Christmas Hockey Tournament

I signed up my hockey team, the Renegades, to play in the annual holiday tournament again this year.  This is held at the River Cree Resort and Casino, on the west edge of the city.  At the back of the hotel and casino, run by the Enoch Cree Nation, is an arena with two rinks.  They run a recreational hockey league here, and every holiday they sponsor a tournament.  It usually attracts quite a few teams, with a pretty high skill level.

For an entry fee of $500 we were guaranteed to play in at least four games.  There is an elite division and a recreational division, with a $6000 prize for first place in each division.  This attracts some pretty good teams, most with a much higher skill level than ours.  Some native teams usually travel to the casino for this tournament from reserves around the central part of the province.  These teams are generally big, fast, skilled, and rough.

It turned out that only eight players from our team were able to play.  The rest of the guys were either working, or away for the holidays.  So I pulled together a bunch of other players from another team that I knew, and friends and spares.  We had a mish-mash assortment of players, of varied ages and skill levels, most of whom had not played together before.  Needless to say we didn't have much chance of advancing.

Our first game was on December 27th at 1:15 in the afternoon and we played a team called the Ducks.  These guys were young, fast and skilled and had obviously been playing together for quite a while.  The tournament games are two periods of 25 minute run time, with minor penalties of 3 minutes.  Teams are guaranteed to play the full first period but after that, as soon as there is a seven goal differential, the mercy rule kicks in and the game ends.  We made it a few minutes into the second period before the Ducks scored their 7th goal and the game came to an end.  Later we learned that the Ducks played their first two games with some ineligible players so our team, and one other, were awarded a default win of 1-0.

Our second game was on December 28th at 2:30 in the afternoon against a team called the Heart Lake Tribe.  These guys were pretty good too, but we were beginning to get used to playing with each other and the game was a little closer.  We played the full two periods but lost by a score of 8-2.  At least the mercy rule didn't have to kick in for this one.

Later that night at 10:00 in the evening we played our third game of the round robin.  This was against a team called the Moose Knuckles.  This was a close, hard fought battle against a team that was younger and faster than most of our guys.  But we put up a good fight and kept things close.  Late in the game we were down by two goals but put on a big push at the end.  With only 100 seconds left in the game, we scored once, then pulled our goalie for an extra attacker and scored a second time in the dying seconds, to tie 6-6.  There was no shootout or overtime during the round robin so the game remained a tie.  We finished the round robin in 13th place out of 24 teams in the recreational division.

On December 29th at 1:15 in the afternoon we played our first playoff game.  The playoffs were sudden death... if you win, you advanced and if you lost you were done.  We played a native team from the Enoch reserve called Al's Pals.  They were a big, skilled team that were well organised and had obviously been playing together for a while.  We jumped out to an early lead with the first couple of goals but then they turned it up a notch and buried us.  Their team was so big compared to us, and we had three girls on our team, the only girls in the entire tournament.  I think I am one of the biggest guys on our team at 6'-0" and about 195 Lbs and I was small compared to these guys.  The officials chose not to call any penalties so we just got overpowered and manhandled and eventually lost the game by a 6-3 score.

But, the tournament was a lot of fun and all of our players really enjoyed it.  We entered it with the intention of playing some cheap hockey, having fun, and getting some exercise.  We achieved that goal and met some new players and made some new friends.  After being eliminated we headed over to the lounge in the casino and used up the $150 in coupons that we had been given and won during the tournament on a few pitchers of beer and some snacks.  I expect that we will do this all over again next year and I think that the higher level of play will help the guys from our team to be ready when our regular season starts back up again in a few days.

Stone Plate and Spring Sky.

A return to some of my recently processed color work...  This one was taken on Fujichrome Velvia 100, not nearly as outdated as some of the stuff I recently shot.  This particular sheet had a best before date back in 2010.  It was processed a couple months ago when I ran the big batch of color transparency film through some E-6 chemistry.  This image was taken on the May Long Weekend back in 2015, while the girls and I were out for a camping weekend down to Red Rock Coulee in southern Alberta.  This one was taken with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Schneider Super Symmar XL 80mm wide angle lens.  I used a Cokin Blue/Yellow color polarizing filter to enhance the color saturation.

Pontiac

Christmas 2016 has come and gone... so I return to the routine.  Old guys like me really don't get all that excited about the holiday.  It is always great to get together with family for that big dinner.  This year, like most, we had two of them...  Christmas Eve at my Mom's place with my brothers and their families, and then again on Christmas Day, at our place with Margarit's family.  It is always fun to watch the girls dive into all their presents and be witness to all the excitement.  I didn't get too caught up in all the commercialism this year and the gift giving was fairly modest.  I hoped for no gifts but the girls got me a few small things.  Margarit and I no longer buy for each other as we don't need anything that we don't already have.

I've signed up my hockey team to play in a holiday tournament which gets underway tomorrow.  It will be an opportunity to get out for a skate at least four times and work off some of the pounds that have accumulated in recent weeks.

Today it is Boxing Day, and the cleanup is underway, and some chores are being dealt with.  I've taken a short break to post something new to my blog...

This old Pontiac was found in a junk yard down in central Alberta.  This was back in October, when I was out on a day trip with Chris and Connie.  I shot this one with my new, used Ebony SV45TU and a Funinon 180mm lens.  This was Kodak T-Max 400, exposed at 640 iso and processed in X-Tol 1:1, for 9:30 minutes at 24C.

Astoria River

This is a scan of a recent shot that I quite like.  This was taken during the recent Fall Photo Weekend in Jasper with the gang from the Monochrome Guild.  The film was 100 T-Max exposed at 80 iso.  The 4" x 5" negative was processed in 510 Pyro for 7:45 minutes at 24C.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Nikkor 150mm lens.  This particular shot was exposed at F 36.0 and a shutter speed of 8 seconds.  I have another version of this set up that was taken with a much shorter exposure, but I like the blurring of this longer exposure better.  This one has been well-liked and received a fair bit of attention once I posted it to my Flickr account...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130527519@N08/

For years I have been meaning to try painting and sketching.  Back in Junior High School I received an honor award as the top male artist in my school.  I ended up not continuing with any arts training as the guidance counsellors of the day convinced me that learning a second language was more important.  Here I am at age 53... can't speak a word of French despite taking it for six years in school, and I missed out on the arts.  I purchased some sketch pads, some fine art paper, some pencils and pens and charcoal, some brushes, and some watercolor paint.  Mostly this stuff has been stored in my cupboard for the past decade or so.  During this recent cold snap that we just endured I decided to give it a try.  Below is my first attempt at a pen and ink sketch of the Astoria River.  I attempted... rather poorly... to colorize this a little with a wash of some watercolor.  A lot of things about this piece discourage me somewhat.... but I've vowed to myself to try again, and hopefully next time the result is a little better.....

Main Street

Here's a new one, from a recent batch of Kodak 400 T-Max that I processed.  This batch of large format 4" x 5" sheet film was exposed at 640 iso, meaning it received 2/3 stop LESS exposure than the manufacturer's rated box speed.  I processed the film for an estimated development time of 9:30 minutes in Kodak X-Tol developer, diluted 1:1, at 22C.  This was experimental for me, and I think the result speaks for itself.  I may give slightly more development in the future, just to punch up the contrast a little.  This one looks OK, as it was shot in some gorgeous November afternoon side light.  But a couple others in the same batch, shot in more typical lighting, were at touch flat.  

This image was taken with a Schneider Symmar XL 80mm wide angle lens with the intention of cropping to the panoramic proportions shown here.  This was on the weekend that friends Chris and Connie were visiting from Calgary, and we were out exploring.  This is Center Street in the slowly dying town of Hairy Hill, Alberta.  Over a hundred years ago when the bison herds were still prominent in this area, they came to the nearby hills in the spring and rubbed their winter coats off on the bushes and shrubs.  This is apparently how the town got its rather unique name.

This was only the second or third day trip out with my new, used, Ebony SV45TU camera.  One of these days I will get around to a blog post to explain the differences between it and my trusty old SV45TE that I have been shooting with since 2012.

A New Old One

Here's a negative that I just recently processed and scanned.  It was taken some time ago, back in the spring of 2015.  This was during the Monochrome Guild Spring Photo Weekend.  We were staying in Canmore and photographing in the mountain parks.  This shot was taken in Kananaskis Country, in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park.  I used Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film in my Ebony 4x5 camera, and a 400mm telephoto lens to get in as tight as I could on these flooded trunks in a roadside pond.  This one was given extra development to increase the contrast.  I've got so many negatives that I want to try and make fine prints from...  I think this one will be added to that list....

Kanab Creek

Can't seem to leave the color stuff alone....  Maybe I need to take this a little more seriously.  I have always brushed it off as snap-shot sort of work, and never done anything with it.  This shot is of Kanab Creek down in Utah.  The black and white version of this shot was posted onto my Flickr account as my favorite of 2015 and received a lot of attention.  This was taken in October of 2015 on my most recent and third trip down to Utah, with my friends Rob and Brad.  I think I need to get back down there sometime soon and continue with this project.........

REO and White 3000

Here's another new image.  This one was taken back in late October when I was out to a junk yard in central Alberta with my friends Chris and Connie.  In the foreground we have an REO truck.  This one is not the typical Speedwagon pickup but rather was a heavier farm truck.  In the background we have a White 3000 truck.  The frame of this one was extended to accommodate a larger than usual grain box.  Both are sitting abandoned in the trees... mostly forgotten.

For this trip I was out with my new, used Ebony camera.  I bought an Ebony SV45TE camera back in the summer of 2012 and that has been my main camera ever since.  Recently Ebony of Japan announced that they are no longer going to produce cameras.  I understand that this is a small company, with about 10 employees, and the owner wants to retire.  He could not find a buyer for his operation so will be shutting down after he completes all work on hand.  Sounds a lot like my work situation as I have a small skylight company with about 10 employees, and after 35 years in the business, I'm starting to think about my future.  In any event, I missed out on the Ebony announcement, which immediately drove up prices of the cameras on the used market.  I managed to find an Ebony SV45TU out of Japan on Ebay and got it at a reasonable price.  This day trip out to the junk yard was my first trip out with the camera.  The SV45TU is very similar to my SV45TE, with the exception of the rear standard.  The rear standard of the TU has asymmetrical movements, which probably doesn't mean much to the laymen, but makes some difference in practice.  I will put together a future blog post that outlines the differences between these two cameras.

This shot was taken on Kodak Tri-X Pan film with the new used camera and a Nikkor W 150mm lens.  I processed the film in PMK, giving extra development time to increase contrast.

Back to Black and White

I've been posting quite a bit of color work lately.  This is only because I've recently completed my bi-annual color C-41 and E-6 processing.  This was three years worth of film, and it will probably be a couple years before I get around to shooting and processing the next batch.  There will be a few more that I will put up here on my blog in the next little while, but my main focus is black and white and I'd like to return to that for a bit.  This one was taken back in May of 2014, on one of the Spring Photo Weekend trips out with the gang from the Monochrome Guild.  Margarit was along with me on this trip, as well as three other Guild members.  We travelled to the Columbia Valley in southeastern British Columbia, not far from Radium Hot Springs.  This old cedar stump was obviously logged off many years ago as the second growth forest around it was very mature and established.  I shot this with my Ebony SV45TE and a Schneider Super Symmar XL 110mm lens.  The film was Ilford Delta 100.  I remember that I used a #11 yellow green filter, in an attempt to lighten the values of the moss on the stump and on the roots.  The film was given plus development for added contrast, processed in PMK.

Gog Creek in Color

Here is another color scan from my recent batch of large format E-6 color transparencies.  This shot, of Gog Creek, was taken in Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park back in September.  After flying in to the lodge on the 14th, Margarit and I spent September 16th hiking up along Gog Creek to Wonder Pass.  I feel that this is one of the strongest images of the trip.  Although it is the black and white negative that most interests me, this color transparency turned out nicely too.  It was taken with my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Schneider Super Symmar XL 80mm lens.  The lens was stopped down to F22.0 and a shutter speed of 18 second rendered a little motion in the rushing water.  I used a color polarizing filter as well.  The film was Fujichrome Astia 100F in a QuickLoad film packet.  As usual, this film was outdated, having expired 10 years ago, back in September of 2006.  I think the colors held fairly true this time around as I didn't have to do much with the scan.

Another Color Scan

A return to some of the recently processed color stuff.  This one was taken at the beginning of April, back in 2015.  The girls and I had taken a Spring Break trip down to the Oregon Coast.  This shot was taken from the front deck of the house that we rented, which overlooked Agate Beach and Yaquina Head, near Newport.  This was a night shot, taken in the blue light of twilight, shortly after 8:00PM., and after the sun had set. I shot it with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Nikkor 300mm lens, on Fujichrome Provia 100 film.  The fading light was very low, only registering an Exposure Value of EV4 on my spotmeter.  I stopped the lens down to F22.0 and used a 1 minute exposure.  This long exposure contributed to the color shift, and rendered the surf as a blur.  As with most of my color work this film was outdated, with a best before date of 2010.  This probably also contributed to the cool color shift.  I've adjusted the contrast and brightness of the scan a little, but otherwise this is pretty much a straight shot... at least as the old film and process chemistry rendered the scene.  I did not use any color filters or make any outlandish adjustments in Photoshop.  I did crop from 4" x 5" proportions to his more panoramic presentation.

Finished with 2014

I have now finally finished processing all of my large format 4" x 5" sheet film from the 2014 calendar year.  Mostly these were black and white negatives, but there was a little bit of color as well.  Those that have ever been out shooting with me know that I keep very detailed notes on exposure and processing.  I find this helpful as at the time that I am setting up the photograph, it forces me to slow down a little and seriously consider the camera set up and the exposure.  The processing notes are also helpful down the road, providing valuable information as I work to refine my film and developer combinations.  From those notes I also put together a spread sheet with some basic information about each negative.  I find this really helpful whenever I have to dig into my files and find an old negative for printing.  I can enter some search criteria into the spread sheet and quickly find the appropriate negative.  Just considering up to the end of 2014 I now have well over 6000 black and white negatives.  This doesn't include any color work, nor does in include all of the images taken since 2014.

During the year that was 2014 I exposed 430 sheets of 4" x 5" black and white film.  This was on 13 different kinds of film, with 12 different lenses.  Images were taken during all 12 months of the year, mostly with my Ebony SV45TE camera, but a few were also taken with my Sinar F1 monorail camera.  In addition to this black and white work I also took nine color negatives and five color transparencies.  Most of the strongest images have already been shared here on my blog and on my Flickr account at https://www.flickr.com/photos/130527519@N08/

I can now concentrate on some printing for a while as I haven't done any serious work for nearly a year now.  I have a few pieces that I need to get put together for some upcoming events in the new year.  I can also turn my attention to processing some of my more recent work from 2015 and 2016.

Ice Bloom

The spectacle that I call the Ice Bloom occurs here in my home town of Edmonton, every year, in mid to late November.  Some years it only lasts for a day or two, while other years it will last for as long as two to three weeks.  With all the mild weather we had this year, it was a little late getting started, but it is in full swing now.  This is the time of year that ice begins to form on the river.  It starts out as little chunks of ice, drifting down the river with the current.  As the night time temperatures drop and the water temperature gets lower, these chunks of ice become enlarged.  They get a rim of bright white ice and are usually darker, and wetter in the center.  Some people call them "ice lily pads".  They drift along accumulating and getting larger.  Eventually the river becomes full of them.  Once the river is full, they jam up and stop flowing with the current.  Then the river becomes fully iced over and the spectacle comes to an end.  I know this happens on numerous rivers here in the northern plains and into the boreal forest.  I'm not sure how far to the south this takes place.

I noticed the ice starting to form on the river about a week ago when I was going to a hockey game in the evening.  I drove down near the river after picking my daughter Anna up from her riding lesson on Friday night and noticed that the river had become quite full of ice.  With the forecast calling for really cold temperatures during the upcoming week, I knew that this weekend would be the opportunity to get out and photograph it.  I missed out on the peak conditions the last couple of years and wanted to seriously try to photograph it again this year.   On Saturday the temperature got up to just above freezing, and the skies were clear and blue.  I headed down to the pedestrian bridge over the river, near Fort Edmonton park.  My friend Tanja ventured along with me.  Margarit wasn't able to join us as she had some other stuff going on.  We spent a couple hours down on the bridge photographing the ice.  It moves deceptively quickly with the current and you need to use either a fast shutter speed to capture it... or a long one to deliberately blur it.  I tried both, and exposed about a dozen sheets of film with my view camera.  I will post some of the better ones when I get around to processing that film in the coming weeks.  In the mean time, here are a couple of quick snap shots taken with my phone.

Zion Wash

Let's get back to some more Black and White...!  I like playing around with large format color photography, but it is not the main focus of my work.  On average I only shoot about 25 sheets of color film per year, and that is a combination of negative and positive film.  By ccomparison, I have exposed over 400 sheets of black and white film per year, over the last several years.  So far in 2016 I have shot over 500 sheets.  Hopefully no one is laughing too hard at the color balance of some of my recent posts as I really struggle with that, given the fact that I am color blind to several colors.  All the more reason to focus, no pun intended... on black and white.

This shot is a recent scan of a scene that I photographed some time ago.  This was during a trip down to Utah in October of 2015 with my friends Rob and Brad.  It was a very wet year in southern Utah and northern Arizona with flash floods, washouts and all sorts of heavy rainfall issues.  The worst of it occurred before we arrived but we experienced some wet conditions while we were there, and even some snow up in the high country around the Cedar Breaks.  Although that limited some of our photographic and hiking opportunities, it did result in standing water in a lot of locations, which is always very photogenic.
During this and a previous trip to the Zion National Park we avoided the main Virgin River Canyon as it was just too busy.  Despite the late point in the season, there were a lot of people around... way too many for the liking of a crotchety old fart like me...!  The main road is closed to vehicles and you can only access it by riding a transit service up the valley to the various viewpoints.  Not a lot of fun with a big camera on my back and a big tripod in my hands.  I'm not a fan of jockeying for position at a scenic viewpoint and having to beat people out of my way with my tripod.  Instead we stayed in the eastern uplands of Zion National Park, where this shot was taken.  It was still very busy, but there was enough room to park along the road, more or less where we pleased, and wander around.

This shot was taken on Kodak Tri-X Pan film, with my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 240mm lens.  I processed the film with extended development for increased contrast, in PMK developer.

South Coyote Buttes

Here's a scan of another 4" x 5" color transparency.  This was part of the recently processed batch of E-6.  I've attempted to correct the color here, but the original scan is pretty wonky.  I used a Blue/Orange color polarizing filter on the lens which gave a pretty wild color shift to begin with.  The film itself expired back in 2010, so there is probably some shift due to age.  The E-6 chemistry kits that I used on this batch were fairly old as well.  There was no best before date on the packaging but I know that I bought one of the kits two years ago and the other last year.  To top it all off, I am somewhat color blind so my attempt at making these colors more realistic is probably not overly successful.  Maybe I should just stick to black and white....

This shot was taken in October of 2015 in the South Coyote Buttes in Arizona.  My friends Rob and Brad were hiking with me there in the permit area.  It had been very wet in the fall of 2015 down in southern Utah and northern Arizona.  Some of the places that we wanted to go to were inaccessible due to roads being washed out, or closed due to risk of flash floods.  The upside was that the loose sand of the Paria Plateau was damp and firm, which made driving in a lot easier.  It also created lots of small pools of standing water, like the ones in this shot.  This was taken on Fujichrome Velvia with my Ebony 4x5 camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.