Back to Nordegg

This past Saturday, November 23rd, I headed back out to Nordegg.  It was hoped that Margarit would be able to join me, but that was not to be.  Too much stuff going on at home and with the girls.  I didn't make it out until around 2:00 in the afternoon Saturday.  Mostly I just wanted to check on the place as no one has been out for five weeks... since Thanksgiving.  I can monitor the temperature and thermostat remotely, as well as check my security cameras online.  But there is nothing quite like a personal visit to make sure all is good.

I went out for a walk on Saturday afternoon and met some new [to me] neighbors.  A couple from Red Deer that have had a cottage out in the subdivision since 2006, and recently made the move out here permanently.  Really nice people and we had a great visit.

In the evening I just mostly sat around the cottage, listening to music, nursing my sore ribs, and checking some e-mails.  I put some oats out for the deer.  Once it became too dark to keep an eye on them out the window, I would watch them on the phone app of my security cameras.  The cameras use Infrared to record a black and white image in darkness, and it is not visible to the human eye, or wildlife.  At one point a Red Fox wandered into the clearing, sat down for a few seconds, and then wandered off.
On Sunday morning it was overcast and quite a bit cooler.  My truck thermometer showed a temperature of +11 on the drive out on Saturday but on Sunday it only got up to a couple of degrees above freezing.  I think it must have rained a bit overnight and then turned to a skiff of snow.  It was really windy and dull and not a particularly nice day.  I was much lazier than I have ever been out there and didn't do much of anything.  I laid in bed for quite a while, resting my sore ribs, before I got up and had a late breakfast.  By mid afternoon I decided to pack up and head for home.
None of my cameras... not even the digital, or for that matter even the iPhone, made it out to take any photographs on the weekend, so I have no images to add to this blog post.
I saw three separate groups of wild horses on the way out on Saturday, and then again on the way home on Sunday.  I also saw a Great Gray Owl on a stump.  But other than that it was a rather low key and uneventful weekend.  I got back home in time to catch the second half of the Grey Cup game on TV, and then turned in early.

More War Wounds

When I played in the Hockey tournament in Banff I bruised myself.  I think it was in the last game of the tournament on Saturday....  But I did crash to the ice a couple of times during the games on Friday night.  One of those times my hockey pants twisted out of position and I essentially had no padding.  

On Saturday afternoon and evening when the girls and I were wandering around Banff my backside was really sore and it was extremely painful to walk up a slope or a set of stairs.  Now a week later, the bruises are showing up.  I have a huge purple bruise about the size of a dessert plate on my posterior.  These is another smaller one on my hip.... and then a few days later one showed up on my tailbone.  I can't really share pictures of these as it would be sort of X-rated.

When we played the two late games on the return to our regular season schedule on November 19 and 20, I made sure and really got these injuries more painful and fell onto them a couple more times.

The game on the 20th was a really rough one, and the officials didn't do a very good job of keeping the game under control.  At one point around the midway mark, some kid on the opposing team cross checked me heavily into the boards.  This was in retaliation for a hit I laid onto him along the boards a few seconds earlier.  The difference was that my hit didn't draw a penalty, but his resulted in a 4 minute double minor.  My ribs felt really sore after that hit and I had a headache... but I managed to finish the game.  Now, a few days later, I think at least one of my ribs is cracked.  What I thought was just a bruise must be something more.  Every time I twist or bend over or lift something there is this burning pain in my ribcage... kind of like heartburn but centered in the bone.  We now have a break of of over a week until our next game so I'll have to wait and see if I'll be able to play....

Got the guys number though... he better watch out next time...!

Three More FP4

These are scans of the three additional negatives, taken on the recent trip to Jasper.  These were part of the batch of FP4 film in 4" x 5" sheet format that I recently processed.  The first is a shot of the snow covered boulders at Medicine Lake.  The second is the Maligne River downstream from Medicine Lake.  The last is Mountain Creek at the top of Punchbowl Falls.

Banff Hockey Tournament

The Renegades Hockey Team was in Banff this past weekend and played in a tournament.  I booked most of Friday off work, though  I did slip into the office briefly in the morning before hitting the road for the mountains.  Margarit and Annelise came along with me for the weekend.

We left the city shortly after lunch and arrived in Banff by about 4:30.  After checking into our hotel and dropping off our luggage, I had to head over to the rink.  The girls dropped me off there and then went on into town.  We only had twelve of our players signed up for the tournament so that made things a little challenging right from the start.  To make matters worse, we had to play twice on Friday night.

The first game was at 6:00PM against another team from Edmonton called the Jagr Bombs.  This was a fairly close game but we eventually fell behind and lost by a score of 6-2.  Immediately after that game we moved our gear to a different dressing room.  We had enough time to head upstairs to the lounge for a couple of beers and then head back down to the room to get dressed for a second game at 8:45PM.  This was against another Edmonton based team called the Pumas.  We should have been fairly well matched against these guys but they were fresh and we were worn out from the long drive and the previous game.  We got blown out of this one by a score of 6-0.

After the game Margarit and Anna came and picked me up.  We headed into town for a late dinner.  One of the only places that was open late, and allowed minors was a Mexican place called the Magpie and Stump.  It was pretty good and I was really hungry.  By the time we finished dinner I was exhausted.  It was all I could do to walk the six blocks back to our hotel, where we immediately crashed.

The next day we played a game at 12:15.  This one was against a team from Estevan, Saskatchewan called the Tri-City Chiefs.  This was a very closely matched game and lot of fun to play.  We managed to hang on for a 6-5 victory.  The top two teams in our division of four played in a championship game on Sunday morning.  We didn't make it to that game but I understand that the Jagr Bombs beat the Chiefs 8-1.

On Saturday, and again on Sunday morning the girls and I wandered around town.  We checked out the Christmas market and some of the shops and galleries.  We couldn't really join the team at the bars on Saturday night as we had Anna along with us, and didn't want to leave her alone in the hotel.  So we passed on that part of the weekend but really enjoyed ourselves all the same.

Pyramid Aspens

Here's another scan from the recent Fall Photo Weekend in Jasper.  This is Pyramid Mountain in late afternoon light.  This was from the recently processed batch of FP4 large format film.

Ilford FP4+

Shortly after my return from Jasper I headed down to the darkroom and processed a batch of Ilford FP4+.  This was twenty sheets of 4" x 5" large format film.  I processed in Ilford Perceptol developer.  My standard development is to dilute the stock 1:1 and process for 11:45 minutes at 24 degrees.  This consistently yields a negative with a normal contrast range.

This batch included five sheets from the recent Fall Photo Weekend in Jasper, ten sheets from the trip out to Vancouver Island, and five sheets that date back to 2017.  This was the first time I have been able to get into the darkroom and do any processing for quite some time.  I always find it very exciting when I flip the lights on after processing and take that first look at the negatives.  I will be scanning and posting a bunch of these images over the next little while.
This one is from the recent trip to Jasper.  It is a shot of the Colin Range, as seen from the shore of Medicine Lake.  I used a long 500mm lens to get in tight on the mountain.  Note the trees partway down the face...  these are full size, adult evergreens...  this gives some idea of scale.  The sky, at this high altitude was a very deep blue, and it turned completely black with the use of a #25 Red Filter.

Fall Photo Weekend - Day 3

This would be the last day of the Monochrome Guild's Fall Photo Weekend.  There were six members left in the group at this point as Gabor had headed home on Sunday afternoon.  This was the Remembrance Day holiday and by coincidence we were driving past the Royal Canadian Legion in the Jasper townsite at the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month....

Arda, Gord and Court all had their own vehicles and they set off on their own after we finished breakfast.  Steve and Meghan were riding with me and we took a drive up the Pyramid Lake Road.  All weekend long I had been rather shocked and dismayed at the extent of the damage done to all the lodgepole pines by the mountain pine beetles.  Virtually all of the mature trees were reddish brown.  Up on the Pyramid Lake Road some large areas had been clear cut, and I assume this was to deal with that infestation.  We made a stop up at Patricia Lake and there was still a little open water with some steam rising off of it.  On this morning conditions were mostly cloudy, and the temperature was about -11C to start.  It warmed up a bit later in the day, and the skies broke open somewhat.

After we finished up at Patricia Lake we went back through town and headed east back towards home.  We had hoped to stop out by the dunes at Jasper Lake but as is often the case, the wind was just howling.  It was particularly strong on this day and was whipping up huge clouds of dust.  I got a great shot of this on my iPhone, but unfortunately conditions would not permit an attempt to shoot this with the big camera on film.

Later we made a brief stop out by Pocohontas.  We took a short drive up the Miette Road to Punchbowl Falls.  The road was closed for the season beyond this point.  The water in Mountain Creek was down to a trickle and the falls were mostly frozen.  We were able to get right down to the waters edge at the top of the falls and shoot the ice details.  By this point it was 2:00 in the afternoon so when we finished up here, we packed out gear in the truck and hit the road for home. 
We stopped for a coffee in Edson, and had to yield to a moose crossing the road near Niton Junction, but otherwise it was an uneventful drive home.  Road conditions were not great east of Edson, but improved the closer we got to Edmonton.  We arrived back in the city around 6:00 and after dropping off Steve and Meghan, I headed home and offloaded all my stuff.

It was a rather cold weekend, but I managed to shoot 33 sheets of black and white film and 3 sheets of color.  Mostly these weekends are about the camaraderie and visiting with friends and this 20th edition of the Fall Photo Weekend did not disappoint.

Fall Photo Weekend - Day 2

When we got up on the morning of Sunday November 10th, it was very cold, and there was a little fresh snow in the Jasper townsite.  After coffee and breakfast we packed up our camera gear and headed out.  We drove up the Maligne Road and stopped at Medicine Lake.  The temperature was about -14C in town, and it was slightly colder at the higher elevation of the lake.  There was a lot more snow up there too.   The lake was almost empty, as is the norm at this time of year.  The trickle of water left in the lakebed was mostly frozen, with just a couple of very small open patches.

Medicine Lake was created, before modern times, when a rockslide off of the Colin Range dammed the Maligne River.  In summer, the water flow from the mountain runoff exceeds the outflow and the lake is created.  In late summer and fall when the water flow is reduced, the lake drains away through the porous rock and the almost dry lake bed is left behind.

We spent a couple hours shooting here and the temperature eventually rose a little.  It was actually quite pleasant because there was no wind, and the sun came out.  After we finished shooting here we headed back down the valley and made a stop along the Maligne River.  It was much colder here as we were in shadow, out of the sun, it was very humid by the open water, and a breeze picked up a bit.  After spending an hour or so here we made our way back down to the main valley of the Athabasca.  Here there was very little snow, and in the large open valley, there was still some direct sun at this late afternoon time.  We stopped in a meadow and did a couple of shots of Pyramid Mountain.

Gabor had to work on Monday so he said his goodbyes to the rest of us, up at Medicine Lake and hit the road for home by about 1:00 in the afternoon.  While Gord, Steve, Meghan and I were shooting Pyramid Mountain, Arda and Court went down by the Athabasca and shot the ice bloom on the river.  As the late afternoon light faded, we packed up our gear and headed back to our hotel.

We relaxed and had a couple of drinks in our room, and then ventured outside again.  We made the five block walk into town and went back to a the same restaurant as the previous evening.  This was a family run Greek place called Something Else.   Just like the night before, the food was very good.  After dinner we walked back to our room and stayed up until about midnight, visiting and having a few drinks and snacks together.

Gabor wandered around with his digital camera and took snapshots of a most of the Guild members in "Action".  We were all working with our cameras and attempting to capture the scene before us on black and white film.  Gabor shared these images with the group after he got back home and gave me permission to include them here on my blog.  It was shortly after these images were taken that he had to hit the road for home.

Fall Photo Weekend - Day 1

The gang from the Monochrome Guild headed out for our annual Fall Photo Weekend.  This time we headed back to Jasper National Park, our most common destination over the past 20 years.  We actually left the city on Friday November 8th, but that was in the afternoon and was essentially just a driving day.  We arrived in time to check into our hotel rooms and settle in for the evening.  The first real day of doing any shooting was Saturday November 9th.

Steve and Meghan rode along with me in my truck.  Gord, Gabor and Court drove out separately.  Arda would meet us later on Saturday evening.  And then there were seven....

The forecast back in Edmonton was not great and I understand that it snowed quite a bit there.  In Jasper we had heavy rain on Friday night, but no snow.  The rain somewhat dried off before the temperature dropped but some places were fairly icy.  We got blowing snow on Saturday evening, but nothing that affected our shooting for the day.

Court and Gabor did some exploring along the old secondary highway #93A and eventually ended up over at Athabasca Falls.  Steve stayed in town and wandered about the townsite with his rangefinder camera.  Gord, Meghan and I also headed up onto Highway 93A.  We stopped at Portal Creek, a favorite location of mine, and shot for two or three hours.  The creek cascades down the mountian and at this point in the season there is a buildup of ice on the rocks that is always different and always visually interesting.  A couple years ago it was -20C when we were out here.  This time around it was only about -6C.  But it is always very humid by the open water so it still felt cold.  The skies were heavily overcast and on this day the light was very flat and dull.  We shot for a while and then eventually moved on further down the road.  We checked out the Astoria and Whirlpool Rivers but didn't end up taking out the cameras.  The road was gated and closed for the season at Whirlpool so we had to turn back and return the way we came.

The days are very short in the mountains at this time of year so we would not have a lot of opportunity to head anywhere else.  It was about 2:00 when we headed over the the confluence of the Maligne and Athabasca Rivers at the Sixth Bridge.  By this point it started snowing and the wind was getting fairly brisk.  We didn't end up shooting anything here either, and made our way back to town.  We stopped along the highway near the Jasper townsite and there was a large herd of elk right near the road.  They were pretty settled in and relaxed and we managed to get a few large format shots of a majestic bull and some cows.  After that we headed into town, had a few drinks at our hotel, and then eventually did the five block walk into town to a restaurant.  Arda had driven out later from Edmonton and met us there for dinner.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel and visited for a while.  All of us were pretty tired from being outside most of the day in the cold so none of us ended up staying up all that late.  I think we were probably all in bed by 10:30 or so.

Class 5 License

My oldest daughter Hailey was finally able to take her road test for her Drivers License on Thursday November 7th.  She passed on her first try.... !!

We are very proud of her, and very pleased.  She is now able to drive herself to and from her job, as well as to schook, to run errands, and drive her sisters around from time to time.  The used car that we bought for her on her 17th birthday can now be put to use.  This is a huge relief for all of us... her mother in particular...!
Unfortunately, a couple days after getting her license, it snowed, and Hailey instantly had to become a winter driver.  When we put new tires on her car a few weeks ago, we put winter rubber on, so that should help.  

Bluegrass 101

On October 30th I followed the advice of my friend Brad and checked out a local Bluegrass Group.  He has been a member for a couple of years and says he learned a lot about playing guitar since he started.  This is the Northern Bluegrass Circle Music Society and they meet every Wednesday at a local community hall.  

I chickened out and didn't bring my guitar, choosing instead to just watch for the first time.  They start out with Bluegrass 101, a group lesson lead by local artist Darcy Whiteside.  Darcy hosts the Bluegrass Hour on CKUA radio every Sunday at Noon.  At the club he leads a one hour group session that explores how to play, and sing one song.  I was surpised at how much focus is on the vocals.  It is not just for guitar players either...  there were lots of other instruments there including an upright bass, fiddles, banjos and mandolins.

After the first hour, the members break into two groups.  The experienced players form a circle in the main room and jam for a couple of hours.  At this point in the evening a bunch additional players that did not take part in the lesson showed up to join in the jam.

A number of the less experienced players went to a back room and worked on some songs together.

This past Wednesday, November 6th, I showed up again, and this time around I brought along my guitar.  I tried to strum along with all the other players but I am such a raw rookie in comparison that it was a challenge for me to say the least.  At one point Darcy asked me if I wanted to stand up and sing one of the vocal parts.  I had to decline because this was my first time out playing and I was really struggling to figure out the music, let alone try to sing it.  I admire musicians that are able to play and sing at the same time as it is a much bigger challenge than one might expect.

I stayed afterwards and tried to play along with eight or nine others in the back room.  It was a humbling experience and I now realize that I have a long way to go.  But I want to learn, so I will stick with it.  Although I have been playing guitar for nearly two years now, my work schedule and other commitments allows very little time for practice.  Going forward, as I look to slow down at work, I hope to be able to devote more time to the guitar.  In any event I will continue to attend these club events as it has been a lot of fun, and I've learned a bit......

400 Images

On November 3rd I posted the 400th image to my Flickr account.  This one was a shot of an abandoned Trapper's Cabin in the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains.  This was taken when I was out for a hike with Chris and Connie, back in August.  I shot this with a 135mm lens on my 4" x 5" view camera.  It was Efke PL25M film, processed in Rodinal developer.

Vancouver Island Trip - Day 10

We got up in the morning on Sunday October 27th.  Brad and I packed up our gear, and we said our goodbyes to Rob.  It was great for the three of us to get together again over this past week.  Now Brad and I would have to endure the long ride home.  It is not really that boring a drive as we would pass through some of the most spectacular scenery in the country.  But we were somewhat worn out from all the hiking and photography over the past week... not to mention all the driving.

We set out from Vernon at first light and made our way north to Sicamous.  From there we headed east on the Trans Canada Highway through Revelstoke and Golden.  The time zone change took place near Rogers Pass and we lost an hour as we returned to Mountain Time.  All of the construction zones were closed on Sunday and we breezed right through without any delays.

Once we crossed the divide back into Alberta we made the decision to head north over the Bow Pass to Saskatchewan Crossing and on to Nordegg and Rocky Mountain House.  There was a little snow up on the pass, but in general the roads were pretty good.  We could have looped around to the south through Banff and Calgary and the road conditions would have been a little better, but the drive a little further.  We had no regrets as the time delay was not significant and we were probably ahead of the game.  We stopped for fuel and a bite to eat in Rocky Mountain House and then made the push home to Edmonton.  We headed to my shop where Brad picked up his vehicle and we transferred over all of his gear.  It was nice to be back home, but there was a little regret that our adventure was coming to an end.  Hopefully we can head out together again sometime soon.....

Vancouver Island Trip - Day 9

We got up really early, threw all of our gear in the truck and checked out of the rental house.  We hit the road for the one hour drive to Nanaimo, aiming to be there before 8:00AM, so that we could catch the 8:40 ferry across to Horseshoe Bay.  We were there in time, but being a Saturday, the ferry was really busy.  It was filled before we got to the front of the line and we had to wait nearly three hours for the next one.  This put us a little behind schedule to say the least.

Once we finally got off the ferry we pounded the road all the way back to Rob's place in Vernon.  I was getting a little drowsy by afternoon so Rob took a turn driving over the Coquahala and on into Kelowna.  We arrived at Rob's place in the early evening.

Rob's wife Monique had put together a nice supper for us of lasagna and salad and we got that on the go and settled down for the evening.  This was our last evening of visiting as Brad and I would pack up and head home to Edmonton in the morning.

Vancouver Island Trip - Day 8

On Friday October 25th, Rob, Brad and I headed back over to Hornby Island.  We got up at our usual time and caught the morning ferry over to the Gulf Islands.  This time there was a different ticket agent working at the BC Ferries terminal and he was much more helpful.  He advised us that we could buy a frequent user card which would save us about 40%.  He also offered us a map of the islands.  Its too bad the woman working the previous two times we crossed wasn't as helpful as we paid about 60 bucks more than we should have...!

Once we got across to Hornby we headed straight over to Ford Cove and got back down onto those eroded sandstone rocks.  This time the tide was low and we pushed on up the beach all the way to Heron Rocks.  This was our original intention the last time we were out here but we just never made it that far.  The rocky beach between Ford Cove and Heron Rocks is actually more photogenic then Heron Rocks itself.  This is large flat area of open rocky beach.  There are several large boulders on the beach, as well as a bit of a headland.  It is scattered with some of the eroded sandstone.  

We spent most of the day in this general area.  A local guy that was out digging clams warned us that there were heavy winds to the south and that the main ferry between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo had been shut down.  We were a little skeptical that he was just trying to get us to leave but heeded his advice and took the ferry back to the main island, rather than risk getting stuck out on Hornby if the ferries there had to stop running.  It was a little choppy when we crossed back to Denman, and similar when we crossed from Denman to the main island.  Later we learned that the guy had been correct and some ferry crossings had been cancelled.

When we got back to the house we put our gear away and walked a mile down the road into Courtenay.  We went to a local pub for a couple of beers and something to eat.  This was our only restaurant dinner of the entire trip.  Later we walked back to the house and visited for a while, played guitar some more, and eventually turned in.  This would be the end of our exploring and photography as the next morning we had to hit the road for home.

Vancouver Island Trip - Day 7

On Thursday October 24th we didn't have to rush to the Gulf Island Ferry as we had done the previous couple of days.  Brad, Rob and I decided to head back down island to the Parksville area, and not cross to the Gulf Islands on this day.  The forecast was calling for a cooler, breezier day with overcast skies.  So we headed back over to Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park near Parksville.  This day it was a whole lot nicer then it had been a couple of days prior when it was pouring rain.

I wandered around out on the tidal flats with my camera for a while.  And Rob and Brad wandered off on their own for a bit.  I did a couple of detail shots down on the beach, and also found a tidal pool that was full of thousands of sand dollars.

Later I wandered over to where Rob and Brad were.  They had gone around the point from the bay and were exploring the rocky beach in this area.  Rob was working on a bunch of abstract detail shots of the forms in some of the driftwood logs up a the high water line.  I wandered into the edge of the forest and attempted a couple of shots of a the Douglas Fir trunks, and a solitary maple.

Once we finished up here we made our way back to the parking area.  Like last time the meadow at the edge of the trees was full of the little black rabbits that we saw last time.  They have the grass grazed down like a golf green.

Later we headed inland on the Port Alberni road and turned off to Englishman River Falls Provincial Park.  This time I didn't bother to do the entire loop trail, but focused my attention and my camera on the upper falls.  I bushwhacked my way down to small plunge pool at the edge of the waterfall.  I tried some long exposures, hoping to record the swirling eddy.

It was a great day of shooting and I think I came away with a couple of decent images.  Once we wrapped up we drove the hour back up island to Countenay and retreated back to the rental house for the evening.