Winter Hockey - Games 15 and 16

The Renegades have not done well lately and our losing streak continues.  On December 14th we were defeated by the Chiefs by a score of 9-4.  Then just before Christmas, on December 22nd, we lost to the Old Hawks by a score of 10-8.  This one was particularly frustrating as these guys have a spare that is dominant, but has only made it out to play twice this year.  Of course this game was one of the times that he showed up and lit us up for 4 goals and 2 assists.  Hopefully the end of the year sees and end to our losing streak and we can turn things around in 2014.

Merry Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all that follow my blog.  We all need to be truly grateful for everything that we have.  At this festive time of year I reflect back on the whirlwind that has been 2013.  Lots of great things happened this year.  I am saddened at the loss of my father back in the fall and struggle a bit through this first Christmas without him around.  For the last 50 years he has always been a part of my life and now I only have his memory to hang on to.  Life marches on and I find strength in my daughters and nieces and nephews.  Dad lives on in this next generation and there is nothing more wonderful than the excitement of Christmas for young children.

Last Batch of J&C Classic

Almost a week ago I processed my last small batch of J&C Classic 200 film in 4" x 5" format.  In fact, I am now finished processing all of my backlog of Black and White sheet film that is designated for processing on my Jobo Processor.  Over the holidays I'm going to catch up on my backlog of color negative and color positive film.  Once I am finished with all of this, then I can put the processor away for a while and focus on printing and hand processing.  

I quite like the look of this J&C film for certain images.  It is a little rough around the edges, and not of the highest quality, but this was reflected in it's very low price.  It has sort of a gritty, sooty look to it, which works really well with subjects like sand, snow and dirt.  It is by no means a portrait film and the mood that it imparts looks best with subjects that are rough, harsh and strong.

These last few negatives were all taken in 2012 and very early 2013.  I think the ones that work best with this film are the ones that have this mood.  The softer more delicate images just don't work as well with this material.

More J&C Classic

Over a week ago I processed a second batch of J&C Classic 200 4" x 5" sheet film.  Once again this film was given plus development in HC-100 developer.  The film has been hanging around... literally... awaiting the day when I had a little time to scan it and file the negatives away.  That happened yesterday, so here they are.  Some of these are duplicates of negatives that I shot on different films, and processed with different developers.  It's interesting to see how variations in exposure, shutter speed, film type and developer can make the image look anywhere from slightly to markedly different...

Spring Runoff, Blackmud Creek, 2013

Aspen Trunks, Elk Island National Park, 2012

Bush Skeleton, Alberta Badlands, 2012

Cottonwood Leaves, 2010

Main Street [taken by daughter Hailey] 2011

Medicine Lake, Fall Photo Weekend, 2012

Medicine Lake, Fall Photo Weekend, 2012

One plus Four, 2013

Badland Rills, Fall Photo Weekend, 2010

River Rocks, 2011

Spaca Moskalyk, 2011

Sparling School, 2013

Abandoned Monastery, 2011

Stone Wall and Tree, 2011

Vines and Barns, Fall Photo Weekend, 2010

White Point, Alberta Badlands, 2012

Winter Rills, 2013

Cottonwood Skeletons, 2013

Forgotten House, 2010

Christmas Show and Sale

The show was a great success.  Not from a sales perspective, but that was never the intention.  Court sold one of his prints, and I sold a couple books, but I think that was the extent of it.  But the show was very well attended, and well received.  Once again, in the mad rush to prepare for everything, we forgot to put out a guest book.  By my informal count there were probably about 150 people that came through.  It was after midnight by the time the last of us packed things up and headed out.  These shows are always such fun and so encouraging.  I had a great time and we have a couple of leads for future exhibitions, and on a couple of potential new members.  A great success by all accounts...

Preparing for the Show

The Monochrome Guild members are preparing for our semi-annual Friends and Family Show.  This time around it is a "Show and Sale".  At past shows many of our guests have questioned why we did not have our work available for sale.  The focus of these shows has always been just to have a fun evening, enjoy time with friends and family, and allow everyone to see what we have been working on.  We decided that this time we will also include a selection of prints that are available for sale.  

I have spent the last couple of evenings cutting mats, drymounting prints, and preparing a selection of work that I will have available for sale.  I will also offer signed copies of my Procession West book.  And, I will also display four or five of the large framed prints from that show.  Mostly I am looking forward to a great social evening with friends and family.  Just the way to start the festive season.  Everyone is encouraged to stop by and check it out.

Winter Hockey - Games 13 and 14

The Renegades played two games over the past several days.  On Friday we played a game against the Canadians, at CAC Arena.  This was not one of our better games.  Our backup goaltender hurt his back early in the game and struggled to continue to play.  We ended up losing by a score of 11-5.

Then on Monday night we played a game at the new Terwillegar Recreation Center against the Banana Hammocks.  The last time we played these guys they tuned us by a score of 8-1.  This time around, we were playing with the same backup goaltender, out to avenge his effort on Friday.  He stood on his head for us this time and despite being outshot, we were leading 3-1 late in the game.  They scored a questionable goal, that we thought was kicked in, late in the game.  This gave them some momentum and they rallied to tied the game with less than a minute left on the clock.  Overtime didn't settle anything so we went to the shootout. Unfortunately we did not execute in the shootout and lost the game by a score of 4-3.  But, as a team this was one of the strongest games we played all year.  And, it was a really fun game to play.  We will build on this and see if we can go on another winning streak as we move into the second half of our season.  We should be tied for first place in the standings but lost 8 points in the divisional realignment.  This leaves us solidly in playoff contention, but only in fourth place.  Our challenge moving forward will be to re-establish ourselves.

J&C Classic

Several years ago there was a small on-line film supplier in the St. Louis area... Overland Park, Kansas to be precise, that was importing and distributing European made large format film.  This was J&C Photo and John Anderson was the owners name, I believe. His company was a great supplier, providing alternatives to the main stream manufacturers, for the fine art photography market.  He was one of the first to bring Efke films to North America.  He also had a line of film branded with his own company name.  This was J&C Classic, and the emulsion was available in three speeds... 100, 200 and 400 ISO.  I experimented with the 200 ISO version as there was no other film of a comparable speed available.  A couple of years later J&C was forced to cease operation.  Partially this was because they lost the exclusive North American distribution rights to some of these products, but I also heard that there was a "frivolous" law suit of some sort launched against the company.  In any event it was sad to see them go.

I bought a number of boxes of the 200 speed version and have been shooting a little of it every year.  Each time that I process a batch I am encouraged by how good the negatives look, and vow to shoot it more often.  I have been saving up my exposed film for a number of years and now find that I have 50 sheets to process.  I use my Jobo processor and Kodak HC-110 developer with this film, and develop a little longer than normal to increase constrast.  The film has a nice grain structure and a bit of a gritty look to it.  I quite like it and it works really well with certain subjects.  I still have a few boxes left in my freezer, but once that's gone I'm not sure what I'll do.  Freestyle Photo in California sells a film that is branded with their own Arista name, and is available in a 200 ISO version.  Maybe this is the same emulsion, or at least similar.  I think I need to give it a try.

Earlier this week I processed the first batch of 20 sheets.  That film is now dry and I scanned the negatives this morning.  Here's what I ended up with...

These first three are from various camping trips and day trips back in the fall of 2009

Aspen Trunks, Tolman Bridge

Twice Fallen

Beach Grass in Wind

In the fall of 2009 the Monochrome Guild headed down to the badlands around Drumheller for our annual Fall Photo Weekend.  These two images were taken on that trip.  Both are detail shots, taken with a long lens, viewing downward onto some badland exposure.

Rills

Hoodoo Layer

These two images were taken at an old abandoned farm up in Lamont County in the spring of 2010.

Porch

 

Windows and Trunks

Hailey and I headed out for a Dad and daughter camping weekend back in the mid-summer of 2010.  We ended up in Beauvallon, northeast of Edmonton, and spent some time photographing there.

Old Chevy

And another in my "Playground Ghost" series.

On the May Long Weekend this past summer, we took our new trailer down to Southern Alberta.  These next two images were taken at Red Rock Coulee Natural Area.

Red Rock Boulders

Slab

Later in the spring we ended up down at Tolman Bridge for the annual Dad and Kids camping weekend.

Fence Line

Fence Post

When my cousin and her family were visiting from Germay last summer we travelled to the badlands and the mountains with them.  These two shots of the old Elevator at Dorothy were taken on that trip.

On this past September Long Weekend we went out with the trailer and headed to Southeastern Alberta and eventually over into Saskatchewan.  My Mom came along with us on this trip.  It was while we were away camping that my father passed away.  On the first day of that trip we stopped at the Mud Buttes.

Mud Butte Rills

Twin Buttes

Just a few weeks ago the Monochrome Guild headed out to Jasper for the 2013 version of the Fall Photo Weekend.  This was the trip that Hailey came along on.  These two shots were taken of the ice beginning to accumulate on the rocks of Portal Creek.

Ice Bells

Portal Creek