Weekend Travels

The Girls and I just returned from a weekend trip.  We spent two days in the badlands, along the Red Deer River, north of Drumheller.  We were visiting with friends that had travelled out to Alberta from the Vancouver area.  It rained most of the way there on Friday evening, but once we arrived it was pretty nice.  The mosquitos were quite voracious, but we were told that they had been a lot worse, a couple of weeks prior.  We did a little fishing and I was the only one able to haul a fish in to shore.  Unfortunately the little guy wasn't even big enough to make a hammer handle so I released the slough shark back into the river.  A couple of other fisherman that were casting from a canoe managed to haul in a few Goldeye.  We saw White Pelicans several times and heard what I think must have been a Screech Owl.  Some wildflowers were blooming including Coneflowers and some Bee Flowers.  The Gramma Grass has headed out and little "Comb-shaped" seed heads will soon be turning to "False Eyelashes" as fall is almost upon us.  We went out for a trail ride into the badlands and really enjoyed the scenery.  I managed to get out on Sunday morning with my 4x5 and do a little shooting.  Hopefully I can find time to get to my backlog in the coming months and process the boxes of film, some dating back to 2008, that await development.  As I am able to do so, these will be posted for all to enjoy.

Open Photo 2010

Back in the spring one of my images was accepted for the 2010 Province-Wide Open Photo Juried Exhibition, organized by Visual Arts Alberta Association.  This exhibition opens next week at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.  I evenually finished making my final exhibition print.  This has been quite an involved process as it included making an unsharp mask from my original 4x5 negative, and then using that to produce the final print.  The print was made on fiber-based silver gelatin paper, archivally processed including a selenium toning bath and some localized bleaching with potassium ferricyanide.  Then came the mounting, matting and framing.  Finally the finished print was delivered to VAAA today.  I look forward to the opening reception next week.

August Long Weekend

I just returned from a four day long weekend camping trip.  Actually, camping is not quite accurate... RV'ing is more like it.  We really enjoy our 5th Wheel Trailer and the luxury of a solid roof, heater, running water, refrigerator, shower, and air conditioning when we need it.  There is lots of room for me, my wife, three daughters, two dogs and lots of camera gear.

We spent the long weekend along the Forestry Trunk Road in the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains.  Most of the unofficial camping spots were filled with outdoor enthusiasts.  We chose to stay in the designated campsites that were virtually empty.  It seems that most people do not prefer the campsites as there is a nightly $23 camping fee, and you are not allowed to ride ATV's in and around the campsites.  We prefer the peace and quiet of some distance between ourselves and all the ATV riders.  I fail to see the appeal of parking beside a busy, dusty road and hearing the roar of quads all day long.

There was a significant hatch of "Police Car Moths" and they were fluttering everywhere.  My daughters had a blast catching them as well as all the other butterflies and moths that were about.  There were still quite a few wildflowers blooming including Arnica, Avens, Gallardia, Lupine, and Yarrow... among others.

The gravel bars of the Clearwater River, the Ram River, and Elk Creek are littered with marine fossils.  I'm not sure the age of this formation but I'm sure it's pretty old.  Some interesting stuff to be found for sure!!

We spent our weekend enjoying the outdoors, admiring the wildflowers, catching butterflies and moths, collecting rocks, doing a little fishing, and taking some photographs.

I managed to wander about with my 4x5 view camera a couple of times.  When we returned home to Edmonton on Monday night I processed some of the film that I exposed.  So far only a few sheets of Polaroid Type 55.  The resulting negatives are now washed and dried and I have scanned a couple of my favorites.

Palcoprep

Today I became involved as a shareholder of  Palcoprep Inc. a company based in Drumheller, Alberta.  Palcoprep is involved primarily in Paleontology and Interpretive Displays including such projects as casting and modeling, skeleton reconstruction, interpretive design, scientific art, fossil reconstruction, fossil preparation and set design.  Check out the company website at www.palcoprep.com for detailed information.  My involvement at this point is as an investor, largely behind the scenes.  But, with my photographic, business, design, drafting and construction background I expect to become more and more involved.  Check back from time to time on some of the projects that we are working on.  Most recently we collected the skeleton of a Plains Bison with plans to mold all the bones to prepare and cast mounts for interpretive display.

First Post!

This is all very new to me.  Since my life has become so very busy I decided to try and start writing a blog.  Hopefully some of my friends, with whom I'm not in regular contact, can keep in touch and see what I'm up to.  Stay Tuned!