Reynolds - Aviation Displays

In addition to their other exhibits, the Reynolds Alberta Museum includes some aviation displays.  Several of the aircraft are parked outside.  Some of the more valuable aircraft are displayed indoors, in a hanger.  

The indoor displays include a couple of gyrocopters made by a company out of Ponoka Alberta.  My skylight company used to make the windshields and door panels for these guys.  This was Rotary Air Force, a company started by aviation inventor Bernard Haseloh, and later taken over by his nephews.  Sadly one of the nephews was killed in a crash in the late 1990's and I understand that the company was sold and moved to South Africa.

Reynolds - Outside Stuff

In addition to all the restored stuff at the Reynolds Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin, there is a lot of unrestored stuff outside.  The public is able to access these artifacts for viewing.

Arturo and I explored a number of old trucks that were parked in a field behind the museum.  There were some very interesting pieces, and we photographed a number of them.  There is a second area that includes a bunch of old coal mining equipment.  We ran out of time to get to that area, so a return visit is in order.  

Reynolds Museum

On June 9th Arturo and I paid a visit to the Reynolds Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin.  We thought we might find some images there that would work for the Apparitions project.  We were not disappointed.  There was a show on that featured a bunch of 1970's vehicles, including a 1975 VW Super Beetle, very similar to Margarit's.  We could really identify with all this stuff as we grew up with it all.

They had an old Dusenberg [sp?] car valued at $1.7 million.  There were also some old snow cars, and lots of old farm machinery.  It was very interesting to tour the place and we came away with a couple of images that might work for our project.

Outcrop

This is the last.... for now... of the scans of film processed this spring.  This shot is also from the Monochrome Guild Fall Photo Weekend in Jasper National Park.  This rocky outcrop is as the southeast tip of Horseshoe Lake.  It was a cool fall day and there were snowflakes starting to fall as we explored along the lake shore.

I shot this sheet of 4" x 5" Ilford Delta 100 on November 11th 2023, at about 3:15 in the afternoon.  The film was processed on my Jobo in PMK developer and given N+1 development to boost contrast.  This required a development time of 22:30 minutes at 20C.  This was one of the last batches of black and white film that I developed on my old Jobo processor before the rotation motor died.

I shot this image with my Ebony view camera and a Schneider 210mm lens.  The exposure was F20.0 and the shutter speed was 1/4 second.

Medicine Lake

This scan of a recently processed negative is from the Monochrome Guild's Fall Photo Weekend 2023 in Jasper National Park.

This shot was taken on 4" x 5" Rollei Infrared Film.  I rated the film at 25 iso and processed it in Kodak T-Max developer, 1:6, for 11:00 minutes at 22C.  This film is rather difficult to load and handle as the plastic base is very thin.  I liken it to trying to insert a sheet of toilet paper into a film holder, in total darkness.  I don't shoot it all that often because it is so cumbersome, but results like this suggest that I should attempt it more often.

I shot this on November 12th 2023 at about 10:45 in the morning.  This shot was taken with my Ebony view camera and a Schneider 135mm lens.  A #25 Red filter is needed with infrared film to eliminate much of the visible light, and allow the film to be exposed more by the infrared wavelengths.  Alternatively an infrared filter can be used. then all visible light is eliminated and the film is exposed solely by infrared.  I prefer the look of this one shot with the red filter and exposure by a mix of wavelengths.  The exposure for this one was F36.0 and a shutter speed of 1/4 second.

Rock Art

After our visit to the Turner Valley Gas Plant Historic Site we continued on further south to Lethbridge and Writing On Stone Provincial Park.  Arturo and I were shooting images for the Apparitions project, and Margarit and Sharon were along for the trip.  It was a really enjoyable few days.  

I just recently developed this sheet of film from that trip.  This is a scan of a 4" x 5" sheet of Ilford HP5 400.  The film was rated at 320 iso and developed in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 7:25 minutes at 24C.

I shot this on June 21st 2023 at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 240mm lens, fitted with a #25 Red Filter.  The exposure was F14.0 and a shutter speed of 1/15 second.

This is one of the native rock art panels in the park.  It was National Aboriginal Peoples day and we were able to join a guided tour into the restricted access area of the park.

Lockers

This is a scan of a negative that I recently developed.  This was taken last summer, when we booked a private tour of the Turner Valley Gas Plant Historic site.  Arturo and I were shooting there, hoping to capture some images for our Apparitions project.

This photograph was taken on June 17th 2023, at about 2:15 in the afternoon.  It was a 4" x 5" sheet of Ilford FP4, rated at 100 iso and developed in Ilford Perceptol Developer, 1:1, for 11:15 minutes at 24C.  This was developed using my old Jobo Processor, shortly before the motor died.

These lockers were in the gasoline production building.  I used my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Schneider 135mm lens.  The exposure was F20.0 and a shutter speed of 1/8 second.

Boeing 737

I processed and scanned this sheet of film earlier this year.  Arturo and I were out exploring last summer, looking for subject matter for the Apparitions project.  We drove around up at the Villeneuve Airport and spotted this abandoned Boeing 737, sporting old Pacific Western colors.  We couldn't get very close to it, but managed to get this shot from a nearby road.

I shot this on August 11th 2023, just before noon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a long Fujinon 240mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter was used to pump up the contrast and deepen the value of the sky.  This was a 4" x 5" sheet of Ilford HP5 film, rated at 320 iso and developed for 7:25 minutes, at 24C, in 510 Pyro developer, 1:100.  The exposure was F20.0 and a shutter speed of 1/15 second.

Limber Pine

This is another of the negatives that I developed and scanned earlier this spring.  Hailey and I were out for a drive from the cottage, and headed west as far as the Spreading Creek Burn, near the Banff National Park boundary.  This one Limber Pine was spared as the forest fire swept through the area, some years ago.  Every time I drive by I marvel at this solitary living tree amongst all the devastation. 

I took this shot on September 30th 2023, at about 4:45 in the afternoon.  The longest lens I had with me, for my Ebony view camera, was a 300mm Fujinon.  So I used that, and added a yellow filter to try and bring up the value of the foreground aspens that were in fall color.  This scan is cropped in somewhat from the full negative, as I could have used a longer lens, had a brought one with me.

This was Ilford Delta 100, rated at 100 iso and given Normal development in PMK developer.  I ran this on my Jobo processor for 11:45 minutes at 20C.  The exposure was F16.0 and a shutter speed of 1/8 second.

Wild Horse Tracks

I went through the scans of the film that I developed over the past several months and found a few that I don't think I've posted yet.  I may have posted duplicate versions, shot on different film, but I've tried to avoid that.

This is a shot of Coliseum Mountain near Nordegg, taken from the Forestry Trunk Road.  The North Nordegg Subdvision, where my cottages are located, is on the lower flanks of this mountain, just to the right edge of this view.

There is a herd of wild horses in the area and we see them fairly regularly.  Mostly they hang around on the south side of the David Thompson Highway, near the Industrial Park.  From time to time we see them, and more often their tracks, on the north side of Highway 11.  These were fresh horse tracks in the snow, heading off into the clear cut.

I shot this on December 4th of 2022 with my Ebony view camera and a 125mm lens.  This was taken on Ilford FP4 film, rated at 100 iso and developed in Perceptol Developer, 1:1, for 11:15 minutes at 24C.  I process this film and developer combination on my Jobo Processor as I find that the continuous agitation is needed to fully remove the anti halation dye from the film.  This has been an ongoing problem if I hand process these 4" x 5" negatives, and the processor seems to resolve it.  This was one of the last batches that I processed on my old Jobo before it finally packed it in.  I have since replaced it with a new one, but haven't run any film on it yet.

Hazel - BP 9.1

Since I've retired, I try to post something to my blog almost every day.  In recent weeks I have been kind of lazy.  I haven't been out on any photography outings, and I haven't done any work in my darkroom.  Mostly I've just been catching up on a few chores, watching playoff hockey, and playing a little hockey with my beer league team.  I've kind of run out of new content to post here on my blog.

So, I dug back into all the images that I scanned early this year, and found a few that I don't believe I have yet posted.  I will be posting some of those in the coming days, and then hopefully will have some new material after that.

This shot dates back to early February, and the film was developed in late April.  This is a shot from the Beer Parlour Project outing number BP9.1.  This is Hazel, a retired waitress from the Victoria Hotel in Bruderheim.  I took her portrait on February 3rd at about 4:00 in the afternoon, utilizing only window light.  I shot this with my Ebony view camera and a 210mm lens.  The film was Kodak T-Max 400, pushed to 1600 iso.  The exposure was F9.5 and a shutter speed of 1/8 second.  Development was for 8:20 minutes, in T-Max Developer, 1:4 at 24C.

Summer Hockey

Once again I am managing the Renegades Hockey Team and playing full time.  The team is signed up for the summer season in the Alberta Mens Hockey League.  The name is a little deceiving, and dates back over 40 years to when the league was founded.  There are women playing in the league, including two on my team.

We are now six games in to the sixteen game season, and not doing all that well.  Divisional realignment took place after the first four games and we find ourselves now more equally matched.  A couple of the teams that we played early on were dominant, and have been moved up to higher divisions.

Last night we played a team called the Ice Wolves at the Terwillegar Recreation Center.  Sadly these guys are not very competitive and really should be playing in a lower division.  But, we are in the lowest division, and there is no where the can be moved.  We defeated them by a score of 7-0, and held them to just eight shots on goal.  Our record stands at 2 wins and 4 losses but hopefully we can start to improve on that as we settle into the routine of the season, and the new divisional placement.

At 61 years old I am the oldest player on the Renegades by at least a decade, and one of, if not the oldest player in the league.  But, I still have fun and will keep doing it as long as I can hold out.

For The Rock

On Monday June 3rd I packed up in Nordegg and headed back to the city.  One of the things I did was load up all my scaffold.  I no longer need this at the cottage, and the guys at Dinosaur Valley Studios in East Coulee regularly have use for it.  So it will end up at the shop, and if I ever need to use it again, I can just pick it up from there.

On Tuesday June 4th Margarit had to go in for some minor surgery.  That all went well and she is back home resting.  I worked on finishing up some small prints for The Rock.  Hailey suggested that they need more smaller and inexpensive items to offer up for sale.  So I made contact prints of a bunch of my 4" x 5" negatives.  Some got dry mounted onto art cards, and a select few were put into small frames.  These will end up down at The Rock, in East Coulee.

On Wednesday June 5th I met up with Frank in Wetaskiwin.  That saved him a drive all the way into the city, and wasn't very far out of the way for me.  I passed along the art cards and small frames for him to drop off at The Rock.. Then we transferred all the scaffold parts from my truck to his.  We had lunch and a shareholders meeting before we both went off in our separate directions.

Blackstone and Hockey

After I put my drone away, I got out my view camera and went for a walk down on the gravel bars along the Blackstone River.  I set the camera up a couple of times and took a some photographs.  The rocks here are really cool as there are a lot of fossils... mostly old marine stuff dating back to way before the dinosaurs.  I was the only person around and other than a few passing vehicles, I saw no one.  I did see a Red Fox, and a couple of Mule Deer along the trunk road on my way back to the cottage.  Muley's have become rather unusual and I don't see them very often.  White Tailed Deer seem to have taken over most of the habitat in the front ranges.  It was a very pleasant way to spend part of my afternoon and I really enjoyed the solitude.  

I made it back to the cottage in time to put some wings on the grill and then watch the Oilers game on TV.  This was Game Six of the Western Conference final and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Dallas Stars to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.  The Oilers lost to Carolina back in 2006, the last time they made it to the final.  The Oilers last won the Stanley Cup way back in 1990, and the last time a Canadian Team did it was the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.

Drone Flight

On Sunday June 2nd I made a quick trip to the dump.  After that I continued north on the Forestry Trunk Road.  About 30km north of the David Thompson Highway, the Trunk Road crosses the Blackstone River.  I stopped here and set up my drone.  It is a DJI Phantom IV and I have the required pilot's license.  I haven't really had the aircraft out much since I got it, and this outing was mostly to reacquaint myself with the operation.  If it's camera shot film rather than digital, I would likely use it a lot more.  Still it was fun to get it up and buzz it around for a rather unique view of the Blackstone Valley.  In the last shot, you can see me, standing in front of my truck, operating the drone.