Photos’ Blog & Writing

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Fargo Grain Truck – Nampa, Alberta 1

Fargo Grain Truck – Nampa, Alberta 2

Fargo Grain Truck – Nampa, Alberta 3

Fargo Grain Truck – Nampa, Alberta 4

Fargo Grain Truck – Nampa, Alberta 5

Fargo Grain Truck – Nampa, Alberta 6

Fargo Grain Truck – Nampa, Alberta 7

Fargo Grain Truck – Nampa, Alberta 8

Turning through pages of tablature, a songwriter’s guide in Martyn Joseph’s ‘Notes on Words,’ surfaces (after years) and has had me consider what I might assert as truth in how writing about photographs ought to work within any of our photo blogs. What would I say? Would I promote one way of going about presenting and responding to photos? Some core ideas seem key.

Photo Blog Writing Guide …

1. Within each photograph, reveal the subject in ways never before seen.
2. Get a moleskin and record image ideas within this idea journal.
3. Pay attention to how you feel at moments before, during and following image capture.
4. Pay attention to how the image resonates with each new edit of a photograph … edit and edit again.
5. Add words to your photographs, sparingly – get to the core response to your photograph.
6. Be honest about this image and you; posers present others’ sentiment ….
7. Dialogue with others about your images and theirs; provide likes and comments – find what’s key.
8. Photograph with others occasionally; they and their lens will reveal the world in ways new to you.
9. Snap the photo while you’re there – stop the car, halt your walk, stop your chat; take out your camera and photograph that subtle, subtle thing that your mind and eyes have recognized and wish to amplify.
10. Return to subjects again and again, photographing subjects from how you now know them each subsequent time.
11. Pay attention to good photographers – talk with them, listen to them; pay attention to visual narrative and image work in movies, in art, in photographs and the visual narrative you encounter in daily life.
12. “… Capture those special moments when life is amplified above the norm for a few seconds (Martyn Joseph – Notes On Words, 2003).”
13. “Go to locations that inspire – places from your past, places that will challenge you, [… take you camera and moleskin with you] (Martyn Joseph – Notes On Words, 2003).”
14. “If it doesn’t excite you it probably won’t do much for anyone else (Martyn Joseph – Notes On Words, 2003).”

Perhaps the other essential thing is the matter of being grateful for each photo found and discovered, for what you learn along the way and from who and for process – all that stuff that comes together in creating each new photograph. Beyond this photo discussion thanks, here, goes out to Martyn Joseph for each of the following – ‘One of Us,’ ‘Don’t Talk about Love and all that was that Edmonton concert at the Queen Alexandra Community Hall.

The road home last weekend finally provided opportunity to photograph this grain truck near Nampa, Alberta, the sides of its grain box now sandwich board, advertising (or perhaps better said as raising awareness with regard to) a social issue the world needs to know about. For me, the photograph is more about setting or context as well as that of articulating the shape of a vehicle from a former time; it has been something to see how far I could extend edits in shaping the image in terms of mood and tone beyond the factual/literal rendering of the image.

Listening to – Son Houses’ ‘Death Letter,’ Snow Patrol’s ‘Run,’ The Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again,’ Steve Miller’s ‘Mercury Blues,’ Ross Copperman’s ‘Holding On and Letting Go,’ The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Snow [Hey Oh],’ and Joe Bonamassa’s ‘Long Distance Blues.’

Quote to Inspire – “The photograph is completely abstracted from life, yet it looks like life. That is what has always excited me about photography.” – Richard Kalvar

That Sedan & Professor Keating

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Sedan Along Path – Valleyview, Alberta 1

Sedan Along Path – Valleyview, Alberta 2

Sedan Among Trees – Valleyview, Alberta 1

Sedan Among Trees – Valleyview, Alberta 2

Away from home, tasks requiring completion fly me southward to Edmonton, Alberta, Friday, one week ago today. My Sunday is a day-long, northward return trek home with my Canon 60D.

In my first years as a teacher, an elder’s coaching presented the predicament of moving through or around brush as analogy for the challenge of dealing with Life’s obstacles. If moving through brush resulted in injury, the better judgment call was that of moving around the obstacle. The key was seeing the situation for what it was. The elder was promoting the path already carved out, the natural path; for him, the established easier route ought to be the path to take. Along the road home, east from Valleyview, Alberta a fifties’ four-door sedan sits, resting and rusting, its rear window absent. It’s placement in a farmer’s field positions it along a natural path that will take it forward through trees. No longer having power to move itself, though, this sedan sits along a path that could have been.

M. Scott Peck, Robert Frost and even the Dead Poets Society’s professor Keating would all promote the road less travelled as the path to take. Perhaps the elder talking to me all those years ago was establishing reality’s balance to such assertion – the road less travelled overcomes obstacles that no one else or, at least, few have encountered. Finding one’s own way throughout one’s Life, personal navigation, is the thing in either case – avoiding the obstacles or seeking the uncommon, unique yet obstacle-laden path. It’s interesting to be referencing the Dead Poets Society again within this photoblog while associating to photos of this vehicle.

Listening to – CKUA Online and the Friday Night Blues Party, Curtis Salgado’s ‘She Didn’t Cut Me Loose’ and Andy T and Nick Nixon Band’s ‘Drink Drank Drunk.’

Quote to Inspire – “I really don’t have any idea about photography, but I take pictures.” – Alex Majoli

Moments You Can’t Get Out Of

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Still Life, Weather, Winter

Jasper Alberta 1

Mountain River – McLure BC

Mount Robson BC 2

Mount Robson BC 1

Lake Okanagan – Kelowna BC

Jasper Alberta 3

Jasper Alberta 2

My wife told me that she had noticed the oil pressure indicator flashing and remaining on two weeks ago today. Hearing her words, I went outside and checked the oil dipstick and confirmed that we did have oil in the engine. Because we had a long drive to Edmonton coming I called the service technicians who advised that the issue could be an electrical problem with the sensor or an actual oil leak. They advised watching the fluid levels on the way down and to bring it in for service. I checked the oil before leaving. And, then, checked it again three hours later in Peace River … the oil pressure sensor light had come on. I pulled out the dipstick … there was no oil. What to do? Travelling on a Sunday the dealership wasn’t open. Calling roadside assistance only let me know that they would tow the vehicle to a maximum of 125 kilometres … I had 500 kilometres to go before making it to the dealership. I talked things over with a friend. The tow cost would be about $900 to get the vehicle to Edmonton. If I managed checking and adding oil as needed I might make it to Edmonton at considerably less cost. My wife and daughter got a hotel room in Peace River; they would come down with friends who would pick them up the next day. I would aim to make it to Edmonton adding four litres of oil to the engine every forty-five minutes. I made it after another seven hours, topping up the oil at -20C temperatures. At one point I lost the oil cap in one of those unreachable places of the engine compartment and had to jury-rig an alternative using sheet plastic.

From Edmonton, it was a flight to Penticton via Vancouver the next day to work on assets associated with my father-in-law’s estate. With a day’s work done, there, I began the drive back to Edmonton only to find that the highway I had chosen had to be closed because of accidents occurring in the slush and snow. Doubling back, I was able to drive through Kamloops on the Yellowhead Trail and aim for Edmonton via Jasper. I stopped for the night at Kamloops and then began my drive on the Yellowhead, a bright day with dry roads. I got a meal along the way and within a couple of hours was the unwitting victim of food poisoning. With no energy and chills I decided to hunker down in Valemount, British Columbia – at 2:00 p.m.. I got a hotel room and slept my way around the clock. After many hours of sleep, weakened, but ready to aim for home, I got back in the vehicle. The mountain images presented here are those preceding food poisoning and those from the day driving from Valemount to Edmonton.

Listening to – U2’s ‘Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,’ ‘In a Little While,’ ‘Elevation,’ and ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.’

Quote to Inspire – “A photograph is the pause button on life.” – Ty Holland

Inuksuk GPS

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Journaling, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Still Life, Winter

Inuksuk 1

Inuksuk 2

Inuksuk 3

Inuksuk 4

Semblance of human existence, an inuksuk serves as landmark and waypoint on one’s unknown path or journey. Its surprise guides you along your way when you’re alone with map and compass, scanning the horizon, considering the course you’ll take; its message – “you are on the right path, keep going … you’ll get there.” With an inuksuk, another human being has taken the time to gather stone and rock to create a representation of the human form only to encourage you and others, letting all know that others have been right where you now stand/sit. At that point where they experienced indecision in navigation, they came back to this point to guide you forward.

Navigation – some of my week has been about travel in unknown territory. I’ve been driving using my global positioning satellite unit, my Tom Tom GPS to direct me to my destination. At one point the mountain road I was on was closed down owing to slush and snow. I had to double back to find another route – a four hour correction in the middle of the night. While there were lines on the road and tire tracks of vehicles preceding me, there were no inuksuks along the way.

Listening to – War’s ‘Low Rider,’ Bo Diddley’s ‘Ride on Josephine,’ Moby’s ‘Flower,’ The Crystal Method’s ‘Busy Child,’ Lori Carson’s ‘You Won’t Fall’ and Johnny Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues.’

Quote to Inspire – “Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts.” – Garry Winogrand

Thelwell Ponies

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Fairview Horses, Fairview, Alberta 1

Fairview Horses, Fairview, Alberta 2

Fairview Horses, Fairview, Alberta 3

Fairview Horses, Fairview, Alberta 4

I am able to recall my first year of school and one of those Life-changing events, that of taking my father to the Edmonton International Airport – Mom, Grandma and me. Something new for me and my brothers, this same event was rejoinder for my father – he was getting back to the globetrotting that was so much of his career prior to the arrival of my two brothers and me. Business trips took Dad often to the United Kingdom to stay current with practices/methods in plastics development/technologies. Beyond the United Kingdom, Dad moved around the globe in a chemist’s technician’s capacity dealing with the technical side of plastics use; the customer was always right – if the plastic produced didn’t work for the customer, the company Dad worked for always solved the problem and worked to create the plastic needed by each customer-manufacturer. Dad’s globetrotting in the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties had the ceremony of preparation and departure; and, homecoming also became ceremony – gifts for the family let us know that we were thought of even when he was away from us.

Horses – the images of horses, here, were photographed just north of Fairview, Alberta. Their shapes remind of a British cartoonist who drew so many cartoons of the British countryside – Norman Thelwell often drew images of ponies … cartoons that these photographs recall. Check out Norman Thelwell at http://www.thelwell.org.uk/ . One of the gifts my father brought back for me when I was twelve was a small paperback of Thelwell’s pony cartoons – something I can remember reading in my room on a rainy day in June in Edmonton.

Listening to – Los Lobos and ‘Two Janes.’

Quote to Inspire – “Ultimately photography is about who you are. It’s the truth in relation to yourself. And seeking truth becomes a habit.” – Leonard Freed

Blessing Become

Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Farm, Farmhouse, Flora, Fog, Home, Homestead, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Summer, Weather, Winter

Canola Homestead – Fort Vermilion, Alberta

Elektra Water Bomber 1

Elektra Water Bomber 2

Winter Snow 1

Winter Snow 2

At -39C steam hangs in the air almost failing to dissipate, resolving into a fog residue – vehicle exhaust, factory steam, breath from your own mouth. Cold cranking car batteries fail and must be boosted. January into February, in the North we’re rounding the cold portion of the orbital arc, pulling January’s cold with us into February. To look back, to rework and to resurrect in new ways – former photographs become blessing. Blown, compacted, heated and crusted snow is the subject of two images. Summer images include a homestead house within a field of canola as well as the Elektra water bomber from July.

Listening to – Stompin’ Tom Connors’ ‘Sudbury Saturday Night,’ Ray Wylie Hubbard’s ‘Mother Blues,’ Gurf Morlix’s ‘Gasoline’ and Buddy Miller’s ‘Does My Ring Burn Your Finger.’

Quote to Inspire – “I have to shoot three cassettes of film a day, even when not ‘photographing’, in order to keep the eye in practice.” – Josef Koudelka

Derelict Farmhouse II

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Derelict Farmhouse 2 – Lamont, Alberta 1

Derelict Farmhouse – Lamont, Alberta 2

Derelict Farmhouse – Lamont, Alberta 3

The front face or façade of a derelict farmhouse precedes a wooden grain shed and newer, state of the art grain silos. The image contrasts new, old and older. The house sits on a ridge overlooking a storage yard for people’s equipment, a collecting point or nexus for anything unused and nearly disposed of … old mobile homes, vehicles, farming implements and machinery. This house, on the other hand, has structure and form and context – it has beauty; it had purpose in a former time. What would this house have been like in its day, when people were proud of the land’s first fruits? Is this a homestead house built following World War I or World War II? Would the farmers who farmed here have come to Canada or would they have been a generation or two arrived. In terms of today, why has the building not been torn down? What memorial does this house provide and to whom? Who does this house continue to serve?

Listening to – Radiohead’s ‘Little by Little’ from the King of Limbs album (Live from the Basement).

Quote to Inspire – “Quit trying to find beautiful objects to photograph. Find the ordinary objects so you can transform it by photographing it.” – Morley Baer

Last, Day-lit Images

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Scotford Refinery – Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta

An image of the Scotford Refinery near Fort Saskatchewan, one of the last day-lit images shot at dusk looking east towards Edmonton after a good day of looking for and finding images.

Listening to – Simple Minds’ ‘Alive and Kicking.’

Quote to Inspire – “The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street.” – Robert Doisneau

Blake’s Bison

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Bison – Elk Island 1

Bison – Elk Island 4

Bison – Elk Island 3

Bison – Elk Island 2

In a day that’s been bright, yet overcast, the sun shines through broken cloud as it moves towards the horizon in late afternoon, shining directly on two Bison grazing at Astotin Lake in Elk Island National Park, images inspired by Sidney Blake’s discussion of animal/nature photography and by her extraordinary black and white images of Bison in winter.

Listening to – The Von Bondies with ‘C’mon C’mon’.

Quote to Inspire – “When people ask me what equipment I use – I tell them my eyes.” – Anonymous

Derelict House – Day’s End

Backlight, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Christmas, Farm, Farmhouse, Home, Homestead, Light Intensity, Season, Vehicle, Winter

Derelict Farmhouse 1

Derelict Farmhouse 2

Friday, following Christmas, after time away from Edmonton at Elk Island National Park photographing bison, there, we took the backway into Edmonton, leaving the park and coming into Edmonton through Fort Saskatchewan. Near Lamont we found this derelict farmhouse. I took some shots while my son read a novel in our SUV; curiously, he may have been reading Charles Dickens’ ‘Bleak House,’ a novel sorting through the estate of someone who has passed … the clarity and speed of action within Britain’s legal system at the time is slower than a snail’s pace and those to whom the estate would benefit are in some cases reduced to poverty with the waiting … that’s gone on for what seems a generation; it’s social commentary and plot. With the image, here, the sun was moving toward the horizon and gives partial corona to the roof at each leftmost edge near the eaves trough. The textures and muted tones appeal. In looking through the image, the landscape that the house is set in seems to collect the unused, as well – day’s end for a few things.

Listening to – Cold Play’s ‘Violet Hill’, ‘Yellow’ and John Farnham with ‘The Voice’.

Quote to Inspire – “Everything shifts as you move, and different things come into focus at different points of your life, and you try to articulate that.” Chris Steele