Another Heartland Day Trip

On Good Friday I set out for yet another day trip up into Alberta's Industrial Heartland.  This time Court from the Monochrome Guild and my daughter Hailey came along with me.  I am continuing to attempt to document the industrial development that has been present in this area for some time, and threatens to explode into significant further development.  The documentation of this change is a photo project that is being undertaken by the members of the Monochrome Guild.  The snow that feel in the city a day prior ended in an abrupt line not very far to the north and east of town.  By the time we got up into the Heartland area, there was only a skiff of snow on the ground, despite the fact that at least 6 inches remained on the ground back at home.

We stopped on the road at the north edge of Shell's Scotford refinery and within minutes were accosted by a security guard wanting to know what we were doing and what company had hired us.  She insisted that we needed a permit from Shell Canada in order to take any photographs of the plant.  I politely informed her that we were not working for any company, that we were simply fine art photographers, and that we were shooting from a public road as we had been informed two weeks prior that we were able to do.  She backed off an left us alone after a few more questions.

Later we stopped by a railway siding a little further north and photographed a bunch of rail cars, with the refinery visible in the background.  This would be the only stop all day during which we were not accosted by someone.  The wind was very cold and brisk and we decided to try to find a more sheltered place to take some photographs.  We headed north into the river valley and returned to the old farm yard that I had photographed a couple weeks prior.  This time around the landowner came around to see what we were doing.  Initially he was a little annoyed, but perhaps because the land was not posted or gated, and maybe because we had walked in with our cameras and left my truck on the road, he decided that it would be OK if we continued to make some photographs of all the old abandoned vehicles.

Still later we crossed the river over into Sturgeon County.  We found a high vantage point where the refineries on the south side were clearly visible and made a few more photographs.  Then we stopped by a private rail siding and photographed a locomotive.  True to form, the site security guard came along within minutes to see what we were up to.  This time around he was much less confrontational and seemed more interested in starting a conversation about film photography and historic sites.  I'm sure that he didn't have all that much to do on this day as it was a statutory holiday, and he was likely being paid double or triple time.  Once we finished up here, we packed up and headed back home.

Later during the Easter weekend I found time to process the three sheets of Polaroid film that I shot during our day trip.  Court was shooting with a medium format camera and managed to crank through several rolls during the course of the day.  Hailey was also shooting film, and shot several rolls of 35mm with her Nikon.  My Polaroid stuff has now been washed and dried and I've included scans of the resulting negatives...