Lasagna Day

About once a year I set up and make a huge batch of lasagna.  This year I did it at the end of August.  My youngest daughter Helena gave me a hand this time.

I cooked up a big batch of meat sauce.  We hit the grocery store and bought all the other ingredients.  Five boxes of lasagna noodles, fresh spinach, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese and fresh basil.  Once the meat sauce was ready we cooked up the noodles in batches and built the trays.  We filled seven large trays and two small ones.

Margarit and Hailey were out at Nordegg while this all happened.  When everything was completed, the rest of us at home in the city baked one tray for dinner that evening.  The remaining pans were all wrapped up and frozen for later.  I took some with me when I went out to Nordegg a couple days later, including one of the small trays for Hailey.  This batch turned out really well, if I do say so myself.

 

 

Infrared Coleman Snowplow

This is another rediscovered image.  The film was exposed some time ago, but relatively recently processed.  This old snowplow, like my previous post of the Mack Dumptruck, was photographed at the Reynolds Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta.

This is a scan of a sheet of Kodak High Speed Infrared film.  This particular negative is rather dense and experienced some fogging.  That is not a total surprise given that the film has been discontinued for over two decades, and hit its best before date in August of 2001.

I have recently learned that if I load the film shortly before using it, and then immediately unload the exposed film and return it to refrigeration, it works much better.  I don't think I took enough care with this one.  The film was loaded into a film holder in September of 2023, but was not exposed until June of 2024.  It sat around at room temperature during this extended period of time, and probably out in my camera bag on some warm days.  I did unload the film shortly after exposing it, and kept it refrigerated until I developed it this past spring.  But the damage was likely already done.  All the same, I still managed to salvage a reasonable image.

I rated this sheet of Kodak High Speed Infrared at 100 iso.  I exposed it with a #25 Red Filter, to block much of the visible light and expose the film more so with infrared wavelengths.  As a result it was not necessary to add any extra exposure as a filter factor.  I developed the film in Kodak T-Max developer, 1:6, for 6:45 minutes at 24C.  The film was developed on March 20th of this year.

I took this photograph on June 9th of 2024 at about 3:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a wide 75mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F16.0.

 

 

Mack Dumptruck

This is another of my older images that I recently rediscovered.  Back in the spring, when I set up my Jobo Processor, I ran a bunch of color film, and also some stuff that required development in PMK.  This is a pyro based staining developer that requires vigorous, continuous agitation, hence the processor.  This is a sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 that I gave normal development in PMK.  The film was rated at 320 iso and developed for 9:35 minutes at 20C.  I ran this batch back on May 17th.

The image itself is considerably older than that.  Arturo and I were visiting the Reynolds Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin when I too this shot of the old dumptruck.  This one sits outside with several others, awaiting the day that perhaps it gets restored.  I shot this on July 5th of 2024, at about 2:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a 90mm Rodenstock lens.  A #25 Red Filter was added to lower the value of the blank sky.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F16.0.

 

 

Relaxation

I headed back out to Nordegg on August 31st.  Margarit had remained at the cottage over the past week or so, while I was back in the city.  This is her longest stretch out in Nordegg since the days of Covid isolation.  I think she is mostly enjoying the peace and quiet.

On the first of September I caught a ride with my neighbor to Rocky Mountain House.  There I picked up my old truck, that had been in for repairs.  The issues were mostly related to the old fuel in the tank.  They drained the tank, put in a new fuel pump, changed the fuel filters and all seems to be good again.  I brought the old truck back out to the cottage and parked it in its usual spot.  

Later that afternoon I played a solo round of golf.  It went OK and I shot a score of 43, right around my average.  While I played, Margarit went over to the library, and then later visited with Hailey, who was working the clubhouse that day.  The course is certainly one of the most beautiful, with its mountain setting.

On September 2nd, Margarit and I made a run up to the dump, and then continued on up the Trunk Road to the Blackstone River.  We took Hank along for the day.  We spent a pleasant afternoon exploring along the river.  I dug out my fly road and did a little fishing.  I had a nice trout on the line for a bit, but he spit out the hook before I could land him.  After that I took a few photographs of all the avens that had gone to seed.

Later that evening we returned to the cottage and had a nice dinner.

Horseshoe Lake

This is another one of the older images that I recently stumbled across.  This is a scan of a 4"x5" Agfapan 25 negative.  I rated the film at 32iso and gave normal development, in Rodinal developer, 1:50, for 13:00 minutes at 22C.  I developed the film back in February of this year, but the shot dates back some time.

I'll have to check exactly how much of this old film I have left.  It expired way back in 1990, and I've slowly been using up the last of my stock.  I know that I have somewhere around twenty exposed sheets that need to be processed, and probably another 20 or so that are loaded in holders and need to be shot.  Once those are done, it will be the last of it.  It used to upset me when certain film stocks were discontinued, and for a time there, in the early 2000's it looked like film might disappear all together.  But in recent years all sorts of new emulsions have been released, including a number of them in sheet format.  The most current new addition is Ilford Pan F... which has been available for years in roll formats, but just recently became available in sheet stock.

This image was taken up at Horseshoe Lake in Jasper National Park.  I was out there for a couple of days on the fall trip with the Monochrome Guild in 2022.  A couple of years ago a large forest fire swept through the Athabasca Valley into the Jasper townsite, and this area was heavily burned.  I have not been back to the park since the fire, but should venture back there one of these days.

I took this shot on October 22nd of 2022 at about 4:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Nikkor 200mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure was for 1 second at F22.0.

 

 

September Calendar Image

This is the image I selected for the September page of my 2026 Fine Art Monochrome Calendar.  I took this shot down in Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta, in the fall of 2024.  I was down there together a number of the guys from the Monochrome Guild and we were photographing in the area on our annual fall trip.

Moving Van

Over the weekend I took a look back at the scans of all the negatives I've processed in 2026.  I will be posting a number of them over the next couple of weeks.

Whenever I'm out shooting with my view camera I always take two shots of each set up.  It is always on two different kinds of film, given different development.  So some of the images that I will be posting may have been seen before, but not these specific negatives.  There is always a subtle difference between different film and developer combinations.

This one dates back a few years to when Margarit and I went on a weekend road trip to Saskatchewan with our friends Arturo and Sharon.  Arturo and I were looking for subject matter for our Apparitions project.

This shot was taken on a sheet of Agfapan 25, which I explained in some detail in my previous post on the Quiet Nook School.  The film was rated at 32 iso and given Normal development in Rodinal developer, 1:50, for 13:00 minutes at 22C.  This batch was developed on February 2nd.

I shot this old abandoned moving van on July 13th of 2022 at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  We found it parked along side a busy highway and just had to stop to photograph it.  I shot this with my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a 90mm Rodenstock lens.  No filter was used.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F18.0.

 

 

Drainage

With all the water issues I have had at my house lately I decided to take a proactive step to attempt to minimize further problems.  The east side of our property is lower than our neighbors, and does not drain very well.  To encourage water to drain away from the house I dug a drainage trench.  I had the utility companies come out and mark the lines in the area in which I wanted to dig.  There are both power lines and a fiber optic internet line right where I had to dig.  But those are buried a little deeper than I was planning to go.  My trench was only about ten inches deep.  I put some washed rock in it, and then laid in a weeping tile pipe before covering it all back up.  In some locations, when I knew I was close to utilities, I dug with a small gardening hand trowel.  I never did encounter anything, except for an old abandoned underground sprinkler line.  I hope that this will encourage drainage away from the house, and minimize any future water entry into our basement.  Between this and the new sump, hopefully all is good.

 

 

Quiet Nook

I stumbled across this older image today.  Although it was processed relatively recently, in early 2026, the photograph was taken a number of years ago.

A long time ago a bought a bunch of outdated film on Ebay.  This was Agfapan 25 in 4"x5" sheet format.  My friend Jon and I bought the stuff, and split the spoils between us.  The film was outdated and no longer manufactured, and here I am years later, still using up the last of my stock.  The expiry date on the box was July of 1990.  I have the last of that film currently loaded in film holders, and when I expose the remaining stock, I will set up and develop it for the final time.  I believe I have an additional 20 sheets or so that are already exposed and awaiting development.

I rated the film just slightly over the box speed, at 32iso and gave normal development.  This was in Rodinal Developer, 1:50, for 13:00 minutes at 22C.  This particular sheet was developed back in early February of 2026.

The photograph is of the abandoned Quiet Nook School, northeast of Edmonton.  I took the photograph on August 16th of 2022, at about 1:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Nikkor 200mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter created some separation in the sky, and increased contrast.  The exposure was for 1 second at F20.0. 

 

 

 

Dishes

Back in the spring of 2025, Chris and I spent a few days in west central Saskatchewan.  We were visiting several old hotels for the Beer Parlour Project.  On one of those days we ventured over the border into extreme eastern Alberta.  We found this abandoned school, which appears to later have served as a community hall.  I found these old dishes in the back room and attempted this rather quiet still life. 

This is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Ilford FP4+125.  I rated the film at 160iso and gave extended development to boost contrast by one stop.  This is known as N+1 Development.  I used Kodak HC-110 Developer, dilution B, and ran the film for 14:20 minutes at 20C.

This photograph was taken on May 10th of 2025 at about 2:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  The exposure was for 16 seconds at F20.0.

 

 

Cleaned Up

I recently purchased a little jig for sharpening chain saws.  It clamps onto the bar of the saw, and it holds a hone at the proper angle for sharpening.  I tried it out and it worked pretty well.  Sadly the hone is pretty much worn out after one sharpening, so I'm not sure of the economics verses just buying new chains.  We shall see.... 

After sharpening I used the saw to cut up that big pile of deadwood out at Nordegg.  But the end of the job it was still reasonably sharp.  So I brought the saw home to city, and used it to finish cutting up the large spruce limb that came down at my Mom's acreage.  By the end of that cutting job it was starting to get pretty dull again.  But that limb was around 16 inches in diameter, green, with a lot of knots.  When I get back out to the cottage I will try to sharpen it once more, and see how long it lasts. 

 

 

BP40.0 - Rockyview Hotel - Trevor and Karen

This is one of the first photographs that I took in 2026.  This was from our Beer Parlour Project outing number BP40.0 to the Rockyview Hotel in Cochrane, Alberta.  We visited on February 27th of 2026.  This is a sheet of Kodak T-Max 400 that I rated at 1250iso.  It was developed in late June.  I processed in Kodak T-Max developer, 1:4, for 8:35 minutes at 24C.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Nikkor 210mm lens for this portrait of Trevor and his Mom, Karen.  The exposure was for 1/4 second at F10.0.

 

 

Revised Poster

The Red Deer Arts Council sent me a revised poster for the Coal in Alberta Show.  The first one neglected to mention the date of the reception.  This one has been corrected.

I'm back in the city now and catching up on some chores.  Margarit stayed out in Nordegg with Hailey.  Last night my old truck was towed to the dealership in Rocky Mountain House.  I'm hoping the repair is a simple and inexpensive one, and that I can retain the truck for future use.  Stay tuned...

Out at Nordegg

Margarit and I have been out at the cottage for several days, ever since dropping off the prints in Red Deer for the Coal in Alberta show.  That was back on the 17th.

Its been quiet and relaxing since we arrived.  I played golf a couple of times, and we caught up on some chores around the property.  Sadly my old truck died, and as I write this it is sitting in the parking lot at the golf course.  It is an old 2004 Dodge Ram 2500, with probably around 300,000km on it.  It starting to rust out fairly badly, and a lot of things don't work properly.  The anti-lock brakes, the windshield wipers, the power door locks and the odometer all no longer work.  But it is good enough for a junk truck, and I have used it out at Nordegg for the past several years.  Mostly just for beer runs, dump runs, and to go golfing and fishing.  This time around it died and will not start.  It seems to be an issue with fuel.  Hopefully it's related to the fuel in the tank, which is probably about three years old, and not the fuel pump.  I have booked to have it towed to the Dodge dealership in Rocky Mountain House for repairs, so it remains to be seen.

In the meantime I have done a little work around the place.  I cleaned up most of the deadfall from our main property and cut it all up for outside firewood.  I also split the last of the poplar from the tree that recently came down.  We visited a bit with Hailey, and also connected for breakfast with our friends and neighbors, Shelly and Eric.

I have all the deadfall cut up and piled near the firepit.  Even my kids could not possibly burn this much wood in a weekend....?   But I'm not sure, and don't know if I should tempt fate.  We shall soon find out as they are coming out on Saturday evening, with Braeden's brother and cousin from Ontario.

Kiwanis Gallery

This is the poster for the upcoming "Coal in Alberta" show, by the Monochrome Guild.  There will be an opening reception on September 4th with some of the artists in attendance.