Walking Within

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Fall, Flora, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Light Intensity, Lonely Photographers Podcast, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Podcast, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Season

Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 1

Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 2

Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 3

Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 4

Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 5

Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 6

Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 7

Kananaskis Country – Kananaskis, Alberta 8

Gardner Hamilton was interviewed by Edmonton photographers Carey Nash and Kelly Redinger, who have created the ‘Lonely Photographers’ podcast. While talking essentially about street photography, Gardner provided distillation about what photography is and about the key attribute making one a photographer – a [photographer] is someone who does not necessarily go out with a mission, but someone who is [or becomes] mentally aware of when they have walked into a photograph. Gardner goes on to articulate the process of framing the shot, composition, about the need to be stealthy, about timing and moment – all skills needed for taking and making the shot. You make yourself vulnerable to a shot. You stop yourself and with your camera move into the shot and work the shot. The photograph becomes a gift of ‘seeing something’ for the first time.

In a drive to Kananaskis two weeks ago, there were many points of ‘recognizing a shot,’ those shots that could be taken, those points of becoming mentally aware of photographs that were available – frost covered, harvested farm fields at sunrise south from Peace River as shadows stretched across land, something not usually accessed by me in my usual travel times; bright yellows of hay bales and patterned swaths on farm fields west of Calgary; cattle ranches along rolling foothills in autumn colour moving into the Rocky mountains; shadows cutting into forested Kananaskis mountains along snowy ski trails high above in the last hour before sunset. These images were available in that drive – the choice really became about whether or not to pursue photography along the way versus waiting for the photography that could occur at destination. The images that follow are Kananaskis images, photography at destination – the three final ones are shot at night during full moon.

Listening to – ‘Crash’ and ‘Way Behind Me’ by the Primitives; then it’s on to the Kingsmen’s ‘Louie Louie’ and Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Pink Cadillac’ and ‘Radio Nowhere.’

Quote to Inspire – “The Pictures are there, and you just take them” – Robert Capa

Water Lens

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Live View, Fall, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty

Water Lens – Kananaskis, Alberta 1

Water Lens – Kananaskis, Alberta 2

Water Lens – Kananaskis, Alberta 3

Water Lens – Kananaskis, Alberta 4

Water Lens – Kananaskis, Alberta 5

Last Saturday with conference concluded in Kananaskis, Alberta, I made myself stop, turn around and return to this mountain creek for an hour’s look through my camera lens. While capturing the blur of bubbling, gurgling, running water as it fell over these rocks was my initial intention, using water as a lens to focus upon and magnify the rock beneath also intrigued. I am liking the colours and renderings of these images.

Listening to – John Mayer’s ‘The Queen of California.’

Quote to Inspire – “I am forever chasing light. Light turns the ordinary into the magical.” – Trent Parke

Walking On

Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Fall, Farm, Flora, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Home, Homestead, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Season, Still Life, Sunset

1 Grain Bins – Manning, Alberta

2 Leaning Grain Bin – Dixonville, Alberta 1

3 Leaning Grain Bin – Dixonville, Alberta 2

4 Former Farm – Manning, Alberta 1

5 Former Farm – Manning, Alberta 2

6 Former Farm – Manning, Alberta 3

7 Former Farm – Manning, Alberta 4

8 Rails – Keg River, Alberta 1

9 Rails – Keg River, Alberta 2

Imagining, remembering former times of a much younger Life when the journey taken was as much as a walk to a friend’s home – ringing the doorbell, checking to see … ‘You want to come out for a walk?’ Not an appointed or scheduled time, not appointment, not a time with rigorous intention or time to be maximized, fully, just time to talk, to get beyond the four walls of our homes and explore the world, to see what’s happening and to return. My friends and I were the better for it – the fresh air, the walk and the talk enriched us.

Now, at my present age time and times are planned with others and very rarely do they involve shared journey. Getting out, photographing the world, paying attention to surroundings now involves the disciplined journey of getting away, most times alone, and the work involved is in ‘seeing’ the world. Talk and exploration occurs with photographs and now holds narrative about what each photographer has seen and experienced. Meeting and narrative rather than journey have become focal point. Here, a day’s drive has taken me south and back and photographs record fall’s early morning colours. And, my wife will be the first to recognize the association to my cousins’ Rimbey farm with the farming imagery.

Listening to – Martyn Joseph’s take on many Bruce Springsteen songs; standing out are ‘The Rising,’ ‘Walk Like a Man,’ ‘Thunder Road,’ ‘If I Should Fall Behind’ and ‘One Step Up.’

Quote to Inspire – “I love photographing. It’s that simple.” – Stuart Franklin

Field – Selling Point

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R E O Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 1

R E O Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 2

In an open field, displayed for sale, parked next to a 1969 GMC grey and white one-tonne cab and chassis and a dented, yet intact retro green with white, 1957 Chevrolet sedan, sits an REO Speedwagon one-tonne cab and chassis. Further up this same field is a fenced-in area with large storage shed for large farm equipment and a farmer’s mechanic’s shop for working on equipment. Spray-painted on three sides of a smaller building closer to the road is the phone number needed for making contact with the seller of these implements and vehicles. Not a junk yard and not a used car lot, the field does serve as selling point for these vehicles that may be of interest to travellers driving by. This image is the badging as found on the REO Speedwagon with colour and with some desaturation.

Listening to – Ashley MacIsaac’s ‘She’s a Rare One’ performed with Jackie Robitaille.

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

Remnant Population

Barn, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Combine (Farming), Fall, Farm, Farmhouse, Flora, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Home, Homestead, Journaling, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Season, Sigma Lens - Wide Angle 10-20mm, Spring, Summer, Weather

47 Ford Tow Truck – McLure, BC

Farm Buildings – Valleyview, Alberta 1

Field, Combine & Buildings – Nampa, Alberta 1

Harvestor Silos – Rimbey, Alberta 1

Harvestor Silos – Rimbey, Alberta 2

Hay Harvest – Keg River, Alberta

Morning Colours – Keg River, Alberta 1

Morning Colours – Keg River, Alberta 2

Summer Cloudwork – Greencourt, Alberta

Telus Tower – Edmonton, Alberta

Remnants of spring, summer and autumn, a cluster of HDR photos populate my photo folder. Farm buildings, fields ripe with grain ready for harvest, trees with autumn leaves desaturating from green toward bright yellows and reds, summer cloudwork and a final shot of Edmonton in green July splendor – all are HDR shots. The 1947 Ford Tow Truck and a cousin’s farm feature visually in this blog post.

Listening to – U2’s ‘Always,’ David Gray’s ‘As I’m Leaving,’ Ryan Adams’ ‘Hallelujah,’ Mazzy Star’s ‘Into Dust,’ Snow Patrol’s ‘Life Boats,’ The Perishers’ ‘Trouble Sleeping’ and U2’s ‘Last Night On Earth.’

Quote to Inspire – “There is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described. I photograph to see what something will look like photographed.” – Garry Winogrand

Buttertown Storehouse

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Home, Homestead, Journaling, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Summer, Sunset

Storehouse, St. Louis Mission – Buttertown, Fort Vermilion, Ab 1

Storehouse, St. Louis Mission – Buttertown, Fort Vermilion, Ab 2

The northern lights were out this morning in my pre-dawn walk around High Level – ice crystals are in the air; with last night’s heavy billowing clouds we’re nearing our first snowfall. Here, an image contains two end-points of high dynamic range editing; curiously, I’m liking the colour (tinted) version of the old, old store house at the St. Louis Roman Catholic mission in Buttertown – Fort Vermilion, Alberta. The image has me thinking to former priest, John O’Donohue and different parts of four lectures he’s presented and a journaling exercise he has people work through. The first question to work from is to articulate the seven things that are controlling ideas/elements in your Life – premises upon which your Life is founded.

Listening to – an investigation of the ‘Primitives,’ a group recommended with the ‘iambead.com’ photoblog; ‘Crash’ is the first tune I come across. Then it’s ‘All the Way Down’ and ‘Earth Thing.’

Quote to Inspire – “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough” – Robert Capa

Mountainous Depth

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Still Life, Weather, Winter

Valley – McLure, British Columbia 1

Valley – McLure, British Columbia 2

Valley – McLure, British Columbia 3

Valley – McLure, British Columbia 4

Valley – McLure, British Columbia 5

Valley – McLure, British Columbia 6

This high dynamic range image is a final outlook over the valley that leads north and east into McLure, British Columbia. Depth within the image is created overlapping elements within the composition, the mountain forming the background is overlapped by the central mountain, then the mountain on the left (middle ground) and finally the mountain on the right (closest – foreground). The train track leads the eye into the photo and you explore your way from foreground to background. Colouration versus black and white in the images also helps accentuate depth.

Listening to – U2’s ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Miracle Drug’.

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

Deposit Point – Grain

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Fall, Farm, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Home, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Prime Lens, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Summer

Grain Bin – Dixonville, Alberta 1

Grain Bin – Dixonville, Alberta 2

Grain Bin – Dixonville, Alberta 3

On the back road between Manning and Fairview old, wooden grain bins are found and are located within large fields as deposit points for grain in harvest. Well-constructed wooden grain bins still stand while those that were constructed hastily erode, leaning and falling over. Those made with plywood walls sometimes have a wall missing leaving only the frame and exposing the bin’s interior. Wood grain bins are more a thing of the past with corrugated metal grain bins made by Butler, Westeel or Roscoe now being used, bins set on cement pads, often clustered at highest dry points on a farmer’s field. This well-constructed grain bin has caught my eye regularly; caught at the time of harvest amid ready and ripe grain wood’s texture and lines appeal as does colour and context.

Listening to – Kacey Musgrave’s ‘Keep It to Yourself’ and David Gray’s ‘Flame Turns Blue.’

Quote to Inspire – “What I did, anybody can do.” – Weegee

REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Fall, Farm, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Vehicle, Vehicle Restoration

REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 1

REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 2

REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 3

REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 5

REO Speedwagon – Manning, Alberta 6

My drive south allows a stop just north of Manning, Alberta. A La Crete, Alberta auctioned vehicle draws attention – an old rusting relic; but, it’s more … its badging sports the name of a Rock and Roll band that achieved notoriety in the late 70s and early 80s … REO Speedwagon – the revelation, here, is that the band’s name links to a truck, something similar to an International Harvester, a one tonne truck designed for heavy use such as is found in farming communities. I have stumbled across an REO Speedwagon one tonne, a rarity, a vehicle that’s been sold from a La Crete, Alberta auction (a neighboring community to us in High Level) and this truck now resides without a grain box and without headlights along the highway that takes me south in my travels. It’s the kind of vehicle that might be made good use of by the owner and vehicle-restorer of Deanz Garage in Vulcan, Alberta.

Listening to – Imagine Dragons’ ‘Radioactive’ and Cheap Trick’s ‘Ain’t that a Shame.’ Then to recall the band it’s REO Speedwagon’s ‘Can’t Fight This Feeling’ and ‘Take It On the Run.’

Quote to Inspire – “For me, photography has become a way of attempting to make sense of the strange world that I see around me. I don’t ever expect to achieve that understanding, but the fact that I am trying comforts me.” – Mikhael Subotzky

July Cloudwork – Alberta’s

Barn, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Farm, Farmhouse, Flora, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Journaling, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Summer

Farm HDR, Greencourt, Alberta

High dynamic range results in this fused image combining three images (-1 stop, average and +1 stop) creating an image representing early summer cloud work in north-central Alberta, a farm within kilometres of Greencourt, Alberta.

Listening to – Allstar Weekend’s ‘Mr. Wonderful’ and ‘Not Your Birthday.’ ‘Blame it on September’ another Allstar Weekend tune follows. I’m listening to my daughter’s tunes pulled from iTunes.

Quote to Inspire – “Looking and seeing are two different things. What matters is the relationship with the subject.” – Christophe Agou