Pyramid Lake Road

When Steve and Jon and I arrived in Jasper after the long slow drive out from Edmonton, it was only around lunch time on Friday the 13th of October.  It was too early to check into our hotel, but the weather wasn't really cooperating much for photography either.  We decided to scout around a bit, and see what conditions would be like for later in the weekend, when hopefully the weather would break.  We headed up the Pyramid Lake Road on the bench above town.  By the time we got up there, despite the fact that it was still heavily overcast, the snow was beginning to let up.  There was sort of a hush over everything, as is typical when the fresh snow muffles sounds.  We wandered around a bit up at Pyramid Lake, and then eventually made our way back down towards town.  We made a stop in the aspen grove along the road and actually got the big cameras out for a bit.  I have shot here a number of times before, but this time there was a heavy fresh snow all over the aspen trunks that looked pretty cool.  Once we finished up here it was still fairly early, so we continued on our reconnaissance mission...

Edmonton Eskimos - Grey Cup Champions

I was not able to attend the Grey Cup game in Winnipeg this year but settled down to watch it, in front of my TV.  The Ottawa Redblacks jumped out to a 13-0 lead before the Eskimos offence even got the ball.  A touchdown on the opening drive followed by a fumble recovery and another touchdown.  After that the Eskimos settled down and started to play.  By half time the Eskimos were clinging to a one point lead.  Ottawa took the lead back in the second half but then Edmonton's league leading defence shut things down.  A late touchdown by Edmonton decided the game by a score of 26-20.  After a decade without winning the Eskimos are finally bringing the Grey Cup home.  I'm glad that I chose this season to invest in seasons seats and really enjoyed making it out to most of the games.  Now I'm really looking forward to getting back into the stands next season and cheering on the Green and Gold as we defend the championship...!!

Fall Tradition

Back in 2001 my friend Jon and I started the tradition of taking a fall trip out to the mountains.  Jon figured out that October and November was shoulder season out in the mountain parks.  The summer tourists had long since packed up for the season.  The european hikers had returned home, and winter ski season was not yet underway.  As a result the hotel accommodations were really cheap.  In Jasper in particular it was like they rolled up the streets and shut down the town.  Many of the restaurants were closed for their annual cleaning and maintenance.  This made getting around and exploring the park really easy.  Some years it was very mild and relatively snow free, while other years, particularly if we pushed the trip a little later, conditions were more winter like.

That first year Jon and I headed out to Jasper and spent a weekend photographing.  We scouted out and photographed many locations that would become our annual destinations in years to come.  A year later, in 2002, I founded the Monochrome Guild and Jon was the first to sign up.  We made it an annual tradition after that to head out somewhere for a fall weekend of photography with the group.  Mostly it has been to Jasper National Park though on a couple of occasions we have also explored Banff/Kananaskis and the badlands around Drumheller.

Jon gave up film photography and the darkroom a few years back when he was diagnosed with cancer.  He has since recovered and come back to film to a certain degree, but mostly shoots digital these days.  Though we remain friends after all these years it is with a certain sadness that I realize that we have drifted apart to a degree.  Many a weekend day trip ended with a stop a small town tavern somewhere for a beer.  Lots of stories to be remembered of our adventures out make photographs.  We have to make a point of staying in better contact and getting together on a more regular basis.

This year was the 15th Annual Fall Photo Weekend.  There was limited interest from the members of the Monochrome Guild so I reached out to Jon to see if he wanted to head out again.  He was all in favor of the idea so we reserved a suite at our favorite hotel in Jasper.  Shortly before our departure our friend Steve, also a long time member of the Monochrome Guild, decided to join in.  It was like the good old days when the three of us hit the road for Jasper on the weekend of November 14 and 15.

Jon and I both had lucky Friday the 13th off from work, and Steve is recently retired from his position as medical photographer at the UofA Hospital.  So we hit the road on Friday morning.  Weather conditions were less than ideal with heavy snow and white out conditions pretty much from Edson west.  By the time we arrived in Jasper the snow had let up a little and we had a chance to do a little scouting around and make plans for the upcoming weekend of shooting.  By evening we headed over to a local pub and attempted to put a dent in the local beer supply.  This continued with some reminiscing over a bottle of fine Irish Whiskey back at our suite.  

The next morning we arose, a little groggy, but our experience with such endeavors soon put an end to any lasting issues.  We went out for a day of shooting and enjoyed our time in the mountains.  What a great way to celebrate the 15th anniversary of adventures such as this.  Future blog posts will include snapshots from several of the locations that we visited and shot at over the weekend.

Ice Bloom

I call it the Ice Bloom... when ice starts to form on the river.  Some people refer to them as lily pads.  It is a short lived event, usually only lasting a few days.  If temperatures stay mild, the ice pads will run down the river for up to a week or two.  If the temperature plummets, the spectacle only lasts a day or so.  Eventually the ice jams up in the river, and then it freezes over.  While it lasts it is a really spectacular event to witness.  The current is moving deceptively fast, and the ice is floating by at a pretty good speed.  I've photographed it numerous times in the past, and always attempt to try it again when conditions are right.  This year it actually lasted for over a week.  

On November 21st I went for a walk down by the river and took my youngest daughter Helena with me.  There was no snow on the ground at this point, and the temperature was quite mild.  It always feels considerably colder down by the river though, with the humidity coming off the open water.  Helena was a pretty good sport about it...   Just a few days prior she had taken a spill at school during recess and peeled her kneecap to the tune of about 10 stitches.  We drove down near the river and then walked over to the pedestrian bridge near Fort Edmonton Park.  She was running around and climbing and jumping off of the benches on the bridge showing little ill effect from the recent accident.  She has sort of a stiff-legged run and I've been calling her "peg-leg" for the last few days.

The ice was really beginning to accumulate in the river and I took a couple of shots with my view camera.  Here are a couple snapshots from that afternoon, taken with my phone.....

Edmonton Eskimos - CFL Football - The Grey Cup

This year I took over a set of seasons tickets to the Edmonton Eskimos from a friend of a friend.  Initially I was a little reluctant to commit to them, as the games are almost always on weekends, and we generally like to spend our summer weekends somewhere out on the road.  This year it worked out as we were stuck in the city for most of the summer, with the kitchen renovation ongoing.  I have three seats, down in the 11th row, near the 20th yard line.  They are fantastic seats and I made it out to all but two of the games this season.  I have renewed the seats for next season, though I expect I will have to miss a few games, as we hope to do more weekend travelling next year.  

The Eskimos have recovered from a dismal season two years ago when they only won four regular season games.  This year they finished first in the west division, with the best record in the league, a record of 14 wins and 4 losses.  The Western Final Championship game was last weekend on Sunday November 22nd.  The weather was ideal, clear and sunny with daytime highs up around +7C.  My middle daughter Anna bundled up and game along with me but the other girls didn't want to go.  Our Eskimos actually had a record identical to their opponents, the Calgary Stampeders.  But the Esks got home field advantage due to the fact that they had defeated Calgary two of three times during the regular season.  It was really comfortable to be in the stands of Commonwealth Stadium and Anna and I really enjoyed the game.  It was a lot warmer than the West Semi Final that we attended last year.  Our Eskimos jumped out to an early lead, and despite a bit of a push by Calgary in the third quarter, the Eskimos won the game 45-31.  The game was a lot more lop-sided than the score suggests and it was nice to see our team dominate our provincial rivals to the south.

Now the league championship game, the 103rd Grey Cup, is coming up tomorrow in Winnipeg.  We look forward to our Eskimos winning one more, to continue their current 9 game winning streak, and take the championship from the east conference winners the Ottawa Redblacks.  Obviously we are not going to the game, but look forward to watching it on TV.  The temperature is forecast to be very mild with temperatures up just above freezing.  Almost unheard of for the end of November in Winnipeg... or anywhere on the prairies for that matter...!  Global warming is a good thing for us football fans here in the Canadian west..!

Kodak 100 T-Max in 510 Pyro

On November 10th, shortly after returning from my trip to Utah, I set about processing a small batch of 4" x 5" sheet film.  I was rather anxious to see a few of the Utah images.  I have to admit that I still haven't even unloaded most of my film holders from the trip.  There were a few that I changed out, using a changing tent, while we were staying at the rental house in Kanab.  Since I've returned home I have been so busy that I haven't had time to unload any holders.  In fact I have holders from five day trips dating back to late August, most of the stuff from the Utah trip, and bunch of holders from a recent trip to the mountains, and a few from a shoot this past weekend, that are all waiting to be unloaded and reloaded with fresh film.  It's a good thing I have over 200 film holders otherwise I would be running out.

For this recent batch I got together the nine sheets of 100 T-Max 4" x 5" that I shot with readyload film packets.  I added to these three sheets that I pulled from a couple holders that I had laying around from the fall day trips.  These dozen sheets were processed in 510 Pyro.  This formula was created by Seattle based photographer Jay DeFehr.  I really like this developer and film combination and it has become one of my standards.  The developer is based on Pyrogallol and Phenidone in a base of Triethanolamine.  It is highly diluted for use and has a long shelf life.  It is a staining developer that imparts a proportionate stain on the negative.  I find that if exposed adequately and developed properly it yields good shadow values, nice midtones, and retains highlight detail.  I had all but given up on TMX 100 as I found the negatives to always be somewhat muddy and flat looking.  This new combination has given the film new life.  I dilute the developer 1:100, and process with reduced agitation for 7:45 minutes at 24C.  I use film hangers in open tanks, processing in total darkness, with agitation for 5 seconds per minute.

These first three scans are of negatives taken earlier this fall.  This includes two shots of Johns Snooker Room in Holden, Alberta, taken in early October.  The third is of a very old abandoned truck on the shores of a prairie lake, taken in mid September...

The remaining nine images were all from the recent trip down to Utah.  All of these were taken on Kodak 100 T-Max in Readyload Film packets.  This format has now been discontinued.  These consisted of individual sheets of film packed in dust free, light tight paper sleeves.  They are inserted into a film holder prior to exposure.  They are very light and compact to carry as only one holder is needed.  If they were still manufactured I would use them for my longer back country hiking.  I guess they lost popularity because of the general decline in film use, as well as the fact that they were considerably more costly than standard cut sheets of the same film.  Fortunately the film itself is still made, but I will ration my remaining stock of these readyload packets and save them for times when I am undertaking longer and more strenuous hikes and need to keep my pack lighter.  This particular batch that I was shooting expired in 2009 but as you can see the film has suffered no ill effects and the negatives still look good...

Winter Hockey - Games 4 to 6

After playing the first six games of the winter regular season the Renegades sit firmly in last place with a record of 1 win and 5 losses.  There are nine teams in our Division 7, and we are in 9th place.  That said we are only one win out of fifth place, so needless to say a few of the other teams aren't doing that well either.

With all the travels and events that I have been involved in lately, I only managed to make it out to two of our first six games.  I missed two games while I was in Utah, one while I was away in Jasper, and one for the Monochrome Guild photo exhibition.  As the oldest and one of the slowest players on the team, my absence probably didn't make much difference to the on ice result.  But, I also wasn't able to be as involved as usual in getting the roster together, and making sure that we had enough spares out to fill roster spots that were open, and setting the lines.  Now that I can focus more attention on managing the team, hopefully thing will improve.

The guys are beginning to get a little frustrated, and are making mistakes on the ice that are costing us.  We need to bear down and refocus and get back to a simple brand of hockey.  We have a chance to get out and play a pick-up game against a team from another league on Wednesday night.  This will give us a chance to work on our game and hopefully be better prepared for our next league game on Friday night.  After the Friday game the next block of our schedule will be released and we may see some divisional moves.  I doubt that our team is likely to be moved down to a lower division, but it is possible that one or more of the top teams in our division could get moved up.  That might level things out a bit as all of our games but one have been close.

Utah Trip - Day 9

Day Nine of the Utah trip was Saturday October 24 and was departure day.  We got up early in the morning and hit the road for home.  Rob was driving separately as he was heading back to his home in Vernon.  Brad and I were in my truck, and we pushed it hard, hoping to make it as far as Great Falls.  We probably would have made it if my truck hadn't broken down.  I had been having minor issues with the clutch in my truck before we even left on the trip.  I took the truck in to a dealership in Edmonton before I left, and had them go over it.  I told them that I was going on a long road trip and didn't want to have any issues.  I told them of my concerns with the clutch and asked them to check it.  The dealership charged me over $1000 for an inspection and a bunch of maintenance work that included an engine flush, oil change, break fluid flush, etc.  They assured me that the clutch was fine.  The clutch slipped a little on the way down to Utah, but on the way home it got particularly bad.  Every time we hit a bit of an incline the clutch slipped and regularly kicked out the cruise control.  Brad was driving when we attempted to climb the big hill over the continental divide at Butte Montana.  The clutch finally gave up and we only made it half way up the hill before we lost it.  We had to roll back down the hill backwards, eventually finding a spot to roll across Interstate 15 to the downhill side and made our way back into town.  By this point it was Saturday evening at about 6:00PM.  We called for a tow truck to haul the truck in to a repair shop, and checked in to a local motel.  As it was Saturday evening, and everything would be closed until Monday morning, we reluctantly and somewhat anxiously settled in.

With nothing to do on Sunday but wait, we decided to check out the sites of Butte.  There wasn't a lot open at this time of year.  We called for a taxi, to take us up to the Mining Museum.  There must be only one cab in town because we had to wait for a while for him to show up at our hotel.  In fact, when the front desk called for us, he informed them that he was busy with a passenger and would be about half an hour.  Eventually he showed up and we climbed in, asking for a ride to the museum.  There was no meter and he just charged a fare based on a zone system that divided up the town.  He eventually dropped us off at the University.  As he pulled away we quickly realized that he had dropped us off at the wrong museum.  This was the mineral museum at the University, and it was closed.  We walked about a quarter mile over to the mining museum and spent the afternoon there.  Butte is referred to as the richest hill in the world and it had some large copper deposits, that included some silver and gold as well.  One large open pit mine is still operating but all of the underground mines are now closed.  This museum included a lot of equipment, artefacts and historical memorabilia from that era.  It was really interesting.  Unfortunately the tour into one of the underground mine shafts was not operating on this day.  By late afternoon, when we had finished exploring the museum.  We considered calling the cab for a ride back to our hotel.  Rather than wait for him again, we decided to walk the three or four miles back to our hotel.  

We walked through the old historic downtown of Butte.  There were a lot of historic old buildings that dated back to the mining boom of a hundred years ago.  This included hotels, shops and commercial buildings, as well as victorian style mansions of some of the mine owners.  Under different circumstances I might have been inclined to photograph some of them with my big view camera.  As it was I could only summon up the ambition to take a few record shots with my phone.

On Monday morning we walked the couple of miles over to the repair shop that was going to repair the clutch on my truck.  Initially they weren't overly forthcoming with information, or particularly friendly.  We hung around town for the day and by late afternoon it became evident that they weren't going to finish until Tuesday.  There aren't a lot of restaurants in Butte, but there sure area a lot of casinos.  There must have been about a dozen of them within a one mile radius of our hotel.  Most of them were fairly small, not much larger than a double garage.  Some were even located in gas stations and convenience stores.  None of them seemed to be overly busy.  Some of these had restaurants and between one of these, and some fast food places, we were getting pretty tired of the food.  

On Tuesday morning we headed back over to the repair shop.  We hung around there for most of the day, and learned that they had cracked one of the bolt ears on the bell housing of my transmission when trying to install the new clutch on Monday.  By about noon on Tuesday the bell housing had been welded and machined and the new clutch was going back in.  By this time, the staff at the shop were becoming a lot more talkative and friendly and we spent most of the day visiting with a couple of ladies there.  By 4:00 in the afternoon the truck was done.  After settling up the bill of $1500 USD we hit the road.  We drove straight through, all the way home to Edmonton, and arrived home at about 3:00 in the morning Wednesday.  I have to say that Brad was a pretty good sport about it all despite the fact that he missed out on a couple of days work.  All the same it was kind of nice to have some company while having to endure this ordeal.

Utah Trip - Day 8

We got up bright and early on our last day in Utah, which was Friday October 23rd.  We hit the road in my friend Rob's SUV before the sun came up.  As we headed south from Kanab, through Fredonia, and across the Arizona Strip the sun was breaking the horizon.  It was 50 miles around to the southern end of the House Rock Valley Road.  From there we headed north on the rough, wash-board road... again.  As we made our way up into the Paria/Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness, Brad, Rob and I watched for the BLM road that we needed to find.  Eventually we turned off the House Rock Valley Road and continued for about 10 miles to the trailhead at the east side of the South Coyote Buttes.  It was slow going, and the road was rough, with a few big potholes full of water, but it wasn't too bad.  The recent rains had solidified the sand, make the roads easily traveersable... by local standards.  As we made our way in the sun rose higher and higher into the sky.  For a change it looked like we were going to get a clear day, with no rain.  

Brent had given us some directions as to where to hike within the South Coyote Buttes permit area.  We struck off along a wash to the southwest from the trailhead.  We worked our way up into some hoodoos.  Beyond these was an area of lace rocks right along the southern boundary of the permit area.  There were lots of photo opportunities in this area and I set up my view camera several times to photograph some rainwater pools on the slickrock, as well as the lace rocks.

At one point in the early afternoon the three of us set off in different directions.  I eventually made my way around in a northerly direction and came to a second area of lace rocks that Brent had told us about.  I marvelled at how remote and quiet this area was.  I was all by myself with spectacular scenery around me in all directions, and nothing but the wind to listen to.  Eventually Brad and Rob wandered over into the same area and we reconnected.  

Brent had told us about other sections of the South Coyote Buttes that included more formations, a dinosaur trackway site, and an area that was smaller but similar to The Wave; the real one being several miles away in the North Coyote Buttes.  We didn't have time to get over that way as we were too busy photographing the spectacular lace rocks in this central part of the permit area.  By this time it was getting to be late in the afternoon,  There were no marked trails and we made our way in the general direction of where we thought we had parked Rob's SUV.  I was beginning to think we were lost when we stumbled upon the parking area where we had left the vehicle.  We packed up our gear and made the long drive back to the House Rock Valley Road, eventually to the pavement, and then all the way back to Kanab.  It was a great day and we were appreciative of the fact that we finally got one day of great weather.  

There is a lot of really photogenic stuff out there in the South Coyote Buttes that we just didn't have time to get to.  Even if we had been able to stay a few days longer, you are only allowed one permit every 30 days down in the permit area.  I guess we will have to make yet another trip down to Utah to explore it again next time.  In the meantime here are a few snapshots from the day...

Utah Trip - Day 7

Day seven in Utah was Thursday October 22nd.  One of the most popular hikes in the American southwest is the hike to The Wave.  This hike has become so popular that the Bureau of Land Management [BLM] limits the number of hikers to 20 per day.  Special permits are required to hike in to The Wave.  Half of the 20 permits that are available each day are awarded in an online lottery, four months in advance.  The remaining 10 permits are issued one day in advance, at the BLM office in Kanab.  If more than 10 people are present wanting these daily permits, then a lottery is undertaken to award the available permits.
The three of us, Brad, Rob and I, hiked in to The Wave back in 2013.  This was at the time that the US Government had been shut down due to the debt ceiling being reached.  Almost all government services, including National Parks and Monuments, were shut down.  The situation was resolved just before we returned home and we were able to win the in-person lottery and were able to hike in the next day.  That was back in 2013, but this time around we were not so much interested in The Wave, as we were with an area of lace rocks that was within the permit area called the North Coyote Buttes. We all attempted the online lottery back in June, but none of us were successful.  Since then Brent had been filling us in on some other areas of lace rocks that we could hike to without a permit, however many of these were in areas that were inaccessible due to all the rain.

One of the areas that was a possibility for us was the South Coyote Buttes.  This is also a permit area, but is not nearly as popular as the North Coyote Buttes and it's main attraction, the Wave.  We were told that at this time of year, not all of the permits are issued every day.  We stopped in at the BLM office earlier in the week.  There were about 20 people attempting to win the lottery for the permits to The Wave.  Each one is able to attempt to win up to 5 or 6 permits.  The odds were obviously not very good so we didn't bother to enter.  On the first day that we checked there were two permits available for the South Coyote Buttes.  We could have just taken them and not bothered with the lottery process, but there were three of us....
We returned a day later and tried again, and this time there were 4 other people each attempting to obtain various quantities of permits, totalling 13.  This necessitated a lottery, which we lost.  On this day, Day Seven, we were attempting the lottery again.  This was our last opportunity as the permits would be issued for the next day, which would be our last day in the area.  Four or five people showed up, again looking for a total of about 13 permits.  This triggered the lottery process again, but this time we won.  The unfortunate part is that the lottery is not done until after The Wave lottery is complete.  So we needed to hang around the BLM office until 10:00AM, somewhat wasting the day. While Brad and I were doing this, Rob took off up to Zion National Park and did some solo photography.  This time I won the lottery, and I was awarded a permit for three hikers.
Once this process had been all completed, Brad and I weren't sure what to do.  Brent dropped by and showed us on a map the location of a cliff dwelling ruin and a petroglyph site.  But he was a little leery of us being able to get down the backroads with my big heavy truck to get to them.  If we had been able to use Rob's smaller SUV we might have made it, but Rob was already gone for the day. We chickened out at attempting this and headed out sight seeing for the day.  We drove down the highway to the Old Paria townsite.  Nothing remains of this site which, aside from being an old historic townsite, was used as a set for some western movies.  It was flooded out and rebuilt, before eventually being flooded again and vandalized over the years.  The road was quite muddy and greasy and we drove as far as we could before being forced to turn around and head back to the pavement.
We also stopped at the Rimrock Hoodoos trailhead but the parking area was full of vehicles and we decided it was too busy for our liking and didn't bother.  Eventually we headed back into town and took a drive up into Kanab Canyon just above town.  We stopped in a number of locations and wandered around a bit.  Nothing really spectacular here but we did get really close to a small flock of wild turkeys.
By evening we headed back to the house, feeling a little depressed with the fact that the day had sort of been wasted.  But, at least we had hiking permits for the South Coyote Buttes for our last day, and the weather forecast was calling for a really nice, sunny day, the first one of our trip.

Snapshots from along the Old Paria Road

Snapshots from up in Kanab Canyon

Finally a couple snapshots from a roadside stop along Highway 89, just outside of Kanab.