Winter Hockey - Game 17

The Renegades played Game 17 of our 30-Game Winter Season, and the first game of 2015, last night.  It was a late game that didn't get started until 11:15PM, up on the north side of the City at KofC Arena.  By the time I got home, put away my gear, had a shower and something to eat, it was nearly 3:00AM before I was able to get to bed.
We faced off against the Tighthawks.  In the past we never were able to defeat these guys but this season things have turned around.  It looked like for a change, we would be able to play with a full bench.  But, shortly before game time one of our guys bailed out.  And, then early in the first period one of our best forwards was ejected for a body check.  We had to shuffle the deck and finish the game with only four defence.

It was a close game and the two teams seemed to alternate scoring.  We held a lead for most of the game and managed to shut down a late surge by the Tighthawks and hang on for a 5-4 victory.  This helps us to retain our hold on second place in Division VIII.
Here is a copy of the standings from the league website.  This does not take into account this most recent game.  The PD column stands for "points deducted" and records points that have been added or taken away as a result of divisional moves.  For example, Los Banditos has a great record with 12 wins, 3 losses and a tie, but, they played their first 16 games in a lower division against weaker teams so as a result that have had 9 points in the standings deducted when they were moved up to Division VIII, a couple weeks ago.  Alternatively, the Trojans have a record identical to ours, put they played their first few games of the season in a higher division against tougher teams and as a result have had 4 points added to their total.  This is the leagues attempt to even things out as best they can.  Not totally accurate as although we were not moved, we played a number of games against tougher teams that have since been moved up and this is not taken into account.  I guess it is just up to us to play hard for the remaining 13 games of the season and see to it that we earn a spot in the playoffs.  The top four teams in the division move on to a playoff round in early April.

RANK	TEAM	GP	W	L	OTL	T	PD	PTS	WIN%	GF	GFA	GA	GAA	PP GF	PP GA	SH GF	SH GA
1	Trojans	16	10	5	0	1	-4	25	.656	87	5.44	73	4.56	10	14	2	7
2	Renegades	16	10	5	0	1	0	21	.656	92	5.75	79	4.94	10	7	2	6
3	StAnkey	16	11	4	0	1	3	20	.719	89	5.56	62	3.88	11	9	4	0
4	Tighthawks	16	5	9	0	2	-5	17	.375	77	4.81	89	5.56	13	5	2	0
5	Los Banditos	16	12	3	0	1	9	16	.781	75	4.69	41	2.56	10	3	6	1
6	Hungry Beavers	16	6	8	0	2	0	14	.438	89	5.56	93	5.81	5	11	5	2

Printing Woes

This may seem Greek to those of you that have never printed in the darkroom...  I have been having issues with my black and white prints lately.  Several negatives that I have attempted to print in recent weeks have come out really flat and lacking contrast.  There are a number of factors that could be contributing to this and at this point I'm really not sure what the problem is.  Possibilities include....

1.)  An unsharp mask that is too dense [though I didn't use a mask with several negatives I attempted to print]

2.)  Developer exhausted or oxidized [I tried two different developers at different concentrations, but both were older stock]

3.)  Paper is becoming old and fogged [I used paper from several different batches but all were a few years old, and the one that was not is the one that was attempted with the too-dense mask].

4.)  The contrast filters in my enlarger are becoming aged and faded.

To attempt to pinpoint the problem I will be mixing up a fresh batch of developer for my next print session, and working with the newest paper stock that I have.  In the meantime I have also ordered some fresh developer, and some new contrast filters for my enlarger.  I hope to be able to get to the bottom of this as my most recent printing sessions were very discouraging.  Here are some of examples of the crappy prints that resulted...

Exposure 2015

I previously posted that one of my images has been accepted for the Exposure 2015 festival coming up this February.  Recently I was sent a copy of the official invitation to this particular exhibition.  I was pleased to learn that a portion of my image was included, front and center, on this invitation. Here is a scan of the front and back of the invitation.  Please feel free to attend if you will be in the Edmonton area on February 21 and 22 of 2015.

Christmas Holidays

Happy New Year to everyone!!  Many Thanks to all of you that have been returning to read my blog on a regular basis.  As a fifty-plus-year-old Red Neck that barely made it through high school I'm surprised and appreciative of all the compliments I get about my writing.  Apparently I can do more than take pictures... and I appreciate all the encouragement.

The girls and I have had quite a relaxed holiday this year.  I closed my shop for an extended holiday break on December 19th, and I'm not re-opening it until Monday January 5th.  I've been in a number of times to check the building, bring in the mail, and respond to a few phone and e-mail messages... But mostly it has been a nice extended break.

We spent Christmas Eve out at my Mom's place, with my brothers and their families.  On Christmas Day Margarit's side of the family came over to our place for Christmas Dinner.  New Years Eve was pretty low key and we walked over to the neighborhood Community Hall for the fireworks display.  It was an early one... at 9:00PM.  Margarit and I turned in early, and I think we were both asleep well before the strike of midnight.  But, the two older girls stayed up watching all the New Year's Eve shows on TV and probably didn't get to sleep until the wee hours...  They won't admit how late they actually stayed up!!

The temperature was cold around Christmas but warmed up in recent days.  Yesterday it got up around the freezing point, and today, New Year's Day, it got up to about +3C.  Tonight there is a weather front moving in and the temperature is supposed to plummet by the weekend.  There is a snowfall warning in effect with the potential for up to 8 inches by tomorrow.

Today my friend Rob and I went out for a drive with our cameras.  But, with the mild temperatures we typically get overcast skies and today was no exception.  We scouted around for a while and didn't find anything really good.  We came across a railway maintenance yard that in better light might yield some better images.

Not finding anything worth shooting we headed up northeast of the City to an old abandoned school house and did some interior shots.  I am experimenting with a couple of new developers and I took some test shots to compare to some of my standard film and developer combinations.  These new developers are generally highly diluted, and the film is left to stand in the developer with little or no agitation, for extended periods of time... up to an hour.  This development regimen is supposed to subdue highlights and support shadow values so it will be interesting to see if it works.

On December 31st Margarit and I headed out for a day trip.  We got a bit of a late start as it was a challenge to get our lazy daughters out of bed and fed breakfast before we hit the road.  We headed out to the abandoned Monastery north of Lamont.  It was early afternoon before we finally arrived and this left us little time for shooting before the short daylight hours faded away.  The cloud was a little lighter on the afternoon of New Year's Eve, as compared to what Rob and I experienced today.  I have been up to this site on numerous occasions, including at least three previous trips this year.  Margarit has never been here before and was quite fascinated by these old structures.  We spent a couple of hours photographing and exploring before we had to make our way back home.

This is an interior shot of one of the old buildings at the site.  These buildings are all badly deteriorated and are slowly falling apart.  The monks that originally established this site were obviously not carpenters as the buildings are all very crooked and misaligned.  Notice the wall in this particular room.  The plaster is intact and not cracked or disturbed which obivously indicates that the left wall was this far out of plumb when the plaster was applied...

Here are a number of additional shots taken at the site on this afternoon at the end of 2014.  Mostly other interior stuff but also one panoramic image of the overall site, including the piano that was recently abandoned in the center clearing.  This is definitely a most interesting site to visually explore and Margarit is anxious to return.  Perhaps we will plan another day trip the next time we are forecast to get a spell of mild weather.

APX25 Medium Format Roll Film

Earlier in the month I processed a few rolls of Agfapan APX25 medium format film.  This stuff has been discontinued for some time.  It is a very slow and fine grained film which yields negatives that rival large format ones.  Most of these shots were taken out on Vancouver Island, when Margarit and I flew out there for a long weekend, back in May of 2013.  A couple of the images were taken in Jasper during one of our family reunion weekends.  I think these date way back to May of 2012.  The shot of the frosty trunks is from a recent day trip at the beginning of December.  This shot finally completed that roll of film that was started so long ago.  I need to shoot with my Hasselblad more often!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...!!

Seasons greetings to everyone.  Many thanks to everyone that continues to read my blog and view all my photos.  Comments are always welcome...!!  I wish everyone a happy holiday season and a healthy and properous 2015.  Stay tuned for more of my usual stuff...

Ilford SFX 200

I've been dabbling a little with this film over the last couple of years.  Unfortunately it is not made in sheet formats, only medium and small format roll films.  This film is advertised as having extended red sensitivity.  I think this is an accurate description.... as it is not a true infrared film... but it is very close.  I expose it through a #89B infrared filter.  This filter is virtually opaque and you can't really see through it, unless you hold it up to a bright light source.  Here is a picture of the filter that I use, and a shot of it held up to my desk lamp....

In general, infrared films render skies as a dark black, water very dark as well, and living vegetation often yields a white glow.  When this film is exposed through this filter, it very much has the look of infrared film, with an increase in grain.  I quite like the look that I acheived with a few recently processed frames.  When a filter this opaque is used, it is obvious that what is getting through and exposing the film is wavelengths mostly beyond what the human I can see.  This batch includes a panoramic shot from last year, as well as a recent shot of an old house from one of the December day trips.  In particular, the shot of the tide pools out on Vancouver Island, shot back in the spring of 2013, is intriguing...  Notice that the seaweed on the rocks glows quite white on the rocks, contrasted nicely by the dark water and dark sky.  Notice that the starfish down on the foreground rocks is also glowing.  I need to spend a little more time shooting this film and getting familiar with it...

December Day Trips

Twice in recent weeks I have headed out on Saturday day trips.  I wanted to try out the new 150-600mm Tamron zoom lens that I recently bought for my digital camera.  I also wanted to make a point of doing more shooting with my medium format Hasselblad system.  Both times I packed up a selection of gear that included my Nikon 810 digital camera and lenes, my Hasselblad kit with a body and various packs and lenses, and my trusty old 4"x5" view camera.

On December 6th I headed out.  Margarit was planning on coming along, as was Tanja from the Monochrome Guild.  But, Margarit felt really sick, so just Tanja and I headed out.  We passed through Elk Island Park and then on into Lamont County.  Once again I saw a coyote... actually three this time, in the same part of the park.  This was the very spot where we had previously witnessed the very tame coyote at the side of the road with a group of photographers.  This time there was a dead moose in the ditch and the coyotes, along with a collection of ravens and magpies, were feeding.

We stopped in a number of spots up in Lamont County to check out a few old buildings and to make a few photographs.  I shot mostly with my digital, and a little bit with the Hasselblad, but the 4x5 never made it out of the truck...

Then this past Saturday, December 20th, I headed out into the same area again.  This time Mark from the Monochrome Guild came along with me.  We did see a coyote in the very same spot in Elk Island again, but by now, two weeks later, the moose carcass was gone.  The last five times I have passed through Elk Island National Park I have seen one or more coyotes in this same spot.   

It had been very foggy in the area northeast of Edmonton for a couple of days prior to our trip.  It was clear and sunny when we headed out but there was a beautiful hoarfrost all over everything.  The temperature was forecast to get up about freezing, and I think it did back in the city, but out where we were it never got above -10C.  But we enjoyed the day and did quite a bit of shooting.  This time around I shot with my digital, with my Hasselblad, and also with my 4x5.  We tried to find an old house that I had shot at about 7 years ago, as I knew there was some cool interior shots to try there.  I had the GPS coordinates with me and we drove around and eventually found the right spot.  But, like so many others, the house was gone...

But there was another interesting old house just a couple miles up the road and we spent a couple of hours shooting there...

This is a shot from 2007 of that now non-existent house that I was hoping to find.  I guess I should have a look back at the other negatives that I shot that afternoon seven years ago and see if there is something that I should work with...

More Adox CHS50...

On December 4th I processed a first batch of Adox CHS-50 in Rodinal and then again on December 6th I did a second batch.  Here are scans of a few of the better images...

These first few were all taken out in Jasper, on various trips out to the park.  The Aspen Trunks were taken the same morning that my brother was confronted by a cow elk.  Some are from various Fall Photo Weekends with the Monochrome Guild.  A couple were taking during a hike up to Wilcox Pass, when my cousin and her family were visiting from Germany...

These next few are all from various outings and daytrips.  A walk in Blackmud Ravine... A weekend trip out to the Forestry Trunk Road, and a day trip out to Elk Island.  The shot of the mushrooms was actually taken by my oldest daughter Hailey...