Rollshutters

I headed back out to Nordegg on the afternoon of Wednesday May 4th.  This time it was a solo trip.  I was only back home in the city for a day and half after the Springfest weekend before I hit the road again.  I got home from East Coulee on Monday, played hockey twice on Tuesday, and headed back out to the cottage on Wednesday.

On Thursday morning Al from Rolltec Rollshutters showed up.  I had previously ordered shutters from him, and they were now ready to install.  I gave him a hand with the installation so that he didn't have to bring out any installers.  There are only five windows, all the same size, plus one door, so the installation was quick and easy.  We started around 11:00AM and were finished by about 3:30PM.

After Al left I carried on with more lacquer application, and started on the aspen paneling to the gable end up on the main loft.  I continued with this through the day on Friday, and by the end of the day I had most of the gable end finished.  I also had all of the aspen boards that I have out here, finished with multiple coats of lacquer.  I will have to bring another load of boards out next time I come.  As the second gable end is up on the loft, there is some electrical to fit around.  There are two receptacles, as well as a light switch for the potlights.  I connected everything and put covers on as I finished around them.

Winch House - Tmax 100 in 510 Pyro

This is another image from the recent batch of T-Max 100 in 510 Pyro.  I shot this just a couple of weeks ago, when I was exploring that old coal mine in the Drumheller Valley.   

I can't stress strongly enough that most of the land in the valley is private property.  There are a few locations that are open to the public... Midland Provincial Park, The Hoodoos Recreation Area, and the campsite at Bleriot Ferry.  But the rest of the land is pretty much all privately owned.  Trespassing by tourists who mostly don't know any better, has become an issue.  It is important to get permission to enter private land.  

My friends and I had the permission of the owners of this old mine site to be out exploring and taking a few photographs.  The site is rather dangerous as there are some collapsed mine shafts in the area.  We got specific direction as to where we could photograph and where to stay away from.

Bubble Trails - Tmax 100 in 510 Pyro

This image is from a recently processed batch of Kodak T-Max 100 in 4" x 5" format.  I processed in 510 Pyro developer.  This has become a favorite of mine, and the only thing that I have found that overcomes the low contrast of this film.  I first started shooting 4x5 with T-Max 100 over twenty years ago and have given up on it several times.  It seemed I could never find a developer that yielded enough contrast and good tonal range.  I tried T-Max developer, Rodinal, HC-110 among others.  A few years back I found the formula on line for 510 Pyro.  This developer was invented by American photographer Jay DeFehr.  I'm grateful that he shares his information as this has become a favorite of mine.  To the best of my knowledge it is not commercially available so I mix up my own from bulk chemicals.  The pyrogallol in the developer stains the emulsion brown.  That stain is proportional to the amount of exposed silver in the film, and adds increased density.

This shot was taken last fall on an afternoon stroll in Blackmud Creek Ravine.  This location is within the city of Edmonton, and there are residential neighborhoods on either side of the valley.  The water level in the creek was low, and it bubbles as it rambled through this rocky gravel bar.  I used a long exposure to record the bubbles as streaks in the dark water.  I think it turned out pretty well.

Evening Walk in East Coulee

On Sunday evening, after the Springfest I found myself alone.  The girls had all gone back to the city, and all the visitors to the festival had gone home.  It was just me, and a handful of other locals left in town.  One of the things that I love about East Coulee is how quiet it is.  The evenings are wonderful and the light on the badlands is often spectacular.

It was a little cool and blustery but I went for an evening walk around town.  I checked out the old timber framed railway bridge that once served the Atlas Coal Mine.  It is becoming deteriorated and the access at either end has now been closed with some chain link fence.  I understand that there is an effort to restore it, but that will be a costly undertaking.  I hope the organizers are successful.

I wandered around other parts of town and peeked into a few of the old buildings.  There was not much going on, but it was nice to be out on a quiet stroll.

As evening began to settle I retired to my trailer and went to bed early.  It was on the next day that I actually took the drive up the coulee and into the wintering hills with my camera.  And once that was wrapped up I hit the road for home on Monday afternoon.

The Rock

Dinosaur Valley Studios has taken over an old store in East Coulee.  It is a seasonal gift shop that presents some of the items that the company produces.  A few of my photos are also on display and for sale.  The store is called "The Rock".

We had a soft opening during the Springfest and the crew scrambled to get everything set up.  It isn't fully functional as a retail store yet, but we had a lot of traffic come through, and the concept was well received.  As summer approaches there will be an effort to become fully set up.

I found an old photo that I took of the building back in July of 2014.  This was taken with my Ebony 4x5 view camera on Kodak T-Max 100 film, developed in 510 Pyro Developer.  Development was 1:100 for 6:15 minutes at 24C.  I used a polarizing filter to take some of the reflections off the glass, and darken the sky.  The building was called the Coyote Club and at that point it was in poor condition.  The glass was falling out of the storefront and the wall was beginning to rot.  I understand that back in the day they used it as a venue for some of the bands in the Springfest.  Over the past few years the owner repaired the building, and then my friend Frank finished it inside to make it usable as "The Rock"

100 Yards

As I was shooting a composition of some Pasque Flowers in the Coulee, I had to chuckle.  It reminded me of my friend Jon.  We used to go out shooting together quite often, and still occasionally do.  He always used to say... "if it's more than a 100 yards from the road it just not photogenic".  This one qualifies...

Exploring the Valley

After exploring a bit of the Wintering Hills I headed back down to East Coulee, the same way I had come.  A short section of the road followed a small coulee down until it met the Red Deer River Valley near the Atlas Coal Mine.

That little coulee was actually quite scenic and I stopped in a couple of places to photograph the badlands.  As an added bonus, there were some pasque flowers, also known as Priarie Crocus, blooming in the grassy areas.  I got some photos of them too.

I spent a couple of hours out with my view camera and exposed several sheets of film.  By the time I finished up here it was getting to be late afternoon, so I headed back over to my trailer at the shop.

Old Truck

After shooting the prairie trees, I drove further up into the Wintering Hills.  On one of the sideroads I found this old farm truck.  Like usual, the nameplates were all stolen, but I think it was a General Motors product.  The license plate on the front is from the mid-1970's.  It was a cool old crate, and I took a few snapshots, but didn't bother setting up the big view camera.

Prairie Trees

The girls all headed back home to Edmonton on Sunday afternoon, after the Springfest.  I stayed in East Coulee for an extra day.  I hung out at the shop for bit and visited with Frank.  I also went out shooting with my view camera for a while.  

I took a drive up above the valley into the Wintering Hills.  Along the way I found this solitary tree out on the prairie.  It would not have been all that exceptional were it not for the clouds.  The sky was fantastic and I'm quite happy with this composition.  I'm looking forward to seeing the negative that I shot with my 4x5 view camera....!

Springfest 2022

I headed down to East Coulee on Friday April 29th.  Annelise and Helena came along with me.  We made it down to the shop by late afternoon and get set up in the trailer.  The Springfest was back on, after a two year Covid interruption.  Like many things, this restart was toned down somewhat.  This year they were only using stages in two of the classrooms in the school.  In years past they also used the Community Hall across the road.  I understand that the hall was flooded over the winter when some plumbing froze.  They are still in the midst of repairs and the hall was not available for the music festival this year.

We didn't bother to buy tickets for the Friday night shows, but did pick up some tickets for Saturday.  It was a good thing that we did, because by early afternoon on Saturday they sold out.  A number of people arrived from out of town on Saturday afternoon and were disappointed when the couldn't get tickets.

Margarit and Hailey came out on Saturday afternoon and joined us.  It was a good thing that I had picked up tickets for them.  We caught a number of the bands at the music festival and as in years past it was fantastic.  Mostly though, it was just great to be back...!!  Even though they only had two stages, and tickets were limited, it felt really good to see the festival get back on track.  We hope that it can fully return to normal next year.

My friend Frank just set a up a gift shop in an old grocery store in East Coulee.  A friend of ours, Jason, recently returned home after living in Italy for many years.  His Mom owns the old store that Frank is using and she had a patio set up for the weekend.  This included a number of musicians that were jamming and entertaining the visitors.  Jason had a food trailer set up and was serving sandwiches.  His food was fantastic and we all enjoyed Pulled Pork, Grilled Steak, and Chicken and Brie sandwiches while taking part in all the activities.  

We really missed East Coulee and it felt so good to be back.  Margarit and I agreed that we need to make an effort to visit more regularly through the summer months.

Willow Creek

In the early evening of April 24 I made a stop at Willow Creek Coulee.  Most years it is a little swampy and muddy in the valley bottom.  With drought conditions the past couple of years it is now very dry.  There are some beautiful contorted Cottonwoods in the valley and I photographed a couple of them with my view camera.  I sure hope we get some rain soon, so that these majestic trees survive.  These are just a few phone snapshots that I took as I was exploring...

Shooting the Badlands

While I was down in the badlands on April 23rd and 24th, I finally kickstarted my photography habit and got out with my big cameras.  I shot with both my 4x5 and my 8x10 view cameras.  This was only the third time this year that I got out with the 4x5, and the first time with the 8x10.  I made a few stops in various areas in the valley and managed to shoot some compositions that I'm quite happy with.  On Saturday April 23rd the evening light was beautiful, and conditions were near perfect.  These are a few snapshots that I took while I was out and about.

May Calendar Image

This is the image that I selected for the May page of my 2022 calendar.  It was taken up at Brazeau Collieries a couple of years ago.