Crazy Hank

You'd think that crazy little mutt had never seen snow before.  First he jumped into Beaverdam Lake.... then he went plowing through the snow like a winter warthog.  It's nice to see someone so excited about the onset of winter.  I love winter, but its a little early even for me.  We woke up to this heavy dump of snow in Nordegg on Sunday of the Thanksgiving long weekend....

BP 31.0 Jacqui and Lee

I actually developed this sheet of film back in early August, but didn't get around to doing anything with the scan until now.  This is Jacqui and Lee, the owners of the Amisk Hotel.  Chris and Arturo and I visited them back in July.  The place was pretty quiet, and mostly we just hung out with these two.  It was a very pleasant, low-key evening and a lot less stressful than some of the busy establishments that we visit.

This was shot on a 4" x 5" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 rated at 1600 iso.  I used my Ebony view camera and a Nikkor 210mm lens.  Development was for 2-1/2 hours in highly diluted HC-110.  The film was left to stand in the developing agent for this extended period, with only minimal agitation every 30 minutes.  It turned out nicely, in my humble opinion.  I need to compare this to the other negative that I shot immediately before.  That one was on a different type of film and will receive different development. Then I can see which film and developer combination is better.

Beaverdam

We tried to venture out on Sunday morning, but there was a lot of snow, and the roads weren't very good.  Our first stop was at the Miner's Cafe in town, but they didn't have Helena's favorite kind of pie... again....

If she couldn't get Banana Cream, she didn't want anything.  

Then we headed down the highway a short distance to the east to Beaverdam Lake.  All the long weekend campers were bailing out from all over the west country, and there was a parade of trailers on the highway, heading east.  It didn't look as though anyone had camped at Beaverdam the night before, but there were some tracks in the snow from earlier in the morning, so we drove in.

We got out and wandered around with Hank down by the shore of the lake.  Of course Hank started out by wading into the lake, and then continued by wading through the snow.  It was about six inches deep, and he just about disappeared into it.

After a short time at the lake we headed back to the cottage.  We got the fire going and settled in for an afternoon at home.  Helena was a little disappointed at the weather, but it all turned out OK.

Portfolio Box

On October 15th I spent a good part of the afternoon down in my darkroom, making some prints.  The 8x10 prints that we have mounted and displayed in our Beer Parlour Project portfolio box, all date back to some of our earliest outings.  I felt it was important to refresh things and add some images that are both newer, and stronger than what we had.  So I set about printing four negatives from recent outings.  These were all printed on 8" x 10" Fiber based paper.  I took phone snapshots of them all, after they had been fixed and were sitting in a holding bath of water.  The tray that the prints are in is tan colored, so there is not an issue with a weird color balance on these snapshots.  The prints show an obvious curl as they are held in that tray of water.  The next day, I gave all the prints a second fix, then a rinse, then a clearing bath, and finally toned them in selenium.  This was followed by a 24 hour wash.

This first one was taken at BP12.0, our outing to the Viking Hotel in April of 2024.  It was taken on a sheet of Kodak T-Max 400 pushed to 1600 iso.  This is Doug, a long time resident of Viking, and a regular at the hotel.

This second print is from a negative taken at BP11.0, our outing to the Warspite Hotel, also in April of 2024.  This was taken on a sheet of Kodak T-Max 400 pushed to 1600 iso.  This is Doyle and Carol, and they were on a tour of small town taverns, much like our own.  I can't remember where they said they were from... but somewhere in north central Alberta.  They just toured around to experience different hotels, and were blown away by the fact that Chris and I were doing a documentary.

In May of 2025, during our first trip to Macklin, Chris and I stopped in at the Edgerton Oasis Hotel in Edgerton, Alberta for BP27.0.  This one was also taken on a sheet of Kodak T-Max 400, but this time around I only pushed it to 1000iso.  This is Trevor, Mike and Danny.  Their kids were graduating high school and the commencement ceremony was going on just up the street at the Community Hall.  In between the days events, the grad crowd stopped in to the hotel for some refreshments.

This last one was taken in June of 2025 for BP28.0.  This was our visit to the Rockyford Hotel.  Connie, Margarit, Arturo and Sharon were along with Chris and I on this outing.  Once again, this is a sheet of Kodak T-Max 400 film pushed to 1250iso.  This is Adam and Ronald, enjoying a friendly game of billiards.  I seem to recall that it was Ronald's birthday that night.  He was having a lot of fun and really had a great celebration.

Winter in October

On our way back from the Kootenay plains, on Saturday October 11th, the weather began to turn.  Heavy clouds rolled in from the east, and as they hit the upslope of the mountains, began to drop their rain.  The temperature was up around +13 in the morning, but by mid afternoon it had dropped to +2.  It wasn't long before the rain turned to snow.  Helena and I made it back to the cottage before the snow really amounted to much.  But overnight Saturday, and into Thanksgiving Sunday, there was a lot of accumulation.  By mid morning on Sunday there was about five or six inches of snow on the ground, and it was still coming down.  Helena was a little bummed out that we were stuck in the cottage and couldn't really get out and do too much.  I always enjoy a snow day and didn't mind sitting around, keeping the fire going. and puttering around on a few things.  We brought a bunch of apples from our tree back in the city, and left them out for the deer.  They really enjoyed them, and it saved them from having to dig into the deep snow to find food.... at least for a day....

Dodge

This is a scan of a 4" x 5" sheet of Ilford HP5 film.  I developed this over a month ago, on September 7th.  Processing was in 510 Pyro Developer, 1:100.

I shot this back in late May when my brother in law Shawn and I were out on a day trip.  We were exploring out northeast of the city and found this old car along the side of the road.  I used a moderately wide Schneider 110mm lens so that I could shoot through the open door of this old Dodge.  I quite like the way this one turned out and eventually may try printing the negative.

I took a second identical shot on a sheet of Ilford FP4 film that intend to give plus development.  I have processed that one yet so I will wait and see if the added contrast that will result, makes for a better image or not.

Incoming

On Saturday October 11th Helena and I were out for a drive.  In the early afternoon, as we made our way back from the Kootenay Plains to the cottage, the storm front pushed up the valley from the east.  There was a temperature drop of about 10 degrees in very short order.  The skies clouded over and the wind picked up.  We made a brief stop at the elbow of Abraham Lake and went down to the shore to check out the flooded trees.  The wind was coming directly out of the east and pushing large white caps right up onto us.  It was far too windy to consider taking out the big camera, so we just took a few phone snapshots and carried on.  By the time we hit the highway a short time later, it had started to rain, and shortly after that the rain turned to snow.

Dad and Daughter Weekend - Kootenay Plains

I was only back in the city for a few days, long enough to play hockey once, and do a few chores, before returning to the mountains.  My youngest daughter Helena and I headed out to Nordegg for the Thanksgiving Long Weekend.  She is on a bit of an extended break due to the teachers strike.  We left Edmonton on the morning of Friday October 10th.  We took Hank along, but the rest of the family all stayed behind in the city.

The forecast was calling for rain and snow for most of the weekend.  We decided to make the best of it.  On the morning of Saturday October 11th, before the bad weather set in, we took a drive up to the Kootenay Plains.  We stopped at the Siffluer Falls trailhead and went for a hike.

We didn't actually hike up to the falls, as most of the tourists were doing.  Instead we crossed the suspension bridge and hiked upstream along the North Saskatchewan River.

I took my view camera along and ended up taking one shot of the valley.  Helena also tried shooting with the big camera and took a shot as well.

The weather started to turn in the early afternoon and we packed things in and headed back to the cottage.  It turns out we packed up just in time as it wasn't long after that rain rolled in and quickly turned to snow.  The temperature went from a comfortable high of around +12, down to +2 in a matter of an hour or two.

Despite the weather we enjoyed our time outside and together.  When we got back to the cottage we got a fire going, and put a ham in the oven for dinner.  We spent a relaxed evening together watching it snow.

Hanging Around Nordegg

Margarit and I really enjoyed six days spent out at Nordegg at the beginning of October.  We took Hank along, but the kids all stayed behind in the city.  It is a very quiet time of year out in the mountains, and we enjoy it a lot, particularly the fall colors.

We didn't really do anything spectacular, mostly just enjoyed some quiet couples time.  We made a few nice meals.  I played a round of golf... possibly my last of the season.  We fed a bunch of apples from our tree in the city, to the deer.

We went out for a couple of walks... first up along the David Thompson Highway, and then later up at the historic mine site.  There is a crew working at the site this fall, restoring the concrete foundation of the briquette building.  As usual, I had permission to go in on a tour and continue with my documentary photography.  This time around I walked in with my big 8x10 view camera.  Margarit and Hank came along, and we really enjoyed the fall afternoon.

I dropped my new 2026 calendars off at the Beehive Artisan Market.  We did some tidying and organization in the cottage, and made a run to the dump.

With some snow on Saturday, followed by a heavy frost, and then a little wind, by the time our visit wrapped up, the leaves had mostly come down.  The fall spectacle was rather short-lived this year, but we were glad to be able to experience it.

Hank really tired himself out while out on are various walks and he slept really well most nights.  His stumpy little legs have to take probably ten times as many steps as we do...!

We look forward to spending a lot more quiet time out here at the cottage over the rest of the fall and through the winter months.

Fall Trail Camera Photos

When Margarit and I were out at Nordegg in early October, I pulled the memory card from the back yard trail camera and downloaded all the images.  We don't get the wildlife coming around nearly as much in the summer, as we do in the off season.  There are just too many people and dogs and ATV's around in the summer.  By fall life drops back into the quiet routine that we love the most, and we feed the deer a little.

This time around we brought out a few apples from our tree back home, and left them out for the deer.  The first night we were out there was a big buck sniffing around my truck.  He obviously smelled the two big bags of apples I had locked up in the box.

This time around the photos didn't yield anything spectacular.  Just a couple hundred shots of the deer, and a few of our resident Red Fox.  I ended up deleting most of them, but included a couple here on my blog, just for fun.

October Snow

On Saturday October 4th there was a chill in the air and some heavy cloud cover had rolled in over night.  It started out as a light drizzle, and then changed to snow... rather heavy at times.  Fortunately there was no accumulation.  On Sunday morning it dropped down to -8C, but the clouds were gone and the sun came out.  It turned out to be another beautiful fall day, though not as warm as days past.

New Calendar for 2026

This is the new 2026 David Thompson Country calendar that I just had printed.  I will be dropping these off at the Beehive Artisan Market in Nordegg and they are available to purchase.  Later this fall I will be making another calendar.  That one will be my Fine Art Photography calendar and I always print about two dozen of those and give them away to friends and family.

An Afternoon Drive

On Thursday October 2nd, Margarit and I took an afternoon drive from the cottage, west on the David Thompson Highway, up to Abraham Lake.  The two of us were spending a few days in Nordegg, with Hank.  The kids all stayed behind in the city.  

We started out at the Landslide Lake Trailhead.  I wanted to show Margarit the First Nations site with all the prayer flags and the sweat lodge.  I had been here earlier in the summer, but this was her first time seeing it.  We found an aspen tree right near the parking lot with an old bear scrape on it.  And along the trail we found a fresh bear dump, full of Bearberries.  We didn't see any bears though.

It was a pleaseant enough day when we left Nordegg, but the further up the North Saskatchewan Valley that we headed, the cloudier and windier it got.  It felt like what it was... a cool fall day, even though the temperature wasn't all that bad.  I think it peaked at around +19 but for most of the day it was closer to around +15c.

We made a couple of stops along the shore of Abraham Lake... the first at Preachers Point and the second at Abraham Slabs.  The reservoir is really high right now, with the water right up into the trees.  With the minimal rain we've experienced in the past month, and not much waterflow on the incoming streams, this is probably as high as it is going to get.  Over the winter months the water will be slowly released to generate power, and in the spring, with the reservoir almost empty, the cycle will repeat.

I took along both my 4x5 and my 8x10 view camera and took a number of photographs of the flooded trees.  The long suffering Mrs. Pohl was very patient through it all and put up with my continued nonsense.

Two Portraits

Two shots taken on Ilford HP5+.  I rated the film at 320 iso and developed in 510 Pyro.  These were taken when the kids came up to Whirlpool Point with me and my friend Mike Rutherford, back at the end of August.  I finally got around to editing the photos, and including them here on my blog.  This is my middle daughter Ryan and her boyfriend Braeden.  It was his first time being into this part of the Rockies and he was pretty blown away.

Fall Colors

On October 2nd Margarit and I headed out to Nordegg.  The kids all stayed at home back in the city.  The leaves were just starting to turn color the last time I was out, about a week ago.  Now everything seems to be in full swing.  I think the colors may be a little subdued this year.  There has been some wind, which has already taken down some of the leaves.  Plus it has been really dry for the past month, and the vegetation is suffering a little.  The tamaracks haven't turned color yet, for the most part.  So it seems that this year won't be quite a spectacular as some previous years.  But I really enjoy it all the same as fall is my favorite time of year.