Icy Log

Another film shot from the Un-Named Falls.  This one is quite similar to another that I recently posted.  I was recently advised that this waterfall once had a name.  But I can find no record of one on any of the topographical or backroads maps that I have.  I think it was just a name that someone made up for it.  Much like my title of "Un-Named Falls".  I think I'll stick with mine...

Mild Spell

Weather conditions were forecast to be really mild in early November so I headed back out to the cottage.  None of the girls were able to join me, so this time it was a solo trip.  Before leaving town I stopped to have lunch with my friends Brad and Rob on November 4th.  Rob was in town briefly and we took advantage of the opportunity to get together.  This was the first time the three of us had seen each other, face to face, since our trip to Vancouver Island in 2019.  It was great to catch up again and we hope to be able to travel together again next year.

After lunch I hit the road for Nordegg and arrived at the cottage in the late afternoon.  It was a beautiful day, with the temperature up around +12C.  I took advantage of the opportunity and washed all the rocks that Shawn and I had collected last weekend.

I don't think it froze overnight and by 9:00 in the morning it was already up to about +5C.  The temperature peaked again at around +12C and I took advantage of the mild conditions to do some work in the cottage.

While I was away my contractor Scott installed the weeping tile and partially backfilled the cottage.  Hopefully he can finish the rest soon, and get the septic tank covered up.

I cut up some aluminum angle and screwed it to the inside floor.  This was to create a border for the masonry floor that I was to construct.  I laid out all the rocks in jigsaw puzzle fashion and was able to fill the area I needed.  I thought I would have ample rocks for this, but there was only a handful left over.  By late afternoon I had the rocks all mortared into place.  But the mortar was too soft for me to get really serious about scrubbing the exposed surface of all the rocks.  I left an electric heater on inside the guest cottage while I went and had dinner.  After dinner I came out to see what I could do, but everything was still too soft.  I'm sure it will be somewhat set up in the morning, but hopefully it doesn't freeze too hard overnight.  The sky cleared right off and there are a lot of stars out.  By 8:00PM it had dropped down to +3C, so fingers crossed that it stays above zero in the guest cottage.  In the morning I will clean up all the rocks, and then move on to my next project.....

Spreading Creek Burn on Film

This was the last shot of the day as Jon and I returned back to the cottage.  There was beautiful evening light on the foreground burnt pines, and some deep shadows on the background mountains.  I used a long 400mm lens to get in tight on this scene, and used a #25 Red Filter to deepen the sky values, and the shadows, and to pump up the contrast a little.  I really like the way this one turned out and may consider making a print of it to hang in the cottage.

Ice Crusted Stick

I took this shot back in October when Jon and I hiked in to the Un-Named Falls.  This place will look really spectacular once it gets a little colder, and even more ice begins to form.

Halloween

Halloween dawned even colder than the morning before.  It was -15C just as the sun was coming up.  Shawn and I would spend one more day working in the guest cottage.  We got all of the vapor barrier installed to the vaulted ceiling, and to the bedrooms.  We got some of the vapor barrier installed on the walls.  We couldn't finish the walls as there are a number of places that I still need to cut through for exterior electrical outlights, exterior lights, and vents.  This work has to wait until the siding is installed.

There were a bunch of deer hanging around the cottage during the day... and I'm sure during the night too.  Now that it has become colder, and there isn't as much for them to eat, they are looking to get fed.

We knew that there would be at least a few kids coming around trick-or-treating, so I was prepared with some Halloween candy.  We had a total of 22 little ghosts and goblins come around looking for treats.  It was kind of fun to see all the little kids, and to spend Halloween out in the mountains.  This was the first time that I had done that.

Margarit sent me some snapshots of the Jack-O-lanterns that the girls carved back in the city.  It was warmer and busier in the city, and Margarit said she had almost 60 kids come around looking for treats.

Moving Up

Now that I have begun to gain a little experience with watercolor painting I decided to move up to a larger paper size.  Back in August I bought myself a block of 14" x 20" Arches Cold Press paper.  I am working on a painting that is about 13" x 16-1/2".  Once gain, this is based on one of my photographs.  I printed that photo on my printer to half the size of the painting I am making.  I started by laying out a working sketch of the image, and then set to work with the paint.  This one is from a photograph that I took in 2018.  It is the old Alberta Wheat Pool elevator in Esther.  I shot this when I was returning from the reunion trip to southern Saskatchewan for our "Forgotten Prairie" documentary.  I started on this one while I was out at Nordegg in late August.  

Then I left it alone for quite a while.  I left all my art supplies out at the cottage and went back to the city for a while.  I usually only paint when I am out at the cottage anyway, and dragging all the supplies back and forth has become somewhat of a nuisance.  In between I also took a trip down to East Coulee for a couple of days.  I didn't return to Nordegg until mid-September and then tried to pick up where I left off.  But that week spent at the cottage in mid-September was filled with work on the guest cottage, and I never even touched the painting.

So it was not until early October... Thanksgiving weekend to be precise... that I got back to work on this painting.  The painting part is pretty much done now, but I need to get to work with pens and pencils to render and detail it properly.

Shortly after Thanksgiving I got busy with cottage construction, and once again this painting fell by the wayside.  I think this has been the longest dry stretch without me completing a painting.  I started this one in August, and here I am in November and its still not done...!

But, on my return trip to Nordegg on November 4th, I finally managed to finish it.  Now I can move on to something new.

Approved

On October 28th I headed back out to Nordegg.  This time my brother-in-law Shawn came along.  The electrical inspector was scheduled to come out and check my rough in work on Friday.

My contractor and one of his subtrades showed up on Friday morning.  They put in the chimney for the wood stove, and the plumbing vent.  Shortly afterwards, the electrical inspector showed up.  He had a quick look at everything and asked me a few questions about what I had done.  He approved it all without any deficiencies, and said that we were free to continue with insulation.  So that's what we did.  Literally minutes after the guys got down off the roof and the inspector left, it started to snow.  It snowed moderately for most of the afternoon and we got accumulations of about 3/4 of an inch.

Shawn and I spent the rest of Friday and got most of the insulation installed.  When we got up on Saturday morning, it was really cold.  It had cleared overnight and the temperature dropped to about -14C.  We waited until late morning, for things to warm up, before going back to work.  I ran a small electric heater off of a long extension cord and it helped to keep the chill out of the cottage.  By the end of the day we had all of the insulation installed, and had started on the vapor barrier.

Waterfall without a Name

This is the Black and White film version of the Un-named waterfall that Jon and I explored back in October.  I posted a whole bunch of phone snap shots from the same location, a short time ago.  I shot this on FP4 film, developed in Perceptol.  I'm really struggling with this combination and having issues with the dye not washing properly out of the film.  I'm going to have to try switching to a different developer and see if I can achieve some better results.

Rapids

This is a 4x5 film shot, taken on Ilford FP4.  These are the rapids just below the unnamed waterfall that I explored in mid-October with my friend Jon.  I processed this film in Ilford Perceptol developer.

November Calendar Image

This is the shot I chose for the November page of my 2021 calendar.  It is some ice crusted rocks in the Maligne River in Jasper National Park.  I shot this before Covid, when some friends from the Monochrome Guild were out on our annual Fall Photo Weekend.  For two years now we haven't been able to consider our fall trip.  Though hopefully we can at least get out for a day trip this year...

Its just about time to start selecting images for my 2022 calendar....

Spreading Creek Burn

While Jon and I were out exploring with our cameras, we stopped to photograph the Spreading Creek Burn.  We photographed in several spots just outside of Banff National Park.  The late afternoon light was beautiful and we tried to take advantage of it.

This fire started in July of 2014.  Originally it was a controlled burn, intended to thin some of the old forest within the National Park, and reduce the risk of future wildfires.  I believe this one got out of control beyond what was intended as it burned well outside of the park, along the David Thompson Highway, all the way to Whirlpool Point.  Old news reports talk of the fire being about 7000 hectares [17,300 acres], but I think that may have been before the fire got out of control.  It may have ended up even larger than that.  The fire was very erratic.  In some areas it was very intense and everything is burnt right to the ground.  Other areas must have burnt off quickly, and the devastation was not as intense.  Some areas were passed over altogether.  I have tried many times to photograph the aftermath, with mixed results.  On this day I made yet another attempt.

Old Right of Way

While we were out at Nordegg, Jon and I went for a hike on the old Right of Way of the Icefields Parkway.  This area is in the northern end of Banff National Park, near the Big Bend.  I had hiked this area about a year ago, but this was the first time for Jon.  Shortly after coming off of the Saskatchewan Glacier, the North Saskatchewan River disappears into a cleft in the rock.  The old right of way of the Icefields Parkway branches off from the new highway at this point.  There is an old concrete bridge, dated 1938, right near the spot where the river disappears.  We followed the old right of way for about half a mile or so and then came upon a second bridge, dated 1939.  It is at this point that the North Saskatchewan River exits that cleft in the rock.  A short distance further is a third bridge, also dated 1939.  This one spans Nigel Creek, which joins the North Saskatchewan a short distance downstream.  The current steel arch span of the new highway can be seen above the old bridge.

There were lots of yellow flowered avens in seed all over the roadway and in addition to photographing the old bridges, we also did some shots of these.  It was an enjoyable walk on a comfortable fall day.