Fire Escape

This old hotel fire escape is the last of the color transparency shots that I will be posting for a while.  This is part of that same batch of film processed on March 16th in E-6 chemistry.  It is also from the same road trip that saw us visit the Turner Valley Gas Plant and Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park.

This is the vacant American Hotel in Fort McLeod.  A group of local families took over this old building and is converting it to affordable housing.  At the time of our visit last year, the roof had already been replaced, and they were starting to work on the interior.

My big view camera set up on a tripod seemed to be an attention magnet as three different individuals all stopped to see what I was doing.  It turns out that all three were part of the group that is undertaking the restoration.  I was respectful, and only photographed the building from the exterior.

I shot this one on June 22nd at about 12:00 noon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 90mm lens.  Once again I used that blue/orange color polarizer to enhance the colors.  I should probably refrain from using that thing as I am liking the results less and less.  The exposure was F20.0 and a shutter speed of 1/8 second.  As with the last shot I posted, this one was also an expired sheet of Fujichrome Velvia 50, rated at 40 iso.

Writing On Stone

Last June, Margarit and I went on a road trip with our friends Arturo and Sharon.  We started out at the Turner Valley Gas Plant, and took part in a private tour there.  Once that had wrapped up we headed further south to Lethbridge, and stayed there for a couple of days.  We went to Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park and took a tour of the Native Rock Art site.  We had hoped to book a private tour there too, but it was National Indigenous Peoples Day.  So we were able to get out on a free, shortened tour, but could not book an extended one.  We thought that perhaps some shots of the rock art might work for our Apparitions project.

This color shot was part of the batch of 4"x5" transparency film that I ran in E-6 chemistry, on my Jobo Processor, on March 16th.  I shot this image on June 21st 2023, at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 110mm lens.  A blue/orange color polarizing filter intensified the colors.  The exposure was F20.0 and a shutter speed of 1/8 second.  This was a sheet of Fujichrome Velvia 50, rated at 40 iso.  This film was expired, and hit its best before date in October of 2012.  It is this, plus the funky filter, that resulted in the saturated colors.

Beer Parlour Project - Viking Hotel - BP 12.0

On April 13th we visited the Viking Hotel for the twelfth episode of the Beer Parlour Project.  Officially this is BP 12.0.  This time around Connie and Margarit were able to join Chris and I.  Byron Robb was also able to join us as a guest.  Byron is a long time friend of Chris and Connie, and he is also from Calgary.  I know him well as he also took part in the documentary film, Forgotten Prairie.  Margarit met him briefly when we did that Rosie shoot with the old World War Two fighter plane a couple years ago, but this was the first time she really got to visit and get to know him a little.

We had a great time at the Viking Hotel, and the owner Mario was really accommodating.  Sadly there was an event going on in a nearby town and a lot of the locals were not around.  But we did get to meet with a few, including the mayor.  I took a number of portraits with my big view camera.

Mario also owns an adjacent building that houses a bowling alley and movie theatre.  The bowling alley is still functional, but sadly the movie theatre is not.  All the same it would be a great venue to host some sort of event at.... maybe a fundraiser of some kind... and we are keeping that in mind.

I only took a couple of phone snapshots of the exterior of the building, and have those posted here.  But, once I get around to processing my film, there will be a bunch more images to share.  Stay tuned for more.  In the meantime, here is a link to the Forgotten Prairie documentary, that Byron, Chris, Connie and I were involved in....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb-r8ZLUcGQ

Hank

About a week ago I set up my photo backdrop and studio lights in our living room.  This was just in advance of receiving a delivery of new furniture and mattresses.  Shortly after this photo shoot the living room became so plugged up with stuff that just moving through the room was nearly impossible.

Margarit wanted me to take some portraits of the girls.  I used to do this a lot when they were younger, but now that they are teenagers and beyond, there is very little interest on their part.  I think the last time that I did this was around 2017, so there are a lot of changes in seven years.

I shot three versions of each subject, one on Fuji Neopan Acros, one on Ilford HP5 and the third on color negative film.  So far I've just processed some of the shots that were taken on Ilford HP5.  I'll be posting some of the portraits of the girls in a future blog post.  I shot them individually and together, as well as a family portrait, shots of Margarit and of me, and this shot of Hank.

Trunk Wells

This is a scan of another one of the color transparencies that I developed using my Jobo Processor, back on March 16th.  This was done using the Unicolor Rapid E-6 Chemistry.  

I used the Black and White version of this same shot on both versions of the 2024 Calendar that I put together this year.

I took both of these shots back on March 9th of 2023, at about 2:45 in the afternoon.  These are some aspen trees on my property out in Nordegg.  I was drawn to the way that the wind had drifted the snow around the trunks.  I was a little disappointed that my composition didn't capture the mood that I felt when I witnessed this.

For the color version I used a sheet of Fujichrome Velvia 50, rated at 40 iso.  I shot this with my Ebony view camera and a slightly wide Fujinon 125mm lens.  For this version I did not use any filters.  The exposure was F32.0 with a shutter speed of 1/4 second.  Like many previous color shots that I have recently posted, this sheet of film was way out of date, and expired in October of 2012.

Print Finishing

Margarit travelled down to East Coulee to spend a few days with Hailey.  I stayed behind in Edmonton and was the head Girl-Herder for the other two.  Helena had to be shuffled to and from school, and then there was groceries, household chores and cooking to look after.

Over the weekend of April 19, 20 and 21, I spent some time down in my darkroom, finishing a bunch of prints.  I had about a dozen 8" x 10" copies of the photographs that I took in Fanny Bay last fall.  These were from the 8th stop on the Beer Parlour Project Tour... or BP 8.0 as we call it.  I promised that I would send these to the hotel and to the subjects of the portraits.  I had a whole bunch of offcuts of matboard, the window cutouts from larger prints, and these were the perfect size for these small 8x10's.  So I cut mounts and matts for everything, drymounted all the prints, packaged them up, and shipped them off to Vancouver Island.

Then I set about framing a couple of pieces.  This utilized the frame stock that I cut when I was out at Nordegg the last time.  I have one small color print, the photograph taken by Connie, from BP 9.1.  It is a portrait of Willy, one of the patrons at the Victoria Hotel in Bruderheim.  The hotel owners asked me to frame it for them, so they could present it as a gift to Willy.  

I also framed the panoramic print of the forest along the Blackstone River, that I printed some time ago.  I had this one already mounted and matted, and it just needed to be fitted into a frame.  That was one of the frames that I cut out at Nordegg, and now that this one is done, it can go back to the cottage to be displayed there.

While I was at it I cut a mount and a matt for a poster that I had laying around from Procession West.  This was a travelling gallery show that I did together with my friend Rob Michiel.  Over a period of about four years this show toured to about ten different galleries.  This poster featured one of my images, and was a nice reminder of the project, so I will display it in one of our cottages.  This was sort of a last minute decision so I will have to cut a frame for it next time I'm out at Nordegg.

Blackstone Pebbles

I'm a little undecided about this one.  I took this detail shot out along the Blackstone River last fall.  Margarit and I were out for a day trip and headed west on the Chungo Road.  We made a stop down along the Blackstone and I liked the way the low fall light was showing texture and contrast on the riverside pebbles.  I'm not sure if I like the Color or the Black and White version better.

The color version is from the batch of E-6 color transparencies that I processed on my Jobo on March 16th.  I shot this on October 8th 2023 at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a long 300mm lens to get in tight on the pebbles.  This required a little extra exposure as a result of the long bellows draw of the close focus.  This was a sheet of long expired Fujichrome Velvia 50, rated at 40 iso.  Despite the film being a dozen years past its best before date, the color balance held up nicely.  Probably because I chose not to use the goofy color polarizing filter like I often do.

The Black and White version was a sheet of Ilford FP4, rated at 160 iso and given plus development in HC-110 Developer.  The exposure for this one was F25.0 and 1/15 second.  I neglected to write down the exposure that I used on the color version, but at two stops difference in film speed it was likely just a reduction in shutter speed to 1/4 second.

Beer Parlour Project - Warspite Hotel - BP 11.0

On April 12th Chris travelled up from Calgary.  Connie was unable to make it as she had to work, but she would catch up with us the next day.  Margarit wanted to see a show at the New Moon Folk Club so she did that.  Chris and I headed out together for another episode of the Beer Parlour Project.

This time around we would visit the Warspite Hotel.

The hotel is the last surviving business in the town that has perhaps 50 to 100 residents.  It has had many different owners over the years, and for a while it was closed.  Several months ago it was purchased by Sunny, an immigrant from India.  He now runs the place with the help of his brother in law.  Sunny was amazingly friendly and super supportive of our project.  Along with his brother in law Milan they were very gracious hosts, and welcomed us to their establishment.  The locals are very grateful that their town focal point has re-opened and strongly support the business.

Many of them were there at the time of our visit and we got to meet with most of them.  I managed to take portraits with my big camera, of those that were interested.  

As is always the case with the Beer Parlour Project we met a lot of really interesting people.  There was a young lady, out for a beer with her grandmother.  A middle aged guy that had been born and raised in the area, and knew much of the history.  There was a couple that were not from the town but from the immediate area, and they made a point of touring around to small town hotels, just like we do.  Their's was just a personal interest and they visited places just to experience the vibe.  They were able to give us suggestions on a bunch of other places that we could consider.  And they graciously bought us a couple of rounds, before inviting us to their upcoming wedding, later this summer.  I even met a lady who was a painter.  She lives in Edmonton a few blocks from my house and frequents Mimi's Pub.  She has friends in the area and uses studio space in Warspite for her painting.  Its such a small world.  A long time resident purchased the old auto dealership in town and uses it to store his classic car collection.  The list goes on and on.

A few weeks back I made up some stickers for the Beer Parlour Project.  The Warspite Hotel was the first recipient of one of these and Sunny proudly displayed it on his beer tap.

I only captured a couple of phone snapshots while we were there, and these are included here.  I did expose a lot of film with the big camera and once I get around to processing that, the resulting negatives will eventually be displayed here on my blog.  They will also be added to the project website, which is now up and running at...   beerparlourproject.com

Three from 2022

Here are scans of three more color transparencies, from the recent batch of E-6 Chemistry that I ran on my Jobo Processor.  This was back on March 16th.  These images came out a little harsh, particularly the first two.  I'm not sure the reason for this... perhaps it was the type of film, or maybe there was color shift due to the age of the film.

The first shot was some aspen trees in fall color down in Ranchland County in southern Alberta.  The gold color of the fall leaves didn't really come through very well.  This was taken on September 25th 2022, at about 3:00 in the afternoon.  I used a long 400mm telephone lens on my Ebony view camera.  A Blue/Yellow Color polarizer was used to saturate the sky, but I think that took away from the gold of the leaves.  The exposure was F18.0 and the shutter speed was 1/8 second.  This 4x5 sheet of film was Fujichrome Velvia 50, rated at 40 iso.  The film was loaded from frozen storage in August of 2022.  It was stored refrigerated after exposure until March of 2024.  The expiry date of the film was October of 2012.

I believe that this row of trees was associated with what was once an old farm yard.  This was taken down in south central Alberta in Stettler County.  I took this shot on October 17th 2022, at about 3:00 in the afternoon.  I used a long 400mm telephone lens on my Ebony view camera.  A Blue/Yellow Color polarizer was used to saturate the sky, and I think that resulted in the banding of tones in the sky.  The exposure was F20.0 and the shutter speed was 1/4 second.  This 4x5 sheet of film was Fujichrome Velvia 50, rated at 40 iso.  The film was loaded from frozen storage in August of 2022.  It was stored refrigerated after exposure until March of 2024.  The expiry date of the film was October of 2012.

This last one was taken on the annual Fall Photo Weekend outing with the Monochrome Guild, to Jasper National Park.  Of the three shots, this one shows the most realistic colors.  Perhaps not surprisingly it was shot on a different type of film, that was not nearly so far our of date.  I took this shot on October 23rd 2022, at about 3:30 in the afternoon.  I used a moderately long 250mm lens on my Ebony view camera.  A Blue/Yellow Color polarizer was used to saturate the sky.  The exposure was F25.0 and the shutter speed was 1/8 second.  This 4x5 sheet of film was Fujichrome Velvia 100, rated at 100 iso.  The film was loaded from frozen storage in November of 2021.  It was stored refrigerated after exposure until March of 2024.  The expiry date of the film was December of 2020.

A visit to Nordegg

The last time I was out at the cottage in Nordegg was when Margarit and I spent the Family Day long weekend.  I finally made it back, this time as a solo trip, on April 8th.  Almost two months passed between visits, and I think this is the longest I have ever been away.

This time it was my intention to bring out the old jukebox that I bought over a year ago.  I want to get it restored and functioning and set it up in the guest cottage.  The guy that I have lined up to work on it, lives in Lake Louise, so I thought I would bring it to the cottage, and he could assess it there.  But, I was unable to load the jukebox by myself, as it was just too heavy.  I had a two wheeler and some planks, but even at that, it was too much for one.  So instead I loaded up a reclining chair and a bench and brought that out instead.

I only stayed at the cottage for a little over three days, and was generally pretty lazy.  It was really quiet out there as none of our neighbors were around, so I just enjoyed relaxing.  I did get the recliner and the bench unloaded and set up.  The bench used to belong to my brother's family, and it was made by my Dad.  My brother's family no longer has space for it in their house, so I claimed it for the cottage.  I cleared out a spot beside our entrance door in the main cottage, that had essentially just become a junk pile, and put the bench there.

The weather wasn't great while I was out there and it snowed heavily off and on for the first day after I arrived.  Aside from setting up the furniture that I brought, I also managed to move my big chop saw out of the guest cottage.  Before putting it away in the garage I used it to cut up a bunch of picture frame stock for some upcoming projects.  After that I made a run to the dump and got rid of a little household garbage and a bunch of cardboard for recycling.

There were lots of birds and a few deer around.  I put out the last little bit of oats that I have left from the winter feedings.  Now that it has warmed up and the bears will be active again, the feeding has to come to a stop for the summer.  The Red Fox that we have seen in the yard for many years now made his or her appearance at one point as well.

Maligne River

Having finished up all the 4" x 5" black and white sheet film that required processing on the Jobo, I moved on to color.  On March 16th I mixed up a Unicolor Rapid E-6 kit and set about processing the 18 sheets of color transparency film that I had been accumulating.  The processing regimen is fairly simple and straightforward.  It all starts with a 1 minute prewash, followed by the first developer for 7 minutes.  Then there is a water wash, after which the color developer is run for 5 minutes.  Yet another water wash and then the Bleach/Fix is run for seven minutes.  The film is then rinsed and washed and that's it.  The process temperature is quite high, at 38C, so this is what makes the Jobo Processor ideal.

This image was taken last year during the Monochrome Guild Fall Photo Weekend.  This was a weekend in November spent out in Jasper, with several of my colleagues from the Monochrome Guild.

This shot of the Maligne River is a classic example of when color photographs are a little more effective than the black and white shots that I usually take.  Taken late in the afternoon, the valley was in shade, and the colors very muted.  There was very little contrast in the lighting, and with the exception of the bright sky, there was only about four stops variation between the brightest snow and the deepest shadows.  The black and white version of this shot looks rather drab and boring.  The color shot is quite a bit better as there is a very cool mood that is imparted as a result of the evening winter light.

I shot this on November 12th 2023 at about 2:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a long 240mm lens.  A blue/yellow color polarizer enhanced the color tone already present in the scene.  This is a sheet of Kodak Ektachrome E100G.  The exposure was F32.0 and a shutter speed of 1 second, which created a nice blur in the water.  The film held up reasonably well considering it hit its best before date in December of 2006.  I also included a scan of one of the sheets of black and white film that I exposed moments before this color one.  That black and white shot was on Kodak T-Max 100 film.  I used a six stop neutral density so that a long 30 second exposure would accentuate the motion in the water.  The film was developed in 510 Pyro.  But none of that really salvaged the image and the result is still rather bland.

Outlaws - Beer Parlor Project - BP 4.1 Big Valley

These are scans of the last two negatives from the batch of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 4" x 5" that I processed back on March 2nd.  Development was for normal contrast, in PMK, for 9:35 minutes at 20C. 

I took these photographs on our return visit to Big Valley.  This was for the Beer Parlour Project, and we wanted to do this shot of the Reynolds Raiders.  This local family are the group of outlaws that ride up to the steam train on horseback, and rob the passengers.  The building is their own private "Saloon" where they hang out before and after the robbery, and keep their horses corralled.

I shot these images, one immediately after the other, on July 22nd 2023, at about 4:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a long 240mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure was F20.0 and a shutter speed of 1/60 second.  In hindsight I should have given a little more exposure.  The outlaws further back in the shadows are little underexposed.  

Chungo Creek

This is another scan from that batch of 4" x 5" Kodak Tri-X Pan film that I developed back on March 2nd.  This batch was developed on my Jobo Processor, in PMK Developer.  The film was given Normal development, for 9:35 minutes at 20C.

Margarit and I went out for an afternoon drive last fall.  We set out from the cottage and headed north on the Forestry Trunk Road.  Normally we head up to the Blackstone River and explore around there.  This time around we decided to head west on the Chungo Creek Road.  This road travels generally west and eventually crosses the Blackstone River, upstream from our usual destination, before heading further west into the front ranges of the Rockies.  We headed out for quite some distance, but as it was getting late in the afternoon, we eventually turned around and headed for home.  The road appeared to keep going for some distance and sometime we will need to return and explore even further to the west. 

Earlier in the day we made a stop at Chungo Creek and explored around there for a little while.  It was really beautiful on this gorgeous fall afternoon and we had the place entirely to ourselves.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 90mm lens to take this shot down along the creek.  It was taken on October 8th 2023, at about 2:45 in the afternoon.  The exposure was F32.0 and the shutter speed was 1/4 second.

More April Showers

On April 17th I woke up to fresh snow... about two inches of the stuff.  The forecast was calling for snow in much of the southern and western parts of Alberta.  Some places were supposed to get over six inches, though I'm not sure if that materialized.

This day is also my 61st birthday.  I can remember lots of birthdays when I was young, and it was mild enough and dry enough that could have my birthday party outside.   But not this year.....  I seem to recall that when we have had these really mild El Nino winters, as we did this year, that the spring that followed it dragged on for what seemed like forever, and we got significant amounts of snow.  That certainly seems to be the case this year.

We got a bunch of new furniture delivered to the house on April 16th, so there is definitely no space for a party, even if I wanted one.  We got a new sofa and chair for the living room, and two mattresses with box springs.  The old sofa and chair are still in the living too.  So everything is pretty jammed up until we can deal with it all.  We timed this to happen after the weekend, as we had our friends Chris and Connie visiting from Calgary, and they were crashed on the living room floor.

Our old sofa has to be moved out and hauled away.  We actually plan on taking it down to East Coulee and setting it up in the boardroom, at the shop.  Our old living room chair has to go down into the basement, once we clean up and organize down there.  The mattresses and box springs are all for the guest cottage, so at the first opportunity they need to be hauled out to Nordegg.  In the meantime we will have to live in the cluttered mess.  But we lived with the dinette furniture, and a bunch of other Nordegg stuff stored in our living room last year, for many months, so we are somewhat used to it by now.  

I checked the cameras out at Nordegg and there was snow out there too.  I expected that out in the mountains there might have been a lot more than here in the city.  It seems that is not really the case, though the accumulation appears to be a little heavier.  The last of the images below is from out at the cottage this morning.

Printing for BP

Since it was snowing all day on April 5th I decided to spend the afternoon in the darkroom.  I made a bunch of prints for the Beer Parlour Project.  I printed four different negatives from BP 8.0.  This was our visit to the Fanny Bay Inn out on Vancouver Island, last October.  Here are a couple of snapshots from the darkroom, as I worked on those prints.  The first is obviously under the safelight, and it shows the still light sensitive prints in the process of going through the stop bath and being fixed.  The second shot was later, and shows the prints in room light.  Here they are in the process of being cleared and toned.

I promised Ken and Sebastien, the subjects in the photos, that I would send them some prints.  I also promised that I would send some to the Inn.  Our server that day was a young lady named Starr, and she was particularly helpful in getting our subjects to cooperate.  So I'll include a couple of extra prints in case she wants one too.  I hope to finish these and get them mounted and matted in the next week or so, and then get them on the way.

Card Game

This is another sheet of 4" x 5" Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film, from the batch that I developed in PMK on March 2nd.  I ran this batch on my Jobo Processor for 9:35 Minutes at 20C.

My colleague Arturo and I were out exploring and came across an old, abandoned Community Hall.  Inside we found this old table and chairs, and part of a deck of cards.  It made for the perfect subject for our Apparitions project, and we both shot it from multiple angles.  It's likely one version of this will end up being included in our project.

I shot this on June 26th 2023, at about 1:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 110mm lens.  A filter would not have made much difference given the subject and lighting conditions.  The exposure was F20.0 and a shutter speed of 1/2 second.

Cool Idea

I saw this post on Instagram a few days ago and took a screen shot.  Where do I sign up....?

Compressor Building

Same batch of Kodak Tri-X Pan as the last one I posted, and same trip.  This was also taken during our tour of the Turner Valley Gas Plant.  This is the Compressor Building.

I shot this on June 19th at about 11:00 in the morning.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 90mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure was F20.0 and a shutter speed of 1/.2 second.

Coolers

Back on March 2nd I continued with developing yet another batch of film on my Jobo Processor.  This time around it was the last of my exposed sheets of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 in 4" x 5" format, that required development in PMK.  This batch was given normal development, which is 9:35 minutes at 20C.

This shot was taken at the Turner Valley Gas Plant, last summer.  Arturo and I booked an all day private tour of the site, and photographed it for our Apparitions project.  I'm not sure exactly what the function of this apparatus is, but our guides referred to them as coolers.  I think I ended up with a couple of pretty good shots from our tour, and hopefully one of them ends up being included in Apparitions.  Our wives were along for the four day trip and we really enjoyed touring around southern Alberta together. 

I took this shot on June 17th 2023, at around 12:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide-ish 110mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure was F18.0 with a shutter speed of 1 second.

Color verses Monochrome - Bunchberry Blossoms

Here is another color shot, from the batch of E-6 processed on my Jobo on March 16th.  I used a Unicolor Rapid E-6 kit, which is actually quite simple.   The three chemical steps are simply a first developer for 7:00 minutes, a color developer for 5:00 minutes, and a bleach/fix for 7:00 minutes.  Before, after and in between there are just water rinses.  The process temperature is quite high, essentially body temperature, at 37C.  This is easily maintained with the heated water bath of the Jobo.

These bunchberries were blooming in the yard out at Nordegg, late last spring.  I dragged my big view camera out and took a few photographs of them, including this shot on a sheet of the now discontinued Fujichrome Velvia 50.  This film has been a favorite of mine for many years and I shot countless rolls of 35mm slides with it.  This particular sheet is old stock that has been sitting in my freezer for many years.  It hit its best before date over a decade ago, in October of 2012.

Like many photographers used to do, I rate this film at 40 iso.  The box speed of 50 iso tends to yield underexposed images.  Even with the extra exposure, the images tend to be very contrasty.  The film yields beautiful saturated colors so I will continue shooting with this old stock of mine until it runs out.  The largest of these blossoms would be just a little more than an inch across.  So I had to position my Ebony view camera and the 150mm lens that I was using, very close to the subject.  The close focus resulted in a long bellows draw of about 9 inches, and required exposure compensation of one added stop.  The exposure for this color shot was F19.0 and a shutter speed of 2 seconds.  Its a good thing it was a sheltered spot, and a calm day with no wind.

This is the black and white version of the same shot, and I really like it as well.  I've used this image on my calendar for this year, and also included it in a submission package for a gallery exhibition with the Monochrome Guild.  I printed a copy of this one and it currently hangs in Mimi's Restaurant.  I made some small contact prints of this negative, and they are offered for sale in small frames, or on greeting cards, at the Beehive Artisan Market in Nordegg.

This one was taken moments before the color version.  The date was June 11th 2023, and it was about 10:15 in the morning.  For this shot I exposed a 4" x 5" sheet of Kodak T-Max 100 and developed it in 510 Pyro Developer.  The exposure for this one was F14.0 and a shutter speed of 1 second.

Ice Formations, Beaverdam - Ilford Delta 100 in PMK

This is the last of my scans from the batch of Ilford Delta 100 that I processed on the day of the Leap Year.  It is also the first of the sheets that I shot in the new year, 2024.  I gave these 18 sheets of 4" x 5" sheet film normal development for 11:45 minutes, at 20C, in PMK Developer, on my Jobo Processor.

This is a shot of the ice formations on Shunda Creek, at the spot where the creek spills out of Beaverdam Lake.  This is about a ten minute drive away from my cottage.  I shot this on January 2nd 2024 at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  I remember that it was a really mild and pleasant day, though down in the shade, by the open water, it was very humid and cold.  I fitted a long 300mm lens on my Ebony view camera in order to get in a little tighter on the ice formations.  A small aperture of F64.0 accomplished two goals.  It held depth of field from near to far, and also permitted a long 8 second exposure the nicely blur the water.  I think the rocks and ice stand out really crisply against that soft flowing water.

David Thompson Country Calendar - April Image

This is the image that I selected for the April page of my 2024 David Thompson Country Calendar.  There are only a few copies left of this calendar and they can be purchased at the Beehive Artisan Market in Nordegg.  

This is an old shot taken up at the Nordegg mine site.  I shot this in the Spring of 2005, before the site was designated and secured and now made only accessible by guided tour.  The coal cars in the foreground lead to the small silver building in the right background.  Here there is a rotary dumper and a scale, where the coal wold be offloaded and weighed.  From there it eventually made its way to the tipple, the wash house and the briquette plant.  The building to the left is a winch house.  Here a large winch was  used to pull similar coal cars out of a mine entrance beyond the scene, further to the left.

Along the Trunk Road - Ilford Delta 100 in PMK

This is a scan of another of the negatives from the batch that I processed on February 29th, the day of the Leap Year, I set up my Jobo Processor and ran a batch of Ilford Delta 100 4" x 5" Sheet Film.  This batch received Normal Development, 11:45 minutes at 20C, in PMK Developer.  This batch of 18 sheets included images taken in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

I was out for an afternoon drive near the cottage, in late November of last year.  This was just after we received an overnight dump of fresh snow.  I took a drive north on the Forestry Trunk Road, looking for subjects to point my camera at.  I thought the fresh snow on the evergreens, in the clear afternoon light, made for a good composition.  I kind of keep an eye out for stuff like this as I am always scrambling to find enough winter images, when it comes time to put together my calendar every year.

I shot this on November 23rd 2023 at about 2:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a 150mm lens, fitted with a #25 Red Filter.  The filter brought up the contrast a little, and deepened the value of the sky.  The exposure was F20.0 and a shutter speed of 1/2 second.

Color verses Monochrome - Raymond Hill

Here is another color shot, from the batch of E-6 processed on my Jobo on March 16th.  I used a Unicolor Rapid E-6 kit, which is actually quite simple.   The three chemical steps are simply a first developer for 7:00 minutes, a color developer for 5:00 minutes, and a bleach/fix for 7:00 minutes.  Before, after and in between there are just water rinses.  The process temperature is quite high, essentially body temperature, at 37C.  This is easily maintained with the heated water bath of the Jobo.

This is a shot of some small hoodoos in the Red Deer River Valley, not far from our place at East Coulee.  I waited until evening light before setting out from the shop with my camera.  I took this on October 16th 2022, at about 5:45 in the evening.  I used my Ebony view camera and a slightly wide 125mm lens.  There was so much color in the warm evening light that I did not use any sort of filter to enhance it.  But I knew that the now discontinued Fujichrome Velvia 50 would render the scene with very vivid colors.  This particular sheet of film hit its best before date in October of 2012.  I loaded it, exposed it, and then unloaded it, ten years later in 2022.  It was March of 2024 before I accumulated enough exposed film to mix up the chemistry and run the batch.  In between I stored the exposed film in the fridge.  All things considered, it held up nicely.  

The color version of this image looks very different from the Black and White sheets that I exposed just a few minutes prior.

I shot several sheets of black and white film at this location, including a couple of traditional films as well as a sheet of Infrared.  I wouldn't necessarily say that the color version is better, but it certainly is different.  The first monochrome image is a scan of a sheet of Kodak High Speed Infrared.  I previously posted this one on my blog and compared it to some typical panchromatic black and white films.  The second shot here is a scan of a sheet of Ilford FP4 developed in Perceptol.  This film and developer combination gives a decidedly softer look than many of the other combinations that I use, and I thought it would work well for this scene.  Although I have not included it here, I also shot another sheet of 4x5, a sheet of Kodak T-Max 100 developed in 510 Pyro.  It is similar to the FP4 shot, but exhibits a little more contrast.

April Showers

Today the long suffering Mrs. Pohl celebrates her birthday.  Margarit turns 39 again today...!  I hope to be able to take her out for dinner this evening, and perhaps the girls will join us.

Now five days into the month of April we were looking forward to the arrival of spring.  It seems we are paying the price now for the very mild winter that we enjoyed this year.  As the old saying goes, usually April showers are rain, and are supposed to bring May flowers.  It seems unlikely that snow showers will accomplish that goal.  However, I am grateful for any moisture that we get as we have been experiencing drought conditions and need to see some precipitation, of any form, to alleviate the risk of forest fires this spring.  We do not need a repeat of the extreme fire season that we experienced last year.  Earlier this spring, Southern Alberta experienced a lot more snow that we have had here in Edmonton, and the forecast was calling for a lot more again with this current storm.  Drought conditions in the south were significantly worse than our area, so this is all very welcome.

Lookout Creek - Ilford Delta 100 in PMK

This is a scan of another of the 4" x 5" negatives that I processed on the day of the Leap Year, February 29th.  I set up my Jobo Processor and ran a batch of Ilford Delta 100 4" x 5" Sheet Film.  This batch received Normal Development, 11:45 minutes at 20C, in PMK Developer.  The 18 sheets in this batch included images taken in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Margarit and I were out for a day trip on a beautiful day last fall.  We headed north from Nordegg on the Forestry Trunk Road, and then turned west on the Chungo Road.  We made a few stops that afternoon along the Blackstone River, Chungo Creek, and here along Lookout Creek.  It was sunny and mild, and the water in the creek was getting low, as it normally does in the fall.  I saw a large school of trout darting around, and it made me wish I'd brought my fly rod with me.  
I took this photograph on October 8th 2023 at about 12:30 in the afternoon.  I shot this with my friend Rob's old view camera, which I bought from him, and which now takes up residence permanently at our cottage.  I used a slightly long 180mm lens, and fitted it with a #8 Yellow Filter.  The filter brought up the value of the fall grasses, and deepened the sky a little.  The exposure was F18.0 for 1/8 second.