Ball Diamond

The negative is a recently processed sheet of Kodak T-Max 100.  This one was actually from a Readyload Film Pack.  Sadly these are no longer made by Kodak, or the Quickload version by Fuji.  It was a preloaded sheet of film in a paper sleeve, that fit into a special holder.  It made carrying a large format camera outfit easier as you could take one film holder and a bunch of these envelopes, significantly lightening the load.  The film was always dust free, so it had that advantage as well.  I have a few dozen of these left in both T-Max 100 and Neopan Acros.  They are significantly outdated, but I save them for when I go on longer hikes, or extended road trips.

I found this overgrown baseball diamond in a small town in southern Saskatchewan last fall.  I shot it with the intention of considering it for the Apparitions project.  

I took this shot on September 19th 2024, at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a 125mm lens.  A #22 Orange Filter boosted contrast without as harsh an effect as the #25 Red that I more typically use.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F18.0.

April Calendar Image

This is the image I selected for the April page of my Fine Art Monochrome 2025 calendar.  I stumbled upon this scene inside an old abandoned building in southern Saskatchewan.  This was in June of 2024, when my colleague Chris and I were exploring some old hotels for the Beer Parlour Project.  In addition to the old hotels, I was also attempting to take some photographs for my Apparitions project.  This one ended up on the calendar.

Alberta Foundation for the Arts - Art Acquisitions by Application

On March 23rd I sent in my application to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.  The deadline for applications is April 1st.  Every year they put out a call for the Art Acquistions by Application Program.  Basically artists can submit work to be considered by the jury.  Any work accepted will be purchased by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and added to their permanent collection.  Much of this collection is circulated for public display.

I submitted the maximum number... five pieces.  If I do not make the short list of finalists, I will be notified in three months.  If I do make it to Stage 2, then it will take an additional three months before any decisions are made.

I selected images that I already have printed, which is really the basis of the application program.  They are looking to acquire work that already exists.  It appears as though preference is given to work that has been previously exhibited.  

I included two prints that were exhibited at the 54th Annual Juried Exhibition of the Society of Canadian Artists.  This show was at the Papermill Heritage Gallery in Toronto in August of 2022.  These prints were Tangle Falls, and Blackmud Creek.

I included one print that was exhibited at the Elected Members Exhibition of the Society of Canadian Artists.  This show was at the Gallery Viva Vida in Pointe Claire, Quebec in October of 2022.  This print was Spreading Creek Burn.

I included one print that was exhibited at the InFocus Photo Exhibition at the Wild Skies Gallery in Edmonton from February to April of 2024.  This print was Icy Rocks.

And finally, I included one print that has not yet been exhibited, but is part of the ongoing Apparitions project.  This print was used to secure grant funding for production, and is currently part of a submission package to multiple galleries.  This print was Too Late for the Dance.

If any of these pieces are accepted and purchased it will help to fund my photography addiction and offset a small part of the travel and material costs.

Bumper Form

This is another Ilford HP5 negative, also taken up at the Nordegg Historic site.  This sheet was rated at 320 iso and given normal development in 510 Pyro.

This is in the old blacksmith shop, near the forge.  Its appears rather obvious that the timber post is a form for steel bumpers.  Some of these bumpers are lying on the floor beside the form.  These fit onto the ends of the timber frame of the mine cars used to haul coal.

I shot this on August 26th 2024, at about 1:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 90mm lens.  The exposure was for 4 seconds at F20.0.

Extra Crispy

On Thursday March 27th I drove out to Nordegg, after a brief stop along the way for groceries, fuel and lunch.  I arrived in the late afternoon, around 4:30.  Margarit drove out separately, as did her brother Shawn and his wife Lisa.  

Weather conditions were not great.  There was quite a bit of fresh snow, and it continued to come down for a couple more days.  In fact, back home in Edmonton they got a lot more snow than we did in the mountains, and driving conditions on local roads were treacherous.  Reports said up to a foot of snow fell in places in Edmonton, while we only got about 3 or 4 inches at Nordegg.

The temperature during the drive out hovered around -4, though the roads had been salted and were wet in most places.  This made for some rather bizarre conditions.  That water splashed up onto the vehicles as we drove, and then froze on the body panels.  By the time I got out to the cottage my entire truck was coated with a heavy crust of ice.  My door froze shut and I had to body check it to get out of the truck.  It looked like a giant piece of extra crispy Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Even the lug nuts on the wheels had little pointy icicles sticking off the them.  These all pointed out in different directions, towards the perimeter, as a result of the centrifugal force.

Three days later, it had not warmed up enough yet that the ice could melt off.  Margarits truck looked about the same as mine, as did Shawn and Lisa's SUV.  By Sunday the skies had cleared.  I woke up at about 7:30, to rather frigid temperatures.  With the clear skies over night it dropped down to about -12.  But it is forecast to hit about +7 today, so everything should start to melt.  That is our hope, as we are planning a BBQ for the evening.

Vancouver Prefab House

At ten weeks after my surgery I was given permission to start walking normally, without the air boot that I have been wearing.  It was at that point that I seriously hit the darkroom.  Not only did I print a bunch of stuff for Appartions, but I also dove into my backlog of undeveloped film.  I ran four batches of film, each 20 sheets, for a total of 80.  There is still a significant backlog ahead of me, despite this volume

I ran a batch of Ilford FP4, rated at 160 iso, and given plus development in HC-110.  Then I ran a bath of Ilford HP5, this was split with 13 sheets exposed at 320 and given normal development, and 7 sheets exposed at 1250 iso and given extended development.  Both were developed in 510 Pyro.  Finally I ran two batches of Kodak T-Max 100, exposed at 80 iso, and given normal development in 510 Pyro.  Some of this film dated as far back as 2023, and my trip to Vancouver Island, while some was as recent as the last Beer Parlour Project outing a couple weeks ago.

This particular shot was taken on one of my tours of the Nordegg Mine Site.  There are two of these old houses left on site and I believe that at one time there may have been more.  These were prefabricated houses made in Vancouver and then shipped to site for quick assembly.

This was one of the sheets of Ilford HP5, rated at 320 iso, and given normal development.  I shot this on August 26th 2024, at about 3:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 75mm lens.  No filter was used.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F20.0.

Miners Boots

This is a photograph from one of several visits I made into the Nordegg mine site last year.  I was on a tour and had permission to be on site.  

This is what's left of a pair of miners' boots, in one of the lockers at the wash house.  I shot this on a sheet of Ilford HP5.  The film was rated at 320 iso and given normal development in 510 Pyro.

I shot this on August 20th of 2024, at about 11:00 in the morning.  I used my Ebony view camera and a 125mm lens.

It was very dark in the building and the boot soles did not even register on my light meter.  The bench registered at EV 2 to 2-2/3.  The lockers barely registered at EV 2/3.  The exposure was quite long, despite the relatively fast film.  It was for 1 minute at F20.0.

More Printing for Apparitions

On March 25th I spent about five hours in the darkroom, printing yet more negatives for the Apparitions project.  This followed a partial day in the darkroom making unsharp masks.  Normally I print three or four negatives in a darkroom session, and usually make two or three copies of each print.  This time around things went remarkably well, and I ended up printing five negatives.

I think that I now have something like 27 negatives printed for Apparitions.  And there are about ten more that I would like to get around to.  I just need to see what the image looks like as a big print, before I can finalize my selection.  Small little details are often not obvious until the negative is printed to exhibition size.  All of my exhibition prints are 16" x 20".  

I will only be exhibiting 16 of these prints in the show.  Once they are all done I will make my final decision as to which to include.  This will also take into account the prints of my colleague Arturo.  We went out shooting together many times over the last five years of working on this project.  So we have similar images from some of these locations.  We need to avoid duplication, and select the absolute strongest images.  Later, when it comes time to publish out book, we will include significantly more images and at that point there can be a little similarity.

These are all just phone snapshots of the prints in a holding tray of water, as I worked on them.  The first one is some lubricators at the Turner Valley Gas Plant, taken during a private tour of the site in 2023.  The next one is some nails in the wall of the company store at Brazeau Collieries Historic Site in Nordegg.  Again I was on a private tour in 2024 when this photograph was taken.  Its not clearly visible in the snapshot, but there is a number written on the wallpaper above each nail... not sure what they were for...?

After that is a shot of an old abandoned boat on Vancouver Island, taken during our visit there in October of 2023.  This is followed by some pilings, also on Vancouver Island, that were once part of a coal loading dock.  And finally another shot from the tour of Brazeau Collieries.  This one shows a bunch of writing on the wall of the hoist house, noting weather conditions and the date the mine closed, in 1955.

Image 22 - First Utah Trip - Eastern Uplands

This is the last image from the eastern uplands of Zion... at least from this trip.  I'm continuing to work on editing and organizing all my images from the three trips that I made to Utah.  My intention is to put together a photo album based on these images.  This will not be a self-published book and I am not trying to do any sort of promotion with it.  I will only be printing one, or maybe two copies, strictly for personal reasons.

This image was shot on a sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 sheet film, rated at 400 iso and given plus development in PMK.  This image of boulders and sandstone was composed in the eastern upland of Zion National Park in Utah.  I took this photograph on October 16th 2013, at about 11:45 in the morning.

I used my Ebony view camera and a normal focal length 150mm Nikkor.  A #25 Red Filter bumped up the contrast a little further.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F 20.0.

Out like a Lamb... my Ass...!

Some security camera images from the morning of March 26th, out at the cottage in Nordegg.  When we got a big dump of snow at the beginning of March, I commented that I sure hope the old saying comes true.  March is in like a lion and out like a lamb.

Certainly not the case this year and it seems the lion has feasted on the lamb.  Big dump of snow now near the end of the month and the forecast is calling for more in the next couple of days.

Hailey and her sister Helena are out at the cottage now.  They will be returning to the city on the 27th.  Margarit and Hank and I are heading out on the 27th.  It was our plan to spend a few days out there with Margarit's brother Shawn and his wife Lisa.  I'm still game to go, and I suspect they are too.  But it seems we will be spending a bunch of time indoors.

Beer Parlour Outings

I started collecting souvenirs from our Beer Parlour Project outings.  Whenever we are at a hotel that has T-shirts or Hoodies, I buy one.  So far I have four in my collection... Fife Lake, Cadillac, Wildwood and now the latest, Acme.  I will continue to make these purchases whenever I can as not only does it support the ownership, but also advertises their place for them.  And they are just cool and fun to wear.

This last one was a gift from Sharon, the owner of the Acme Hotel, and very much appreciated.

Image 21 - First Utah Trip - Sandstone, Zion Uplands

I'm still working on a few more images from the Eastern Uplands of Zion National Park in Utah.  These are from the third day of my first trip to Utah in 2013.  I was travelling with my friends Rob and Brad and essentially we spent the entire time just hiking and taking photographs.  I have a lot of fond memories from our travels together, which is one of the reasons why I decided to attempt to put together this photo album.

I shot this image on a sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film, rated at 400 iso, and given plus development in PMK developer.  I shot this on October 16th 2013, at about 11:00 in the morning.  I used my Ebony view camera and a 125mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter deepened the sky significantly, and added contrast.  In combination with the plus development, perhaps this was a little too much.

The exposure was for 1/8 second at F 32.

Image 20 - First Utah Trip - Hoodoo, Zion Uplands

This is another image that I have been working on, for the Utah Photo Album.  This one, like the previous two, was also taken in the eastern uplands of Zion National Park.  Rob and Brad and I visited the area on our first trip to southern Utah in 2013.  We found the main part of the park way too busy for our liking.  And, the idea of having to ride a shuttle bus with a bunch of tourists, and get herded around to all the viewpoints, was less than appealing.  So we skipped that part, and spent a little more time here, in the quieter part of the park.

I shot this on October 16th 2013 at about 10:00 in the morning.  This is a 4" x 5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320, rated at 400 iso and given plus development in PMK.  I used my Ebony view camera and a normal length 150mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure was for 1/60th of a second at F22.0.

Image 19 - First Utah Trip - Hoodoo, Zion Uplands

This image, like one I posted a couple of days ago, is from the eastern uplands of Zion National Park, in southern Utah.  This was taken in 2013, on my first trip to the area.  

This was a sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film, rated at box speed, and given normal development in PMK.  I shot this on October 16th 2013, at about 9:40 in the morning, with my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 180mm lens.  A #25 Red filter deepened the value of the sky, and added some contrast.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F22.0.

Printing for the Apparitions Project... yet Again...

On March 17th, I printed three more negatives for consideration for the Apparitions Project.  I used unsharp masks that I made a couple weeks back.  This printing session included two negatives from my first Saskatchewan trip, in June of 2024, and one negative that dates back to 2022.

Apparitions will be a gallery exhibition that includes 32 fine art silver gelatin photographs.  Half will be mine, and the other half will be by my colleague Arturo Pianzola.  We have been shooting for the project since 2020, and are now selecting and printing the images for exhibition.

I have literally hundreds of negatives to choose from and the issue for me is deciding which ones to include.  We were awarded an Edmonton Arts Council grant that funded materials for printing and framing.  The grant period wraps up in a couple of months and at that time I need to submit our final budget.  Other than final assembly of the frames, we are essentially complete.  But, I continue to make more prints, and now have around two dozen done.  I have at least ten more or so, and would like to make prints of those as well.  Once they are all complete I will make the final selection as to which ones end up in frames and make it into the exhibition.

These images are phone snapshots of my 16" x 20" prints in a holding tray of water.  This followed development, stop bath and first fix.  In the next day or so I will continue with second fix, rinse, clearing bath, toning in selenium, selective bleaching, and then final wash.

Image 18 - First Utah Trip - Eastern Uplands of Zion

On the third day of our stay in Utah, back in 2013, I set out with my friends Rob and Brad for a day trip.  This time we headed west from our base and visited Zion National Park.  

Our first few stops were in the Eastern Uplands of the park.  The sandstone formations here are spectacular and the place has a feeling of petrified motion.

Zion National Park is one of the busiest in the United States.  It was October at the time of our visit and even then the place was packed.  I can't imagine what it must be like earlier in the year.  You are no longer able to drive up the valley and have to park in large lots and take a shuttle bus up into the good areas.  We looked at each other and decided this was not for us.  So our time was spent mostly in the eastern uplands, and scouting for a bit just outside of the park.

This shot was taken on a sheet of Fuji Neopan Acros 100 rated at 64 iso and given normal development in Rodinal.  Development was for 8:00 minutes at 24C.  I shot this with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  I added a #58 Green filter in an attempt to create some separation in the red sandstone.  The exposure was for 1/4 second at F22.0.

I took this shot at 9:15 in the morning on October 16th of 2013.  This is another of the images that I am considering for inclusion in the photo album that I am working on.

Good to Go....!

On March 17th, I had an appointment to go in and see my surgeon.  X-rays were taken, and she confirmed that my broken fibula is fully healed.  I was instructed to stop wearing my air boot and to walk normally with my regular shoes.  Swelling is likely to be a symptom that I deal with for several more months.  My surgeon asked if I would like to go for physiotherapy and I responded that "Yes" I would, anything to help with the recovery.

She advised that I could gradually increase my activity levels to normal.  There is no need for me to return for any further visits, unless I experience complications.  I specifically asked about skating and playing hockey again.  She said that I should gradually work my way back into it, and that full participation would reasonable by about mid May.

It is such a huge relief to have this whole thing now behind me and work my way back through the last steps of recovery.  Later this morning (March 19th) I go in for my first session of physiotherapy.

BP 22.0 Clive Hotel

On March 15th the Beer Parlour Project team visited the Clive Hotel, in Clive, Alberta.  Sadly, my wife Margarit was unable to make it on this trip, as she was not feeling well.  But Chris and Connie and I enjoyed the weekend; both the Saturday night outing in Clive, as well as the evening prior in Acme.

To me the trip was somewhat reminiscent of a previous Spring trip that I was involved in.  That one was eight years ago in the spring of 2017.  Chris and Connie and I, along with our friend Byron, and documentary film maker Rueben Tschetter travelled to eastern Alberta and western Saskatchewan to film the Forgotten Prairie documentary.  Here is a link to that film on Youtube... 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9K4zxTN-Io

When I left Edmonton back in April of 2017 it had snowed heavily and it was very cold, blustery and miserable.  I debated bailing out of the documentary, but pushed on.  This time around, when we ventured out on the Beer Parlour Project outing, things were much the same.  In Edmonton we got about 3 or 4 inches of snow the night before I left.  The night time low temperatures dipped down to about -20C, and the daytime highs didn't really make it into the minus single digits.  But we pushed on and made the best of it.  There was a lot less snow as I travelled further to the south, but the temperatures were about the same, and it was rather unpleasant.

The Clive Hotel was very busy on Saturday night.  There was not a chair left to be had as it seems all the locals showed up to play Classic Music Bingo.  We arrived well in advance of the event and had some beers and something to eat and got started on our project.  We managed to interview a few locals and take some photographs before the event got underway.  Once it wrapped up, about three hours later, most of the patrons quickly bailed out.  It was impossible for us to consider any work on our project during the event, so we just joined in and had fun.  After it was over, we managed to continue with a little more work in the way of interviews and a few more photographs.  By that point it was getting near closing time... 10:00PM, so we packed up our gear and said our goodbyes.  

We drove back to Stettler and stayed there for the night.  The next morning we had breakfast together and did a little scouting around before heading in opposite directions for home.

All in all it was a pretty good weekend.  I didn't sleep well, and seemed to be coming down with a bit of a cold.  But hopefully I captured some good images that will make it all seem worthwhile.

Big Blue

After the Beer Parlour Project outing in Acme, I headed over to East Coulee and stayed there for the night.  The guys in the shop have been working on prepping the skeleton of a modern Blue Whale.  The Blue Whale is the largest animal ever to have lived on earth.  Not this specimen particularly, but the species in general.  Some of the dinosaurs were considerably longer or taller, but by weight, the blue whale is the largest.  A land animal of this size would not possibly have evolved as the weight is just too great to be supported by limbs.  Only an animal that lived in water could have grown to this mass.

The skull of this particular specimen was damaged, so the guys created a replica carved from foam, supported by a steel armature, and coated with plastic.  The lower jaws are real, and are visible in one of the snap shots.  The skull is visible in the second last snap shot below.  It is suspended overhead from the main beam in the shop, in an upside down position.  That was mostly just to get it out of the way, so that there was more floor space for working on the rest of the bones.

The team also made a scale model of the whale.  That model is probably about 10 feet long or so, and is about one tenth the size of the real thing.

The project has been ongoing for a couple of years now, and is nearing completion.  At this point in time we are just waiting for the project engineer to design the steel structure on which the bones will be mounted.  My understanding is that it is to be displayed outdoors.

The bones belong to a client down in the United States and I am not a liberty to say where the completed skeleton will be going.  Stay tuned, as we will be able to announce that following completion.

BP 21.0 Acme Hotel

On Friday March 14th I headed down to the town of Acme, Alberta.  Margarit was going to join me, but she came down with a bad headache in the morning, and elected to stay home.  I met up with Chris, and later Connie, for another episode of the Beer Parlour Project.  

The Hotel dates to 1912, replacing one that was built a couple years prior, but lost in a fire.  There was a good turnout and we had fun visiting and photographing everyone.  Interest in our project continues to build and everywhere we go we get nothing but compliments and encouragement.

The word Acme means "highest point".  The town got it's name because it is the highest point on the rail line that passes through.  It has nothing to do with the Anvil and Industrial Supply company of Coyote and Roadrunner fame.  But that cartoon is of course what everyone thinks of when they hear about the town.

I think I shot about a dozen sheets of film with my big view camera, plus some small format roll film, and a few digital snapshots.  It was a lot of fun....

Crazy Hank

When we got our dog Hank, back in 2022 he was only about 8 weeks old.  When we first brought him home he had those tiny little baby teeth, like needles, and chewed on everything.  He made short work of the baseboards on every outside corner in our house.  He also chewed a few holes into a really nice area rug that we have in our living room.  But, after a few weeks he gave up on all that stuff.  There are only a few things that he will chew on now, and he leaves everything else alone... thankfully!

He loves cardboard boxes, particularly the ones that beer, coolers and pop comes in.  Whenever he gets one he drags it around the house, thrashing about, and bashing into everything.  He doesn't quit until it is ripped to shreds.  Sometimes, if there's still a couple cans left in the box, that doesn't really stop him, and he still drags the box around the house, the cans rolling about behind him.  He has no interest in the cans, only the box.

He also loves plastic water bottles and chews them to shreds.  He'll even go so far as to dig them out of our recycle bin.  On more than one occasion, Margarit and I have been awakened by him suddenly starting to crunch one of these bottles in the middle of the night.  You'd think that hard crunchy plastic would hurt his gums, but it doesn't seem to bother him.

The only other thing he will touch, now that he has grown up a little and is almost three years old, is his dog toys.  But he makes short work of those.  Even the ones that are guaranteed to be indestructible, only last him a day or two at best before they are torn to shreds.  But he does continue to play with the shreds... at least until a new toy, or a box, or a water bottle comes along.