Beer Parlour Project BP45.0 - Colinton Hotel

On Thursday August 13th, Margarit, Arturo and I travelled up north of Edmonton to the town of Colinton.  There we met up with Chris.  We were in town for Steak Night at the Colinton Hotel, as well as another episode of the Beer Parlour Project.  This would be Hotel number BP45.0 on our growing list towards one hundred.

The weather was rather unsettled and it rained off and on during our drive there, and over the course of the evening.  It got rather cold by the end of the evening and there was some heavy fog as we made our way back home to the city around midnight.

After our arrival, and before setting up in the hotel, we wandered around town a little.  The hotel had a cool bus that they used for steak night, though it didn't see any action this time around.  There was also a large general store across the street that we understand had been closed for some time.  There were notices taped on the door regarding a search warrant for illicit drugs, as well as a closure notice by the board of health.  These documents were very old and it appeared nothing had gone on there for quite some time.

Steak night was heavily attended and owner Crystal, along with her staff, were kept hopping serving everyone.  There must have been 50 or 60 people that showed up.  We were busy chatting with everyone after dinner and taking a few photographs.  A couple people showed off their wheels and parked in front of the hotel for us.  This included a Bentley and a 1927 Ford Hot Rod.  Most of the attendees were locals, and this included a large number of younger farm kids from the nearby area.

It was a fun evening and although I was a little clumsy and bashful to start, it was great to get back in the saddle and work on the Beer Parlour Project once again.  With the flooding in our basement this summer I have been stuck at home and missed the last outing to Warner in southern Alberta.  Prior to this I had not been on any outings since May.

On the Road Again....

After being stuck in the city for two months, and forced to miss out on our 25th Anniversary trip to Waterton, and then BP44.0 in Warner, I'm finally able to hit the road again.

Chris and I have organized the next three outings for the Beer Parlour Project.  On Thursday August 13th we will be at the Colinton Hotel in Colinton, Alberta.  It's Steak Night that night, so we are looking forward to a good turnout.  Then the next night, Friday August 14th, we are visiting the hotel in Evansburg, Alberta.  And finally, on Saturday August 15th we will be at the Warburg Hotel in Warburg, Alberta.  I understand that there will be a high school reunion going on that night as well.

If any of our followers are out in any of these areas over the next few days, please feel welcome and stop by and say hello.

Gumweed

This is the last of the images from the recent batch of 4"x5" Ilford FP4+ 125 that I gave N+1 development.  A slight underexposure (160iso) combined with extended development (14:20 minutes in Kodak HC-110 Dilution B at 20C) yeilded an expansion in contrast of one stop.

This is a recent shot, taken just a few weeks ago when Margarit and I were down in East Coulee.  It was a hot day, and we went for a short walk in the badlands.  I was intrigued by this little gumweed plant struggling to survive in the hot, dry soil.

I shot this on June 13th of 2026, just a few days before all the rain started back home in Edmonton.  This was taken at about 4:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a long 240mm Fujinon lens.  A #47B Blue filter opened up the shadows a little.  The bellows had to be drawn out a lot to focus this closely and this required a one third stop exposure compensation.  The exposure was for 4 seconds at F41.0.  Fortunately this was in a sheltered wash and the light breeze did not cause any movement with the longish exposure.

The Latest Line Wash

I used to call these colorized sketches, but I think "Line Wash" is a little more accurate description.  I did a bunch of these when I was first learning how work with watercolors.  But in the past year or two I've been focused on images from various Beer Parlour Project outings.  We have an exhibition coming up at the Art Gallery of Alberta in early 2028, so perhaps I will include a couple of these along with all my photos.

I start by sketching out an image, based on one of my photographs.  Then I use watercolors to put in a wash of color.  After that I continue working with both graphite and ink, to detail things in, and shade everything properly.  I can't really claim to be an artist, but I think these are turning out OK, for a color blind old duffer like me.

This one is from BP14.0 when Chris and I visited the Cadillac Hotel, in Cadillac Saskatchewan.  Sadly, shortly after our visit in June of 2024, the hotel abruptly closed.  The townsfolk were devastated at losing their watering hole and restaurant, and there was no advance warning.  To the best of my knowledge it was for sale for some time, but has not yet re-opened.

Life has been so busy and I haven't found much time to work on this stuff.  I first started laying this one out back in April of 2026.  Here we are four months later and I've finally finished it off.  Hopefully the next ones that I attempt will come to life a little faster.

Company Store

This is another photograph from the Nordegg Historic Site.  Like my earlier post, this one is also from a previous visit.  I always book a tour of the site and do my photography work that way.  The site is not open to public access and is only operated under guided tours, twice a day during the season.  The tour is well worth taking, as not only do you get to see the extent of the site, but you also get the backstory about what everything is, and how it operated.

This is another one of the twenty one 4"x5" sheets of Ilford FP4+125 that I developed back on July 25th.  The batch was designated for N+1 development, and an expansion in contrast of one stop.  I used Kodak HC-110 Developer, dilution B, for 14:20 minutes at 20C.  The film was exposed at 160iso, resulting in slight underexposure.  This combination of extended development and slight underexposure resulted in the desired contrast increase.

I shot this on March 31st of 2025 at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  The site was not open to the public that early in the season, but I made special arrangements for a private tour.  These storage bins are located in the Company Store, the oldest building on the site.  The mining company provided all the necessary equipment and supplies to the miners, but they had to buy it, with the cost deducted from their paycheques.  

I shot this with my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and an ultra wide Nikkor 65mm lens.  The exposure was for 60 seconds at F41.0.  It is quite dark inside the building, hence the lengthy exposure.  Fortunately nothing was moving in this interior shot, and this did not create any issues.  The small amount of light spilling in some of the windows gave nice soft highlights and I think the image worked out well.

Before and After

The basement plumbing debacle has now been dealt with.  Nothing that five days of miserable shitty work and $10k couldn't fix.  These are before and after shots.  First, digging out all the clay to expose the old cast iron fittings, after the concrete floor got jack hammered out.  Braeden ended up getting a job with the plumbing company and that's him doing some of the digging.

There are also some shots of the old fittings, and the journeyman plumber Caleb, working to cut off the old fittings.  He's 6'8" tall, so a challenge for him to get down into the excavation.

The last two photos are the after shots, showing all the new drain and vent lines above the repoured floor, and our new sump pit.

Spilled Bolts

This photograph is from one of my many visits to the Nordegg Historic Site.  I regularly schedule a tour of the site for the purpose of documenting it with photographs.  I just did that a couple of days ago, though this shot is from a previous visit.  Although the place sits much as it did 70 years ago, when the mine closed, there are still small changes happening from year to year.  Things get cleaned up and moved around....  Sometimes some idiot breaks into the site and vandalizes something, or steals copper.  The place is very historically important and people really need to appreciate it for what it is.  Come and visit, take the guided tours with a site interpreters and learn the history of the place... its fascinating.

This shot is from a recently processed batch of 4"x5" Ilford FP4+ 125.  I saved up a batch of film that required N+1 development and back on July 25th I finally got around to developing 21 sheets.  I still have more left to go, but the oldest ones, dating back as far as the end of 2023, are now all done.  I ran the film in Kodak HC-110 developer, dilution B, for 14:20 minutes at 20C.  This, in combination with slight underexposure of the film (160iso) expanded contrast by one stop.

This stuff is in the blacksmith shop.  The box must be some sort of form... I think...?  The nuts and bolts are random, and were dumped on the floor.  Since I took this photograph the stuff has been partly cleaned up and some guard rails installed to keep visitors from getting hurt on the old forges and ventilation pipes.

I took this photograph on August 20th of 2024, about about 1:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera, and a Nikkor 210mm lens.  It's pretty dark in the shop so this required an exposure of 30 seconds at F20.0.

Back to the Historic Site

With all the rain back in Edmonton, I ended up stuck at home for an extended period of time.  For pretty much two months I was at home dealing with our insurance claim and the plumbing repairs.  Although the plumbing repairs are done, there is no resolution in sight to our insurance claim.  I'm hoping we can sort things out and move forward with our repairs as soon as possible.

I ventured out to the cottage, after a two month absence, to deal with a few things and get caught up on some chores.  I cut up a couple of trees that had come down, plus got the string trimmer out and cut some weeds.  Some of the more stubborn ones were also sprayed with Killex.

Our propane supplier came out and topped up our tank.  I always try to do this in the summer when the rates are the lowest of the season.  This year we needed 856 liters, at $0.519/L to get things topped up.

My plumber friend Leonard also came out and replaced the gas valve on our hot water heater that had been damaged by a recent power surge.  I later learned that this power issue occurred at the same time as the tornado was hitting Rocky Mountain House... July 18th.

I got over to the golf course and played golf a number of times.  And I also booked a tour of the Nordegg Historic Site so I could do some more documentary photography.  Here are the phone snapshots of some of the images I considered today.  I think I shot a total of about 16 sheets of film today and it was nice to get back to a little photography.

August Image - 2026 David Thompson Country Calendar

This is the image that I selected for the August page of my 2026 David Thompson Country calendar.  This is an older shot, from several years ago.  I like the contrast in texture between the driftwood and the avens.  I shot this on a sheet of Kodak High Speed Infrared film,which is why the avens are glowing white.  Living vegetation is highly reflective of infrared wavelengths and this sort of tonality is the result.  It doesn't work for everything, but I quite like the effect in this shot.

Finally Back to Nordegg

On Saturday August 1st I headed back out to Nordegg.  This would be my first time out to the cottage in almost two months.  With the plumbing repaired at home, the risk of further flooding is virtually eliminated.  I needed a break, and to catch up on some stuff at the cottage.  The break will be short-lived as soon I will need to return to the city, and carry on with all the repairs.  But at the moment we are still waiting to hear from the adjuster, and finalize our insurance claim.  So I took advantage of the situation and escaped.

I tried to convince Margarit to join me, but she felt the need to stay behind.  So I headed out by myself.  I made a stop in on the way out of town and filled the truck with fuel, before grabbing a Leduc burger at the Burger Baron.  Then I stopped in Rocky Mountain House and picked up some groceries.  There was obvious evidence of the recent tornado at the edge of town.

Hailey has been living out in Nordegg for the summer.  She is staying in the guest cottage, doing her online studies at Athabasca University, and working part time at the Nordegg Golf Course.  So I was not totally alone once I finally arrived on Saturday evening.

Nordegg didn't get nearly as much rain as Edmonton and in recent weeks has been quite dry.  In fact there is a fire advisory in place, though we got a shower and a few millimeters shortly after my arrival.  Only about 17mm of rain fell at the cottage in the last 30 days, as compared to Edmonton where we have been constructing an Ark and rounding up the animals two by two....

When I arrived in Nordegg I found that the electronic gas valve on our hot water tank had been zapped by a power surge... possibly lightning.  All the clocks in the cottage were flashing when I arrived.  Like I needed more shit to deal with.  I also had two fallen trees to look after.  They came down during some recent high winds.  One took the armrest off one of the Adirondack chairs by the fire pit and the other just grazed the north wall of the cottage.

I got these cut up, and then pulled out the string trimmer and cut down all the weeds that had sprung up over the past two months.  Aside from that I managed to get out for a couple of rounds of golf.  The first one was on holiday Monday, with my neighbor Rob.  Then on Tuesday I headed out again, and played a solo round.  I actually shot my best round ever... a score of 37 on the par 32 course.  No one will believe me as I had no witnesses...!  On the seventh hole I put my chip shot... the second... to within a couple of feet of the pin.  Then on the par 3 eighth hole I hit the pin with my chip shot, the second, and then putted in for par.

I'll be staying a few more days before heading back to the city.  My plumber friend Leonard, who did the original work in the cottages is coming out this week to repair the gas valve.  And I have a bunch of other chores to look after as well.

Elevator Buckets

This is yet one more scan from the recently processed batch of Ilford FP4+125.  On July 25th I ran 21 sheets of 4"x5".  All were exposed at 160 iso and designated for N+1 development.  This increased contrast by one stop, and was in Kodak HC-110 developer, dilution B, for 14:20 minutes at 20C.

I took this shot over a year ago when Chris and I explored an old abandoned grain elevator out near the Saskatchewan border.  We were out visiting old hotels for the Beer Parlour Project, and about to drop in on the Edgerton Oasis Hotel in Edgerton, Alberta.

I shot this with my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Nikkor 210mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/4 second at F18.0.  I shot this on May 10th of 2025 at about 11:20 in the morning.

Window

I believe that I previously posted another version of this image.  This one was just recently developed.  It was part of the batch of 21 sheets of 4"x5" Ilford FP4+125 that I ran on July 25th.  As the subject was rather uniform in tone, I exposed this sheet with the intention of increasing contrast in development.  The film was processed in Kodak HC-110 Developer, dilution B, for 14:20 minutes at 20C.  The film was exposed at 160 iso.  This combination yields a contrast increase of 1 stop, or N+1.

I was out on a day trip with my brother-in-law Shawn last spring and we found this old house up in Lamont County.  I shot this with my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a Nikkor 300mm lens.  I took the photograph on May 26th 2025 at about 4:00 in the afternoon.  The exposure was for 1/30 second at F20.0.  This showed just a little motion blur in the tattered curtain that was flapping in the wind.

High Voltage

This is another scan from the batch of FP4+125 sheet film that I processed on July 25th.  That day I ran a batch of 21 sheets of 4"x5" film.  All 21 sheets in the batch were exposed at 160 iso, and designated for N+1 development.  This is extended development to expand constrast by one stop.  I processed the film in Kodak HC-110 Developer, dilution B, for 14:20 minutes at 20C,

This particular image was taken on July 5th of 2025 at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  This is a now retired stripping shovel that used to mine coal in central Alberta.  Today it sits in retirement at the Reynolds Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin.  Arturo and I spent a few days photographing there in the summer of 2025, in the hope that we could capture some images for our Apparitions project.

I shot this with my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Nikkor 210mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/4 second at F20.0.

August Calendar Image 2026

This is the image I selected for the August page of my 2026 Fine Art Photography Calendar.  I also used this image on my David Thompson Country calendar for September of 2026, so it will be posted here again in a month.  In fact I've previously posted this image as I think it is one of my better ones from last year.  The remains of this old car, sit up at the Nordegg Historic Minesite.  The site is open for public tours over the summer months.

Piano

On July 25th I developed a batch of film.  This was twenty one 4"x5" sheets of Ilford FP4+ 125.  All of these sheets were exposed at 160 iso with the intention of giving N+1 development.  This is extended development to increase contrast by one stop.  I processed the film in Kodak HC-110 Developer, dilution B, for 14:20 minutes at 20C.

I took this shot way back in the late fall of 2023.  It was a very mild December and we had no snow, when I went up and visited an abandoned monastery with my friend Steve.  This old piano was left in the woods at this site some years ago.  I imagine that by now, it has probably completely disintegrated.  I took this photograph on December 6th of 2023, at about 12:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/2 second at F22.0.

One Million

Today my Blog hit One Million page views.  My first post was almost exactly sixteen years ago, on July 29th 2010.  Viewership was very low at the beginning, gradually increased, and now has seen exponentially more traffic.  It took until March 7th of 2026 for me to hit Half a Million page views.  Here we are under five months later, and another half million people have had a look.  It blows me away that so many people are interested in the mindless shit I write about...!

BP40.0 - Rockyview Hotel - Lesley

Our first Beer Parlour Project outing of 2026 was back in late February.  I stayed at a short term rental belonging to Connie and Chris' son Will, and we visited the Rockyview Hotel in Cochrane, Alberta.  It was winter, and pretty cold and snowy as I recall.

There was a decent crowd out that evening and we enjoyed visiting with everyone.  One of the guests, Trevor, specifically came out to visit with us.  He had also been out at Edgerton for his nephew's graduation, when we visited there back in 2025.

I took this portrait of Lesley and I quite like the way it turned out.  In typical female fashion she was concerned about the best angle to shoot from.  I obliged and took this frontal portrait as she requested.

This is yet another sheet of Kodak T-Max 400 that I developed in the batch on June 20th.  The twenty sheets of 4"x5" that I processed on that day were all pushed to 1250 iso. I ran them in T-Max Developer, 1:4, for 8:35 minutes at 24C.  I took the shot with my Ebony view camera and a 210mm Nikkor lens.  This was on February 27th at about 6:20 in the evening.  The exposure was for 1/2 second at F9.0.

Monday Day Trip

On July 27th Helena and I headed out for a day trip.  All three of my girls are really keen to join me on my photo outings as they seem to have inherited my love for exploring, particularly old buildings and abandoned stuff.

It was cloudy all morning and by noon some showers were rolling in.  As Helena and I were about to leave the city, another thunderstorm hit.  This one didn't have hail, or particularly heavy winds, but it dumped a lot of rain in a very short period of time.  It absolutely poured, and water was running everywhere.  I understand that we got another half inch of rain in about half an hour.  This is not what we need as the ground is already very saturated with the excessive rainfall we have experienced over the past six weeks.  When we returned home later in the evening we found our patio was a lake, and that a little new water had entered the basement.

Our original intention was to head to the northeast, but that was the direction the storm was tracking.  We changed our plans and headed southwest.  It continued to rain lightly as we left the city but by early afternoon it cleared up to blue skies.

We stopped and photographed an old farm hard, and explored a couple of abandoned rural service stations.  Both had been closed for at least a year or two and both were heavily vandalized and looted.  Helena really enjoys checking out stuff like this and took a few photos both with her phone, and with a 35mm SLR.  We also found an old abandoned stripping shovel, left over from some coal mining operations in the area.

I managed to pull my view camera out a few times and ended up exposing around ten sheets of film.  It turned out to be a pretty good day, except for the heavy rain part.  If this doesn't come to an end soon I'm going to have to start building an ark.  Then the rains came... for forty days and forty nights... now I know what Noah must have felt like.