Canadian Shed – Donnelly, Alberta 1
Canadian Shed – Donnelly, Alberta 2
Enjoying the compression of distance in this favourite image of the Canadian grain shed on the northward approach to Donnelly, Alberta.
Listening to – Neil Young’s ‘Harvest Moon.’
Quote to Inspire – “I have the great privilege of being both witness and storyteller. Intimacy, trust and intuition guide my work.” – Jim Goldberg
Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 2
Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 3
Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 4
Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 6
Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 10
Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 11
Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 12
Derelict Service Station – Southern Alberta 14
Beyond the Banff National Park gates, moving east toward Calgary, near the Stoney Reserve a service station with restaurant that had been a thriving business in the sixties, seventies and even eighties is now dormant. An abandoned structure, without windows and gyprocked walls, it now provides temporary and limited shelter from the elements to travellers or hitchhikers or people seeking ‘off-the-grid’ status. The building reminds of characters, scenes and happenings within the ramble of Jack Kerouac’s novel, ‘On the Road,’ of people driven and on the move, of stories shared between travellers that may or may never meet again, of place and places where seedier things can occur. On an adjacent theme, the building reminds of the Life of Chris McCandless in Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction work, ‘Into the Wild,’ and any would-be traveller who aims to explore and take-on the world on their own terms – that traveller could find refuge in this building. Graffiti tags tattoo this building, the building paper to the quill of the traveller’s spray paint. Expressed, here, are the dominant issues confronting each traveller, assertions about justice denied, of perspective not being valued and rejected, of the irony within all that makes the world tick. In all, graffiti’s colour, shape and form pull the witness to the resilient voice of the traveller expressed upon these walls. Here, ‘the writing is on the wall’ about the state of their/our world. Most telling about these travellers and their living so close to the land is the assertion ‘The Desperate Came’.
Listening to – Eddie Vedder’s ‘Hard Sun’ from the soundtrack to ‘Into the Wild.’ Then it’s Ray Lamontagne’s ‘Hold You In My Arms,’ Radiohead’s ‘All I Need,’ the Counting Crows with ‘Omaha’ and Jack Johnson’s ‘Rodeo Clowns.’
Quote to Inspire – “I don’t care so much anymore about ‘good photography’; I am gathering evidence for history.” – Gilles Peress
1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 1
1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 2
1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 3
1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 4
1949 Chevrolet Grain Truck – Donnelly, Alberta 5
Dented and worn, pitted and cancered (rusting), the hood of a 1949 Chevrolet grain truck continues to hold its shape – lines and curves created some sixty-four years ago.
Listening to: Imagine Dragons’ ‘Radioactive.’
Quote to Inspire: “Take a moment. What was it you saw when you were moved to pick up the camera? I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you mutter something about thinking “it looked cool.” Dig deeper. Was it a thought, a feeling, a simple moment when your eyes did a double-take at the intersection of two lines? Was it a lick of light, two blocks of color?” ― David duChemin, Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
No Exit – 1
No Exit – 2
No Exit – 3
No Exit – 4
The juxtaposition of ‘No Exit’ against a landscape backdrop seems more an entry into the wilds from which one may not return. And, I note that the image does possess a surreal quality that recalls portions of the memory work accomplished by Jonas and ‘the Giver’ within Lois Lowry’s novel, ‘The Giver;’ this image could serve as cautionary waypoint toward the destination of home in the novel. The novel considers the costs of conformity in a future time. The narrative is one filtering out characters, drawing down to one who has the ability to comprehend, receive and appreciate the collective’s memory found in former times and former ways. This ‘No Exit’ image is taken on an early spring day close to the Rochfort Bridge, a kilometre long train trestle equidistant to Sangudo and Mayerthorpe, Alberta.
Listening to: a preview song, Martyn Joseph singing Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Walk Like a Man,’ a tribute to several songs of Bruce Springsteen.
Quote to Inspire – “A representational photograph says, ‘This is what Vienna looked like.’ An interpretational photograph goes one better and says, ‘This is what Vienna was like. This is how I felt about it.” ― David duChemin, Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision
Alberta Reflection – Grande Prairie 1
Alberta Reflection – Grande Prairie 2
Alberta Reflection – Grande Prairie 3
Alberta’s Big Sky – 1
Alberta’s Big Sky – 2
Along Northern Roads – Grande Cache, Alberta
HDR – Subject Revisited 1
HDR – Subject Revisited 2
Trestle Bridge – Grande Cache, Alberta
Wet Rock – Banff, Alberta
Wooded Reflection – Jasper, Alberta 1
Wooded Reflection – Jasper, Alberta 2
Wooded Reflection – Jasper, Alberta 3
The following text is excerpt, core invitation to a cousin to interact with me through my photo blog and exposes intentions for the blog and posting.
“My photoblog’s URL is http://www.lumensborealis.com , written from the point of pseudonym, also most often written at day’s end … a mind saturated, releasing the day; sometimes this can seem very close to the poignant remark made by an Auschwitz inmate in Schindler’s List … ‘I had a complete thought, today.’ Sometimes my posts are good and flow and cohere. But, I’m also editing what I write to limit consequence along parameters suggested by William Stafford in his book, ‘Crossing Unmarked Snow:’
1. The things you do not have to say make you rich.
2. Saying the things you do not have to say weakens your talk.
3. Hearing the things you do not need to hear dulls your hearing.
4. The things you know before you hear them, those are you and this is the reason you’re in the world.
A compelling set of assertions, for any of us, that aims at honourable and integrated Life … a good thing – it’s how I’m aiming to write the blog. Still, in my reading of it there often is opportunity to add more Art within my writing.
The Photoblog – Photography is what the photoblog is about – a photo-a-day kind of thing as intention and as means to grapple with photography and enhance skills; but, at almost two years in I’m only on post 271 and not beyond a year’s 365 posts. The blog is also about responding to each photo or set of photos as starting point to engage the rabbit trail of memory associating to family and times.” And, it often leads my thought to a set of Rimbey farms and my cousins, there.
Listening to – the Candid Frame with Ibarionex Perello in an interview with Will Jax about his Juke Joint photography in the French Quarter of New Orleans; part of the discussion that intrigued was the matter of consent, of giving back, contributing – all parts of what grants access within the exchange that is photography.
Quote to Inspire – “You yourself are unique–you have ways of seeing your world that are unlike those of anyone else–so find ways to more faithfully express that, and your style will emerge.” ― David duChemin, Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
1 Wind Turbines – North Shore, Oahu 1
2 Wind Turbines – North Shore, Oahu 2
3 Wind Turbines – North Shore, Oahu 3
Fine Ass Coffee Mill – Oahu, HI 1
Fine Ass Coffee Mill – Oahu, HI 2
More than a few times my daughter, my wife and I drove northward exploring Oahu’s North Shore and Haleiwa. We had rented a blue Ford Fusion so that we could explore and see the island. Using our Tom Tom GPS we found that both the GPS as well as traffic signs encouraged the use of U-turns along highway intersections as the best means to handle road to road transitions.
Our first excursion was a scouting endeavor, a drive northward that became our first trek around Oahu. As we moved toward Haleiwa we stopped at a locally grown coffee mill, its name cheekily playing upon Hawaiian dialect, Fine Ass Coffee resembling the words Finest Coffee. We took a tour and were introduced to live, growing coffee beans – usually coffee beans grow in dyads within one shell and occasionally are found on their own (one coffee bean within a shell). Singleton coffee beans (called peaberries) produce a potent coffee as they receive the nutrients that would feed what should have been a dyad.
What was also striking as we moved past Haleiwa was encountering wind turbines juxtaposed against big sky, cloud work, volcanic rock and farms. On our second drive to North Shore, we had done some shopping along the old Haleiwa road and came out of one shop to discover that a farm building one kilometre away was on fire – a brown-white plume of smoke rising into the air. And, just as in our remote communities distance to the blaze from fire departments determines rescue time and determines what physical assets can be saved. We followed our curiosity toward the fire but gave up on the endeavor realizing that the gas was toxic and that we’d likely be clogging the route toward the fire.
At that point along the roadway, I got my camera and tripod out and in directing the camera back to the way we had come discovered the wind turbines from a new angle … an extraordinary sight; I was able to catch the wind turbines within a rainbow. There were other shots in the Golden Hour where sun, landscape, cloud work and rainbows did culminate into extraordinary compositions, but being able to stop the car safely for a shot limited the possibility in the endeavor. Still, I saw what I saw – that’s good too.
Listening to – Bill Cutler’s tribute to Jerry Garcia with ‘Starlight Jamboree’ on CKUA Radio (streaming online).
Quote to Inspire – “Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.” – John Berger
1 North Shore Surfing 1
2 North Shore Surfing 2
3 Along the Way – North Shore 1
4 Along the Way – North Shore 2
5 North Shore – Highway
6 Strong Current – Haleiwa, Oahu 1
7 Strong Current – Haleiwa, Oahu 2
8 Surfing – Across from Diamond Head
9 52 Ford Panel Van – Haleiwa, Oahu
10 Waves – Sandy Beach, Oahu
11 Surfer – Sandy Beach, Oahu
My wife and daughter are very gracious about accommodating me and the opportunity of a photograph. On my side, what is balanced is seeing a possible photo from the vehicle against the need to proceed onward with the journey with my family. My daughter and wife are avid readers. So, in stopping for a photograph, they usually have had a book going that they are eager to delve into. Over two weeks on Oahu my daughter read ten books (at the beach, in restaurants, in the car and late at night) – something you’d not have caught me doing at her age; I’d be out doing … something. Over the two weeks, we circumnavigated Oahu perhaps three or four times seeing the island fresh and then growing more and more familiar with the landscape and getting out for a few photographs. The following images are from Oahu’s North Shore and from southern Oahu at Sandy Beach and Diamond Head.
Listening to: John O’Donohue’s Greenbelt interview with Martin Rowe (August 2007).
Quote to Inspire – “Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.” – Henri Cartier Bresson
Catholic Church – Waikiki
Waikiki Beach At Night
Waikiki Beach At Night
Waikiki Strip 2
My wife, my daughter and I chased-down a never-done in July. On the road, with our out-of-town doctor’s visits complete, bags packed – a task from several days before, and no pressing obligations, the challenge set before me by my wife was to get my daughter, my wife and me to Hawaii (any of the five islands), to gather some summer rest, to explore new sites/sights, to try out some new things and to photograph the visual treasure among the islands; the challenge broadly – rejuvenate. Honolulu on Oahu is where we landed after being bumped flights and arriving five hours later than intended (it’s totally interesting that United Airlines found us new flights and provided us tickets for another flight to use within the next year … as we entered our plane we were later than planned, but ahead financially); we stayed at a Waikiki hotel, minutes away from the Waikiki beach, surfing and lazing in the sun. The images, here, are starting point images Waikiki, in the evening.
Listening to: Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds work through several tunes from their Live at Radio City Music Hall recording (2007) – Daniel Lanois’ ‘The Maker,’ ‘Sister,’ ‘Old Dirt Hill,’ and ‘Crush’.
“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
In the week following school year-end and the beginning of summer school break, my wife, my daughter and I find ourselves in Edmonton. A Sunday afternoon becomes opportunity for me to look around Edmonton with fresh eyes, this city I knew as child and youth, this city I grew up in. In my travels, parts of the city receive spitting of rain from moisture-laden skies, stacking cumulus clouds pushed across Edmonton by substantial summer winds. Less windy and wet moments provide opportunity to use clouded skies as backdrop to architecture and landscape. I’m needing to fall into sync with the opportunity of/for photos and the cadence of parking and getting out of the vehicle for possible photos.
Alongside the Anthony Henday roadway near Callingwood Avenue in Edmonton’s west-end, in a farmer’s field, on the other side of fenced, barbed-wire an older truck is parked, a truck that is likely to be a 1949 Chevrolet half-tonne with grain box, a vehicle that if rehabilitated could become vintage and a classic. The intention, as I’ve watched through these ten years, had been to use the retro look of this vintage truck with the side panels of the grain box to advertise location of a knick-knacks store in this west-end community. That store no longer exists and no one has set about moving the truck or dismantling the grain box and advertising. Erosion – rain, sun, snow and wind – has brought the grain box down and rusting to the truck’s body and cab has added deep, rough, orange peel texture to this truck’s exterior … all becoming fodder for photos.
Listening to – Jack White’s version of a U2 tune, ‘Love is Blindness,’ and the Tijuana Brass – ‘Lonely Bull,’ ‘Spanish Flea,’ ‘Taste of Honey,’ and ‘Tijuana Taxi.’
Quote to Inspire – “We try to grab pieces of our lives as they speed past us. Photographs freeze those pieces and help us remember how we were. We don’t know these lost people but if you look around, you’ll find someone just like them.” – Gene McSweeney
Power Pole – Fort Vermilion, Alberta 1
Power Pole – Fort Vermilion, Alberta 2
Power Pole – Fort Vermilion, Alberta 3
Power Pole – Fort Vermilion, Alberta 4
Consider the electrics – electricity generated in one part of Alberta, moves around the province by power line strung from power pole to power pole to power pole, electricity to power your microwave, toaster and lights, electricity to power your iPod and computer, electricity to power you into a digital world through webcam and monitor, electricity to run your gaming devices and television. The power pole in this image is one of thousands following the highway from Wabamun Lake Power Plant to Edmonton to High Level and La Crete, Alberta.
Listening to – The Devlins’ take on a U2 song, ‘Love is Blindness,’ The Subway’s ‘Oh Yeah,’ ‘Open Heart Surgery’ by the Brian Jonestown Massacre and Greg Dulli’s ‘Pussy Willow.’
Quote to Inspire – “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.” – Ansel Adams
In My Back Pocket - Photography 
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