Vancouver Island Trip - Union Bay

On the morning of October 21st Chris and I got up early.  Arturo slept in.  Chris and I took a short drive down the coast.  Our first stop was at Royston, and we checked out all the old ships that were deliberately sunken along a jetty.  Sadly they are only accessible by a small boat.  The jetty was once a log dump, and a train brought logs from interior sawmills to the coast.  Now it is just abandoned.

After that we continued down the coast to Union Bay.  There was a ship breaking yard here that we hoped to gain access to.  But, it has been a very controversial endeavor since it opened a couple of years ago, to the point that neighbors have been protesting and picketing the site.  I understand that there is even a lawsuit before the courts.  The neighbors are concerned that their property values are declining.  But, the ship yard is on the site of another former log dump, and right next door is a site that is apparently the most polluted site on the island.  Here there once was a wharf that was used to load coal from the nearby Cumberland mine, onto ships. The area is littered with coal slag and debris and the beach and seafloor is mostly devoid of life.  There is a large residential development here with streets and street lights and utilities run in to serviced lots.  But nothing has been built yet, and it sits waiting for something.

Chris and I explored and photographed a little, including a short run a little further down the beach to where some oyster boats were working.  Then we headed back to the rental house and picked up Arturo.  We returned to Union Bay and explored and photographed the area a little further, including in some nearby woods.

As the day came to an end we turned back up to Courtenay and dropped our gear off at the house.  Then we went out to a local pub in the evening.  After that we returned to the rental house to relax and unwind and prepare for the adventure that the next day would bring.

To the Coast

On the morning of Friday September 19th, I left the house early... around 6:30AM.  I headed over to Arturo's place and picked him up and we hit the road.  We headed south to Calgary and picked up Chris there.  Then we headed west on the Trans-Canada Highway.  This would be a driving day, and by evening we made it as far as Kamloops.  I don't like driving for prolonged periods of time in darkness, and the days are relatively short at this time of year, so a stop was in order.  We had hotel rooms pre-booked in Kamloops so we checked in and settled down.  We went out to a local restaurant and then turned in fairly early.

First thing in the morning we were on the road again.  We took the Coquihalla Highway, once a toll highway but now free, down to the lower mainland.  We blasted through the lower Fraser Valley, through Vancouver, and on to West Vancouver.  We caught the Horseshoe Bay Ferry to Nanaimo with only a short wait.  It was around 1:00 when we caught the ferry, and by the time we got off at the other side, it was around 3:00.  We stopped in at a grocery store and then headed up the Island for an hour to Courtenay.  We checked in to the house that we had rented for the next week.  This is the same house that I stayed at with Margarit and the girls back in 2016.  I stayed a second time in 2019 when I visited with my friends Rob and Brad.  It was just as comfortable and homey as ever.

We headed over to a nearby restaurant for dinner, and then later in the evening settled in at the house and got unpacked for our upcoming stay.

35mm Scans - BP 2.1 Greenhill

This is the last batch of scans of my 35mm shots.  Once again this is all T-Max 400 rated at 1600 iso developed in Tmax Developer, 1:4, 7:50 minutes at 24C.  These shots are from out return visit to the Greenhill Hotel in Blairmore as part of the Beer Parlour Project tour.  We refer to this stop on the tour as BP2.1.  Our first visit was the second stop on the tour, BP2.0, about a year prior to this current visit on September 16th 2023.

This is the basement of the old hotel, and the VLT area.  Nothing really spectacular here, but these images nicely compliment some of the other shots I have.

35mm Scans - BP 7.0 Grand Union

Continuing with the scans of the recently developed 35mm roll film, this is more T-Max 400 rated at 1600 iso developed in Tmax Developer, 1:4.  These are the shots from BP7.0, taken on September 15th. This was the 7th establishment that we explored on the ongoing Beer Parlour Project tour.

Shots include the local band that was playing in the tavern that night, as well as a number of other things around the Grand Union Hotel in Coleman.  

The heavy rolling door was the entrance to the boiler room in the basement.  We also got a tour of the upstairs hallways and the old hotel rooms that are now rented out longer term.  Seems the numbers on the rooms have been changed over the years.  I wonder if Peter still comes around...?

35mm Scans - BP 6.0 Thorsby

These images are mostly from the same batch of 35mm Roll Film as my previous post.  T-Max 400 rated at 1600 iso developed in Tmax Developer, 1:4, 7:50 minutes at 24C.  The exception is the blurry shot of someone playing the pinball machine.  That one was also 35mm Roll Film, but Kodak Tri-X Pan 400 film, shot at 400 iso, and developed in Tmax Developer, 1:4, 6:00 minutes at 24C.

These were all taken on August 5th 2023, at the Thorby Hotel.  The was the outing that we refer to as BP6.0.  The sixth location on the Beer Parlour Project tour.

It is certainly a lot easier to get candid shots of people with a small SLR, as opposed to setting up the big view camera.  I'm generally happy with these and think that some of them will nicely compliment the images taken with the view camera.

35mm Scans - BP5.0 Tofield

I processed a batch of 35mm roll film.  I do not shoot this format very often, but returned to it for the Beer Parlour Project.  I have some fast lenses for my Contax 35mm SLR's and have been using them to shoot some T-Max 400 film.  Just like with the 4" x 5" sheet version of this same emulsion, I have been pushing it to 1600 iso.  It has been working out quite well, and even though pushing the film increases the grain size and pumps up the contrast somewhat, the small format images have been more than acceptable.  Development was in T-Max Developer, a formula specially formulated for use with this film, and intended for pushing.  I diluted the developer 1:4, and developed for 7:50 minutes at 24C.

These three images are all from BP5.0 at the Tofield Hotel on August 4th of this past summer.  The younger guy seen in two of the three shots was together with the older gentleman, who was his grandfather.  Arturo shot a more formal portrait of them and will be making them a print.  The other image is of Sharon, Arturo's wife, chatting with Lana.  Lana is a local and a regular at the hotel tavern, and I also photographed her with the big view camera.

Hanger Four

One more from the southern Alberta trip, and yet another T-Max 100 sheet developed in 510 Pyro.  This scan is cropped from a 4 x 5" negative.  It was rather challenging to shoot as I had to position my view camera to shoot through a very small gap in a chain link fence.  This was taken on June 22nd 2023 at around 3:10 in the afternnon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a Nikkor 150mm lens.  A #8 yellow filter lightened the foreground grass and deepened the value of the sky a little.

This is an abandoned aircraft hanger at a small town airport.  Apparently it dates back to the second world war and was used for pilot training.  It seems to be currently used for storage, but is badly deteriorated and will not last much longer without some care and attention.

Fire Escape

This image is also from the recent batch of T-Max 100 developed in 510 Pyro, and also from the trip down to southern Alberta in June.  I shot this on June 22nd at about 12:10 in the afternoon with my Ebony view camera and a Rodenstock 90mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter deepened the value of the sky, lightened the red brick, and increased contrast.

This is the fire escape on the back of the American Hotel in Fort McLeod.  The hotel was recently purchased by a group of locals and is being renovated into long term affordable rentals.

Controls

This image is also from the recent visit to the Turner Valley Gas Plant Historic Site.  I shot this on Kodak T-Max 100 Film, developed in 510 Pyro, 1:100 for 7:45 minutes at 24C.  This shot was taken on June 17th 2023 at about 12:40 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Nikkor 150mm lens.

I thought that the controls had sort of a human facial element to them.  Perhaps if I crop in tighter when printing I can play up that effect.

Coolers

This shot dates back to our visit to the Turner Valley Gas Plant Historic Site last summer.  This one was taken on Kodak T-Max 400.  This is part of the recent batch that saw the film pushed to 1600 iso and developed in T-Max Developer, 1:4.  Most of the other shots in that batch were from the Beer Parlour Project.

These units are coolers, and as I recall, they were in the Scrubber Building.  I shot this on June 17th at about 12:30 in the afternoon.  It was quite heavily overcast that day and the light levels were rather low, hence the choice to shoot at 1600 iso.  I shot this with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Schneider Super Symmar 110mm lens.  A filter would have been of no benefit, so none were used.

In Focus 2024

Two of my images were selected for the 2024 In Focus Photo Exhibition.  This is the tenth anniversary of the event.  I have had my work included in most of these exhibitions over the past decade.  I think I only missed one during the Covid years, and right at the time that I was wrapping up my working career.  This time around the event is a little more extravagant with images displayed at multiple venues, and a book to be published.  I don't have many details yet, but will update here on my blog from time to time over the coming months.  My work will be displayed at the Wild Skies Gallery in the Renaissance Hotel at the Edmonton International Airport starting in February of 2024.  These are the two images that were selected...

Had To Go...!

Sometime back in August, the wind broke a large limb off of a spruce tree in on my Mom's acreage.  I got a couple of tree removal companies to quote on taking it down.  One company quoted $1,250, and the other, who I eventually hired, quoted $950.  I was finally able to book them in on Tuesday October 11th.  I wanted to be there while they were doing the work as Mom is not really comfortable with having strangers at her place.  Plus, I needed to pay them when they were done.

Gerry's Cheapest Tree Removal showed up with a bucket truck, a big mulcher, a stump grinder and a crew of about seven guys.  Within about an hour they had the tree limbed all all the branches and logs 12" in diameter and smaller mulched up, and ready to haul away.  Then they took down the main trunk and bucked it up into slabs.  A quick clean up and they were done and on to the next job.

My brother-in-law Shawn wanted to take all the wood for his fire pit so me met me out there.  After the crew was gone we spent a little time with the chain saw cutting up the slabs.  First we had to cut each slab in half, and then each half had to be cut into three or four chunks.  These chunks are small enough to haul away, but will still need to be further split with an axe before drying and burning.  We returned the next day and finished the job of cutting everything up.  Shawn will haul it all back to his place over the next several days.  When we did the clean up afterwards, it took eight wheelbarrow loads to haul away all the shavings and sawdust from cutting the slabs.

I estimate that the tree was about 50 feet tall, and the trunk right at the base was almost three feet in diameter.  Shawn has more than enough wood for his backyard firepit for the forseeable future and will be giving some of it away to neighbors and friends.  I kept one big slab from near the base and will see if there is something that I can build with it.

Finishing Up

While we were out at the cottage together Margarit and I decided to do some house cleaning.  We dug through the cupboards and found that we had two to three years worth of stale food.  This included started boxes of crackers, cereal, chips and snacks.  We put most of it out for the birds, and kept a little stuff that was still unopened, though somewhat outdated.  We will take that home and see if the teenage girls decide that it is edible.  This left a lot more space in the cupboards and we were able to put all the excess groceries away, freeing up some counter space.  We vowed that going forward we won't be so excessive in our grocery purchases.

On Thanksgiving Monday we just puttered around on some chores at the cottage.  We made a run to the dump and got rid of some construction waste, some cardboard, and a little household garbage.  Then we went to work over in the guest cottage for a bit.  Now that it is close to finished I don't want to get the place all messed up with sawdust and construction debris.  So I got Margarit to hold the shop vac right behind the chop saw while I cut up some material.  I cut up the last of the tile edging for the bathroom.  Then I switched over the saw blade from a metal one, to a wood one, and we cut up the casing for the bathroom door.  I used the brad nailer and we installed that.

Later in the afternoon I split some fire wood and Margarit tidied up around the yard a little.  There remains one old pile of cut logs that need to be split.  These are behind the garage, and I got a good start on them today.  There are still some big logs back there that need to be cut up, but most of them belong to my neighbor, and only a few are mine.  The remaining cut logs are all over at the guest cottage, and they aren't all that old it.  It seems they will have to wait until next year.

Margarit washed the old retro medicine cabinet that we recently picked up at an antique store.  After it had dried I gave it a first coat of white spray paint.  Later in the afternoon I made us a batch of wings before Margarit had to hit the road for home.  After she left I installed another section of ceramic tile backsplash in the kitchen of the guest cottage.  I will stay one more day and finish up a few odds and ends and do a thorough clean up in the cottage before I head home.

Next time I come out I will bring some stock to make door stops.  I can install this, and then continue with the installation of corner trim and baseboards.  I can also carry on with the ceramic tiles, and the remaining floor tiles.

Sunday Drive down Chungo Road

On Thanksgiving Sunday, October 8th, Margarit and I decided NOT to do any work around the cottage.  Instead we set out on an afternoon drive.  Originally we intended to drive up the Forestry Trunk Road to the Blackstone River.  But, we made a last minute decision and headed west on the Chungo Road instead.  

It was a beautiful day with clear sunny skies, and the temperature peaked at about +24C.  Very warm for this late in the season...  Our first stop was along Lookout Creek.  It was beautiful here, and I set up the big camera for a shot.  We noticed a bunch of trout in the creek, but all the tributaries of the Blackstone River are mostly closed to fishing.

Later we continued on to the Blackstone River.  This is upstream quite a distance from the Trunk Road crossing of the Blackstone that we usually visit.  There is a small recreation area with rudimentary camping facilities here at this upper crossing.

Later we continued even further west and followed the road to a crossing on Chungo Creek.  There was another small camping area here, but no one was around.  We wandered around down by the creek for quite a while and I took a few more photographs with the big camera.  By this point we were around 30km west of the Trunk Road, and getting closer to the Bighorn Range.  The main ranges were not particularly visible from this area as the road followed all the valleys in between the foothills and front ranges.  We turned around at this point and slowly made our way back to Nordegg.  Along the way we saw both White Tailed and Mule Deer, as well as lots of moose and elk tracks.  We even saw a couple of Spruce Grouse on the side of the road.

When we got back to the cottage it was about 5:00 and I put a beef roast into the oven for dinner.  We enjoyed a really nice meal together.  By the time we finished up it was around 8:30, and still very warm.  We went out for an evening stroll and cursed all the neighbors that had so many of their house lights on.  Eventually we got a little further away from all the light pollution and admired the clear skies with all the stars and the milky way visible.  We saw a really bright meteor streak across the sky from south to north and I'm pretty sure I head it crackling as it burnt up in the sky.  That was a treat to see and reminded me of one that Frank and I saw years ago down in Drumheller.  That one lit up the sky like daylight for a few seconds, and was much closer to the ground than the one we saw on this day.  All the same, it was really impressive.