Seaworld in San Diego

For one of the days that we were down in California, we traveled south to San Diego to visit Seaworld.  We got up early to be on a bus by 8:00AM.  Then it was off to a bus terminal, to stand in line to board yet another bus.  Then we drove for 90 minutes with a very ditzy blond tour guide to Seaworld.  There we stood in line yet again to get into the park... finally... by noon!!  We had limited time to see everything as the park closed early at 5:00PM during the off season.  We were told to beware of the seagulls and other birds as they were very aggressive and were quick to seize the opportunity to steal any snacks or food.  We found this to be true first hand when we had an early lunch before exploring the park.

After lunch we checked out the dolphin show.  We were rather naive and sat in the second row, well down into the soak zone.  We quickly learned that the dolphins and pilot whales had been trained to splash a lot of water into the first ten rows.  This would have been fine on a hot summer day but considering that it was February and the temperature was only around 60F, we were not particularly impressed.  Of course we had the option to purchase five rain ponchos at $8 each, but we turned this down.

After the dolphin show we went and checked out the killer whale show, featuring the star of the park "Shamu".  This time we seated ourselves above the soak zone.  The show was good, and we managed to stay dry.

After the second show we checked out most of the aquariums and exhibits in the park.  This included penguins, polar bears, belugas, sea otters, and various other fish and marine life.  The girls got a real kick out of feeding and touching the bat rays.  These guys were pretty tame and very quick to come to the squid that we purchased and offered as food.  Again we had to be careful of the seagulls and egrets so that the food was not stolen.

By 5:00PM when the park was closing we had still not quite seen everything, but had to hurry to catch our bus back to Anaheim with the ditzy blond.  Being one of the last stops on the circuit we didin't get back to our hotel until around 8:30PM.  This made for a very long day for four little girls.  We took out some food from the restaurant across the street and fell asleep in short order.

Renegades - Game 25 and Game 26

The Renegades Hockey Team played two games while I was away on vacation.  The team won both games; the first against the Buzzards and the second against the Oil City Wings.  This puts us solidly in second place in our division with a record of 16-9-0-1 after 26 games.  With only four games remaining, our playoff chances look pretty good.  We play the bottom three teams and the first place team over our last four games.  One more win will clinch a playoff spot.  We also play in the Prairie Cup Tournament over the weekend of March 11, 12 and 13.  This should keep us sharp for the final stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs.

Disneyland!!!

Margarit and I just returned from a trip to Disneyland with our girls.  This was the first opportunity for me to take any time off work in three years.  We booked it over the Family Day Long Weekend, so I only had to miss four days of work.  We pulled Hailey out of grade 3 and Annelise from Kindergarten for the four days in order to make it happen.  This gave us eight days down in the Magic Kingdom.  The girls loved it... so it was time and money well spent!!!  We left Edmonton very early on Saturday morning and flew to Anaheim by way of Seattle.

We arrived in California in the early afternoon.  We decided not to bother using up one of our Disneyland day passes on the first day.  It was tough to keep the kids busy that first afternoon, with Disneyland right across the street from our hotel.  The next morning we got up bright and early, had breakfast, and headed over to the Magic Kingdom.  We got rained on the first afternoon we were there, but after that the weather was pretty good.  When we left Edmonton it was -30C.  The entire time we were in California it was a mix of sun and clouds, with only a couple showers, and temperatures between 53F and 63F.  We were quite happy to see flowers blooming, green grass and palm trees in February!!!  We had a five day pass to Disneyland and were here for the kids to have fun...

We soon learned that Disneyland was all about standing in line.  We stood in line to get into the park through the security check, and then again to get our passes scanned.  After that it was all about standing in line agian... to see any of the characters, to buy food, or to go on a ride.  The kids didn't seem to mind... but it got pretty tiring for the adults.

I was really surprised at how FAT americans have become.  By my casual census, approximately 40% of Americans are noticeably overweight.  Of those, approximately 10% would be considered obese.  It's no wonder given the food that they eat.  We had the pleasure [???] of living on restaurant meals for the entire time that we were there.  We soon learned that we could not handle more than two meals per day and even at that we could not finish the portions that were served to us.  It's very sad to see young children with multiple chins and numerous spare tires.  This does not bode well for the next generation.  It made us thankful that our kids, despite their poor eating habits, are slim and active.  This wake up call will help us to maintain that.

The latest craze at Disneyland is Pin Trading.  We were encouraged to buy lanyards and collect souvenir pins.  These are available for sale at prices ranging from about $6 to $12 each.  After spending enough money in one of the stores you are able to purchase a starter kit with a few pins, or a $1 mystery pin.  Once started you are encouraged to trade with resort staff.  Our girls each came home with around 25 pins.  Do the math... although this is fun, it is not free!!!

We also made a couple of side trips.  We took a day trip down to San Diego to visit SeaWorld.  And then, we rented a car for a day and took at trip over to the beach.  This was the first time for all three of our girls to experience the ocean.  More information and some pictures of these side trips will be included in seperate posts.

When we arrived home it was around 1:00PM in the afternoon.  It was -12C, with the forecast for the upcoming week calling for daytime highs around -20C.  There was fresh snow and the wind was brisk.  A real wake up call from what we left behind in California.  We had to get the girls up at 2:00AM to get packed up and ready.  We caught a shuttle to the airport at 3:05AM.  Then we sat around and waited some more to finally board our flight at 6:10AM.  After a brief layover in Seattle we boarded another plane for the short hop back to Edmonton.  Being Canadians, we weren't really surprised by the weather but it was a bit of a shock to the system.  It felt good to finally get home by around 1:00 in the afternoon.  We will spend the rest of the day relaxing, doing laundry, unpacking, and getting ready to return to the routine.

Sunday Day Trip

When I got home from the hockey game on Sunday morning, around 12:45AM, it was still very warm, with the temperature a little above freezing.  By the time I finally got to sleep, a little after 2:00AM, it had turned VERY windy, and was raining.  After only a few hours of sleep I awoke at around 8:00 to head out for a day trip.  I was late leaving the house, needed to stop and fuel the truck, and then got caught behind a train at a railway crossing.  I was 45 minutes late meeting some friends, but they were patiently waiting for me.  We headed off into the "Heartland" to explore some of the petrochemical, refinery, and upgrader sites northeast of Edmonton.  Access is limited due to the site security and there are limited spots that provide an overview of some of these plants.  We didn't do much shooting as although the temperature was still mild, the wind was brisk and unpleasant.  Also, the snow was still very deep in the fields and on the roadsides.  But we did find some interesting locations to return to a little later in the spring...

Later we carried on further east and explored some of the small towns in Lamont County.  Some are trying to cash in on the nearby industrial development and are developing residential subdivisions and attempting to sell new homes.  This was contrasted by other towns, just a little further down the road, that were struggling to hang on.  In Mundare we found that the town had undergone a facelift... new sidewalks and streetlights... not much of a surprise considering it is in the provincial riding of Premier Ed Stelmach!!  But the town itself really was little changed and still consisted of old buildings and small businesses struggling to survive.  One of them did not make it... and had been terminally damaged in a recent fire.  We spent a little time photographing the remains of this store...

Yet another location to return to when weather conditions are more favorable for large format photography.  But, despite the wind, it was good to get out again and so some exploring.  I find that it is very beneficial to stay in practice...  both visually with finding subject matter and with composition, as well as with operation of the camera equipment.  Only three more months until spring!!!!

Renegades - Game 24

A short lived winning streak comes to an end.  The Renegades played hockey last night at KofC Arena, against the Wolf Pack.  We usually do pretty well against these guys.  This time they had a couple of spares out that were pretty good players.  The shots were close at 37-30, but we just couldn't seem to get any bounces.  I think we hit the goal post or the cross bar at least a half dozen times.  All the breaks seemed to go their way.  It was a well played game, with only a few penalties.  We were down 8-5 and then they scored an empty-netter with a few seconds left to seal the victory.  We remain in solid playoff contention with six games left.  I will miss the next two as I will be away on a short vacation.  Hopefully the team can rally and win a couple more!!

Larger Format

Several years ago I found a "deal" on Ebay on an 8x10 view camera.  I thought this would be great... and a natural progression.  After all, several of my existing large format lenses had enough coverage to be used with the larger 8x10 format.  I had been shooting with a 4x5 camera for over a decade.  How much more difficult could 8x10 be...??  After all it was only twice the size.  Boy was I mistaken....  That move up to a larger format was exponentially more difficult and more expensive.  I soon discovered that my lenses that covered the larger 8x10 format, barely covered it.  In order to have any room for camera movement I needed to invest in more lenses.  Then there were the 8x10 film holders.  These only go for around 50 bucks each, used.  I now have 40 of them... but along the way I picked up "bargains" on a few that later turned out to have significant light leaks.  Initially I expected to contact print these large negatives.  Over four years later I have yet to shoot anything worthy of an exhibition quality print... and I soon discovered that I am not satisfied with small 8x10 prints.  They are OK for some alternative processes, but I would really like to be able to enlarge some of these negatives... once I eventually get a good one.  So, I found another deal on a used 8x10 enlarger...  The cost of the enlarger wasn't all that bad... less than $2000.  But, by the time I paid to have it dismantled, packaged and shipped to me, it was quite a bit more expensive.  Two years later it still sits in my shop, in crates, waiting to be brought home to my darkroom and assembled.  But... before I can do that I need to reorganize my work space and overflow into the adjacent room.  I also need to cut a hole into the ceiling, as the column of the new enlarger is slightly taller than the existing space.... and I need to black out a couple of windows... and, while I'm at it, I need to install that ventilation system that I've been working on...  It never ends...

I've also quickly learned that shooting 8x10 is much more of a challenge than I expected.  To say the equipment is large and heavy is an understatement.  Whenever I find something that I want to photograph it takes me three trips out to the shooting location from my vehicle just to pack out all the gear.  One large Pelican case contains my camera.  Then there is that heavy tripod....   Then there are more cases containing lenses, other accessories [meters, filters, loupe, cable release, etc.] and finally one or more cases of those expensive film holders...

And... I learned the hard way that composition and camera set up is not only time consuming, but much more critical than smaller formats.  Although the camera movements offer some compensation, the lenses used with this format have very little depth of field.  A normal lens for an 8x10 camera has a focal length of 300mm.  This lens has the same depth of field as any other 300mm lens.  Think of a 300mm telephoto lens for 35mm format.  This lens with the small format camera is a pretty long lens... suitable for sports or wildlife photography.  With this format it has very little depth of field, unless it is stopped right down.  When the same focal length is used on an 8x10 camera, surprise of surprises... the depth of field is the same.... almost nothing....!!  But, now it is not a long telephoto lens... it is simply a "normal lens" roughly equivalent to a 50mm lens with 35mm format.  It becomes necessary to use the fastest available film to be able to adequately stop down the lens and still maintain some sort of reasonable shutter speed.  Pray to the photo gods that there is no breeze, especially if you plan on using any filters!!

So, mostly I have wasted a lot of film, money and time to generate a handful of negatives that I will never print.  But, over the last couple of years I have finally garnered enough experience with this camera that my negatives are beginning to improve.  This is encouraging me to not only shoot more, but to get after my darkroom renovations and set up that big enlarger....

 

Last night I finished washing the last of the big negatives that I processed over the weekend.  By tonight they have dried and are ready for scanning.  I actually have a couple here that I really like.  Scans are attached for review and critique.  I'm anxious to get into the darkroom and try printing these.

Renegades - Game 23

Another late night hockey game last night for the Renegades.  We played the Icebreakers last night at 9:15PM at KofC Arena.  These guys handed us a beating a few weeks ago.  It was the 14-3 blowout in which several of our players were not allowed to play due to suspensions the night before, and our goaltender suffered a concussion.  This time we turned the tables.  We quickly jumped out to a four goal lead and then coasted to a 9-2 victory.  This solidifies our hold on second place in the division, with seven games left in the regular season.

8x10 Negatives

I've been working this weekend on processing some 8x10 black and white negatives.  Some of these date back to the end of 2009.  This batch of 25 were all shot on Ilford HP5+, all processed in HC-110.  Several are portraits of my daughters.  The rest are various shots taken during summer day trips.  I've attached copies of a couple of the best ones.  Some of these have been posted before in color, but I think I like them better in black and white.

smibs.tv

My episode of Fine Art Photography Weekly is now archived on Smibs.tv.  This is Episode Number 25.  Please check it out...
http://smibs.tv/fine-art-photography-weekly/Darkroom

Renegades - Game 22

The Renegades played a late game last night, at 10:45PM at Knights of Columbus Arena verses the Phantoms.  I admire the dedication of these guys as they consistently get a dozen or more players out to play, game after game, and continue to fall in defeat.  Last night was no exception as we outshot them 54 to 21 and won the game by a score of 19-5.  These guys need a couple of solid defense, and a better goaltender and they could compete in these games.  I sympathize with them as the Blues, an expansion team that I took over and turned into the Renegades, played our first summer season and lost every game.  This win not only padded our stats but put us back into second place in the division.  Hopefully the beginnings of a winning streak as we make a push for the playoffs.

Pyro

I processed a batch of 4x5 film in Pyro developer last night.  Specifically I use Gordon Hutchings PMK formula.  Pyro developers are based on Pyrogallol, a developing agent that has been in use for decades.  It stains the geletin of the black and white negative, proportionately to the amount of silver in that area.  The result is an increase in overall density, contrast and highlight detail.  I shoot all types of film and process in many different developers.  Over the past couple of years I find that the best negatives, the ones that I use to make my exhibition quality fine art prints, are often processed in Pyro.  I think I have to try and use this developer more often.  This particular batch was all Kodak Tri-X Pan 320, but I also regularly use this developer with Ilford Delta 100.  In the past I have occasionally used it with Ilford FP4+ and with Kodak T-Max 400.