2021

Since being laid up with a busted leg, I've tried to keep myself busy.  Mostly I've just watched lots of sports on TV and been generally lazy.  I look forward to the day when I can start to put some weight on my leg.  Then I will be able to start working in the darkroom a little, and get out of the house a bit.

Yesterday the weather was very mild, and it rained.  But then it got a little colder, and as it dropped just below freezing, the rain turned to snow.  I haven't ventured out yet, but I'm sure it's way too slippery for an old guy on crutches, with a busted leg.

Over the past little while I have been working on organizing all of the notes that go along with my negatives.  I keep very detailed notes for all the photographs that I take with my large format view camera.  This includes date and time, location, film type and development, lens and filters, and exposure.  When I find time, I write up all these notes on to information sheets and file them with the negatives.  I also keep a searchable spread sheet with all this data.  I don't look things up all that often, but from time to time I do go back to find location details, so that I can return to previously visited sites.  And I also regularly look up development details as I refine different film and developer combinations.

This past little while I finished up all my notes from the 2021 calendar year.  Obviously I'm just a little behind...!

I never left the province in 2021, so all my photos were taken in Alberta.  This was the second year of Covid, so there were limited opportunities to travel.  I finished up my contract to work at Mac Plastics after the sale of the company in 2020, so this was the first year that I was fully retired.  Due to the pandemic the Monochrome Guild was not able to organize our annual fall trip.

I shot 351 sheets of black and white film in 2021.  Many of them were geared towards the Apparitions project that I have been working on with my friend Arturo.  Others were just landscapes and other personal stuff.  Despite the restrictions and limitations I came away with a number of strong images.  I've included a few of my favorites here......