Inside Work

On Sunday November 27th I headed back out to Nordegg.  I left Edmonton just after lunch and arrived at the cottage just as it was getting dark.  It had been really mild the few days prior, with the temperature getting up as high as about +12.  Last week my contractor was able to spread all the fill dirt around the guest cottage, and properly cover the septic tank.  We are pretty close to finished grade now.  Just have to let things settle over the winter, and then top everything with some gravel in the spring.

As I arrived on Sunday evening, the weather was turning and it was beginning to get cold.  The roads were clear all the way out, with just a little packed snow on the road from Saunders Ridge west to Nordegg.

On Monday I went to work in the guest cottage.  Last year I cut up a whole bunch of 1x6 lumber into 1" strips, and then glued them back together to make wider boards.  This method keeps the boards nice and straight, without any warping or bowing, and provides a finished piece to the width I need, and a full 1" thick.  These were to be used for door jambs, and I stored them away until now.

In the afternoon I dug out my table saw and ripped all these boards down to exact final width.  Then I set about cutting them to length and building the jambs.  I got a coat of primer on them before I quit for the day.  That evening my contractor Scott came over for dinner and we visited and listened to music into the wee hours.  Both of us were surprised at how the time got away from us and we finally wrapped things up about 3:00AM.

On Wednesday I woke up about 9:30, just as the sun cleared the peaks to the east.  I was pretty groggy and out of sorts and it took me quite a while to wake up.  The internet had been out the day before and Scott managed to get it going again for me.  But my weather station wasn't working so I had to deal with installing new batteries in that, and restarting the system.  Once that was behind me, and I had a couple of coffees in me, I went over to the guest cottage to go to work.  It was clear and sunny all day, but cold.  The temperature only made it up to about -16 in the afternoon and by evening had dropped down below -20, just like the night before.

I managed to get the two door jambs for the bedrooms painted and installed into the openings.  The third jamb for the bathroom is built, and primed, but I can't install it for a while.  The wall is not fully closed in yet, and I don't want to do that until we hook up water, and I can test all the plumbing connections.  In the evening my next door neighbor Dan and I were invited over to Scott's place for dinner, and we enjoyed a really nice lasagna.  This time we behaved and packed things in early... about 9:00PM.

Calendar

Lots of talk about calendars lately... !!   The printing company that I have used for the past several years, to print my annual calendar, has gone out of business.  I had to switch gears and find another company to print for me.  The company that I eventually selected was less than ideal.  The print quality was OK... and the images came out looking OK.  But, the software that they provided for me to work to layout the calendar was less than ideal.   And, the aspect ratio of their template was not well suited to images shot in 4x5 format.  I usually compose my images to fill the frame but found that I had to crop them to fit the format of the calendar.   Next year I will be better prepared.   This time around the 2023 version of my calendar turned out OK... but not great.   I will distribute the ones that I printed over the coming days.   Below is a copy of the cover of the calendar........

Apparitions Project - Moving Van

This old International Moving Van was in the same Saskatchewan yard as the old bus.  I thought both of them would be great potential subjects for the Apparitions project.  This one was shot on Kodak Tri-X Pan 320, given Normal Development in PMK.    I shot this on the July road trip to Saskatchewan with my Ebony view camera and a Rodenstock 90mm lens, with no filter.

Apparitions Project - Bus Stop

We found this old bus on our road trip to Saskatchewan last July.  I thought it would be a perfect image for the Apparitions project, so I shot it.  Arturo was with me and chose not to.  I don't know anything about White buses, but I'd guess that this one has to be from the 1950's...?

This was one of the negatives that I just recently processed.  I set up my Jobo processor when I returned home from Nordegg in early November and have been processing film like crazy every since.  I did over 300 sheets of 4x5... including some color... 

This one was taken on Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film, developed normally in PMK developer.  I shot this with my Ebony view camera and a Schneider 135mm lens with no filter.

Color Transparencies

On November 23rd I ran a batch of E-6 chemistry on my Jobo Processor.  This is the process used to develop color transparency film.  Back in the day many of us shot color slides with our 35mm cameras.  This is the same process that was used for slides, only in my case I am using it to process 4" x 5" sheet film.  I gotta say, those big transparencies, when properly exposed and viewed on a light table, just explode to life.  Bigger 8x10's are even more impressive, though I didn't process any of that size this time around.

The chemistry kits are hard to find.  Shipment across the border from the USA is restricted since 9-11 and I have to purchase the kit through a Canadian supplier... of which there aren't very many....

I posted these two images on my blog in the past, but in B&W.  It is kind of interesting to see them now in color, as they look quite different.  The first one is a shot of Blackmud Creek near my home.  It was taken on Fujichrome Velvia 100F in late September of 2021.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a 125mm Fujinon lens with no filter.

The second one is a shot of ice forming in Shunda Creek near my cottage.  It was also taken on Fujichrome Velvia 100F.  This one was taken in mid-Novermber of 2021.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and 200mm Nikkor lens with no filter.

I've included the B&W versions of these two images here for comparison.....

Apparitions Project - Truck Door

Another shot for the Apparitions project.  This is the door of an old International L-180 Series Truck.  I'm not sure of the exact age, but I would guess mid 1950's.  Most of these trucks were used as farm trucks, but this particular one was used in the Oilfields.  

I found the shadows to be particularly interesting, and that is what struck me when I saw this.  Arturo was out shooting with me on this day and he took some similar images.  We will see which if any make it to the Apparitions publishing project.

I shot this on Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film with my Ebony 4x5 View Camera and a Nikkor 150mm lens.  I used a #25 Red Filter to deepen the shadows and increase contrast.  I gave plus development in PMK Developer to further increase the contrast.  This was taken in June of this past summer.

Apparitions Project - Workshop

The Apparitions project officially got underway in 2022.  My colleague Arturo Pianzola and I are working on this project together.  We intend to spend three years... 2022, 2023 and 2024... taking photographs for the project.  Basically we are taking photographs of things that people have left behind.  It is not simply a collection of photographs of old buildings, although those will be included too.  Mostly we intend to focus on the personal possessions and smaller things left behind, and let the viewers imagination come up with the stories behind them.  We may draw on a few older images to round out the project but it will be almost entirely new work.  To that end we are travelling quite extensively to build up a body of work.  We have been on numerous day trips around Alberta this year, plus spent a few days in Saskatchewan, and some time up around Nordegg.  Next year we hope to travel out to the west coast to gather some images with a marine flavor.

Sometime in 2024... or perhaps we will begin the process a little sooner... we will start submitting our images to our editor.  We are working with an editor in Argentina to publish a fine art photography book that will include about a hundred photographs, more or less equally representing both photographers.  The book is scheduled to go to print in 2025.  I already know that the editing process will become very challenging as there are already a lot of good photographs, and some just won't make the book.

In addition to the publishing project we also intend to put together a travelling gallery exhibition that will feature some of the photographs.  We hope that can start showing in 2024 and then be exhibited to coincide with the release of the book.  A rather grand plan to say they least but we are determined to see it through.  

Over the course of the next couple of years I will feature some of the images here on my blog.  These will be images that fit the theme, and will be submitted to the editor, but may not necessarily make it to the book or the exhibition.

This particular shot is an abandoned blacksmith shop in an old farm yard northeast of Edmonton.  This was taken in June of this year on Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 sheet film.  I shot it with my Ebony 4" x 5" view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  Development was in PMK Developer.  This is one of the staining pyro developers that I quite like, and I'm generally pleased with this shot.  Both Arturo and I took numerous photographs at this site so we will see which if any make it to the final Apparitions project.

And the last four....

The last four images from the calendar that is not to be... at least not in 2023...  These are for the months of September, October, November and December.

Four more from the unpublished calendar...

These may still get printed on a calendar at some point in the future... just not for 2023.  The previously posted four were, in order, January, February, March and April.  These next four are May, June, July and August...

The Failed Calendar

A couple of weeks ago I set about preparing the images for my 2023 calendar.  This year I decided I'd like to do a calendar in portrait format, as the last several I've done were in landscape.  I have a number of great images that I've accumulated over the past several years and this would be an opportunity to use them.

So I got all the files set up and put the images in proper order.  I spent the better part of a day in selecting the images and working with all the scans.  Then I went to the website of the printing company in Calgary that I've been using for the past six or seven years... only to find out that they were no longer in business.

So I went on line and starting looking for other printing companies that I could use.  To my dismay I could not find a single one that would economically print in portrait format.

So I was forced to start over and select images from my archive that were in landscape format.  Then I had to spend another day preparing all the scans.  The worst part was that the printers that I found that were able to print both economically and within a reasonable time frame, did not offer the ideal format.  The aspect ratio of my 4" x 5" negatives did not fit the calendar without some cropping.  At this late point in the season I really had no other option.  Next year I will be more prepared and will start on this process earlier in the fall.  I think I found a printer that offers a 12" x 12" calendar, and I could fit both landscape and portrait format images onto these pages using a background.  Of course this larger size is more costly so I will have to review my printing budget next year.

Below are the first four images that were intended for use on the calendar that was not to be....

Tram Tower

This is another of the recently processed negatives.  This one was taken on Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film and given normal development in PMK.  This shot was taken with a wide 75mm lens on my Ebony view camera.  I used a #25 Red Filter to darken the sky and bring up the contrast.  It was taken in May of this year.

This tram tower is part of the Murray Mine in East Coulee.  You can see the river in the background along the right edge.  Waste rock from the mine was hauled up the hillside using this tram, and dumped over into the next little coulee.  This is the middle tower.  One remains up on top, and there are the ruins of the bottom one down near where the mine shaft once was.

Service Station

Since I returned home from Nordegg in early November I have been seriously working on catching up on my backlog of unprocessed film.  Recently I developed the last remaining negative from 2020.  I checked my 2021 file, and of the 353 4x5 B&W negatives that I shot, 41 remain to be processed.  In 2022 I have been shooting at a record pace and my negative count for the year so far is over 600.  I haven't counted, but I suspect I've processed about half of them.

Since early October I've processed 280 sheets of film, and will continue with a few more batches in the coming days.  Most of this has been with my Jobo Processor.  Once I have the unit set up in my darkroom I like to process all the film that I have that requires it, and then put it away for a while.

This shot was taken down in Crowsnest Pass when Margarit and I were down there in late September, with Chris and Connie, for the Beer Parlor Project.  This old Art Deco Building was once a service station called Arctic Gas.  I shot this with my Ebony view camera and a wide-ish 90mm lens.  It was taken on Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film, and processed normally in PMK developer for 9:35 minutes at 20C.  PMK is a staining pyro developer, and one of the processes that I need to do on the Jobo.

In Focus YEG 2023

Alexis Marie Chute continues to curate and organize the In Focus YEG photography exhibition every year, and I admire her for her dedication.  Last year I got too busy, and didn't have time to send in a submission.  I think there might have been a year missed during Covid... like so many other things.  With the exception of last year I have shown some of my prints in every one of these shows since they started.  I can't remember exactly when that was, but it has been running for at least five or six years now... probably longer.

This time around I submitted the two pieces that I showed at the SCA International Juried Exhibition in Toronto this past summer, and they were accepted again.  The show will run from February 1 to April 29 2023.  The opening reception will be on a yet to be determined date in early February.  The show will again be at the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel.  There will be online voting for the People's Choice Awards beginning in January.  Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

Park Memorial

This is another shot from the abandoned museum.  This one was taken on my third visit, and it was in early September.  I tilted the camera forward, and the rear standard back, which helped to hold the depth of field, though it did fall off a little in the foreground, and at the left edge.  I didn't mark it down in my notes, but I'm thinking I must have also done a bit of swing on the front standard, to get these focus effects.  In any event, I like the way the image turned out.

This one was taken with my 4x5 view camera and a very wide 75mm lens.  This is about equivalent to a 25mm lens in 35mm film or full frame digital format.  The film was Fuji Neopan Acros 100, developed in Rodinal.

Makin' Lasagna...!

Go big or go home I always say...!   On November 15th I made a big batch of Lasagna.  Originally I was going to do four pans, but I had enough ingredients left to do two more, so I made a total of six.  One will be baked tonight... for dinner.  The other five will be wrapped up and frozen for future quick meals.  Actually they aren't all that quick because they are frozen solid and they need to be taken out and defrosted somewhat in advance.  But, once defrosted, they bake fairly quickly.

I used 3-1/2 pounds of ground beef, three cans of diced tomatoes, one can of tomato paste, three jars of pasta sauce, three tubs of Ricotta cheese, 2 bunches of spinach, three bunches of fresh basil, three boxes of lasagna noodles and four pounds of grated cheese.  These are way better than any frozen lasagna you can buy in the store.

Hank was hanging around all afternoon while I made them... looking for any spills.  He found a few too...!

Finished with 2020

Here it is, approaching the end of 2022, and I've just processed my last sheet of exposed Black and White 4x5 film from 2020.  The last shot remaining was shot number 315 of the year... taken on the Fall Photo Day Trip.  This trip was to make up for the fact that Covid prevented the Monochrome Guild from having our annual Fall Photo Weekend in the mountains in 2020.  This shot was take on Ilford Delta 100 with a 125mm lens and a #8 Yellow Filter.  This old farm house was out in Eastern Alberta, not all that far from the Saskatchewan border.  It was taken on November 4th at 1:35 in the afternoon.  Development was in PMK Developer for 11:45 Minutes... normal development... at 20C.  Almost exactly two years later, I have completed developing all of my 2020 film.

Comparison of Infrared to Panchromatic Film 2

I did a blog post on this same subject a few years ago.  I recently processed a batch of Kodak High Speed Infrared Film that yielded some half decent images.  Here are some of those compared to images taken at the same time, on standard Black and White Film.  With each pair, the one on the left is the infrared version.  

The first pair is some backlit pine trunks at the Alexo Cemetery.  The right image was taken on Adox CHS-50 film developed in Rodinal.  Both images were taken in late June, on a rather wet and overcast day.  Obviously the sun was starting to bust out a little by the time I took these shots in the late afternoon.  I can't recall but the clouds must have rolled in again by the time I took the seond one on IR.   I used a #8 Yellow Filter on the Adox film, and of course a #25 Red on the Kodak High Speed Infrared.  If you look closely at the IR image you will see that the vegetation has a glow, and the backlit trunks are darker.. Also the atmospheric haze in the background is reduced a little.

The second pair is a shot of Blackmud Creek in Edmonton.  This was taken in mid May of this year.  I used a #25 Red filter on both shots.  The left one is of course the Kodak High Speed Infrared, while the right one is Kodak T-Max 100 developed in 510 pyro.  The vegetation is lighter, and the water darker in the IR image.  This is very typical of this type of film.  The sky is not much different, which is a bit of a surprise as IR usually yields very dark skies.  But in this instance there was backlight, so that is probably the reason.  The staining pyro developer nicely held the highlight values in the clouds. in the T-Max image.

The last pair is a shot of the train station at the abandoned museum.  The right image was taken on Fuji Neopan Acros 100 film, developed in Rodinal.  I used a #25 Red filter for both images.  It was a relatively sunny day in late August, with partly cloudy skies.  This is much more typical of the different tonality exhibited by Infrared film.  Even in these small screen shots the grain of the Infrared is more evident.

Doll

This rather creepy image was taken on one of my visits to the abandoned museum, last summer.  In hindsight it might have been a good image for Halloween.  This was just random stuff left behind in an old building... very strange...  I did move the hatchet a little closer to the doll, but otherwise it was found like this.   Remember those saddle shoes...?  I wonder how long those have been there...?

I shot this with my 4x5 view camera and a 125mm lens.  It was taken on Fuji Neopan Acros 100 film, developed in Rodinal developer.  I used a slightly increased development time to pump up the contrast a little.

A Long Stay in Nordegg

I stayed up at the cottage in Nordegg until Tuesday November 8th.  By the end of my stay I was kind of running out of things to work on, and getting anxious to get back home.  It was really cold too....!  The snow just kept coming down and by the time I left there was close to a foot.  And the night before my departure the temperature dropped down to around -25C.  I made sure and plugged my truck in that night so I wouldn't have any issues starting it the next morning.

I manged to get the range hood mounted.  The bracket that I made worked OK, and I found some small machine screws and nuts that I could use in place of the metric ones I was missing.  I also mounted my stainless steel duct enclosure.  With this all in place I was able to energize the circuit in the kitchen that included the range hood and two light fixtures.  Everything works just fine.

Then I built bases for the kitchen cabinets.  I put one in place, but there is a pile of lumber in the way right now that doesn't allow me to put the second one in place.  These bases will be anchored to the floor and are needed so that I can install floor tiles up to them.

Next time I come out I'll move the range, which will allow me to finish the subfloor, which will clear the lumber out of my way, and allow me to install the second cabinet base.  Then I will also be able to install the stainless steel backsplash below the range hood.  With the bases in place I will be able to start installation of the floor tiles.  Once some of the floor tiles are installed I will be able to move the range into final position.  These little jobs are all so inter-related... as well as dependent on having the correct supplies on hand.

I also need to bring out some additional lumber so that I can start on construction of the interior doors and jambs.  It would be nice if I could finish these, and paint everything, before I get too far into the installation of flooring.  Always good to avoid spilling paint on a new floor, though I will put tarps down to protect against this.

A More Productive Day

On Saturday November 5th, feeling a little more ambitious, I went to work in the guest cottage.  I got started around 11:00AM, when it warmed up a little, and got a fire going in the wood stove.  I have the forced air electric furnace running in the cottage as well, but keep it turned down quite low.  It doesn't take very long for the stove to warm things up.

I worked through most of the day and wrapped things up around 4:30.  That was just in time to head over to the main cottage and catch the end of the Oilers game.  What a waste of time, and in hindsight, I should have just kept working a little longer.  The Oilers embarrased themselves and got blasted 6-2 by the visiting Dallas Stars.

While I was over in the guest cottage I got a lot accomplished... unlike my previous attempt.  This time I finished installation of the subfloor in the second bedroom.  There is only one small area near the woodstove that remains but at the moment I have our kitchen range stored there.  Once I am able to move the range into final position, I will finish the subfloor in this last area.

Then I moved upstairs to the loft.  The trim boards that I finished with lacquer the day prior were now dry, so I was able to install them.  There are trim boards on the seams between diagonal and horizontal paneling, as well as at all the edges.  In a couple of places I had to notch around electrical receptacles.  It seems I will have three sheets of underlay left over so I've decided that I should buy a couple more, and this will provide enough material to install underlay up in the loft.  Then later I can install some kind of flooring material up there and use this overflow space for storage.  At that point there will be two small pieces of corner trim to install, as well as some baseboard.  But for now the loft is finished as far as I can go.

I discovered that my range hood did not come with a mounting bracket for wall mount.  I guess the most common application is to mount a hood under a cupboard.  But wall mount is what I need to do, so this complicated things.  Apparently the bracket comes with a separate and expensive duct enclosure kit that I chose not to purchase.  So, now I have to make some kind of bracket.  I picked up a small piece of steel angle when I was in Rocky Mountain House on Thursday and attempted to make a bracket.  I'm sure the bracket will work, but it turns out I don't have the right size of metric screws to attach it to the hood.  Building in a remote location sure comes with its share of challenges...!

I moved on to some electrical work and installed some switches and a light fixture in the kitchen.  I can't energize the circuit yet though as the range hood is on the same one.

I'm not sure what I'll be able to work on over the rest of my stay out at Nordegg.  I'm running out of supplies to continue with much more and only have a few little odds and ends to keep busy with.  The next time I come out I will have to bring some additional materials.