Dodge

This is a scan of a 4" x 5" sheet of Ilford HP5 film.  I developed this over a month ago, on September 7th.  Processing was in 510 Pyro Developer, 1:100.

I shot this back in late May when my brother in law Shawn and I were out on a day trip.  We were exploring out northeast of the city and found this old car along the side of the road.  I used a moderately wide Schneider 110mm lens so that I could shoot through the open door of this old Dodge.  I quite like the way this one turned out and eventually may try printing the negative.

I took a second identical shot on a sheet of Ilford FP4 film that intend to give plus development.  I have processed that one yet so I will wait and see if the added contrast that will result, makes for a better image or not.

Incoming

On Saturday October 11th Helena and I were out for a drive.  In the early afternoon, as we made our way back from the Kootenay Plains to the cottage, the storm front pushed up the valley from the east.  There was a temperature drop of about 10 degrees in very short order.  The skies clouded over and the wind picked up.  We made a brief stop at the elbow of Abraham Lake and went down to the shore to check out the flooded trees.  The wind was coming directly out of the east and pushing large white caps right up onto us.  It was far too windy to consider taking out the big camera, so we just took a few phone snapshots and carried on.  By the time we hit the highway a short time later, it had started to rain, and shortly after that the rain turned to snow.

Dad and Daughter Weekend - Kootenay Plains

I was only back in the city for a few days, long enough to play hockey once, and do a few chores, before returning to the mountains.  My youngest daughter Helena and I headed out to Nordegg for the Thanksgiving Long Weekend.  She is on a bit of an extended break due to the teachers strike.  We left Edmonton on the morning of Friday October 10th.  We took Hank along, but the rest of the family all stayed behind in the city.

The forecast was calling for rain and snow for most of the weekend.  We decided to make the best of it.  On the morning of Saturday October 11th, before the bad weather set in, we took a drive up to the Kootenay Plains.  We stopped at the Siffluer Falls trailhead and went for a hike.

We didn't actually hike up to the falls, as most of the tourists were doing.  Instead we crossed the suspension bridge and hiked upstream along the North Saskatchewan River.

I took my view camera along and ended up taking one shot of the valley.  Helena also tried shooting with the big camera and took a shot as well.

The weather started to turn in the early afternoon and we packed things in and headed back to the cottage.  It turns out we packed up just in time as it wasn't long after that rain rolled in and quickly turned to snow.  The temperature went from a comfortable high of around +12, down to +2 in a matter of an hour or two.

Despite the weather we enjoyed our time outside and together.  When we got back to the cottage we got a fire going, and put a ham in the oven for dinner.  We spent a relaxed evening together watching it snow.

Hanging Around Nordegg

Margarit and I really enjoyed six days spent out at Nordegg at the beginning of October.  We took Hank along, but the kids all stayed behind in the city.  It is a very quiet time of year out in the mountains, and we enjoy it a lot, particularly the fall colors.

We didn't really do anything spectacular, mostly just enjoyed some quiet couples time.  We made a few nice meals.  I played a round of golf... possibly my last of the season.  We fed a bunch of apples from our tree in the city, to the deer.

We went out for a couple of walks... first up along the David Thompson Highway, and then later up at the historic mine site.  There is a crew working at the site this fall, restoring the concrete foundation of the briquette building.  As usual, I had permission to go in on a tour and continue with my documentary photography.  This time around I walked in with my big 8x10 view camera.  Margarit and Hank came along, and we really enjoyed the fall afternoon.

I dropped my new 2026 calendars off at the Beehive Artisan Market.  We did some tidying and organization in the cottage, and made a run to the dump.

With some snow on Saturday, followed by a heavy frost, and then a little wind, by the time our visit wrapped up, the leaves had mostly come down.  The fall spectacle was rather short-lived this year, but we were glad to be able to experience it.

Hank really tired himself out while out on are various walks and he slept really well most nights.  His stumpy little legs have to take probably ten times as many steps as we do...!

We look forward to spending a lot more quiet time out here at the cottage over the rest of the fall and through the winter months.

Fall Trail Camera Photos

When Margarit and I were out at Nordegg in early October, I pulled the memory card from the back yard trail camera and downloaded all the images.  We don't get the wildlife coming around nearly as much in the summer, as we do in the off season.  There are just too many people and dogs and ATV's around in the summer.  By fall life drops back into the quiet routine that we love the most, and we feed the deer a little.

This time around we brought out a few apples from our tree back home, and left them out for the deer.  The first night we were out there was a big buck sniffing around my truck.  He obviously smelled the two big bags of apples I had locked up in the box.

This time around the photos didn't yield anything spectacular.  Just a couple hundred shots of the deer, and a few of our resident Red Fox.  I ended up deleting most of them, but included a couple here on my blog, just for fun.

October Snow

On Saturday October 4th there was a chill in the air and some heavy cloud cover had rolled in over night.  It started out as a light drizzle, and then changed to snow... rather heavy at times.  Fortunately there was no accumulation.  On Sunday morning it dropped down to -8C, but the clouds were gone and the sun came out.  It turned out to be another beautiful fall day, though not as warm as days past.

New Calendar for 2026

This is the new 2026 David Thompson Country calendar that I just had printed.  I will be dropping these off at the Beehive Artisan Market in Nordegg and they are available to purchase.  Later this fall I will be making another calendar.  That one will be my Fine Art Photography calendar and I always print about two dozen of those and give them away to friends and family.

An Afternoon Drive

On Thursday October 2nd, Margarit and I took an afternoon drive from the cottage, west on the David Thompson Highway, up to Abraham Lake.  The two of us were spending a few days in Nordegg, with Hank.  The kids all stayed behind in the city.  

We started out at the Landslide Lake Trailhead.  I wanted to show Margarit the First Nations site with all the prayer flags and the sweat lodge.  I had been here earlier in the summer, but this was her first time seeing it.  We found an aspen tree right near the parking lot with an old bear scrape on it.  And along the trail we found a fresh bear dump, full of Bearberries.  We didn't see any bears though.

It was a pleaseant enough day when we left Nordegg, but the further up the North Saskatchewan Valley that we headed, the cloudier and windier it got.  It felt like what it was... a cool fall day, even though the temperature wasn't all that bad.  I think it peaked at around +19 but for most of the day it was closer to around +15c.

We made a couple of stops along the shore of Abraham Lake... the first at Preachers Point and the second at Abraham Slabs.  The reservoir is really high right now, with the water right up into the trees.  With the minimal rain we've experienced in the past month, and not much waterflow on the incoming streams, this is probably as high as it is going to get.  Over the winter months the water will be slowly released to generate power, and in the spring, with the reservoir almost empty, the cycle will repeat.

I took along both my 4x5 and my 8x10 view camera and took a number of photographs of the flooded trees.  The long suffering Mrs. Pohl was very patient through it all and put up with my continued nonsense.

Two Portraits

Two shots taken on Ilford HP5+.  I rated the film at 320 iso and developed in 510 Pyro.  These were taken when the kids came up to Whirlpool Point with me and my friend Mike Rutherford, back at the end of August.  I finally got around to editing the photos, and including them here on my blog.  This is my middle daughter Ryan and her boyfriend Braeden.  It was his first time being into this part of the Rockies and he was pretty blown away.

Fall Colors

On October 2nd Margarit and I headed out to Nordegg.  The kids all stayed at home back in the city.  The leaves were just starting to turn color the last time I was out, about a week ago.  Now everything seems to be in full swing.  I think the colors may be a little subdued this year.  There has been some wind, which has already taken down some of the leaves.  Plus it has been really dry for the past month, and the vegetation is suffering a little.  The tamaracks haven't turned color yet, for the most part.  So it seems that this year won't be quite a spectacular as some previous years.  But I really enjoy it all the same as fall is my favorite time of year.

David Thompson Country Calendar - October Image

This is the image I selected for the October page of my 2025 David Thompson Country calendar.  These avens were on the gravel bars of the Blackstone River, by the Forestry Trunk Road.

I recently had the 2026 version of this calendar printed.  I used an infrared version of this same image in the new calendar.  The next time I go out to Nordegg I will be dropping off copies of the new calendar at the Beehive Artisan Market.

Winter Hockey 2025-26

Not a great start for the Renegades Hockey Team this season.  I'm back on the team this year, recovered from the broken fibula I suffered early into the last season.  So far this year we have a record of 1 win and three losses, and sit in last place in our division.  It seems we are having an issue getting enough players out to our games.  Hopefully that changes as we get into the fall, and everyone finishes up all their summer activities.  

I'm just playing as a spare this year, but so far I've made it out to our first four games.  My daughter's boyfriend Braeden is also playing as a spare this year.  He has made it out to three games so far.

A Night at the Opera

The title of an album by Queen from back in the day.  Actually for us, it was a night at the Symphony.  My sister in law Natalia took this photograph of Margarit and I as we were prepared to leave for the symphony.  We were meeting our friends Arturo and Sharon at the Winspear Center for the performance.

I'm not quite sure why the long suffering Mrs. Pohl continues to put up with me.  I am very fortunate to have such a beautiful woman and wonderful person as my wife.

Buckeye

About five years ago I bought a seedling of an Ohio Buckeye tree.  We planted it in our front year, near where our old weeping birch tree had once stood.  That birch tree died of old age and we finally had to cut it down a decade or so ago.  

We saw a buckeye on a neighbors property a few blocks away and really liked the tree.  We tried to grow a seedling of our own from a seed, but were unsuccessful.  Finally I bought a seedling and we planted it in the yard.  I seem to recall that I bought three or four of them, and only the one survived.  For the first year or two nothing really happened.  But we watered it in well, and made sure it was wrapped with burlap over the cold winter months.  In the past couple of seasons it has started to do really well.  What started out as a little seedling less than a foot high, is now a healthy sapling, nearly six feet tall.  We love the beautiful yellow-orange color that the leaves turn in the fall.  This year, for the first time, the tree produced three nuts.  One died part way through the summer, but two of them matured.  We recently picked them up from where they had fallen on the lawn.  I always wondered why they were called buckeyes, but in seeing these I realized what they were named after.  They have the almond shape and dark color of the eye of a deer.

We hope that this tree survives and thrives in our yard for many years to come.  It should eventually become a medium sized tree, about 30 feet tall.

October Calendar Image

This is the image I selected for the October Page of my 2025 Fine Art Photography Calendar.  I took this shot at Englishman River Falls Provincial Park out on Vancouver Island.  I took the photograph in the fall of 2023 when I travelled there with my friends Arturo and Chris.  The moss covered hemlock trunks and the huge maple leaves on the ground really give a feeling of fall.  This is primarily the reason I included the shot on the calendar.  I originally thought that it might also work for the Apparitions project, with the fence in the background to suggest a human presence.  I haven't made a final decision yet in that regard.