J Kluzak

This scan, and the next ones coming up over the next several days, were all from the June trip to Saskatchewan.  These are all from the batch of 4" x 5" Ilford FP4 that I recently processed.  These were rated at 160 iso and given N+1 Development in Kodak HC-110 Developer, Dilution B, for 14:20 minutes at 20C.  

The NHL hockey player Gord Kluzak is from Climax, Saskatchewan.  We found this old truck in his home town.  Canuck is a town nearby, and the owner of this truck was probably related.

I shot this on June 13th at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 80mm lens, with no filter.  I stopped the lens down to F41.0 to hold depth of field, which resulted in a shutter speed of 1/8 second.

Blackstone Pebbles

This is another scan from the batch of 4" x 5" Ilford FP4, given N+1 Development in HC-110 Developer.  This is the second image from the batch that was taken before the trip to Saskatchewan.  All the rest of the images were taken more recently, and I will share those in some upcoming posts.

This detail shot is of some river rocks along the gravel bars of the Blackstone River.  This was taken at the spot where the Forestry Trunk Road crosses the river.

I took this shot on June 2nd at about 4:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a long Fujinon 300mm lens.  I had to add an extension factor when I calculated the exposure to compensate for the long bellows draw required to focus this closely.  I stopped the lens way down to F64.0 in an attempt to secure depth of field and this resulted in a long exposure of 1/4 second.  

This camera and lens combination was purchased from my friend Rob Michiel, when he retired from large format shooting a year ago.  I keep that camera out at the cottage all the time, so I don't have to drag gear back and forth every time I go out.  I just bring my tripod and some film holders.

Big Eddy at Whirlpool Point

On July 20th I processed a batch of 4" x 5" Ilford FP4.  This batch required N+1 development to increase contrast.  I ran the film in HC-110 Developer, Dilution B, for 14:20 minutes, at 20C.  The batch of 20 sheets included a number of shots from the recent Saskatchewan trip, as well as some other stuff shot earlier this year.

This is one of those earlier shots....  Back in May my brother in law Shawn and I took a drive from the cottage up to Whirlpool Point.  I attempted to capture the motion of the North Saskatchewan River as it swirled in the Big Eddy below Whirlpool Point.  I used a small aperture and a red filter to allow a long 4 second exposure in the hope that it would show some motion.  It was moderatlely successful, but I'm not thrilled with the image.  Some of the others in the batch are much better, and I will be posting those in the coming days.

Back to the Darkroom

Early on the morning of July 21st, long before the rest of the household awoke, I headed down to the darkroom to work on some printing.  It has been quite some time since I have done any printing.  This time around I made 15 prints, 11" x 14", from six different negatives.  All were portraits, and Margarit has been bugging me for quite some time to get around to printing some of them.

The first one is actually from the Beer Parlour Project.  This was BP 3.0 in September of 2022.  We visited the Elk River Inn in Hozmer, British Columbia.  This is Len Vaness, the owner.  A short time after our visit Len passed away, and the establishment was closed.  I plan to send this print to his family.

The next one is a portrait of Helena, taken in our backyard in the fall of 2017.  She named that stuffed bear Fizz.  It was given to her at the Stollery Children's Hospital when she was very young, and attending appointments dealing with her heart issues.  She would have been about 8 or 9 years old at the time.  This print has been a long time coming as Helena just turned 16 last week.  I'm pretty sure that Lena still has Fizz, but she doesn't carry him around nearly as much as she used to.

The next one is a shot of Margarit and her 1972 Volkswagen Beetle.  I did a few shots of her last summer.  She doesn't like any of them very much, but I do, so I printed these mostly for me.

After that there are two shots of Hailey and Annelise.  These were taken way back in 2012.  We were down by the Red Deer River, camping at one of our favorite spots, the TL Bar Ranch.  The Ranch is still owned by the same family, but is has been shut down for camping for many years.  We have lots of fond memories of staying there and going horseback riding in the badlands.  Hailey would have been about 10 or 11 years old in these shots, and Anna about 7 or 8.  This one has been even longer in getting printed as the girls are now coming 22 and 19.

The last one is another shot of Margarit and her Beetle from last summer.

Early on the morning of the 22nd, when these snapshots were taken, I finished up the prints.  They were held in a water bath after I finished the actual printing part on the 21st.  The next day they got a second fix, a clearing bath, toning in selenium, and then hit the print washer.  Today the prints are still washing and I plan to pull them and hang them to dry later this evening.

Society of Canadian Artists

I just entered three of my images into the Society of Canadian Artists 56th Elected and Associate Members Juried Exhibition.  This is an online exhibition so I will not be faced with the expense of shipping my work anywhere... this time.  I have been a member of the society for several years and in the past I have had my photographs shown at galleries in Ontario and Quebec.  The show is open to art works of all types so I will potentially be shown along with paintings, drawings sculptures, etc.  There are prizes for some of the best work, and my prints can be offered for sale.  These three photographs, from the Apparitions project, are the ones that I have included in my submission.

Busy July

These first couple of weeks of July have been extremely busy.  I'm looking forward to the dog days of summer when hopefully things slow down a little.   

There's lots of stuff going on, and I don't really know where to begin.  My Renegades hockey team has been winding down the summer season.  Unfortunately we had to forfeit a couple of games that were in conflict with watching the Edmonton Oilers play in the Stanley Cup final.  But despite a slow start in a higher division, and these forfeits, and some significant injuries to at least four our of players, we have managed to battle our way into third place in our division.  I will likely miss the last game of the regular season as it will be Helena's 16th birthday, but I made it out to more than half of the games this year.  The playoffs will get started in the third week of July.

Some of Margarit's relatives from Austria visited with us for a week in the first half of July.  Marlena is the daughter of Margarit's second cousin and she visited with her daughter Joy, and her partner Katya.  Prior to stopping in with us they stayed in Point Roberts with Natalia.

Our daughter Anna moved out earlier in the summer but recently decided that she needed to move back home for a while.  Together with her boyfriend she has reluctantly moved back home until they can both find gainful employment.

We brought the Austrian relatives out to Nordegg for a couple of days towards the end of their visit.  I think they quite enjoyed it.  On July 12th Margarit had somewhat of a marathon day.  She had to drive the Austrians from Nordegg to Calgary to catch their flight home.  Then she journeyed to East Coulee to pick up Anna.  From there, they returned to Calgary to pick up Anna's boyfriend at the Calgary airport.  He arrived shortly before midnight, and then they all blasted up to our place in Edmonton.

The next day Margarit blasted back out to Nordegg and we spent a couple of peaceful days together before jumping back into the chaos that has become our lives recently.  We spent a couple of nights together in our bedroom in the guest cottage.

Technically my brother-in-law Shawn and his fiance Lisa were the first to stay in the guest cottage.  But that was over a year ago, when it was still a construction site.  They crashed in there for one night, with an air mattress and sleeping bags.  Since then the cottage has been completed, and almost all of the tools and construction materials have been cleared out.  Margarit and I christened the place by being the first to spend an official night there, since the place has been completed.

Around the same time the tree in the yard on which I had mounted the bat-house, came crashing down.  Carpenter ants had weakened the base by eating through the wood and weakening it.  In the middle of the afternoon it crashed down with a big bang, but fortunately the bat-house was not damaged.  I will have to find another tree to mount it on.

I played golf a couple of times and then on the evening of the 15th Margarit headed back to the city.  I hit the road the next day, after finishing up some chores and cleanup.  I look forward to meeting Anna's boyfriend, and to celebrating Helena's sweet sixteen.

.

Gail and Lawson - BP 15.0 - Fife Lake Hotel

These are scans of two more negatives from the recent Saskatchewan trip.  Chris and I visited the Fife Lake Hotel as part of the Beer Parlour Project.  These photographs are of the owners, Gail and Lawson, who have been operating the hotel for 50 years.  They were very gracious hosts, and made us feel very welcome during our visit.

These two photographs were taken on 4" x 5" sheet film... Kodak T-Max 400, rated at 1600iso and push processed in Kodak T-Max Developer, 1:4, for 8:20 minutes, at 24C.

I shot these with my Ebony view camera and a Nikkor 150mm lens.  The first portrait of Gail, was taken on June 18th at around 9:00PM.  The second one of Gail and her husband Lawson, was taken earlier that same evening, at around 6:30PM. 

Given the typical low light levels in a tavern I had to use a rather slow shutter speed... 1/2 second for both images.  This allowed me to stop the lens down a little, to F13.0 for the first image and F11.0 for the second.  Gail and Lawson did a great job of holding still for me, and there is no motion overly evident despite the long exposure.

Fife Lake Four - Beer Parlour Project - BP 15.0

While we were in Saskatchewan back in June, Chris and I managed to line up a couple of outings for the Beer Parlour Project.  The third of those, was arranged somewhat at the last minute.  We more or less just dropped in on the Fife Lake Hotel.  This was a 200km drive from our base and a last ditch effort to squeeze in one more event for our project.

The owners, Lawson and Gail, live next door to the hotel, and have been operating it for about 50 years.  They have certainly seen a lot of change over those five decades.  The hotel is one of the few remaining operating steak pits that we have come across.  You buy a steak, and cook it yourself on the grill, then they round it out with a baked potato and coleslaw.  Chris and I indulged, and it was really good.

This group of locals came down to do the same thing.  We managed to convince them to get these group portraits taken.  This is Clay, Lu, Luree and Mark.  

I shot these two images on Kodak T-Max 400, pushed to 1600iso.  Development was in T-Max Developer, 1:4, for 8:20 minutes at 24C.  I shot both of these group portraits with my Ebony view camera and a Nikkor 150mm lens.  They were taken on June 18th at about 8:00 in the evening.  The exposure for both was F10.0 and a shutter speed of 1/2 second.  The group did pretty well to hold still for the long exposure.

Pontiac

This is the last of the scans from the batch of Ilford HP5 4" x 5", rated at 320 iso and developed in 510 Pyro.  Development was at 1:100, for 7:25 minutes at 24C.

We found this old Pontiac... its a 1939 I think?... some distance away from Grasslands National Park.  It is so skewed and distorted it almosts looks like I shot it with a fisheye lens.  But the old car was just that bent and battered and in fact I shot it with my Ebony view camera and a lens of near normal focal lengths, my Schneider 135mm.  No filter was used.

I shot this on June 15th at about 1:00 in the afternoon.  The exposure was F29.0 and a shutter speed of 1/30 second.

Val Marie Convent

This is another scan from the recent trip to Saskatchewan.  This negative was one of the 4x5 sheets of llford HP5 that I recently processed.  The film was rated at 320 iso and developed in 510 Pyro Developer, 1:100, for 7:25 minutes at 24C.

This building in Val Marie Saskatchewan was formerly a convent.  It is now privately owned and has been converted to a Bed and Breakfast.  I thought the old convent sign out by the gate provided an interesting perspective on this historic structure.

I shot this on June 15th at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I used by Ebony view camera and a Schneider 135mm lens.  No filter was used.  The lens had to be stopped way down to F58.0 to hold depth of field from near to far.  This resulted in a shutter speed of 1/8 second.

Ghost Sign

This old abandoned building was in a small town in southern Saskatchewan.  It is obviously not used as a business any longer, but someone owns it, and was storing some stuff inside.  

You can see faint lettering on the pressed tin of the false front.  I can't quite make out what it once said.  Old buildings like this totally fascinate me and I never tire of stumbling across them.

This is from the batch of Ilford HP5, rated at 320iso and developed in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 7:25 minutes, at 24C, that I recently processed.

I shot this with my Ebony view camera and a 150mm lens on June 14th, just after twelve noon.  The exposure was F20.0 and a shutter speed of 1/60 second.

Beer Parlour Project - BP 12.0 Viking Hotel

The day after we visited Warspite, the Beer Parlour Project moved on to The Viking Hotel.  This time around our friend Byron Robb joined us.  Byron is an avid photographer and I've known him since we met while shooting the Forgotten Prairie documentary, several years ago.

We visited Viking on the evening of April 13th.  These are a couple of the negatives that I shot that night with my 4x5 Ebony view camera.  Both were shot on Kodak T-Max 400 film, pushed to 1600iso, and developed in T-Max Developer, 1:4, for 8:20 minutes, at 24C.

The first shot was taken around 6:00 in the evening, and I used my Nikkor 210mm lens.  This is Gabrielle, a town resident that works in the insurance industry.  I love the way that the shot is sort of photo bombed by Doug, visible in the background.  I got a great portrait of Doug on this evening as well, and previously posted it on my blog.

The second shot was taken later in the evening, around 8:30, and I used a wider Fujinon 125mm lens.  This is Byron, shooting pool.  The long shutter speed and resulting blur of the cue ball worked out pretty well.

Swing Set

We found this old school in a small town in southern Saskatchewan.  It is privately owned, and being converted to a residence.  No one was around at the time of our visit so we just took a couple of photographs from the edge of the property.  This image would work well for our Apparitions project.

I have a second negative, not yet developed, which was taken at a slower shutter speed, with the swing moving.  I'm anxious to see that one too.

I shot this on Ilford HP5 film, rated at 320 iso and developed in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 7:25 minutes at 24C.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide-ish Schneider 110mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter deepened the value of the sky, and lightened the value of the brick.  I shot this on June 14th at about 10:45 in the morning.

Old House Panorama

Now I am starting to post some of the first developed negatives from the recent trip to southern Saskatchewan.  There will be a handful more in the coming days.  And later, once I develop more of the film, I will continue.

This is a cropped 4"x5" large format negative.  I composed the image with the intention of cropping it to panoramic proportions.  We shot this old house from the road, as we did not have permission to enter the property, and did not do so.

This was Ilford HP5 film rated at 320 iso and developed in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 7:25 at 24C.  I shot this with my Ebony view camera and a Schneider 135mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter increased contrast and created some separation in the sky.  I shot this on June 13th at about 3:00 in the afternoon.

Beer Parlour Project - BP 11.0 Warspite Hotel - Sunny

Here is one more scan from the outing to the Warspite Hotel.  This is Sunny, the owner of the hotel.  His name is actually Sunil, but no one pronounces it properly, so he just calls himself Sunny.  Super nice guy and very accommodating of our Beer Parlour Project.

I shot this on April 12th at around 8:00 in the evening.  This was near the end of our visit.  Like the previous scans that I posted, this was shot on Kodak T-Max 400, pushed to 1600iso.  I used my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.