It was a rather blustery day....

On January 18th I headed out on a day trip with my friends Arturo and Fred. As has become the norm in these Covid times, we headed out in separate vehicles.  Temperatures for the day were forecast to be mild at just above the freezing mark.  The sun was out and the light was very nice.  But is was very windy and there was a stiff breeze all day long, that made things very uncomfortable.

Our first stop was at the Railway Trestle Bridge over the Paddle River, near the town of Rochfort Bridge.  The wind was relentless and large format photography was virtually impossible.  We all agreed that it was a subject worth a return visit on a better day.  It was looking as though the day was going to be a bust.  We pushed on up the road to the town of Mayerthorpe, thinking there might be something to shoot at the Fallen Four Memorial.  It turns out that it is just a parking lot with a sign and a playground... not very visually appealing.  This site recognizes the fact that four Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were ambushed and shot at a nearby farm, some years ago.

We struck off across country.  At one spot on a winding gravel road, sheltered by heavy trees, we stopped and took somewhat of a conciliatory shot of some birch trunks.  It seemed as though we would't accomplish much on this day, and this way we at least took a photograph of something...!  Then we pushed on yet again, winding around on some backroads.  Eventually we came upon a stunning old house.  The light had been spectacular all day long and by this point in the middle of the afternoon the wind had eased up a little.  We shot in and around this house, and also at a nearby abandoned car out in the field, for over an hour.  By this time in the afternoon, and being mid-January, the sun was getting low and we were beginning to run out of good light.  I don't know exactly where we were, but I have the GPS coordinates recorded.  It was somewhere well west of the town of Barrhead.

The day was by no means a bust, despite the way it started out.  Though next time I plan a day trip I think I'll pay a lot more attention to how much wind is in the forecast...!