Winter Hockey

The Renegades have played four hockey games so far in March, with mixed results.  Back at the beginning of the month, on March 3rd, we played the Clansmen at Terwillegar Arena.  We found ourselves down by a score of 6-1, midway through the second period.  But we rallied and scored eight straight goals and went on to win the game 9-7.

On March 10th we played a game against the Moose at Canadian Athletic Club and fell by a score of 10-4.  We have not been able to beat these guys all season and will probably face them in the playoffs.  We are going to have to find a way to do it if we want to advance past the first playoff round.

On March 15th we played a game against the last place team, the Bastards, at Bill Hunter Arena.  We won a lop-sided game by the score of 10-1.

Then on March 17th we played the Shredders at Grand Trunk Arena and lost a close one by a score of 6-4.  We had a backup goalie in for this game as we wanted to qualify one for playoff eligibility, just in case.

As if that wasn't enough hockey the team also signed up to play in a spring tournament out at the River Cree Resort in west Edmonton.  We played on Friday night and again on Saturday afternoon, with a team consisting of 12 of our regular players plus a few extra friends and co-workers.  Our first game on Friday night against a team called the Punishers was fairly close with the lead changing hands a few times through the first part of the game.  We ended up losing by a score of 7-3.  Then on Saturday afternoon we played a young team of mostly Junior players called the 4 Pac Battalion.  We were told their average age was 22, while our team has an average age of well over 35.  We simply could not keep up with these young guys and lost by a score of 10-1.  This eliminated us from the double knock out round robin so we retreated to the lounge to console ourselves.  It was a fun weekend and gives us a good tune up going into our playoffs.

We have one more regular season game left on Tuesday against the Wolfpac but have already secured a spot in the post season.  The playoffs will start right after Easter.  This will be the Spring Break week so hopefully we have enough players around to fill the roster for our first couple of games.

Leighton to Lebel

The Ag2 exhibition wrapped up its run at the Leighton Art Centre near Calgary on March 5th.  The curator tells me that 460 guests visited the gallery during the four weeks our show was on display.  In addition to that, approx. 500 school kids came through the Art Centre on field trips during that same time period.  A decent amount of exposure for our little show though unfortunately it did not lead to any print sales.

On Tuesday March 8th I headed to Leighton to pick up the crates full of our prints.  My friend Court was along with me for the ride, and to help with the loading and unloading.  We arrived at the gallery shortly after it opened at 10:00AM.  I had arranged to deliver the crates down to the Lebel Mansion Gallery in Pincher Creek.  This touring exhibition will be exhibited there through April and May.  The curator in Pincher Creek graciously agreed to an earlier delivery of the show, and to put the prints in storage at the gallery for a couple weeks.  Court and I unloaded the crates, carried them up the stairs into the mansion, and stored them away in a closet.  This saves me an extra trip down to southern Alberta.  Between work and exhibitions I have driven Highway 2 between Edmonton and Calgary more times than I care to remember in recent weeks.  

The delivery and storage was all wrapped up by earlier afternoon.  Court and I stopped for lunch in Pincher Creek and then went exploring for the afternoon.  We had made plans to stay in the area for a couple of days and photograph in the Crowsnest Pass.

Here is the official invitation to the upcoming show at the gallery...

Stone House

Back in January I found this old stone house.  I photographed it at that time with my large format camera.  Just recently I was able to get around to processing some of that film.  These two were shot on Ilford HP5+ and processed in 510 Pyro.  This is Jay DeFehr's formula that I continue to fine tune.  This time around these were given a development time of 7:05 minutes at 21C.  I think in the future I will continue with this time, but give slightly more exposure to support the low values.  

Interestingly I was back out to this house yesterday with some friends.  We were exploring in the area and made a number of stops, including this one...

Opening at OAG

On Saturday afternoon I drove down to Okotoks for the opening of the Procession West exhibition at the Okotoks Art Gallery.  My collaborator Rob was unable to join me as he got home late from his work shift at a remote northern jobsite and didn't have time to make the drive out from Vernon, where he now lives.

It was a beautiful spring day with the temperature peaking at about +18C in the afternoon.  Attendance was pretty good with somewhere around 50 people coming through during the two hours that the official opening was on.  There were also some paintings on display by an artist from Calgary in an adjacent smaller space.  Our show was featured in the main gallery.

I was impressed by the effort the staff at the gallery put into getting the show together.  There were 27 of our prints on display and they did a great job organizing everything.  The walls were freshly painted and the lighting was just perfect.  I am quite pleased with the way that everything came together.  The show will remain on display at the gallery until the end of April.  I encourage anyone that is down that way over the next couple of months to stop in and check it out.

Procession West - Gallery Exhibitions

The Procession West project that my friend and collaborator Rob Michiel and I have put together has been successful beyond our wildest expectations.  This started out as an exhibition of 40 prints that we presented to various galleries through submissions, about four years ago.  That initial volley of submissions resulted in three shows through the latter half of 2013 and into early 2014.  This included an exhibition of 36 prints at the Art Gallery of Regina in June of 2013, which was followed by an exhibition of 22 prints at the McMullen Gallery here in Edmonton from August to October of 2013.  In early 2014 we presented 12 prints at the Spruce Grove Art Gallery.  After that I got a little lazy and didn't get around to sending out any further submission packages for the better part of a year.

Then, starting in early 2015 I got serious and sent out over 50 submission packages to galleries throughout western Canada.  The submission of these packages was staggered over a period of nearly a year to coincide with the submission deadlines of all the various galleries.  This has led to numerous acceptances and opportunities.  So much so that we have had to spin off a second exhibition in order to handle some of the conflicts.

Over time our Procession West exhibition has grown to a selection of 50 prints.  Most galleries don't have the space to present this many pieces.  Something in the range of 25 to 35 prints seems to be about the norm.  So, we spun off the excess pieces, and added some new work to come up with a second show that we call Ag2.  I have outlined this exhibition and posted the artist statement in previous blog posts.  Between the two packages we have acceptances at nine galleries over the course of the next year or so.  Considering the original three shows, this now brings us to a total of a dozen gallery exhibitions for this selection of work.  We are quite pleased with the success of our efforts.  Once this project has run it's course I will continue with a couple of solo projects that I have in the works and hopefully be able to match this level of success.  Here is a list of the shows that we have completed and have upcoming for the Procession West and the Ag2 projects...

Procession West - Art Gallery of Regina - Regina, Saskatchewan - June 19 to August 23 2013

Procession West - McMullen Gallery - Edmonton, Alberta - August 17 to October 20 2013

Procession West - Spruce Grove Art Gallery - Spruce Grove, Alberta - February 25 to March 15 2014

Ag2 - Leighton Art Centre - Calgary, Alberta - January 30 to March 5 2016
Procession West - Okotoks Art Gallery - Okotoks, Alberta - March 5 to April 30 2016
Ag2 - Lebel Mansion Gallery - Pincher Creek, Alberta - April 9 to May 21 2016
Procession West - Spallumcheen Art Gallery - Armstrong, BC - May 2016
Procession West - Summerland Art Gallery - Summerland, BC - August 11 to September 24 2016
Ag2 - Pyne Logs Gallery - Invermere, BC - September 6 to 18 2016
Procession West - Saskatchewan Craft Council - Saskatoon, SK - January 2017
Procession West - Port Moody Art Gallery - Port Moody, BC - April 2017
Procession West - McDonald Island Gallery - Fort McMurray, AB - June 2017

There are still a few more submission packages out there being considered by the juries of various art councils and galleries.  Potentially we could be accepted at one or two more, though it could be a challenge to squeeze in any more.  I know that it is getting to be a challenge to deliver these prints to the various galleries in advance of the shows, attend the openings, pick up the prints when the shows end, and move them on to the next venue.
My objectives for taking pictures and making prints are very personal.  I enjoy getting outdoors and exploring, finding interesting places and capturing records of my experiences on film.  I also enjoy spending my evenings and the off-season down in my darkroom as a technician, mixing chemistry and fine tuning the development and processing of my film.  The final step in the process is the printing of those negatives onto paper, and presenting my interpretation of my experiences.  This is all done for very personal reasons, and not with the intention of garnering any fame or fortune.  But, when all is said and done I feel it a shame to just file those finished prints away.  To that end I enjoy presenting my work to the public, to see what sort of response it generates, and to experience the feedback that others provide when viewing my work.  That is the purpose of this process of submitting to galleries and looking for opportunities to exhibit my work.  Although some galleries pay an exhibition fee, and others might subsidize transportation costs and there is always the possibility of the sale of a few prints, the cost of producing the exhibition prints, framing and presenting them, and delivering them to the various venues exceeds the monetary return that I get from this process.  But the personal satisfaction is something that I value, and this is the reason that I pursue this.  I hope those that follow my blog have an opportunity to get out and see one or more of these exhibitions.  The scans that I present here on my blog don't do justice to the quality of the exhibition prints.  This is entirely the reason that I continue to work with film, rather than to use modern digital techniques... but that is entirely another topic for another discussion.....

Winter Hockey - February

The month of February was not overly kind to the Renegades Hockey Team.  We started out the month with a great record.  Our first two games were both solid victories, both by a score of 10-2.  We beat the Spiderpigs at Castledowns Arena by this score on February 3.  Then four days later, on February 7 we beat the Flyers by the same score, at the same arena.  Since then we've fallen on hard times.  We had a layoff of nearly two weeks before playing the Griffins out at Leduc on February 18.  We lost this game in overtime by a score of 5-4.  Then we played two games to close out the month, both losses.  We lost to the Titans on February 20 at Coronation Arena by a score of 8-5, and to the Padres on February 28 back at Castledowns, by a score of 6-3.

We are currently clinging to the second last playoff spot and there are five games remaining in the regular season.  We can probably hang on and make the post season, but it is going to take a solid effort and a couple of victories to make it happen.  We start tomorrow, with a game against the Clansmen at the Terwillegar Rec Centre.  Stay tuned....

Ilford HP5+ in 510 Pyro

The batch of HP5+ 4" x 5" sheet film that I processed back on February 15th, in 510 Pyro developer included images from various day trips and travels last year.  I previously posted a few from the fall trip to Jasper.  Here are a few others...  This includes a couple from our spring trip down to Red Rock Coulee last May.  An abandoned church in East Central Alberta from last summer.  An old truck from that same trip.  And the interior and exterior of an old barn, taken a year ago in the winter of 2015.
I found it interesting that the door of that old truck was painted with the name, address and phone number of Norwood Lumber.  Norwood used to be a building supply company located up in north east Edmonton.  Curious that their old delivery truck ended up abandoned over a hundred miles away...

In Focus comes down

The In Focus photo exhibition recently finished its run and today was the day to take down all the photographs at the gallery.  I stopped by for an hour and helped take down all the work, and picked up my own two prints.  As one show ends, the next will carry on...  With all the exhibitions I have on my schedule, it seems this will be the case for some time to come.

Gallery Exhibitions

Procession West, and the second exhibition that spun off from it, which is called Ag2... have been successful beyond my expectations.  My friend and collaborator Rob Michiel and I first put this show together back in 2012 and started making submissions to galleries throughout Western Canada.  We were accepted for three shows in 2013 and 2014 at the Art Gallery of Regina, McMullen Gallery here in Edmonton, and then the Spruce Grove Art Gallery.  After these shows wrapped up I got a little lazy and pre-occupied and didn't get around to sending out any submission more packages.
In early 2015 I got back on my horse and put in a concerted effort to send out additional submission packages.  Over the course of the next year, as deadlines came and went, I sent out about 50 submission packages.  Some went to galleries that previously rejected us, while others went to new ones.  We still continue to get some rejections, like just the other day when I got a rejection notice from a gallery in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia.  But, we also got a lot of acceptances.  So much so that we had to peel off the Ag2 show and cover some of the overlap.  In addition to the original three exhibitions, we now have NINE more, for a total of 12 exhibitions.  We're still in the running for a couple more so it is possible this count might increase further beyond a dozen.
Some of these galleries pay an exhibition fee and some do not.  All allow us to offer our prints for sale.  None cover shipping expenses so we are obligated to drive these prints around from place to place.  Over the next few months these prints and their shipping crates will see a lot of miles.  The exhibition fees have covered most of the cost of our materials.  If we can sell a few prints, we sill start to cover the transportation costs.  This is not about making money... it is a labor of love.
We started out this year showing the Ag2 show at Leighton Art Centre in Calgary as part of the Exposure Festival.  Today I delivered three crates of different prints, the Procession West exhibition to the Okotoks Art Gallery.  The show will be installed this week, with the opening coming up next weekend.  Here is the official invitation...

Anyone that is in the Calgary area next weekend is encouraged to stop by for the opening and check out the show.  Both Rob and I expect to be in attendance.  Shortly after that I have to travel back to Calgary to pick up the images from the Ag2 show at Leighton, and move them on to the Leble Mansion Gallery in Pincher Creek, for a show that will start at the end of March.  Over the course of the next year or so the various framed photographs in their various shipping crates will also travel to Armstrong and Summerland, then to Invermere.  Later there will be shows in Saskatoon, Port Moody and Fort McMurray.  Once this project has run its course I hope to start all over again with a couple of solo exhibitions.  I am already in the process of image selection and printing for two solo projects and will start making submission of these in about a year.

HP5 in 510 Pyro

On February 15th I processed a batch of Ilford HP5+ sheet film, 4" x 5" format, in 510 Pyro developer.  The developer concentrate was diluted 1:100 and I processed for 7:10 minutes at 70 degrees F [21C].  This batch included about 20 sheets of film, all exposed during 2015 and early 2016.  I am generally happy with the results, but need to fine tune my exposure and development time a little.  This is a new combination for me that at this point is still somewhat experimental.  These four images were all taken in November of 2015, when I was out in Jasper with my friends Jon and Steve...

Exploring

In recent weeks I've been in contact online with a fellow photographer, also based here in Edmonton. Jim and I have similar interests, as he is also interested in abandoned buildings and old sites of historical significance.  I recently provided Jim with directions to one of my favorite places, and he was kind enough to share a couple of his.  On Sunday Feburary 14th, I set out to visit a couple of them...  

Both were relatively close together and despite the fact that I got a late start, I felt I would have time to check out both.  I wasn't able to spend much time at either location, but I made time to take a record shot with my view camera at each one, as well as a bunch of snapshots with my digital camera.  

I definitely need to return to both locations when I have more time, and do some more serious shooting with the big camera.  On this day I didn't even leave the city until around noon.  It was overcast and cloudy all morning and the skies were just beginning to lighten by the time I left.  As with the last few days it cleared right up by afternoon, and the temperature rose up to very comfortable levels, well above freezing.

Thanks to Jim for this and I will return on another day, ready to more seriously explore with my view camera.  For now here are a few snapshots taken that afternoon.

February Day Trip

It's been quite a while since I've posted much of anything on my blog... and even longer since I've had the opportunity to get out with my cameras.  On Saturday, February 13th, I headed out for a drive with my oldest daughter Hailey.  We played music on the stereo in the truck as we headed off to the northeast of the city.  I was trying to educate my daughter about the quality of some of the classic music that I like to listen to, and she was trying to convince me that some of today's pop will eventually become classic.  We agreed to disagree, but had a great time driving around through the afternoon.  

We didn't really get started until shortly before noon.  It was cloudy and dull in the late morning when we set out, but the skies broke open and became clear later in the afternoon.  The day was breezy and cool early in the morning but by afternoon once the sun broke out the temperature spiked up to about +5C.  By late afternoon the breeze died right off to nothing.

Our first stop was a large cemetery along Highway 16, between Mundare and Vegreville.  The clearing skies allowed the sun to pop out and provided some interesting shadows.  We made a brief stop in Vegreville for lunch and then continued on.  We stopped and photographed at an old schoolhouse, and then later at a few of the country churches in the area.  Late in the day we found an abandoned farm house with an interesting interior.  In fact, one of the exterior walls had collapsed, not only allowing a lot of nice light in, but making the stairway and railing visible from the road.  It was this that caught my eye as we drove by and prompted us to stop and explore.  By the time we finished up here it was getting to be late in the day.  We hit the road and made the long drive back to the city, all the way blasting more tunes and singing along with them.  As evening came upon us we spotted a herd of about 10 white tail deer out in a field.  Just a short distance further down the same road, we also spooked two young moose out of some trees along the ditch.  It was dark by the time we arrived back home.  With the temperatures so mild we decided to have a family BBQ that evening and it was great to throw some steaks on the grill again.

Corb Lund

Its been quite some time since I've posted anything to my blog.  I've been so busy in recent weeks getting ready for my gallery exhibitions that I haven't had much time for anything else.  There is a little breathing room now as the first shows are on display, and the next one does not have to be delivered for a while.  I hope to find some time to get out out exploring and to continue processing film.  Last weekend the two older girls and I headed down to the Jubilee Auditorium here in Edmonton to see Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans.  We had tickets in row twelve down on the floor.  It was a great show with Corb and his band performing all the old favorites, and some new stuff from his current album...

In Focus 2016 Opening

On Thursday evening I attended the opening of the In Focus 2016 Exhibition here in Edmonton.  This photo show is curated by local artist Alexis Marie Chute and is being exhibited at DC3 gallery here in the city.  A local philanthropist, David Candler, operates this gallery.  It turns out that I knew David as an adolescent, when we attended the same church, the same high school, and went to Cubs together.  He is now a medical doctor and art collector and is running the gallery.  He generously allowed the In Focus Exhibition to use his space as part of the province wide Exposure Festival.  There are about two dozen photographers taking part in this show and most were in attendance.  Of course with that many participating artists, there were lots of guests and friends in attendance.  The place was pretty packed through the evening and it was nice to visit with everyone and see such interest in photography.  The show includes quite a varied selection of work that runs the gamut of all forms of subject matter and technique.  The images are on display until the end of February so I encourage anyone with an interest in photography to stop by and check out the work.  Two of my images are included in the show.  One is an image of Thor's Well, taken on the Oregon Coast in the spring of 2015.  The second is an image of the Crooked Trees in Saskatchewan, from several years ago...

Winter Hockey

2016 has not been very kind to the Renegades Hockey Team.  We have been on a losing skid and have lost of first four games of the calendar year.  This goes back to January 4th when we lost a close game to the Flyers, 7-6 in a shootout.  

Our next game after that was the one at Rexall Place, which we lost to the Moose by a score of 5-2.  The guys played two games while I was away in Calgary.  The first was on January 23rd, the day that I delivered my prints down to the Leighton Art Centre.  The team had an early morning game and lost to the Bulldogs by a score of 9-1.  Then on January 30th, while I was down at in Calgary attending the Ag2 opening, the team played the Trojans and lost by a score of 10-4.

Last night I was finally able to get back on the ice for a late game against the Spiderpigs.  It was time to put our losing skid to an end.  Several of the players told me that I can't miss any more games because without me to organize the roster, the team doesn't play very well.  Being the oldest and slowest player on the team I know I can't contribute all that much on the ice.  But it's nice to know that my efforts are appreciated and that I do make a contribution.  Our ice time started at 10:30 at Castledowns Arena.  We had a short bench with only 11 skaters and our goaltender.  Three of our guys cancelled at the last minute so we had to play with two forward lines and five defense.  Two of the guys that played defense were normally forwards.  But, we managed to jump out to an early lead and just kept building on it, eventually winning by a score of 10-2.  It felt like a great weight was lifted off our backs and hopefully we can put together a push going into the last 9 games of the regular season and into the playoffs.  Next game is coming up on Sunday night, a rematch against the Flyers.  It's going to be a tough game to fill the roster for as this is Super Bowl Sunday and all the football fans will be pre-occupied.