Month: January 2012

Wind and Winter on the West Bank of the Alexandra Falls

Canon 50mm, Canon 50mm Lens, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Night, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Season, Still Life, Uncategorized, Weather, Winter

I woke this morning having dreamed.  And, I woke with intention to make good use of this day for photography.  My progress to my truck and terrain was slowed … Life got in the way is an expression taken to mean that where and when there’s a task that needs done that helps others it needs to be done, presently. I got the business done. And, before getting underway I enlisted my daughter’s help in pinning a map of our municipal district (all six feet worth of map) to the west wall in our garage above the work bench.  We also pinned a map of High Level above our freezer on the east wall of the garage.  With both, the intention is to locate places and subjects of previous photographs as a means to sort out return visits or new places to explore. By 2:00 p.m., I was on the road having shifted from staying within our municipal district (the size of three smaller European countries) to northward travel to Alexandra Falls and to Hay River – both in the Northwest Territories.  I arrived at the falls by 5:00 p.m. and saw the curious way it had iced over and pushed ice over the falls.  An hour later I was in Hay River investigating what happens to its ship yards in winter;  you’d never think that you would drive north to find the largest inland lake in the world, the Great Slave Lake, a lake making use of trawlers and barges, a lake needing more than a few vessels of the Canadian Coast Guard.

The photographs show Alexandra falls and its ice.  Dimensions to grasp – the far wall that river drops down is a 60 foot drop; so, that clump of ice that has fallen over the falls this winter is huge – in height and volume equal to a small two story house.  The next photographs are of boats that have been pulled ashore and are not presently used.  The first shot is of three derelict boats pulled far into the woods, left to rot. The ships are those at the Hay River shipyard close to the southern tip of the Great Slave Lake; at -22C, with wind from the lake, it was a cold time capturing these images – my camera will lock up when it  and its battery is cold.

While I would have preferred to see all of this in daylight it was good gathering these photographs.  For these and others I was using exposure bracketing because I want to investigate High Dynamic Range photography (probably with Photomatix – thank you’s to Shuttertime’s Mac and Sid for encouraging this).  Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the day/evening was being alone with the wind and the sounds of northern winter on the west bank above Alexandra falls.  Good schtuff!

Listening to – a lot of CBC tonight – DNTO and a theme of walking in another’s shoes; also am intrigued to see that John Le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has had a remake and should be out next Friday – Le Carre’s novels were the light reading during university and my son and I have enjoyed Alec Guiness as George Smiley.  Music – David Gray’s Silver Lining from his White Ladder album.

Quote to Inspire – “To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” ~ Elliott Erwitt

Dormant – More than a Winter Season

Bicycle, Canon 50mm, Canon 50mm Lens, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Journaling, Night, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Uncategorized, Winter

As a journaling exercise I might look to today’s events or surroundings to see what, if any, forgotten life themes are lurking deep within. I’d open my attention to that thing in my day that draws attention and focus, and, I’d work backward through steppingstones to those places and times in which this thing has been a part of me. I’d work to open-out its meaning for me then and now. Life’s bad and good needs its work as part of one’s psychological hygiene – decluttering what no longer works and what no longer has meaning and working to open-out perception, thinking and those possibilities which surround me. There’s work there.  And, there’s possibility to surface, investigate and realize.

My bike.

My bike has been dormant for more than this winter. Working to capacity (and then some), a busy year has seen me reach my fiftieth year milestone.  The life tasks now seem to be about serving others and limiting the possibility of mistakes; perhaps knowing how to limit mistakes and seeing this as a goal is one attribute of being in my prime. But, still Life doesn’t seem entirely configured to suit or fit all that I’d like each of my days to contain. I’m attending to an aging parent with mid-stage Alzheimer’s Disease at the same time that my wife and I are aiming to establish my son in his year one of university. And, then, I’ve chosen to investigate and develop my photographic competencies – these practices hold their share of sitting and time.

My bike tonight has been the subject of a photograph, a work of art in still-life, a much different perspective than that of an active cyclist who is inseparable from that bike upon which he investigates the world. My bike and my desire to ride are dormant tonight.

Listening to Stolen Car by Patty Griffin from 1000 Kisses; Long Ride Home, from the Elizabethtown soundtrack is where Patty Griffin caught my ear. Later, Acoustic Guitar magazine featured an interview and tabs to one of her songs – good schtuff!

Quote to Inspire – “… to stop rushing around, to sit quietly on the grass, to switch off the world and come back to Earth, to allow the eye to see a willow, a bush, a cloud, a leaf, is an ‘unforgettable experience.’” ~ Frederick Franck, The Zen of Seeing  (p.s. – the battle of any photographer is to discard Life’s presses and to calm one’s spirit enough to be able to see that which is in front of us; right? I’m there, too)

Thank you all for stopping by, the likes and comments.

Take good care of your good selves!

1940 Plymouth – Deanz Garage

Canon Camera, Gas Station, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

Dean who owns Deanz Garage is a Mopar man.  Despite working on the Mercury Meteor and helping me establish interest in restoring a 1969 Pontiac Parisienne, his restorations photobook is Mopar as are most of the vehicles in his yard – his Plymouth Roadrunner, his friend’s Plymouth Valiant, the 1940 Plymouth (for sale) and a mid-sixties Fargo pickup-van cross-over (also for sale).  Meeting Dean and being able to photograph these vehicles was a treat and I appreciate the camaraderie he extends to all car buffs, including me – thank you, Sir!

With my photographs of the vehicles in his yard, here, I’m surprised I got the photos I did.  Being three days from home and family, with little good sleep during my travels I was itching to begin the journey homeward when the opportunity confronting me was that of spending time in southern Alberta working toward good photographs. My plan for the day following the workshop was more global than specific.  I knew that my next broad step would be a four-hour return drive to Edmonton. Without planning for what was possible in southern Alberta, before hand, travel toward Edmonton was the only next step I was focusing on. What I am coming to understand is that my practice needs to develop to more than having my camera with me wherever I am. The upside, though, is that I have a taste for the visual flavour of this area and know I would like to return to photograph these sights.

Listening to Shine by David Gray (an alternate tuning on my L’Arrivee L-03 guitar … a resonant and dissonant chording).

Quote to Inspire – “Landscape is the firstborn of creation. It was here hundreds of millions of years before the flowers, the animals, or the people appeared … In the human face, the anonymity of the universe becomes intimate … The hidden, secret warmth of creation comes to expression here.” ~ John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Thank you, thank you to all bloggers, thinkers, photographers and image-viewers for your encouragement, goodwill and comments.  Good, good schtuff!!

Only Time Will Tell … Transformation

Canon 60D, Canon 75-300 mm, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Night, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Vehicle, Winter

On November 9, 2011, I drove from High Level to Vulcan, Alberta to participate in Bill Brandley’s introductory photography workshop for Career and Technology Studies teachers in Alberta. Icey roads between Valleyview and Edmonton brought traffic to a standstill and motel rooms were not to be found. Hundreds of transport trucks lined roadsides, it being safer to stop with a valuable load than to risk loss in an accident. With several accidents (and perhaps fatalities) the department of highways closed the road until it could be sanded. I travelled through the night, a journey that should have taken me eight hours stretching to twelve with many portions of the highway being navigable only at 50 km/h. I made it to Edmonton safely at 6:00 a.m. having started at 5:45 p.m. the night before.  I got a motel room in West Edmonton, slept into the afternoon and carried on.

Along the way to Vulcan, south of Calgary I came upon what looked to be an old service station and while there were no gas pumps in the yard, there was a 1940 Plymouth, four door with ‘4 Sale’ in the front driver’s side window. I stopped in.  Our school is doing a dinner theatre production of ‘Grease’ and this vehicle when restored (by our metal worker, now shop teacher) would, no doubt, recall the film version of Grease with John Travolta and Olivia Newton John and the era it depicts. I introduced myself to Dean, a mechanic and owner of Deanz, a vehicle restorations shop and asked if I might photograph his 1940 Plymouth as a means to interest school staff in this vehicle and dinner theatre prop. In Dean I encountered a ‘master’ of many trades, each skill allowing him great independence in taking on restoration projects. Our discussion led to a tour through his shop, a look at a mid-sixties Mercury Meteor he was in the midst of restoring, his friend’s 62 B-series Plymouth Valiant and a late 60’s Plymouth Roadrunner – his own, brown and white … in remarkable, glossy, mint condition. Our discussion next considered the possibility of a project car.  I told Dean about my father’s 1969 Pontiac Parisienne (a 2-door with a 350ci V8) and that my brother and I might be interested in halving costs of a restoration.

That was two months ago.

Well … within one twenty-four hour period (from Monday to Tuesday this week) I’ve had a call from Dean and an e-mail from Bill Brandley – Dean with photographs of a 1968 Pontiac Parisienne fastback and Bill with an invitation to participate in the follow-up, advanced, CTS Photography course. Since then, I’ve let the news of the Pontiac and the photography course sit in the back of my mind. A couple of days have gone by.  I’m letting the information ferment with regard to a decision about whether or not to dig-in to either project. With this as context, last evening, I went out to photograph a vehicle, here in High Level, that awaits restoration.

It cannot be an easy thing to appreciate the yesteryear beauty of vehicles and to own a ‘rusting relic’ and have to wait until circumstances come together to allow for its restoration. In my walks down one of the main roads of the High Level industrial park I’ve been able to capture images of trains, train engines, the lumber mill and curiosities on either side of the road. One such find has been this truck which I believe to be a 1953 Ford F-100.  It sits on an industrial lot with some of the town’s street light standards and a shed big enough to hold two or three John Deere tractors. This F-100 pickup sports a faded, retro mint green colour; some initial prep work has been completed towards its restoration.  But, the vehicle has been sitting still and minor rust has been forming.

What it will become and what will become of it … only time will tell.  But, this I know – transformations have always been something I have been interested in – often the physical transformation of ‘things’ becoming metaphor for the work of transformation in our subtle lives.

Quote to Inspire – “The more I advance, the more I regret what little I know …” Claude Monet

Listening to Born by Over the Rhine on the Drunkard’s Prayer album (another song with an element of Redemption … thank you Stocki)

Born
(Bergquist/Detweiler)
recording: Drunkard’s Prayer

I was born to laugh
I learned to laugh through my tears
I was born to love
I’m gonna learn to love without fear

Pour me a glass of wine
Talk deep into the night
Who knows what we’ll find

Intuition, deja vu
The Holy Ghost haunting you
Whatever you got
I don’t mind

Put your elbows on the table
I’ll listen long as I am able
There’s nowhere I’d rather be

Secret fears, the supernatural
Thank God for this new laughter
Thank God the joke’s on me

We’ve seen the landfill rainbow
We’ve seen the junkyard of love
Baby it’s no place for you and me

I was born to laugh
I learned to laugh through my tears
I was born to love
I’m gonna learn to love without fear 

Bloggers, Image Viewers and those of you who Stumble here – thank you for stopping by; thank you for your comments and encouragement. Take care …

Recalled to Life – Reflection and Reminiscence

Canon 50mm, Canon 50mm Lens, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Night, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life

With one key element of impressionism being that of concentrating upon a general impression produced by a scene or object, my mother was attracted to the beauty of this style of painting most certainly because with flowers and humans the style strove to capture a resonant moment in its use of primal colour and miniscule strokes, all in a painting style that worked to simulate reflected light.

In the prints of impressionist painters, my mother was attracted primarily to Claude Monet and some works of Auguste Renoir; subtlely as she collected and displayed these works she pointed to the core message of still life – that beauty has duration; living beauty resonates for a time, then diminishes and is no more. And, this theme carries over to her love of flowers – my mother was happy and most at home among her flowers, nurturing and pruning flowers and entertaining others among her gardens’ flowers.

Most, if not all prints she adorned her home with had flowers as their subject; and, I wonder, on the one hand, if these were winter purchases (in remembrance of the beauty of flowers) or as years went on if she used such prints to express life’s stages as parallel to where she and Dad were in the older ages of their life development. Among all her prints, one is a still life of a flower that still retains beauty but is beginning to wilt; the flower, a cut stem, resides in a glass vase filled with water. It is not a picture that one would readily display upon a wall because there’s an awkwardness of the beauty diminishing that disturbs. The flower requires grace to see it through its disturbing diminishment.  Mom was teaching about Life with these prints, quite subtlely.

What is ingenious in this print is the play of light reflected within the glass vase. The connection to the photographs I present here is somewhat adjacent; the light reflected in the glass vase got me started on the play of light reflected on and moving within glass and I have photographed candlelight among glass.

Listening to The Valley by Sarah Masen, a reference to Psalm 23 (a psalm of David and place of solace for my grandfather).

Quote to Inspire – “Technique is to me merely a language and as I see life more and more clearly, growing older, I have but one intention, to make my language as clear and simple and sincere as humanly possible.” ~ Robert Henri, The Art Spirit

A Moody Change in Winter Weather

Canon 50mm, Canon 50mm Lens, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Fog, Night, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Season, Weather, Winter

On Thursday evening, the temperature in High Level, Alberta dropped from -10C to -20C+. The moisture in the air transitioned to noticeable fog and then crystallized on physical objects producing a beautiful array of hoarfrost on trees, buildings and fences throughout the town. I went for my evening walk, walking a counter clockwise, reverse 6 km circuit through High Level, returning home to collect my Canon 60D and Manfrotto Tripod. The variation in subjects is limited – bus lane light standards between High Level Public School and Florence MacDougall Community School (showing the play of light against fog), a hoarfrosted tree in parking lot to the west, three entrance images to High Level Public School and the school’s playground equipment.  In all images, a change in the weather has altered the landscape, creating new possibilities for photographs.

Composition for photographs has been on my mind and while there are many rules or principles to guide angle of view, subject and lighting, the thing I’ve been reminded of is that composition is about ‘finding’ the strongest way of seeing the subject.  Here, Angela Patterson of the Ditch Divas would remind me that while there are technical considerations, it is also important to get to the point of taking the picture … not to over-think the opportunity in front of you … likely because it’s impermanent.

Listening to Impermanent Things by Peter Himmelman from his Stage Diving album; (thank you to Stocki for this Rhythms of Redemption recommendation … all those years ago).

Quote to Inspire – “Photographs really are experience captured, and the camera is the ideal arm of consciousness in its acquisitive mood.” ~ Susan Sontag, On Photography

Bloggers and image viewers – Thank you for stopping by and recommending this site to friends and colleagues.  Cheers!

Images from the Journey Home

Canon 50mm, Canon 50mm Lens, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Season, Winter

On Monday, January 2, 2012, my daughter and I drove from Edmonton and returned to High Level, concluding our Christmas visit with family. Opportunities for photographs were available throughout the drive; and, as with any travel that combines photography with moving towards a destination the choice to stop and investigate possible shots always presents the trade-off of time lost moving toward your destination. You can move directly there and be assured of an arrival time. Or, you can look around laterally at, toward or within the places you are traveling through and investigate them through the lens of your camera. A friend who paints from Cornerbrook, Newfoundland has recommended taking as many as three days to make this 800 km journey and to stop frequently and as needed to take-in all that the landscape offers. For me, while on the south side of Valleyview, I chose to note the possibilities and to this end I’m grateful for my daughter who was able to write down possible subjects, their location and information about quality and direction of light. On the north side of Valleyview, I began to feel more at ease with stopping and taking my Canon 60D out. The images gathered are of an old homestead near Donnelly, two older trucks on a farm near Nampa and then images captured on the south hill leading into Peace River – the road’s S-curve winding along the hill and a western exposure of the Peace River.

Quotes to Inspire (I’ve been working my way through a few of John O’Donohue’s Greenbelt lectures and have looked round the web for quotes):

  • “Inspiration is always a surprising visitor.” ― John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
  • “I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.” ― John O’Donohue
  • “One of the deepest longings of the human soul is to be seen.” ― John O’Donohue
  • “Beauty is the illumination of your soul.” ― John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
  • “The duty of privilege is absolute integrity” ― John O’Donohue

Listening to Lay My Burden Down by Alison Krauss from the movie Get Low; Jerry Douglas adds Dobro to much of the soundtrack (I enjoy this movie – there’s much of ‘life’ in it).

Homestead – Donnelly, Alberta

Canon 50mm, Canon 50mm Lens, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Christmas, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Winter
Homestead

Here is a black and white photograph of a homestead between Donnelly and Peace River, Alberta – an image receiving attention from bloggers; structure, design and texture attract.

My intention for this photograph initially has been the exterior; but, with photographs of homes and recollection that families inhabit homes the photograph becomes something relating to that business that William Shakespeare points to … ‘all the world [being] a stage [even those floors and rooms of home] … and all the men and women merely players:  they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts ….

Home is where we start our lives and move through our first parts … right?

Listening to Moses from Coldplay’s Live 2003 CD/DVD.

Quote to Inspire: “Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.” — Edward Steichen

Edmonton – A Brief Photowalk in a Place I Want to Photograph

Canon 50mm, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Christmas, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Season, Winter

31 December 2011 – My daughter and I took my son back to Edmonton to return him to his University of Alberta dorm at Lister Hall on December 30, 2011. The trip allowed for vehicle maintenance at West Edmonton Hyundai, two festive meals with my father, brothers and our families; it allowed my daughter four days with her favourite cousin and for me, time with my son, father and our extended family. At different times on December 31st, I was able to break away from the day’s agenda and photograph Edmonton architecture – not quite a full and satisfying photowalk, but something to whet my appetite for photographing downtown Edmonton.

Edmonton’s High Level bridge is the subject of the first set of shots.  At the bridge, while waiting for my son, before a morning family meal out, I was able to photograph the railway deck leading onto the bridge from the south.  I was intrigued by the leading lines of the road and walkway leading from the bridge on its south side. The bridge’s rail deck is secure from people who would like to walk along it – good!  And, I am interested in the photograph of the rail deck taken by the Edmonton Photowalk group led by Darlene Hildebrandt on October 1, 2011. In returning from the bridge to my vehicle, to go and retrieve my son, I was also able to photograph Edmonton’s Saskatchewan drive as it leads past the University of Alberta’s Arts building and Hub Mall – a memorable place from my past at the University of Alberta.  I met W.O. Mitchell between these buildings late on a Saturday afternoon in the fall of 1981 after a 12-string guitar lesson at Hub Mall’s Guitar Classique and guided him to the South entrance of the University’s Arts building for a talk he would provide to Canadian literature students.

Later, in the late afternoon of December 31st, I was able to briefly photograph some of Edmonton’s architecture – new and old, buildings close to the Boardwalk and EPSB’s Centre High school.  I was caught up in the older architecture and advertising painted onto exterior walls as well as the reflective dynamic of newer building’s mirrored exteriors. The Edmonton I grew up in has become something more incredible and futuristic, something only dreamt of by former Mayors. The final shot (the first shot in the series) is at the east end of the Edmonton downtown core, a older building dating back to perhaps the forties or thirties, a pie-shaped building of four stories, reminiscent of a former age, something my mother and her brothers would have grown up in.  I like the brickwork and lighting of this picture and hope to return to photograph this building in a variety of ways.

Quote to Inspire:  “I am not interested in color for color’s sake and light for light’s sake.  I am interested in them as a means of expression (Robert Henri ~ ‘The Art Spirit’).”

Listening to Unraveling, by Liz Longley on Hot Loose Wire; a song with shared connection and reminiscence – a family member beset with Alzheimer’s ( for Liz this was her grandmother; for me this is my father, the originating photographer in the family I grew up in).