January Day Trip

Anna and I set out for a drive this morning.  Our first stop was at a restaurant for a nice breakfast together.  Then we headed out of the city to the northeast.  Anna was tired and napped for a while.  Margarit and I went to the movies last night, and then hit the pub after that for a bite to eat.  By the time we got home it was nearly 2:00AM.  Of course the girls were still up when we got home.  I slept like a log after all the activities of Saturday, but felt really well rested and refreshed as Anna and I headed out of town.  But Anna was tired and needed to nap for a bit... which was fine.  It was snowing when we left the house, but that quit by the time we finished breakfast.  The sun struggled to come out all day, and succeeded a few times.  There were moments when it was very dull and overcast and the light was as flat as the pancakes Anna had for breakfast.  But there were times when the clouds broke and light popped out as well.  The big issue on this day was the wind.  

On Saturday the temperature popped up to around +9C and it did not drop down below freezing over night.  Water was dripping and running everywhere on Saturday and the snow pack has settled way down... largely disappearing out in the open.  During the day Sunday the temperature dropped to a little below freezing, and all the puddles froze making for some slippery conditions.  There was a strong wind out of the northwest.  I don't know exactly what the wind speed was but it must have been gusting into the range of 35 to 45 kmh... or maybe higher.  It felt a LOT colder than it was, and setting up a large format view camera would have been a challenge.  

We passed through Elk Island National Park and in addition to the usual Bison, we also came across a small herd of the namesake Elk.  Later up in Lamont County we saw a couple of nice Bucks as well.  We kept our eyes peeled for owls but didn't see any this time.  Usually I spot a coyote or two on outings such as this but on this day there were none to be seen.

Anna and I used the day as an opportunity to scout around a little, to listen to some music, and to catch up on some conversation.  We stopped a number of times a long the way to take some snapshots, but the big camera never made it out of the truck.  I've recently been inspired by a book of color photographs that I purchased.  It is by a Calgary photographer named George Webber and documents old buildings and signs in small towns throughout Alberta.  I attended a presentation years ago at which George was a guest speaker and have always admired his work.  He previously did a couple of long term documentary projects on the Blood Reservation in southern Alberta and on a Hutterite Colony.  Anna and I passed through a number of small towns north of the city and scouted for some photographic subject matter, similar to what was in George's book.  I found a couple of things that I will go back and photograph under better conditions.