Large Format 8x10 Color Negatives

I spent some time this evening scanning a few 8"x10" color negatives that were shot over the past few months.  This film is very expensive [about $12 per shot], not including the time and the chemistry to process it.  Needless to say I don't shoot a lot of it, but reserve my limited supply for what I think are going to be my best shots.  You wouldn't necessarily know that by looking at the resulting images, but every once and a while I nail something that I really like.  Most of these are just OK images, but I really like a couple of them.

More C-41 Panoramas

I scanned more of my 35mm panoramic negatives after work today.  These all date back into the summer, but finally got processed last week.  I hope to find time to scan a couple of my 8x10 negatives later tonight, as well as to process a large batch of 4x5 later this week.  Quite a few interesting images in this latest batch and I look forward to finding time over the winter months to get into the darkroom and try printing some of them.

Last Camping Trip...??

We just returned from another weekend camping trip.  Once again we were down at our favorite ranch in the badlands.  This one may have been the last one for this year.  I'm kind of hoping we can get out at least one more time but... we are pushing our luck with weather, and most of my upcoming hockey games are on the weekend, and Margarit is getting a little tired of camping every weekend.  We'll see what happens.  This weekend was a good one!!  We left Edmonton on Saturday morning and headed south for the badlands.  By afternoon it was 27C, with a hot wind blowing.  It was very humid, and felt much like a summer day.  The girls went out for a two hour trail ride and I stayed back at the trailer with the baby.  The girls really enjoyed the ride and baby really enjoyed checking out all the horses.  The next morning was overcast and a little cooler.  We decided to try our luck down at the fishing hole.  Mom stayed behind at the trailer while baby had a nap.  The appeal of fishing quickly wore off when there was no action.  We headed up into the hills for a hike and the two older girls just couldn't get enough scrambling around.  We found some cool rocks, including a couple of scraps of dinosaur bone.  Then it was back to the trailer to pack up for the drive home.

Renegades - Game 5

A tough loss tonight, 5 to 1, at the hands of the Buzzards.  These guys are a solid team that have been playing together for a long time.  We just came up flat.  The league has re-aligned all the teams and restructured the divisions.  The Renegades will be moving down to Division XI, while the Buzzards and others will be moving up.  I understand that all teams will continue the season at game six with zero points.  So in that sense the loss tonight does not really matter.  But it was difficult to swallow given our recent success.  Hopefully we can turn things around at our next game on October 2nd.

C-41

I mixed up a batch of Color Negative Chemistry [C-41] last weekend and started to process all the exposed film that I have accumulated in recent months.  This included 14 rolls of 35mm film taken with my Russian Panoramic camera, as well as over a dozen sheets of 8" x 10", and nearly 50 sheets of 4" x 5".  Most of this film is true color negative film, but some of the 35mm stuff is monochrome film including some Ilfrod XP2, and some Kodak BW400CN.  I still haven't got to all the 4" x 5" stuff, but the rest of the film has been run through the processor.  Some of the 35mm panoramic images look pretty cool, and now that the film has been washed and dried, I've started scanning some of the best shots.  I've attached a few of the best images for all to enjoy and critique.  There will be more to come in the next few days. 

Renegades - Game 4

Game 4 of the ERHL Winter Season was tonight.  We played the Oil City Wings at KofC Arena, at 8:45PM.  We jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the first, but then gave up three goals in less than a minute in the second.  We entered the third period tied 6-6.  In the end we really took the play to the Wings outshooting them 39-26.  We managed to poke in a goal with less than a second in regulation for a 7-6 victory.  This is now three in a row, and has put as back into a tie for first place in Division X [technically second place due to slightly more penalty minutes].  Looking forward to game five on Friday night on the Olympic size ice surface at Clareview Arena.  I'm sure my gear will still be wet when I get up and head to the rink in 6 hours for Wednesday morning shinny...

September Day Trip

My eldest daughter Hailey [turning 8 next weekend] and I went out for a day trip on Saturday afternoon.  The weather was cool and partially overcast, but a lot better than what we've been experiencing the last few weeks!!  We set out from home around noon and headed east.  We took a shortcut through Elk Island National Park and ventured off to the northeast, into Lamont County.  The harvest was in full swing and crops were ripening, being swathed, and getting combined all over the place.  Hailey was shooting with her new digital camera, an early birthday gift.  I took out the 8x10 View Camera for the first time in several months.  We spent a great afternoon together exploring and photographing.  As the light faded in the evening, we headed back into the city and went out to a restaurant for dinner together.  I have posted a few color images that we captured together that afternoon.  I look forward to being able to process some of the large sheets of 8"x10" film that I shot that day and scanning and sharing those later.

Titanites Sp.

I just completed mounting, matting and framing of two large prints of the "Western Giant".  These are archivally processed silver gelatin prints made from medium format negatives.  One of the prints will be presented to Teck Coal, and the other will be displayed in the PalcoPrep office in Drumheller.

Renegades - Game 3

Game Three of the ERHL 2010/2011 Winter Season for the Renegades Hockey Team was on Saturday Night.  We played the Ice Hawks at Knights of Columbus Arena at 8:00PM.  Despite falling behind 4-1 in the early going we battled back to win the game 7-5!!  In the late going the play was a little more lop-sided than the final score suggested.  We couldn't seem to get any bounces to go our way, and actually had two goals called back.  We outshot our opponents by a count of 42-29.  It was a good, hard fought game on prime time ice and I look forward to our next game on September 21st.

Negatives from the Labor Day Weekend

When we returned from the Labor Day Long Weekend Ghost Town trip I managed to find time to process some of the Polaroid Type 55 negatives that I had taken with my 4x5 Large Format Camera.  These were in the washer yesterday when I was at hockey, and they dried overnight last night.  Today I was able to scan the two best images.  There will be more to come over the coming weeks as I find time to process all the other film that I shot that weekend, and over the summer.

Wednesday Hockey

On Wednesday morning if was off to the rink at 6:30AM for the first morning shinny of the year.  After a one hour skate it was off to the office for the work day.  This will be the routine every Wednesday morning for the entire winter.  After work it was back to the rink to pick up my daughter from  skating lessons.  After a quick supper it was back to the rink yet again, for another hockey game.  The Renegades played Game 2 of the ERHL winter season.  This game was at 9:15 at Coronation Arena verses the Wolf Pack.  We managed to hang on for an 8-6 victory.  Onward to the Cup!!

Ghost Towns

We decided to take advantage of the Labor Day long weekend, the last one of the summer, and head off on a longer trip.  My two eldest daughters and I voted to go and explore some ghost towns.  Mom reluctantly agreed but she would have much preferred the mountains.  The forecast in the mountain parks was calling for snow, and the campsites are just too busy over the summer months...  So the two older girls played hookey from school on Friday, I closed my shop, and we set off, once again to the southeast.  We stopped and checked out an old store along the way...

Evening found us in Youngstown, and we stayed in the town campsite.  We were the only campers there.  The girls enjoyed the local playground while I photographed an old Edsel.  The next morning we moved on down the road.  An abandoned warehouse with old skylights caught my eye so we rolled into town and checked it out.  Pretty soon we were the center of attention and all the locals came to see what we were up to.  There was the usual suspicion that we were surveying, but it some became evident to them that it was a camera mounted on that big old wooden tripod.  We met a half dozen locals and we were even let in on some of the town gossip.  It was obvious that at least one local had some appreciation for this old warehouse, while most of the others thought it an eyesore and wanted it torn down.  We found the mood a little odd, and despite invitations to stay for the night, we moved on.

Evening found us in a ghost town over in Saskatchewan.  We parked the trailer on the side of main street and  set up "camp".  We spent that night and the next day wandering around and checking out all the cool old stuff.  Up to this point the weather had been great... mixed skies, highs in the low 20's, and light wind.  By Saturday evening it became a little cooler, more overcast, and the wind picked up.  We had some showers overnight.

The next moring, after poking around a little more we moved on and drove a big loop through the edge of Saskatchewan, back north and then west into Alberta.  We found a couple more interesting places along the way and stopped to take a few more photos.  Sunday evening found us back in Alberta, passing through Provost and on to Captain Ayre Lake near Czar.  We stayed there for the night.  The next moring was very cool, overcast and windy and there was a fall like chill in the air.  But, it was my middle daughter's 5th birthday so we opened gifts and had a big breakfast of bacon and eggs.  As we travelled on to the west the skies cleared and the weather improved.  Mid afternoon found us in Lacombe, and we decided to check out the Corn Maze.  The girls had a great time there.  We eventually packed up and headed for home, making it back in time for supper.

Winter Hockey Season Begins

What a challenge it has been to organize my beer league hockey team, "The Renegades" this season.  On August 22nd I received an e-mail from the Edmonton Recreational Hockey League reminding me that the captain's meeting was upcoming in a couple of days, and that the 30 game winter season would get underway on September 1st.  I knew it was coming, but I was kind of taken by surprise.  At that point I only had five players commited to the roster, and not anywhere near the required league fees collected.  Between league fees, insurance, jerseys and supplies it costs over $10,000 for the team to play the season.  It appears that the weak economy has made it difficult for a lot of players to come up with the cash to play.  Most of the next week was spent trying to recruit players.  I managed to convince a number of players from previous seasons to return, and also managed to find several new guys.  There simply was no time for a practise before the season got underway.  Last night we played the first of our 30 games.  All of our guys were pretty rusty.  There were many guys that have never met each other before.  We played the Chiefs at Confederation Arena at 11:00PM.  We had a slow start and quickly fell behind 4-1.  As the game went on we started to come together, and battled back.  With a little over three minutes left in the game we were behind by a score of 5-4.  Then the Chiefs scored a late goal that was kind of a back breaker.  Later in the game we took two minor penalties and the Chiefs managed to shovel in a couple more.  The night ended in defeat by a score of 8-4.  But, I'm optimistic that this group of guys can come together and be competitive.  Our next game is in a week, on September 8th.