a school.  Inside was a ping pong table, and a lot of pigeon shit.  This was the last shot I took at that location, after we found the ball over in a corner.

Success - Dry January Challenge

I challenged myself to give up alcohol for the month of January.  No particular reason, just wasn't happy with how often I was indulging.  As the month went on I lost about 5 to 7 Lbs, and found that I slept better and generally felt better.  I don't plan to quit altogether but will definitely slow down going forward.

I actually cheated a little.  Margarit and I went out on the evening of January 31st to see a performance of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at the Winspear Center.  After the show we stopped for a bite to eat a local pub, and catch the end of the Oilers game.  The game wasn't worth watching as the Oilers played terribly and lost 7-3 to the Minnesota Wild.  It was about 10:30PM when we ordered our food and I thought I could indulge, and I ordered one beer.  So technically it was an hour and a half early.  But in my defense I started my period of abstinence almost a week early, on Boxing Day.

Sunflower Heads

This is another version of a field of sunflowers near Gywnne, Alberta.  I posted another shot taken on the same date and from this same spot, several days ago.

This one is from a batch of 4" x 5" Kodak T-Max 100 that I processed on December 19th.  Development was in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 8:00 minutes at 24C.

I shot this on September 14th 2025 at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a 125mm lens.  A #8 Yellow filter lightened the value of the sunflower heads a little, and created some separation in the sky.  The film was rated at 80 iso and exposed for 1/8 second at F25.0.

Brothel Highlights

This interior shot is from the Nordegg Historic site.  This building was rumoured to once be a brothel.  I'm not sure if that's true or not...?

This image is from a batch of Kodak T-Max 100 4" x 5" that I developed on December 22nd.  This batch was processed in 510 Pyro developer, 1:100, for 8:00 minutes at 24C.

I shot this on June 25th 2025, at about 4:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45Ti camera and a super wide Nikkor 65mm lens.  The film was rated at 80 iso and was exposed for 8 seconds at F25.0.

Fan House

This is the fan house for the Number Three Mine Shaft at the Nordegg Historic Site.  The harsh summer sun was nicely showing the texture of the rivets and steel.  This fan moved air through the mine to provide fresh air for the workers, and to exhaust any buildup of explosive gases, like methane, that came off the coal face.  Despite the fact that it has not been used for 70 years, the drum fan still spins on its shaft.  There must be an intake somewhere up above on the hillside, though I have never been able to locate it.  I was photographing at the mine during a private tour, as this site is only open to the public by guided tour.

I messed up a little when I shot this.  I used a very wide lens to record this scene.  Normally when I use my really wide angle lenses with my view camera I need to make a bunch of movements on the standards of the camera.  The bed of the camera needs to be dropped, the rear standard needs to be tilted back, and the front standard needs to be raised and tilted back towards the film.  The bellows extension for wide lenses is minimal and the front standard ends up pushed right back towards the film plane.  These movements are necessary to prevent getting the bed of the camera into the bottom edge of the field of view.  In this case I only raised the standards and didn't do the bed and standard tilts.  As a result the out of focus bed of the camera is visible at the bottom of this image.  I cropped most of it out of this scan, but a little bit of it is still visible, if you look for it.  Live and learn... I should have known better as I have made this mistake multiple times before.

This is a sheet of 4" x 5" Kodak T-Max 100 from the batch that I developed in 510 Pyro on December 19th.  The film was rated at 80 iso and developed at 1:100 dilution, for 8:00 minutes, at 24C.

I took this photograph on July 26th of 2025, at about 3:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a Nikkor-SW 65mm lens.  This focal length is approximately equal to a 21mm lens on a full frame digital camera, or a 35mm SLR.  I added a #25 Red Filter to increase contrast, and create some separation between sky and clouds.

The exposure was for 1 second at F20.0.

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.