In My Back Pocket - Photography
'It is not what you look at that matters. It's what you see.' – Henry David Thoreau
Summer’s End & Fort MacLeod
A too-long drive finds me having travelled 1200 km one-way, southward on a Labour Day weekend. I am taking my daughter’s car down to her, at University in Lethbridge. She and her mother are travelling together in my truck with boxes of personal effects and are ahead of me by a couple of hours. I have stopped at Fort MacLeod to ease body stiffness and to look around. I have my range finder camera and a 28mm wide angle prime lens to gather practice with. I stop at the North West Mounted Police barracks which in non-COVID times would be a tourist site; today it’s closed. It looks to be an interesting site from outside its walls.
From the barracks, I scan the horizon and find this Alberta Wheat Pool grain elevator. I find my way to it and enjoy an hour of stop and start composition finding. I work through different exposures from all sides of the elevator; my daughter and wife have given me the gift of time that is at my leisure. Good. I have the other 1400 km to travel back home in the next two days. The fun will be in the editing of these images in the months that follow.
Quote to Consider / Inspire – ‘A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into (Ansel Adams).’
Listening to: John Prine’s ‘Summer’s End’ (again), ‘Caravan of Fools,’ ‘Lonesome Friends of Science’ and ‘No Ordinary Blue’ from ‘The Tree of Forgiveness’ album.
