Tree and Stone Ruin

This was the last camera set up that I did on my trip to southern Saskatchewan in the spring of 2024.  This one was taken on a sheet of Ilford HP5+ 400, that I recently developed in 510 Pyro.  Actually the last shot of the trip was the same shot, taken on a sheet of FP4+125, just moments after this one.

I shot this on June 19th 2024, at about 6:10 in the evening.  So almost exactly a year ago.  I used my Ebony view camera and a longish Nikkor 210mm lens, fitted with a #25 Red Filter.  The filter bumped up the contrast a little and created some separation between clouds and sky.  The exposure was for 1/8 second at F18.0.

Bowstring Bridge

This is another shot from one of the batches of Ilford HP5+ that I recently developed in 510 Pyro Developer.  This one is from my trip to Saskatchewan in the spring of 2024.  Chris and I were down there to do some exploring and photography.  Partly I wanted to get some additional images for my Apparitions project.  But Chris and I were also exploring a few old hotels for the Beer Parlour Project.

This Bowstring Bridge was the largest of several that we stumbled across.  It passes over a small creek, and also this rail line, that still sees sporadic use.  I took this photograph on June 16th at about 7:20 in the evening.  I used my Ebony view camera and a small Fujinon-A 180mm lens.  A #22 Orange filter added some contrast, and nicely separated the clouds from the evening sky.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F 29.0.

Broken Fixture

This negative is from one of the two batches of Ilford HP5+ 400 that I recently processed.  Development was in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 7:45 minutes at 24C.  This is an image from the shower building at the Brazeau Collieries Historic site, taken during one of my many tours of the site over the past several months.  I'm not sure if this was a hand sink or a drinking fountain, but there is obviously not much left of it now.  The main shower for the miners was just to the left.

I shot this image on April 18th at about 3:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a slightly long Fujinon 180mm lens.  The exposure was for 8 seconds at F18.0.

Nature Conservancy of Canada

On June 6th Margarit and I were invited to attend an event put on by the Nature Conservancy of Canada.  We strongly support this charity, and have for a number of years.  They are a land trust that seeks to purchase or lease private land and protect important natural habitat.  These special places are permanently protected from development and just left wild.  The public is allowed foot access to some of these areas.

One such place is the Coyote Lake Nature Sanctuary.  It was originally owned by a family named Hopkins, who I believe have since passed on.  The land was taken over by the Nature Conservancy and a number of surrounding properties were added.  The sanctuary is now about 1200 acres in size.  It is mostly rolling forest with some small ponds and Coyote Lake.  It is a transition zone where boreal forest, aspen parkland, and mountain forest are intermixed.

A guided hike took place on the date of our visit and there were about 20 other supporters, plus some staff on hand.  There really is no grand landscape at this place, just lots of plants, wildflowers and birds.  We got rained on by a brief shower at one point, but it was a really nice afternoon.  I've included a few snapshots below that I took with my digital camera.  I've learned long ago that my big view camera is not well suited to a guided hike with other participants, so I left it at home this time.  Though I may venture back with it on my own at some point.

Forgotten Swings

This one is from one of the batches of Ilford HP5+ 400 that I recently developed in 510 Pyro Developer.  I shot this while Chris and I were exploring in Saskatchewan back in May.   We stayed in Macklin and visited a number of old hotels for our Beer Parlour Project.  In between we toured around a bit and explored some other old stuff.  We found this abandoned swing set and old community hall and hung around for a few photographs.

I shot this on May 8th at about 11:45 in the morning.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 75mm lens.  I added a #25 Red Filter to lower the value of the sky and add a little contrast.  The exposure was for 1/15 second at F20.0.

Storm Damage

Hailey went out to the cottage in early June and spent a few days out at Nordegg, by herself.  It has been very dry, without any significant rain for nearly a month.  The fire risk is extreme and a total fire ban has been put into place.  To make matters worse, it has been very windy.

While Hailey was out in Nordegg there were some wind storms that took down a bunch of trees all over the subdivision.  A big spruce on our property came down, but Hailey didn't even notice it as is was at the back side of our guest cottage, and she never walked over there before heading back to the city.

On Saturday June 7th I headed out to the cottage.  I took Ryan and Braeden and Hank along with me.  Ryan and Braeden recently returned to Edmonton after spending the last six months in Ontario.  It has been great to catch up with them, and they have been anxious to get back out to Nordegg.  On Sunday June 8th I tackled the big spruce that had come time.  It was a challenge as it was a very warm day with the temperature topping out at 31C.  By the end of it all my arms looked as though I had been in a scrap with a cat.  They were all scratched up from cutting all the limbs off the fallen tree prior to cutting the trunk up into firewood.  The top of the large spruce grazed the edge of the cottage and did a little damage to the eavestrough and the metal roof panels, but nothing significant.  The tree looked fairly healthy, but upon cutting it up it became evident that the base of the trunk was rotten in the center.  I understand that the winds that were recently experienced were pretty extreme, so its not really a surprise that the tree came down.  It was a little surprising that it fell uphill towards the cottage, but I suppose that was a factor of the wind direction.

Wash Building

Another sheet of Ilford HP5, and another image from one of my many visits to the Brazeau Collieries Historic Site.  I shot this one on April 18th at about 1:15 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and an ultra wide 65mm lens.  There was very little light here in the depths of the coal wash building and as a result the exposure was rather long, even with this faster film.  The exposure was for 80 seconds at F16.0.

Sadly the site had been broken into over the winter months and someone had been here among all the old equipment stripping out the copper wire.  Hopefully the thieves are caught.

BP 23.0 Stettler Hotel

This is another scan of a recently processed Ilford HP5+ 400 negative.  This is from one of the two batches that I processed in 510 Pyro Developer.  I shot this one on April 26th at about 12:15 in the afternoon.  This was the morning after our visit to the Stettler Hotel tavern, and our overnight stay in the hotel.  I shot this with my Ebony view camera and a Nikkor 210mm lens.  I added a #58 Green Filter to slighlty lower the value of the sky, and create a litter separation in the red brick of the building.  The exposure was for 1/30 second at F20.0.

Margarit and I were out with Chris on an outing for the Beer Parlour Project.  Sadly the tavern was rather quiet on the night of our visit.  There were only a handful of patrons, including one that was rather annoying and rude.  Hotel staff eventually asked him to leave as he was bothering the few patrons that were around.  We did get a chance to meet Kimberly, the owner of the hotel.  She is not only a hotelier, but also a certified piano instructor.  She had a grand piano in the tavern, and played for us a little.

Later that day we met up with Connie and headed over to another small town hotel for the next episode of the Beer Parlour Project.

A Day Trip in May

Back in May I went out for a day trip with my brother in law Shawn.  He is new to photography, having recently acquired a Canon digital camera.  Although I am the wrong person to teach anything about digital photography, I am very experienced with the basics of composition, exposure, depth of field, etc.

So we set out for a drive and explored a bunch of backroads to the northeast of the city.  As per usual I found a bunch of stuff to point our cameras at.  I came away with these phone snapshots, and a bunch of exposed sheet film.  Once some of that film gets developed, I will share the results here on my blog.  It was a great day and we really enjoyed the time spent exploring.

On our way back into the city we stopped off at the Victoria Hotel in Bruderheim for a beer.  This was the location for a couple of outings of the Beer Parlour Project.  We said hello to the owners Al and Liza and visited with the locals a bit before making our way back home later in the evening.

Pump

I recently processed two batches, 20 sheets in each, of Ilford HP5+ 400.  There was a mix of different subject matter in these batches including some from my trips to Saskatchewan, some from Beer Parlour Project outings and some from tours of the Nordegg Mine Site.

For this shot the film was rated at 320 iso and given Normal development in 510 Pyro Developer, diluted 1:100, for 7:45 minutes, at 24C.  I shot this at the Nordegg Mine Site on one of my visits this past spring.  This was taken on April 18th at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 90mm lens.  The exposure was for 16 seconds at F22.0.

This is a pump and some of the related piping in the wash building at the mine.  This is where the coal was washed before it was dried and then sent on to the briquette plant.

June Image - David Thompson Country Calendar

This is the image I selected for the June page of my 2025 David Thompson Country Calendar.  I shot this one way back in 2011.  This is Elk Creek, along the Forestry Trunk Road, south of Ram Falls.  The girls and I were camped here for a weekend in the summer of 2011.  I used a slow film, the now discontinued Efke PL25 in my 4x5 view camera.  I added a #29 Deep Red Filter, and with the film rated at 10 iso, this resulted in a very long shutter speed of 16 seconds, which nicely blurred the rapids.

First Rejection for Apparitions

On May 20th I received notice that the Apparitions project had NOT been accepted for exhibition at the Art Gallery of St. Albert.  I understand that they received over 150 submissions and only select a handful for exhibition.  I have submitted to this gallery on numerous occasions in the past and never been accepted.  Perhaps they are just not interested in photography, and prefer more traditional art forms...?

I'm not sure if I will continue trying, as there are many other galleries that I can turn my attention to.  At the present time we have several more submission packages out for consideration, and more deadlines coming up in the near future.  I am confident that our photographs will be exhibited, just apparently not at this gallery.

Windy Spring

It seems to me that it has been windier than usual this spring.  Not a good situation considering that conditions are quite dry, and some wildfires are beginning to break out.  In fact, the towns of Peers and Robb, both locations for Beer Parlour Project outings last fall, have been evacuated due to nearby fires.

On June 1st Arturo and I headed out for a day trip.  My daughter Ryan and her boyfriend Braeden, recently returned from Ontario, decided to join us.  As we often do, we headed up to the northeast of the city and explored the backroads and small towns.

Sadly conditions were not great, and we weren't able to do all that much photography.  It was extremely windy and we could only set up the camera in areas that were somewhat sheltered, or inside of some of the old buildings that we found.  Earlier in the day there was a fair bit of sun, but by afternoon it became mostly cloudy and the light was generally dull.  This was compounded by some smoke from northern wildfires that rolled in with the wind, later in the afternoon.

Despite all that, we enjoyed the day together and explored out in the country as best we could.  On our way back home we stopped off at a bar for something to eat and a couple of drinks.  It was a fun day, and good to get back together with my daughter, despite the fact that conditions were less than ideal, and we probably didn't come back with any great photos.

Acme Gang

Here's another recently developed negative from BP 21.0.  This was the outing back in March to the Acme Hotel.  I have the names recorded for most of the characters in this shot.... but not all of them.  This was the gang of locals that showed up for the visit by the Beer Parlour Project team.

June Calendar Image

This is the image I selected for the June page of my 2025 Fine Art Photography Calendar.  This former school is now privately owned and being remodeled into a residence.  Chris and I came across this one when we explored southern Saskatchewan in the summer of 2024.